Keith Lowe

Prisoners of History (eBook, ePUB)

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

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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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Produktdetails

• Verlag: St. Martin's Publishing Group
• Seitenzahl: 384
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. Dezember 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781250235046
• Artikelnr.: 58623253

Autorenporträt

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.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents
Introduction
Part I - Heroes
1. Russia: 'The Motherland Calls', Volgograd
2. Russia and Poland: 'Four Sleepers' Monument, Warsaw
3. USA: Marine Corps Memorial, Arlington, Virginia
4. USA and the Philippines: Douglas MacArthur Landing Memorial, Leyte
5. Britain: Bomber Command Memorial, London
6. Italy: Shrine to the Fallen, Bologna
Coda: The End of Heroism
Part II - Martyrs
7. Netherlands: National Monument, Amsterdam
8. China: Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall
9. South Korea: Peace Statue, Seoul
10. USA and Poland: Katyn Memorial, Jersey City
11. Hungary: Monument for the Victims of the German Occupation, Budapest
12. Poland: Auschwitz
Part III - Monsters
13. Slovenia: Monument to the Victims of All Wars, Ljubljana
14. Japan: Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo
15. Italy: Mussolini's Tomb, Predappio
16. Germany: Hitler's Bunker, and the Topography of Terror, Berlin
17. Lithuania: Statue of Stalin, Grutas Park
Coda: The Value of Monsters
Part IV - Apocalypse
18. France: Ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane
19. Germany: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin
20. Germany: Monument to the Victims of the Firestorm, Hamburg
21. Japan: A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima, and the Peace Statue, Nagasaki
Part V - Rebirth
22. United Nations: UN Security Council Chamber Mural, New York
23. Israel: Balcony at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
24. Britain: Coventry Cathedral
25. European Union: Liberation Route Europe
Conclusion