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608 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
608 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
A very engaging history book that gets the reader interested in the massive search for stolen art in Europe during WW2 by US military Monument's Men. It is written in an engaging style and is not the slightest bit dry.
Loved it. Well written, well researched. This book only covers the art recovery efforts of the MFAA in Western Europe excluding Italy, which Edsel explains in the preface - simply too much material to cover in one book.
See my review at http://www.johannaminich.wordpress.com
adventurous
dark
informative
slow-paced
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Dear Goodreads Community,
Please forgive me in advance for possibly coming off as a horrible person, but for as fascinating and unique as this story is (especially amidst SUCH a wealth of your standard WWII topics)...nothing really happens in this book. Granted you can boil most every story down to bare bones, but in this case, that's about all you get. Every other major turning point/work of art in this book is treated in much the same manner: the Monuments Men arrived at a city, encountered some locals/Nazis/French citizens, find a mostly demolished building/boxed up art, and rescue what they can. Repeat. The most description I ever got about any of the actual soldiers in the book was in the last chapter, when Edsel was giving you the typical, "What happened to them after the war...".
Historically it is fascinating and I'm thrilled to be able to sink my teeth into a new facet of WWII, but the bland writing style makes it a surprising bore.
Please forgive me in advance for possibly coming off as a horrible person, but for as fascinating and unique as this story is (especially amidst SUCH a wealth of your standard WWII topics)...nothing really happens in this book. Granted you can boil most every story down to bare bones, but in this case, that's about all you get. Every other major turning point/work of art in this book is treated in much the same manner: the Monuments Men arrived at a city, encountered some locals/Nazis/French citizens, find a mostly demolished building/boxed up art, and rescue what they can. Repeat. The most description I ever got about any of the actual soldiers in the book was in the last chapter, when Edsel was giving you the typical, "What happened to them after the war...".
Historically it is fascinating and I'm thrilled to be able to sink my teeth into a new facet of WWII, but the bland writing style makes it a surprising bore.
What a piece of forgotten history. Excellent story well researched. Writing was fair but story made up for it. These middle aged men volunteered to go to the front, get shot at, be cold, hungry and dirty because they knew WWII was not just about troops and stopping evil it was about saving culture.
Interesting from an historical perspective, but it was a rough read...
"Monuments Men" tells the truly fascinating story of the American soldiers who tracked down European art stolen by the Nazis in World War II. Unfortunately, the author was not up to the task of telling such a complicated story.
It boils down to this: Robert Edsel is just not a good writer. He's bad at creating memorable portraits of his characters. I've got a good memory, especially for names and characters, but even at the end of the book I was still having trouble keeping the soldiers straight, because Edsel did a poor job of showing us his characters. And that was a problem not just with the American soldiers, but especially with the Nazis.
It's fine to include a little morality in your book, especially when it comes to WWII and Nazis. But that shouldn't come at the cost of telling the reader the story. Unfortunately, Edsel chose to *tell* the reader that Nazis were bad instead of *showing* the reader. For example, he calls one German art scholar "corrupted" and "vile" - but never fully explains the scholar's role in the art theft program. Ernst Kaltenbrunner is an important figure in the history of the Altaussee mine, but he gets just a few paragraphs, and those are judgmental rather than explanatory.
Part of the big problem of the book is that it skimps on the details of the Nazi art theft program. If Edsel had included just one detailed chapter on the program, it would have been very helpful to the reader to understand the full scale and detail that went into the Nazis' lust for the treasure of other countries. Instead, mentions of the program are included briefly throughout the book, making it difficult for the reader to truly comprehend the time and effort the Nazis put into it.
The other big problem is that Edsel is bad at writing organizational history. "Monuments Men" is kinda supposed to be an organizational history. The beginning, where he talks about how the MFAA began, is okay. But throughout the book he repeatedly talks about how the MFAA were shorthanded, didn't have assistants, etc. But then suddenly assistants start showing up, and by the end of the book we find out there were hundreds of MFAA! I know the book focuses on Western Europe and that there were Monuments Men on other fronts. But Edsel does a poor job with following the full story of the MFAA.
Another issue is that Edsel makes up dialogue and internal monologues. If this was limited in nature, I could forgive it--after all, Edsel intended the book to be for a public, rather academic, audience. But there's just too much of it in the book, and it makes me question the veracity of many sections focusing on the characters. It's impossible for the reader to know where a characters' notes and diary entries ended and Edsel's imagination began.
Despite these many flaws, I still couldn't put down the book because the story of the art was so fascinating, and I am looking forward to the movie. But here is my suggestion, dear readers: if you want to read a book on this topic that includes dialogue and focuses on the American soldiers, read "Monuments Men." If you want to read a real professional history of the Nazi theft program and efforts to recover the art, that has a broader narrative and includes Russia, Italy, and other countries as well, read Lynn Nicholas' [b:The Rape of Europa.] Nicholas conducted extensive archival research, and her book is a detailed history of this subject. But it may be more detailed than some would like to read. So it's nice to have a choice!
It boils down to this: Robert Edsel is just not a good writer. He's bad at creating memorable portraits of his characters. I've got a good memory, especially for names and characters, but even at the end of the book I was still having trouble keeping the soldiers straight, because Edsel did a poor job of showing us his characters. And that was a problem not just with the American soldiers, but especially with the Nazis.
It's fine to include a little morality in your book, especially when it comes to WWII and Nazis. But that shouldn't come at the cost of telling the reader the story. Unfortunately, Edsel chose to *tell* the reader that Nazis were bad instead of *showing* the reader. For example, he calls one German art scholar "corrupted" and "vile" - but never fully explains the scholar's role in the art theft program. Ernst Kaltenbrunner is an important figure in the history of the Altaussee mine, but he gets just a few paragraphs, and those are judgmental rather than explanatory.
Part of the big problem of the book is that it skimps on the details of the Nazi art theft program. If Edsel had included just one detailed chapter on the program, it would have been very helpful to the reader to understand the full scale and detail that went into the Nazis' lust for the treasure of other countries. Instead, mentions of the program are included briefly throughout the book, making it difficult for the reader to truly comprehend the time and effort the Nazis put into it.
The other big problem is that Edsel is bad at writing organizational history. "Monuments Men" is kinda supposed to be an organizational history. The beginning, where he talks about how the MFAA began, is okay. But throughout the book he repeatedly talks about how the MFAA were shorthanded, didn't have assistants, etc. But then suddenly assistants start showing up, and by the end of the book we find out there were hundreds of MFAA! I know the book focuses on Western Europe and that there were Monuments Men on other fronts. But Edsel does a poor job with following the full story of the MFAA.
Another issue is that Edsel makes up dialogue and internal monologues. If this was limited in nature, I could forgive it--after all, Edsel intended the book to be for a public, rather academic, audience. But there's just too much of it in the book, and it makes me question the veracity of many sections focusing on the characters. It's impossible for the reader to know where a characters' notes and diary entries ended and Edsel's imagination began.
Despite these many flaws, I still couldn't put down the book because the story of the art was so fascinating, and I am looking forward to the movie. But here is my suggestion, dear readers: if you want to read a book on this topic that includes dialogue and focuses on the American soldiers, read "Monuments Men." If you want to read a real professional history of the Nazi theft program and efforts to recover the art, that has a broader narrative and includes Russia, Italy, and other countries as well, read Lynn Nicholas' [b:The Rape of Europa.] Nicholas conducted extensive archival research, and her book is a detailed history of this subject. But it may be more detailed than some would like to read. So it's nice to have a choice!