The Monuments Men
Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
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3.9 • 28 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe.
The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Historian Robert M. Edsel unpacks the fascinating true story of World War II civilian soldiers tasked with salvaging historical treasures imperiled by the fighting—including works of art stolen by the Nazis. The true hero of the story is George Stout, a curator at Harvard’s Fogg Museum, who dedicated himself to saving both ancient and modern artworks. The Monuments Men follows Stout’s ragtag team as well as the high-ranking Germans trying to outwit them. It’s a history book that reads like a rollicking wartime spy novel—and the inspiration for the 2014 movie directed by George Clooney!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
WWII was the most destructive war in history and caused the greatest dislocation of cultural artifacts. Hundreds of thousands of items remain missing. The main burden fell to a few hundred men and women, curators and archivists, artists and art historians from 13 nations. Their task was to save and preserve what they could of Europe's great art, and they were called the Monuments Men. (Coincidentally or not, this book appears only briefly after Ilaria Dagnini Brey's The Venus Fixers: The Untold Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II, Reviews, June 1.) Edsel has presented their achievements in documentaries and photographs. He and Witter (coauthor of the bestselling Dewey) are no less successful here. Focusing on the organization's role in northwest Europe, they describe the Monuments Men from their initial mission to limit combat damage to structures and artifacts to their changed focus of locating missing items. Most had been stolen by the Nazis. In southern Germany alone, over a thousand caches emerged, containing everything from church bells to insect collections. The story is both engaging and inspiring. In the midst of a total war, armies systematically sought to mitigate cultural loss.
Customer Reviews
The Monuments Men
After seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie of the same name, I loaded this book up, and am I ever glad that I did. This is one of the most fascinating books on military history that I have ever read. It is so accurate, so concise, so well laid-out that I cannot praise the work enough. If you read one book this year, this should be it!
Monuments Men
A great review of history as well as learning about a group of men I had never heard of in any of the documentaries I have watched on World War 2.
It is wonderful someone brought this to the world's attention. Really enjoyed the pictures both of the men individually and their pictures of their efforts.
Do Not Read It If You Are Smarter Than A 5th Grader
Offers little to no new information.