Prisoners of History

What Monuments to World War II Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves

De: Keith Lowe

Narrado por: Keith Lowe

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 25 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 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.

©2020 Keith Lowe (P)2020 Tantor

Excellent!

Outstanding book, well narrated, and great perspective on World War 2. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys history.

If I were a history teacher

If I were a history teacher I would want students to read this tour of monuments and memorialization of war and the possibility it ends with of peace and expanding international cooperation through new conceptions and new approaches to monuments.