The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Mass Market Paperback – October 22, 2013

This book clearly could have been another 200 pages and it still would have kept me interested. I was a little weary at first of reading this book when I considered how many reviews had been completed ahead of me. Ironically, on my old spreadsheet/workbook I used to keep - this book was placed there on the "old list" in 2010. It would seem now it has notoriety as a result of the movie that is currently in movie theatre's around the country. Lieutenant George Stout was a U.S. Navy Officer assigned to the U.S. First and Twelfth Army; a simple annotation to his rank and photo in the beginning of the book would have been appreciated - I kept looking at the "rail road tracks" on his helmet and couldn't understand why he was being called "Lieutenant" when I believed him to be "Captain". Blame this small find on my USMC mentality for military detail; it really is no big deal to the story line nor the book overall.The first thing I personally thought of before I opened up a page to this book was the Battle for Monte Cassino. This battle within the Gustav Line to this day (as with all other parts of the battle for the Gustav Line) simply is a great battle to study and from both the Allied and Axis perspective. Immediately as I dove into the book; and, within the Author's Note, Edsel discusses the need for a book to be written by him on this topic specifically for the Italian Campaign. Happily for me he at least discusses the Battle of Monte Cassino early on (and to no great depth)which was well versed and accountable at least from my personal level. What he failed to mention within these few pages was how the Abbey was destroyed twice before the Second World War, and I speculate he will save that detail for the book on Italy and Italian Art. A small reference of two or three sentences could have been worthy, but I don't want to be too critical of a book that was simply terrific!As with good books on the Second World War one must be critical of the maps that are included. The maps in this book and given this topic are highly appropriate. The maps provide the reader a chance to see from a higher level what the difficulties were geographically with no less than a mere one dozen people doing a job while more than 1 million service members were confronted in combat operations across Europe.The truly fascinating part of this book and historical account of course are the people involved, the art they attempted to locate and save, and the many locations they had to travel into while destruction was occurring in around them at the time of discoveries. The author included relevant photo's of both art and personnel, and provided the historical flash backs where appropriate to the history of the location where the art piece was made, ended up into, and stolen away from by the Nazi Regime. The additional part for me that was interesting was reading of the First Canadian Army as they treked across Belgium under Montgomery's 21st Army Group - my 11 year old Father at the time was about to be rescued with his family, his town, and their lives - some of the things I have heard from Dad are literally unbelievable; I myself am a decorated US Marine Veteran.Edsel provided me with clarity of purpose, poise in prose, and sadness in death while feeling relief in "discovery" of the many faceted art pieces for mankind. He has promised to write a book on Italy and I will accept his word - I hope he would consider one for the Pacific Theatre of Operations as well in the future. The book ends with a follow up to the lives of the Allied players and Axis thieves - it was a terrific ending to a book well worth the read.*** Movie - entertaining - historically off - points of major works and gold captured likely will make interest in some to read more about the stolen treasures; that's my hope anyway. Movie "based on a true story" as indicated in the beginning. ***

While living in Florence, Italy, author Robert M. Edsel wondered how so many brilliant works of art could have survived the cataclysm that was World War II. What he discovered was the MFAA-- the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program-- a group of dedicated museum curators, artists, art restorers, art historians, and soldiers who risked their lives to save hundreds of years worth of European culture. Rightfully overshadowed by the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, the work these men and women did-- often with no weapons, no transportation, and no cameras or film-- has now come to light.Like many readers, I came to The Monuments Men first through the film starring George Clooney. Although I did enjoy it, I couldn't get over the feeling that most of the story had been left untold. The Nazis stole millions of pieces of art and either kept them for themselves, destroyed them, or placed them in caches for Hitler's master plan art museum (which, thankfully, was never built). I had to learn more; thus, I turned to Edsel's book.Edsel covers the period of time from D-Day to V-E Day in northwestern Europe. (In a second book, Saving Italy, the author covers MFAA efforts in that country; there's simply too much story to tell in one book.) The first third of the book is rather disjointed as Edsel jumps from location to location, relating the difficulties of implementing the MFAA objectives (which were backed by Eisenhower), introducing the Monuments Men, and explaining the scope of Nazi plundering. I was so fascinated by the subject matter that this choppiness scarcely phased me.Once the stage has been set and the Allies fight their way out of France and Belgium, the book picks up speed, and the action does take on the appearance of a treasure hunt. When the Allies reach Germany, they discover that it's a race against the Russians to find over 1,000 caches tucked away mainly in the southern part of the country. Whereas the Allies are working to return the recovered art to its rightful owners, the Russians-- who have suffered horrendously at the hands of the Nazis-- will keep everything they find as war reparations.I found this book to be fascinating on so many counts: the fact that people actually recognized the need to save their culture, the men and women of the MFAA who worked so hard under extreme circumstances (many of whom never spoke of what they did once the war was over), and yet more examples of Nazi rapaciousness. This is a topic that has importance today. Hundreds of thousands of works of art are still missing, and any online news source will provide recent stories of artwork stolen by the Nazis being uncovered. Edsel's book is fascinating reading for anyone interested in World War II or in art, and I fully intend to read more.

