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Prisoners of History: What Monuments to the Second World War Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves (Hardback)
Keith Lowe (author)Published: 09/07/2020

Keith Lowe’s fascinating Prisoners of History maps the monuments that were built around the globe to commemorate the Second World War, and their significance to the generations that followed. From Berlin to Hiroshima, and from Moscow to Seoul, Prisoners of History explores the various ways in which the world reacted in the wake of the atrocities, as well as the diverse, conflicting narratives that developed over the years and remain pitched against each other in the collective memory of the world.
When World War Two ended, its monuments were built to tell the story. Across the world countries reckoned with the impact of the war and what was to be enshrined in national memory. Today, many of these memorials remain the most visited sites in the world.
But what happens when values change, and what has been set in stone does not?
From Berlin to Moscow, Seoul to Hiroshima, the Philippines to Israel, Prisoners of History gives a bold new account of the way the world reacted in the wake of World War Two.
Amongst many questions, the book asks: Why is Russia still building victory monuments at a prolific rate for a war now seventy years over? Why, despite loathing his legacy, does the town of Mussolini's final resting place still honour his tomb like a shrine? Why does a bronze statue in Seoul of a young girl with a bird on her shoulder cause such controversy? How has Japan created a world-famous monument to peace whilst taking such offence at China's memorial to the Nanjing Massacre?
Challenging known wisdom, Keith Lowe offers a powerful and perspective-changing work on the faults in national memory, and how monuments built to commemorate the past, can hold us hostage to bad history.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008339548
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 580 g
Dimensions: 240 x 159 x 34 mm
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“A fresh perspective on the legacy of the Second World War …….”
Keith Lowe uses a very clever devise to show how the legacy of the Second World War in viewed very differently in different countries. In all he looks at 25 WWII memorials in countries including Russia, the US,... More
“Accessible and compelling”
Less a traditional book and more a series of connected articles exploring various WW2 related monuments around the world, Prisoners of History is a highly accessible and interesting exploration of the meaning of WW2... More
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