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

by Keith Lowe (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 69 ratings

A look at how our monuments to World War II shape the way we think about the war by an award-winning historian.

Keith Lowe, an award-winning author of books on WWII, 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, China’s Nanjin Massacre Memorial, The A Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, the balcony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem 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 75th anniversary of the end of the war, Prisoners of History is a 21st century view of a 20th century war that still haunts us today.

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  1. Print length
    344 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    St. Martin's Press
  4. Publication date
    December 8, 2020
  5. File size
    37.7 MB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Compelling...powerful...[Lowe] looks at the ways in which a diverse set of countries have memorialized that bloody conflict, which set the stage for the world in which we still live... What Prisoners of History does do―and does well―is explain why groups in each country built the monuments in the first place and how changes in politics and international relations affected interactions with them afterward." ―Wall Street Journal

“[An] inspired idea . . . Always thoughtful and evocative, sometimes controversial . . . Lowe’s sensitive, disturbing book should be compulsory reading for both statue builders and statue topplers.”
―The Sunday Times (UK)

"Thought-provoking . . . a perceptive and persuasive call for remembering the tragedies and triumphs of the past." ―Publishers Weekly

"Fascinating and thoughtful." ―Lawrence Freedman, Foreign Affairs Magazine

“The well-balanced range here enables the retelling of some remarkable war stories, while also providing fascinating insights into the ways different nations have remembered or denied issues around national identity and the glory and horrors of war . . . this is some of the most thought-provoking writing about the Second World War.”
―Spectator Magazine

“In this timely book, which neatly combines history, art criticism, and travelogue . . . Lowe is a fine guide to these monuments because he feels the moral force―for good or bad―of each site he visits.”
―The Times (UK)

"[Lowe’s] examples might rightly raise some hackles . . . Insightful accounts of memorials where there is usually more than meets the eye." ―Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Keith Lowe is the award-winning author of Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II and the critically acclaimed history Inferno: The Fiery Devastation of Hamburg, 1943. He is widely recognized as an authority on the Second World War, and has often spoken on TV and radio, both in Britain and the United States. He was an historical consultant and one of the main speakers in the PBS documentary The Bombing of Germany, which was also broadcast in Germany. His books have been translated into several languages, and he has lectured in Britain, Canada, and Germany. He lives in North London with his wife and two kids.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B084M1R6KR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (December 8, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 8, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 37.7 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 69 ratings

About the author

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Keith Lowe

Keith Lowe

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Keith Lowe was born in 1970 and studied English Literature at Manchester University. After twelve years as a history publisher, he embarked on a full-time career as a writer and historian, and is now recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as an authority on the Second World War and its aftermath. He is the author of the Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg 1943, and Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II, which won the 2013 PEN/Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. In 2017 he published The Fear and the Freedom, to great acclaim. His books have been translated into twenty languages.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • MJ M
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary
    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2021
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    The author’s writing is clear, his choices of which WWII monuments to cover are excellent—his perspectives are eye-opening and thoughtful. I was glad for this opportunity/context to revisit many of these monuments through his writing—and I gained some new perspectives on them. I am grateful for his descriptions and perspectives on the other monuments I’ll probably never otherwise see in person.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Shelby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2021
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    Phenomenal book!
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  • Nancy Famolari
    4.0 out of 5 stars What Monuments Tell Us
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2020
    Keith Lowe tells an important story about war, in this case WWII, through the monuments erected by the participants. In the US the monuments depict victory, in Europe the monuments usually immortalize the victims, in Japan the monument A Bomb Dome depicts great tragedy. These are only a sample of the twenty-five monuments Lowe discusses.

    I found it fascinating to realize how different countries view war through the memorials they erect. In Lowe’s view, the sentiments depicted by the monuments structure the way we view WWII. His case is persuasive, but I wasn’t convinced. I think memorials can color our view, but there are many other ways to get information and decide what we believe about war, specifically WWII since it is now quite far in the past.

    I recommend this book for two reasons. It is an excellent source of information some of it even as a history buff you may not be familiar with. The second reason is the relevance to the destruction of monuments we see across the country today. Those monuments are primarily related to the Civil War, but this book asks us to think about what pulling down monuments means. Can we erase history?

    I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Ann L.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, Informative, Emotional
    Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2021
    Prisoners of History is a profound, informative book published at exactly the right time. As monuments are being taken down in cities around the world, Lowe examines what monuments mean to people, and how monuments link people to their history. I found the book thought-provoking. Lowe approaches monuments and history from a whole-world position, and it’s fascinating to read about the different ways that various countries have memorialized WWII. The book is well-written and easy to read, has pictures of each monument discussed, and is nicely organized. Monuments to heroes, martyrs, monsters, the devastation of war itself, and the fraught process of reconciliation are mentioned and examined in careful detail.