I saw this film in the cinema several years ago and bought the book as a gift for my husband. He said it was great so I decided to read it too, but the book had languished on my shelf for some time. Having picked it up now though I was curious to see more about the real story with the Hollywood glamour taken out.There is plenty of explanation about the backgrounds of the individuals involved. They all come from artistic worlds to some degree and relished the opportunity to have a part in saving the culture heritage of Europe.Conflict of many kinds is at the heart of this book. There is the actual fighting against the Germans and also the dilemma of trying not to cause any more damage than is absolutely necessary. It was one of the jobs of the Monuments Men to keep reminding everyone of their obligations to the fabric of the countries they were saving.A lot is written about World War II but I've never read so much detail about the advance of the troops across Europe after D day. The winter of 1944/5 created dreadful conditions for the men and this author describes the conditions perfectly - I had complete understanding without any overwhelming drama.Throughout the book there is a lot of repetition which is really good. Reinforcing the facts about the men and the locations is necessary in an account of a period of history which is very confusing. The repetition makes the people become familiar enabling the reader to concentrate on the progress.We follow the troops across Europe (as do the Monuments Men) and when they arrive in Germany the most incredible finds are made, in castles, mines and other places. The book ratchets up the excitement when they enter the treasure troves of art stolen by the Nazis.As observers, we see the horrors of the Nazi regime through the eyes of the Monuments Men - their interest in the material destruction but the human tragedy is brought into every element of the book - effecting both the Germans and Allies equally. The human consequences are dealt with in an understated way which has a powerful effect.I was surprised how exciting this book was to read - at times it is more like a thriller than a factual account which is a credit to the author who added dialogue then linked together what must have been mountains of research, resulting in a story which flows beautifully. The chapters are usually less than 10 pages each and most end with a good link through to the next.

This book was a fascinating read….We are very appreciative of the Military Officials and Governments who assembled the amazing international group of talented people who were able to track down and rescue some of humankind's most beautiful transportable creations.Today, with the high cost of protection, and the seeming lack of respect for cultural tradition and values, we are witnessing the total destruction of the worlds' treasures - BAMI YAN, the scrolls and tombs in TIMBUKTU, the STELE of ETHIOPIA, etc…It is estimated by some that 98% of the worlds cultural resources will be destroyed by mid 2100 from population growth and encroachment and wars. A sad statement….Will civilization become similar to Mad Max or Waterworld???

Robert Edsel's very factual account of what it took a group of extraordinary (yet unseeingly ordinary people) to recover thousands of years of glorious art work during the Second World War, is more astounding a tale than any of the recent publications claim to be. Chronologically arranged events with a very cause and effect treatment to the narrative makes this book what one can easily summarize as 'Unputdownable History'.Thoroughly glad that I came across this piece of work and cannot wait to read his other works.PS: Do not watch the movie; it is a sadistic joke compared to the book!!

De fácil lectura, aunque sea en la lengua original. Además, con el Kindle es muy sencillo utilizar su diccionario.El tema del que trata me parece muy interesante porque quizá no le damos la importancia suficiente a la labor de estos soldados, pero es cierto que sin ellos nuestro mundo sería diferente.

If you enjoy factual history, this is a great book which tells an incredible story.It is not a novel, it's more of a documentary. I found it fascinating and inspiring.