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1945: The world we fought for
Robert captures the spirit of growing optimism as the events of 1945 drew haltingly, but inevitably towards victory over Germany and Japan.
- GenresPhotographyWorld War II
371 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
11 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kee
58 books12 followersRobert 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 19, 2017
Of course, I knew the broad strokes of what happened in 1945 - Roosevelt died, Germany was beaten, the United Nations formed, the atomic bomb was dropped (twice), Japan was defeated - but Kee does a great job of making me think about experiencing the year as it developed. At the beginning of 1945, Germany had just finished its last major offensive in Western Europe, and it was by no means certain they were going to surrender any time soon. There were disagreements between the U.S. and Great Britain over Greece. Everybody trusted Russia to help lead a peaceful post-war period, whenever that would come. The Allies were a long way away from beating back the Japanese in the Pacific. Kee obsesses over details, digs up quotes from various sides politically in the U.S. and Britain, especially, and makes me think about the ways history develops in fits and starts, with nothing being as obvious as it seems in hindsight. His chapters on the final devastation of Germany are horrific, and then he follows that up with the discoveries, one by one, of the concentration camp nightmares, each more devastating to humanity's image of itself than the last. I love the idea of concentrating on a single year, giving us just enough information to understand the context of the beginning, and only relying on our own knowledge as to what happens after the end.
Displaying 1 of 1 review