Reviews - The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

611 reviews for:

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

In history class, when learning about WWII, I had never heard of the Monuments Men. Over the years I have heard stories of Nazi looting, and museums hiding artwork, but nothing about the small group of Allied soldiers responsible for saving history. This book follows six of the men from the landing in Normandy (June 1944) through the German surrender in Austria (May 1945). The Monuments Men had a tough job - they had no resources, no supplies, and little authority. There were so few of them, they worked mostly alone over a large geographic area. And they were charged with saving what monuments and art they could.

The book really details the destruction the war caused, especially in Germany - once the allies made it that far. Starting in France, one of the great mysteries the men faced was, where had all the art gone? What had the Nazis done with it? They took from museums, and they also took from private collections, especially from the Jewish owners. They took paintings, sculptures, antiques. The Monuments Men were tasked with finding and saving this art, and then returning their finds to the originating country to be returned to rightful owners. They also did their best to save historic buildings from total destruction.

Very interesting account of WWII and the allied effort to save mankind's history. It's one of those stories that was all but forgotten in the aftermath of the war, as the world learned of the true horrors the Nazis committed to their fellow man.

This book concentrates on France, Germany, and Austria. The author tried to fit the Monuments Men's effort in Italy in the book as well, but the result was too long. Mr. Edsel will be writing a follow-up book detailing the work in Italy, which I look forward to reading.

lynn63's review against another edition

4.0

I was just traveling and had a chance to see the Ghent altarpiece so that made this book all the more appealing to me. It reads like a novel.

maryt0308's review against another edition

4.0

This book is well worth reading. There were many dates and places that are difficult for me to remember, but ultimately the story of this small group of MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives) men is very moving and needed to be told. They worked tirelessly to retrieve, repair, and return hundreds of thousands of works of art to their rightful countries of origin and their owners after the art was stolen by Hitler and other Nazis in the name of greed. Some of these Nazis were even determined that, if they were to lose World War 2, they would destroy the art rather than return it. Had the MFAA men not been so dedicated, an enormous amount of European culture would have been lost forever.

baba_yaga_librarian's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked the story. I was fascinated by the actual facts. But the organization and narrative of the book itself was a bit off. It was hard to really stick with any one character or "plotline." I am excited to see what is done with the movie version.

jkbailey's review against another edition

3.0

This book tells a fascinating story about a little known aspect of World War II. I honestly had never thought much about how so many great cultural works survived the war, and had no clue Hitler was scouting out major artworks before the war even began. My only criticism, however, was that the book seemed to jump back and forth between people and subjects a lot. While extremely interesting, I think the author could have organized the content much better.

lucy1375's review against another edition

4.0

I am a big fan of non-fiction WWII stories. I am always floored by just how crazy the Nazis were. This book is a fascinating look at the amount of culture that could have been lost during WWII if not for a small group of these Monuments Men--part of the armed forces who traveled to save monuments and other historic buildings en route to fight the Germans, plus worked tirelessly to find artworks stolen by the Nazis. Truly a part of history that isn't discussed much, but such a vast amount of cultural objects could have been lost if not for this group.