In this timely book, which neatly combines history, art criticism and travelogue, Lowe examines 25 monuments to the Second World War spread across three continents.

[Lowe's] descriptions and explanations are always thoughtful and evocative, sometimes controversial.

Among the many revelations in Keith Lowe’s new book is that the great second World War memorials across the globe are rarely, if ever, a simple tribute to those who served, suffered and died. The monuments are as much representations of our identities and ourselves and of the ways we choose to use and abuse history.

Lowe’s narrative analyzes artifacts such as a monument in Budapest that ignores Hungarian complicity in killings and slights the real victims, Hungary’s Jews.

In this extraordinary history book, Keith Lowe uses monuments from around the world to show how different countries have attempted to sculpt their history in the wake of the Second World War, and what these memorials reveal about their politics and national identity today.

Lowe’s nuanced readings of these and other monuments support his argument that they should be protected from the whims of 'contemporary politics.' (He notes that anti-USSR sentiment has brought down monuments to WWII heroes in Eastern Europe.) The result is a perceptive and persuasive call for remembering the tragedies and triumphs of the past..

Lowe divides his 25 chapters into five categories: heroes, martyrs, villains, destruction, and rebirth. He emphasizes how many show that 'every society deceives itself that its values are eternal.' However, he continues, 'when the world changes, our monuments—and the values that they represent—remain frozen in time.'.