    With moving descriptions of events and choices both awesome and brutal, Prisoners of History does make one thing abundantly clear – monuments aren’t just statues or installations with plaques and names. Monuments link people and history, inevitably and inextricably. The examples Lowe shares can help readers understand previously unseen aspects of WWII, but can also shed light on a new way of viewing other monuments and markers to human history.

    I greatly enjoyed this book, and feel I learned a lot from it. It’s not political, though some of the monuments are very political, and some of the content is somewhat graphic, as war is brutal and Lowe doesn’t shy away from that. Nevertheless, I think the topics explored in Prisoners of History are important and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the book.

    I was given a copy of this book via Netgalley.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • diana williamson
    1.0 out of 5 stars you dont always get what you ordered!!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The book was in large print!
    The photos of the monuments were faint and hard to see !!! I was going to return it but my son said the print was okay!
    A big disappointment
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  • Foothiller16
    2.0 out of 5 stars Is the Author a cynic or merely placing his tongue in cheek...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2022
    I started out liking this book...but, quickly became bemused by the author. Why do the English criticise Americans to such a degree (read the first section of the book)? The author is like so many English (I won't include the Scots or Welsh) -- smug in a sense of superiority while nailing us for our's. The tone of teh book is what put me off...not the memorials' stories.
    Much of the informantion about the memorials is worthwhile...particularly, the history, But, the author seems to be so convinced of his opinion of what the memorials mean (and his perception of what they have come to mean over the years) it is more like a political statement than anything else.
    And, the pictures are poorly done -- hard to see much of the deals upon which he says is basic to his argument. Buy a used paperback if you want to read it.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • anactbloke
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book - a fresh approach
    Reviewed in Australia on October 29, 2020
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    If you have a keen interest in military history then this book provides a fresh approach to many of the battles that we all read about. Not about the battles themselves but the statue and memorial that are erected after the event. This book looks at the who, what and why these statues and memorials are created. The background provided is eye-opening and reminds us all that we all have inherent biases that we often don't confront. The release of this book at a time when the pulling down of statues across the world has reached new heights could not be better. As the author reminds the reader throughout, we are all prisoners of history and none of us can escape what has gone before. I highly recommend this book. The book is divided into five parts with approximately 5 chapters per part. It is not a difficult read and most will fly through it without much trouble. I will be reading more by Keith Lowe in the future
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  • FM
    3.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction
    Reviewed in Germany on January 28, 2021
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    Probably a good read for someone hasn’t read a lot or studied military / war history. Each piece is short and easily digested. A good range of monuments selected. Having visited many of these monuments, I didn’t feel there was a great deal of insight or depth.
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  • auto-didact
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and thought-provoking
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This book is excellently comprehensive. It covers a wide range of monuments, located in a number of countries on three continents, and relating to a number of different aspects of the war. The book also stimulates a lively discussion in the mind of the reader. The author tells about the events to which the monuments relate, and shows how interpretation of those events can be controversial, so that they have been viewed differently at the time and subsequently, and have had a changing influence on the national identity of the countries in which they occurred. In some cases, the issues affecting national identity are still strongly felt and contested, so the book is current and topical, not just historical. "What I most want to demonstrate is that none of these monuments is really about the past at all: rather, they are an expression of a history that is still alive today, and which continues to govern our lives whether we like it or not." Do not assume, therefore, that a book on monuments to WW2 has only a narrow range of interest.

    I find the chapter on Oradour-sur-Glane particularly interesting, as it is the one monument I have visited. I would have said that this is a monument to cold-blooded German barbarity. Someone chose that village because its population of just over 600 was small enough to make it easy to kill everyone, but big enough for the massacre to have a severely chilling effect. Someone decided that women and children should be put in the church, and men in other buildings, where they would be killed and the buildings set on fire. However, the author says that this view is undermined by the fact that men from Alsace (ie French citizens) who had been conscripted by the Germans, took part in the massacre. Similarly, he shows the weakness of the view that the shattered village is a monument to heroic resistance. There is much to think about in answer to the question of what the village is a memorial to. Pensez-y.
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2022
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    An excellently written and though provoking book. One that should be read by all statue builders and statue topplers alike.
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  • TeacherHist
    4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, but ONLY covers Second World War Monuments
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This is a well-written and thought-provoking book which I thoroughly enjoyed. However it is titled on Amazon as "Prisoners of History: What Monuments Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves" and I purchased it thinking it would be a wide-ranging assessment of monuments commemorating different events. Instead the actual subtitle of the book is "What monuments *to the Second World War* tell us about our History and Ourselves". This is a discrepancy which should be rectified by Amazon.
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