Take a photo of a barcode or cover
611 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
611 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
Sometimes, when I read a book, I fly through it, devouring it quickly. Sometimes, though, I meander. I started the Monuments Men in the Autumn of 2013 determined to read it before the movie came out in February.... I finished it today. It wasn't the quality of the writing, or lack of interest in the story... I just needed time to meander. Now, finally, I can watch the movie. :)
Great and unbelievable story, but a little difficult for me to follow as an audio because there are lots of characters, facts and locations that are naturally part of a complex war story.
Outstanding story of how this group of people worked tirelessly to find and preserve the cultural legacy of Europe. I'm in awe of what they did with the few resources they had to do it.
Excellent book about a subject I knew very little about. Fascinating.
I really enjoyed this book! I appreciated that Edsel spent time with each of the characters, following everyone who deserved recognition. With that being said, there was a lot of jumping around and sifting through information to figure out what was going on, so be focused and be ready to really ingest all of the information. I would have loved to follow one character more centrally - since the book began and ended with Ettlinger, I think I would have loved to see his story snake through the book more. Overall, I recommend, especially if you're an art history fan!
This book was fascinating the further along I read. The beginning is slow, but picks up the pace nicely about midway through. more scholarly than pleasure reading so it depends on what you are looking to get out of the book.
I thought the subject would be pretty interesting but I found the actually story rather boring. It did feel some what cumbersome to get through and at times i felt the author went into to much detail and at other times not enough. Not bad but not awesome.
I haven't actually finished this one. While it is a topic that is a fascinating part of history, it just isn't holding my interest right now. Might finish it in the near future.
Well, I admit, the only reason I wanted to read this book is because the cast for the movie looks great (hello George Clooney and Matt Damon). I was half way through this book and still waiting for something interesting to happen. It was at that point on read some of the movie reviews online...all terrible. And so, the book goes back the library...I won't be finishing it.
This book details the little-known and therefore rarely recognized Monuments Men, who were part of a special force in the army whose main mission was to locate and rescue pieces of art that had been stolen by Hitler and his commanders.
I knew that Hitler was a megalomaniac. I mean, you can't try to take over the world (literally) without being one. But I had no idea how that mania extended to artwork. He fancied himself an artist, and therefore wanted all of Europe's treasures for himself. He sent out a decree basically saying that anything deemed to be of worth to the German culture (anything created by a German, in Germany, or with anything that seemed to be Germanic in nature) belonged to the Third Reich. The Nazis stashed precious works of art by the likes of Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael, Monet, and so on in salt mines, hundreds of feet below ground. They also used Neuschwanstein Castle as a repository. They stole and looted hundreds of thousands of pieces of art, thousands of which are even now still missing or assumed destroyed.
The absolute immensity of the task of the Monuments Men was unbelievable. But they did it. They rescued invaluable works of culture and restored them to their countries of origin, including Germany. There was so much information in this book, and I could go on about how interesting and terribly sad it all was, but I'll refrain. Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this aspect of World War II, and I will now definitely have to go see the movie that's coming out next month.
I knew that Hitler was a megalomaniac. I mean, you can't try to take over the world (literally) without being one. But I had no idea how that mania extended to artwork. He fancied himself an artist, and therefore wanted all of Europe's treasures for himself. He sent out a decree basically saying that anything deemed to be of worth to the German culture (anything created by a German, in Germany, or with anything that seemed to be Germanic in nature) belonged to the Third Reich. The Nazis stashed precious works of art by the likes of Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael, Monet, and so on in salt mines, hundreds of feet below ground. They also used Neuschwanstein Castle as a repository. They stole and looted hundreds of thousands of pieces of art, thousands of which are even now still missing or assumed destroyed.
The absolute immensity of the task of the Monuments Men was unbelievable. But they did it. They rescued invaluable works of culture and restored them to their countries of origin, including Germany. There was so much information in this book, and I could go on about how interesting and terribly sad it all was, but I'll refrain. Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this aspect of World War II, and I will now definitely have to go see the movie that's coming out next month.