A Crowd Is Not Company by Robert Kee

by Robert Kee

Journalist and broadcaster Robert Kee served as an RAF bomber pilot in World War II. His plane was shot down over Nazi-occupied Holland, and he subsequently spent more than three years in a German POW camp--trying to escape right from the start. He finally succeeded.... This is his story, first published as fiction in 1947 and now revealed as a true biography. "Arguably the best POW book ever written."--The Times. "Certain pages...especially those about being questioned while on the run, still make my blood run cold."--Observer.

Genres: History, Military History, War, Nonfiction, Biography, World War II

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 1982

About the author

Robert Kee, CBE was a broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland.

He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.

During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."

His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.

In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.

Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put down this book once I got to the part where Kee was in the POW camp. Robert Kee was a young RAF bomber pilot whose plane was shot down over German-occupied Holland. He was quickly captured and sent to a POW camp. Most of the book is about the three years and three months he spent in the camp. So what I feel I got most out of this book is a strong sense of what life was like in a German POW camp. A lot of tedium, to be sure, but the POWs received Red Cross packages and actually weren't treated too badly. Of course, the Germans followed the Geneva Convention concerning the British and American ( and Canadian and Australian and other Western Allied) POWs.
There's a scene when the British ( and other Allied) POWs are being marched west to escape the oncoming Soviet Army and they see Russian prisoners. The Russians are in filthy rags and look like they are starving. The British POWs threw packs of cigarettes to the Russians and one Russian tried to pick up a pack from the roadway. One of the Russians' German guards came over and beat the Russian brutally, using the butt of his gun. The British gave a great roar of rage against the guard and one of their own guards went to the brutal guard and talked to him--and the Russian was able to stagger over to get the pack of cigarettes...Kee says that after seeing that, he didn't feel sorry for himself anymore.
There are many insightful observations in this story. But the ending is abrupt as the story ends on a depressing note. I thought the last page must be missing. It isn't (as I discovered after checking other Goodreads reviews!) For that reason, this book really only rates 3.5 stars but I'll round it up to 4/5.

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[BLRBrazil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book interesting, as it portrayed a side to the war that is rarely depicted. The captured allied prisoners were not badly treated. They received regular Red Cross parcels and their property was respected. The Germans were not stereotypical nazis but just ordinary people, who actually showed them a lot of kindness on the march westwards to escape the advancing Russians. In this respect, it actually highlighted the tragedy of the war, indeed any war, as leaders drag their people away from their normal lives in order to satisfy their ambitions, and they end up becoming the cannon fodder whose lives are expended on the battlefield.
On the downside, although the book is honest it isn't very well written, nothing much really happens, prison camp life is really rather tedious and the story ends extremely abruptly and on a rather depressing note. He didn't even carry it through to the end of the war, his release and return home. We didn't even get a Forrest Gump style "Well that's all I'm going to say about that".

[Ross Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counterpoint to WWII POW movies

Kees spent 3 years as an RAF pilot POW including two escape attempts, long periods of despair & compliance, and a long forced March in 1945 from Silesia into Germany. He is an acute observer, both of himself and those around him

[James Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book the entire way through. It was gripping and enjoyable and I felt like I was in the camps with him. However the ending was terrible! There was no resolution and worse than that it ends on the most depressing note after the entire rest of the book has been about the hope of escape.

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Khumbulani Ngangelizwe]

I'm reading this, and, I'm experiencing extreme anxiety as I'm about to finish it. I don't want it to end. i hate the fact that the hard-cover gives away the end. Will the war end and the POWs rescued, will he escape, will Germany surrender the camps?
Such a relatively succinct and captivating novel-cum-biography.

[Alex Plant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat rough around the edges but a true story and exciting account of an escape attempt. Unfortunately that wasn't the majority of the book.

[DAVID CROCKER · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worthy but humourless. Apparently young men in the RAF really did say 'Bad show' and 'I say old bean'. The Germans come out of it as friendly and inept.

[Lyndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazingly frank and honest depiction of life in a German prison camp, and the plot to escape at any cost. I'm not usually big on war stories, but this book was excellent and eye opening as well as very entertaining.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging, insightful, and interesting; everything one could want in a first person narrative. I found the book difficult to put down and read it in two days.

[Keith Morley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a definitive account of life as a WW2 POW. An extraordinary true story of one man's desperate attempts to break out and get home.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the piece lacking in some areas but nonetheless a good read especially parts 3 and 4.

[Chris Mee · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book.a must read for any ww2 fan