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615 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
615 reviews for:
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Robert M. Edsel
3.73 AVERAGE
Not particularly well-written, but the material is utterly fascinating from beginning to end.
Interesting story. The writing itself was clear and well-paced, though nothing earth shattering.
I really enjoyed reading about World War Two through the lens of the monuments men. I appreciated hearing the stories of a division that since the end of the war has not often had the chance to share the meaningful work they did. As a few dozen men and women scattered across every army division in dozens of counties, few of the monuments men knew each other well or at all. Without allegiance to one brigade or even army group there was little collective history of this group until Robert Edsel delved into the research. So many of the men and women had already passed away by the time he did the research and so they live on in their letters home and the commendations of the soldiers they worked with.
I knew that the Nazis had had a full out art looting operation and I had read previously in books like Ann Michael's fugitive pieces about the use of this artwork to prove the Aryan case for superiority (or in other cases, such as at Biskupin, to destroy ancient artifacts that disproved it) but until this book I was not aware of the extent of the looting done just for personal aggrandizement. And I was surprised to feel a tiny amount of empathy for hitler's sad dream of turning his hometown of Linz into a center of German culture. The image of him hiding in the bunker for weeks staring at his scale model of his plans for the town will stick with me.
I knew that the Nazis had had a full out art looting operation and I had read previously in books like Ann Michael's fugitive pieces about the use of this artwork to prove the Aryan case for superiority (or in other cases, such as at Biskupin, to destroy ancient artifacts that disproved it) but until this book I was not aware of the extent of the looting done just for personal aggrandizement. And I was surprised to feel a tiny amount of empathy for hitler's sad dream of turning his hometown of Linz into a center of German culture. The image of him hiding in the bunker for weeks staring at his scale model of his plans for the town will stick with me.
Important story to read. I felt so much more the importance of art and culture, and of preserving those things, while reading this book. Edsel did a fantastic job with the pursuit of art during a war, rather than a war with a little art as the side story.
Picked this up to read before the movie. Result - this is a very good book. Just when it starts to slow, the story of Altaussee starts to build to an exciting finish - more so because I didn't know this story going in. The chapters are in general fairly short, except for the final "where are they now" chapter. Definitely looking forward to the film, and inspired to seek out Frankenheimer's The Train (based on a book by Rose Valland) and other supplementary materials. Recommended!
Very, very detailed (that was sometimes hard to get through), but the story is powerful. Also read Rescuing Da Vinci as a companion piece and it was a great supplement that added a visual component to many of the facts.
I am torn by giving this book just a 3 star rating. The story itself is fascinating and very well researched. There were times though that I found the book really slow and had no motivation to keep reading. Overall though, this is a wonderful account of the Allied efforts to recover what they could of the artwork that was stolen by the Nazis. I have a feeling that this will be an excellent movie and I can't wait to see it when it come out.
The true story of a group of men and women that try to save the art and cultural heritage of Europe during world ward 2. Better than the movie of course :-)