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.

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.

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