Prisoners of History, Keith Lowe
Prisoners of History, Keith Lowe
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Prisoners of History
What Monuments to World War II Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves

Author: Keith Lowe

Narrator: Keith Lowe

Unabridged: 10 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/15/2020


Synopsis

Keith Lowe, an award-winning author of books on World War II, saw monuments around the world taken down in political protest and began to wonder what monuments built to commemorate WWII say about us today. Focusing on these monuments, Prisoners of History looks at World War II and the way it still tangibly exists within our midst. He looks at all aspects of the war, from the victors to the fallen, from the heroes to the villains, from the apocalypse to the rebuilding after devastation. He focuses on twenty-five monuments, including The Motherland Calls in Russia, the US Marine Corps Memorial in the USA, Italy's Shrine to the Fallen, the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, and the Liberation Route that runs from London to Berlin.

Unsurprisingly, he finds that different countries view the war differently. In monuments erected in the US, Lowe sees triumph and patriotic dedications to the heroes. In Europe, the monuments are melancholy, ambiguous, and more often than not dedicated to the victims. In these differing international views of the war, Lowe sees the stone and metal expressions of sentiments that imprison us today with their unchangeable opinions. Published on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the war, Prisoners of History is a twenty-first-century view of a twentieth-century war that still haunts us today.

About Keith Lowe

Keith Lowe is the author of the critically-acclaimed Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg 1943, and Savage Continent, an international bestseller and the winner of both the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History (2013) and Italy's prestigious Cherasco History Prize (2015). He lectures on both sides of the Atlantic, appears on TV and radio in Europe and the US, and writes for a variety of magazines and newspapers around the world. He lives in north London with his wife and children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chris on November 10, 2020

Prisoners of History by Keith Lowe takes a look at 25 World War 2 monuments around the world and their place in our collective memory. With people around the world taking notice of the more problematic memorials (e.g. Confederate statues in the U.S.), this book is rather timely. The author gives ver......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on December 29, 2021

Lowe visited 25 monuments of the Second World War that he talks about in this book. He shares many historical tidbits not much talked about in popular histories and professes his interpretation of their meanings. I would not recommend this book for classrooms or friends or family to read because of......more

Goodreads review by Monica on April 22, 2022

Gran ensayo sobre el poder de la historia y los símbolos que la representan, es un recorrido por 25 monumentos históricos sobre la guerra que divide en cinco secciones (me ha gustado especialmente esta catalogación): Héroes, Mártires, Monstruos, Apocalipsis y Renacimiento. Es un recorrido difícil y......more

Goodreads review by Dropbear123 on August 17, 2022

4/5. Definitely worth a read if interested in WWII, the legacy of WWII or how history affects current day issues. The book is about 25 monuments, memorials and sites linked to historic memory of the war (Mussolini's tomb get's a chapter because of the far-right) divided into 5 categories - Heroes, Ma......more

Goodreads review by SusyG on November 26, 2022

Sarebbe 4.5/5 ⭐ Questo libro era davvero da un sacco che volevo leggerlo e le aspettative non mi hanno deluso! Keith Lowe porta in analisi monumenti della WWII che si trovano in Europa, USA e Asia e sul perché, in un periodo in cui le statue sono rimosse e contestate, queste invece rimangono qui. Ho......more