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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
The story of the Monuments Men is very interesting and important in terms of the amount of work they did to preserve our cultural heritage across Europe and America. Yet, this book struggles to portray a coherent narrative. There are interesting parts that highlight certain people such as the French female spy on the museum, the discovery of the treasures in the mines. But overall, it was hard to be connected to the characters and tell them apart, hard to follow the time line, and too often way too in the weeds to keep the story going. If you are willing to slog through minutiae, you might enjoy parts of this book. Otherwise, just go see the movie.
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
I read/listened to this because I wanted to see the movie and I dislike watching movies that were books before reading the book. Now I am kicking myself- but how was I to know. So- if you are thinking of doing the same thing go ahead and see the movie.
This was good. However, the writing had some issues and I think I would have benefited from watching the film first in order to have had a framework to hang this on. I had a hard time keeping some of the people straight (even ones who's names I heard over and over) it was easier to keep the artwork straight than the characters (not a good sign) I'm sure the issues were exacerbated by my listening to this but I'm glad I listened to it because I may not have finished "reading" it. Even though it followed a timeline it just felt really repetitive.
Fortunately this is a topic that I am interested in... but if you're one of those people who thinks, "What's the big deal about saving these monuments, one piece of art is pretty much like another, and ultimately it's not worth peoples lives to save it... etc., etc." you should probably give this a pass. Actually- if you kinda like art but you feel like that on any level you might want to skip this because I'm leaving this book caring a little bit less. I'm a bit fickle- some works of art are worth it and some aren't and you can't play this game that way. It's kind of an all or nothing sort of deal. I mean- you don't show up in some village and say, "Actually, I don't love this tapestry. So long!" I'm rambling... goodbye.
This was good. However, the writing had some issues and I think I would have benefited from watching the film first in order to have had a framework to hang this on. I had a hard time keeping some of the people straight (even ones who's names I heard over and over) it was easier to keep the artwork straight than the characters (not a good sign) I'm sure the issues were exacerbated by my listening to this but I'm glad I listened to it because I may not have finished "reading" it. Even though it followed a timeline it just felt really repetitive.
Fortunately this is a topic that I am interested in... but if you're one of those people who thinks, "What's the big deal about saving these monuments, one piece of art is pretty much like another, and ultimately it's not worth peoples lives to save it... etc., etc." you should probably give this a pass. Actually- if you kinda like art but you feel like that on any level you might want to skip this because I'm leaving this book caring a little bit less. I'm a bit fickle- some works of art are worth it and some aren't and you can't play this game that way. It's kind of an all or nothing sort of deal. I mean- you don't show up in some village and say, "Actually, I don't love this tapestry. So long!" I'm rambling... goodbye.
The story of the Monuments Men is fascinating - a small group of men, American and British, assigned by their militaries in the early 1940s to the task of locating and preserving the cultural treasures of Europe that had been looted or confiscated by the Nazis. The individual determination and occasional heroism of these men, and the women and men who assisted them in their work on the continent, is quite remarkable. The book is not particularly well written - rather too historically dry - but the story is strong enough to carry itself, complete with surprise rescues and last minute coincidences that led to success, and some tragic losses of both the men and the art treasures.
I watched this movie on a plane home from a recent trip and really wanted to read the book. It's long, but well worth the read. It was written like a story, not in the military strategy way that some of these war history books are written. I really enjoyed learning about the struggle to save these great masterpieces. And it was also special for me to be able to read about the battles that my grandfather fought in. He was not saving the world's art, but the Monuments Men were fighting along side the soldiers who were fighting to liberate Europe, so many if the battles he was in were described here as well. Great read!
History
This book is a history of the important work done by the monuments men in WWII. If you enjoy a historical account of a largely ignored, but important cultural endeavor, you will like it. If you are looking for lots of adventure and action, this is not for you. I enjoyed it for the history and preservation of pieces that could have been lost forever if not for the valiant efforts of these unlikely heroes.
This book is a history of the important work done by the monuments men in WWII. If you enjoy a historical account of a largely ignored, but important cultural endeavor, you will like it. If you are looking for lots of adventure and action, this is not for you. I enjoyed it for the history and preservation of pieces that could have been lost forever if not for the valiant efforts of these unlikely heroes.
I really shouldn't have read this immediately after reading an Erik Larson book, as it suffers by comparison. I tried not to do it, but there are differences in caliber of writing.
I found Edsel to be repetitive in words and phrasing. I don't need you to describe the character or the characteristics of the men or Rose Vallard, past their first introduction. Stop telling me James Rorimer was a bulldog, show me the tenacious actions. And do not put the men's thoughts in italics. Are these sited somewhere?, I will think, Or is Edsel imagining how he might have felt? It's really distracting.
But obviously the source material is the star of this book, and you cannot deny the amazing work the MFAA managed to pull off.
I wish there was more of a lasting legacy of the "unit," that saving museums, fine art, and archives was a priority of the US military.
I found Edsel to be repetitive in words and phrasing. I don't need you to describe the character or the characteristics of the men or Rose Vallard, past their first introduction. Stop telling me James Rorimer was a bulldog, show me the tenacious actions. And do not put the men's thoughts in italics. Are these sited somewhere?, I will think, Or is Edsel imagining how he might have felt? It's really distracting.
But obviously the source material is the star of this book, and you cannot deny the amazing work the MFAA managed to pull off.
I wish there was more of a lasting legacy of the "unit," that saving museums, fine art, and archives was a priority of the US military.
This really was a terrific read. I cannot imagine a mind so diabolical that it would rather destroy wonderful cultural pieces than to see them fall into "enemy" hands. I'm glad the Allied army put men into place to find and save the art many of us know and love.
As a person who doesn't know very much about the world of art and architecture, at times it was difficult to connect with this story. If I had prior knowledge of what the Ghent Altarpiece was, for example, and knew the size, scope and history of it, than I would have had a stronger emotional reaction to learning about the drastic steps the Nazis took to secure it for their post WWII Aryan world. That is only one example of priceless art the Nazis stole and hid, there were hundreds of thousand more.
What did strike me was how far Hitler and other Nazi officials went to ensure that they would get what they wanted out of the existing world. The Nazis were masters at taking what they wanted from people, whether it be their worldly possessions, their homes, their humanity or their lives. They were methodical and precise in their fanatical quest for power. The Holocaust strived to take away any material possession that represented faith, humanity, or any culture that was not a representation of the Aryan ideal. The Monuments Men who helped put a stop to this are true heroes.
The flow of the book felt bumpy at times. For long stretches the story seemed to stand completely still and had a lack of momentum. Meticulously researched? Yes. Engaging writing style? Only sometimes. In the prologue the author states how much information he had to cut out to make this book only 500 pages, but it almost seems like he could have taken out the repetitive storytelling to move the the story along.
What did strike me was how far Hitler and other Nazi officials went to ensure that they would get what they wanted out of the existing world. The Nazis were masters at taking what they wanted from people, whether it be their worldly possessions, their homes, their humanity or their lives. They were methodical and precise in their fanatical quest for power. The Holocaust strived to take away any material possession that represented faith, humanity, or any culture that was not a representation of the Aryan ideal. The Monuments Men who helped put a stop to this are true heroes.
The flow of the book felt bumpy at times. For long stretches the story seemed to stand completely still and had a lack of momentum. Meticulously researched? Yes. Engaging writing style? Only sometimes. In the prologue the author states how much information he had to cut out to make this book only 500 pages, but it almost seems like he could have taken out the repetitive storytelling to move the the story along.