Take a photo of a barcode or cover
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
A very well-written book on a subject I have long found interesting. Quite a page-turner for a nonfiction book too. Glad I got through it before the movie comes out.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
The actual content of the book couldn't live up to the subtitle and jacket description. The book was more boring than it was an exciting treasure hunt.
The author does a good job of bringing the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives group (MFAA) back into the national conversation. They did great work. And the U.S. military could use a standing group like that (it sure would have saved Baghdad's Iraq Museum).
I don't think the actual story was told well and feel like it could have either been a much longer book with a lot more detail or else a much shorter book that focused more on the actual action (such as it was). Instead, the book was left at an awkward length with too much detail for an exciting book and too little detail for a comprehensive book.
The author does a good job of bringing the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives group (MFAA) back into the national conversation. They did great work. And the U.S. military could use a standing group like that (it sure would have saved Baghdad's Iraq Museum).
I don't think the actual story was told well and feel like it could have either been a much longer book with a lot more detail or else a much shorter book that focused more on the actual action (such as it was). Instead, the book was left at an awkward length with too much detail for an exciting book and too little detail for a comprehensive book.
As someone fascinated by both art history and WWII, I found this book to be particularly satisfying. I don't know how, but I'd never considered how much art was at stake during the war. Between the indiscriminate aerial bombardments suffered by large swaths of Europe and the greed of the Nazis, much of western civilization's art history was at risk. That the men and women of the MFAA and those who assisted them were able to save as much as they did is genuinely incredible, especially given how little help they got from the military bureaucracy. The fact that their efforts had been all but forgotten is a tragedy that this book helps rectify.
I really enjoyed the story, the research, and learning about what happened; however, the writing style was not my favorite, and I don't think it did much for the book. The authors attempted to present it as a novel, with introspection and inner narration by the characters, which was just weird, especially since they couldn't help themselves from editorializing on many occasions. The super-short chapters jumping from place to place and character to character were also very distracting and did not do the story much justice. This whole history is genuinely fascinating, the authors did excellent research and clearly cared about the story; this book was well worth the read. I just wish it could have received different treatment.
LOVE the stories Edsel wove together. A history lesson that anyone can appreciate, and should.
http://cannonballread5.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/faintingviolets-cbr5-review-11-the-monuments-men-allied-heroes-nazi-thieves-and-the-greatest-treasure-hunt-in-history-by-robert-edsel/
http://cannonballread5.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/faintingviolets-cbr5-review-11-the-monuments-men-allied-heroes-nazi-thieves-and-the-greatest-treasure-hunt-in-history-by-robert-edsel/
I loved the movie of this and the book is a great read too. A fascinating tale which provides a different view of the history of World War II.
The history of World War II is so varied and multi-faceted. There's always another aspect to consider, another story to learn, another battle to deconstruct. In the past few years I've read dozens of books set right before, during or right after World War II and they all tell such astoundingly different, and astoundingly human, stories.
The Monuments Men is another to add to the list. A small handful of art historians, restorationists, and scholars volunteered to find, rescue and protect the priceless works of art that the Nazis are determined to steal, appropriate, or destroy. This effort "marked the first time an army fought a war while comprehensively attempting to mitigate cultural damage." These valiant men (and a few women, too) fought with inadequate supplies, personnel, and transportation and were largely successful. It's impossible to calculate what the loss to the cultural and artistic history of Europe and the world would have been without them.
The officers of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Artifacts section were tasked with several overwhelming jobs. They were to be on the front lines, advising the commanding officers which areas and buildings to avoid destroying or damaging. They were to record the condition of monuments after battles, supervise any emergency repairs and see that no further damage occurred. They were to interview local magistrates and members of the art community to track down pieces of art that had been taken by the Nazis. And then they had to oversee the care, repair, and transportation of any found items back to their original owners, a job that took six years after the end of the war! And for the most part, the Monuments Men worked on their own or with a single partner from the MFAA, covering thousands of square miles.
To read the rest of this review, visit Build Enough Bookshelves.
The Monuments Men is another to add to the list. A small handful of art historians, restorationists, and scholars volunteered to find, rescue and protect the priceless works of art that the Nazis are determined to steal, appropriate, or destroy. This effort "marked the first time an army fought a war while comprehensively attempting to mitigate cultural damage." These valiant men (and a few women, too) fought with inadequate supplies, personnel, and transportation and were largely successful. It's impossible to calculate what the loss to the cultural and artistic history of Europe and the world would have been without them.
The officers of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Artifacts section were tasked with several overwhelming jobs. They were to be on the front lines, advising the commanding officers which areas and buildings to avoid destroying or damaging. They were to record the condition of monuments after battles, supervise any emergency repairs and see that no further damage occurred. They were to interview local magistrates and members of the art community to track down pieces of art that had been taken by the Nazis. And then they had to oversee the care, repair, and transportation of any found items back to their original owners, a job that took six years after the end of the war! And for the most part, the Monuments Men worked on their own or with a single partner from the MFAA, covering thousands of square miles.
To read the rest of this review, visit Build Enough Bookshelves.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
It is well known that I’m a history lover but I think this book is well worth anyone’s time. I listened to via the library. I’m trying to get my hand on a copy to see the pictures. The work of returning looted art work continues today.
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
The Monuments Men came to my attention during one of the most awesome courses I took in college, "Indiana Jones in History," which wasn't about Indiana Jones so much as it was about historiography--that is, who gets to tell history and how they form those narratives. As part of the course, we read The Rape of Europa, which is about the looting of art, sculptures, etc. from locations all across Europe during World War II, as well as the efforts to protect and preserve those same cultural items and to retrieve the ones that were stolen. It was interesting, and the Monuments Men factored into it, and I consequently didn't really have any interest in reading The Monuments Men because I figured The Rape of Europa had already covered it all. And then, of course, The Monuments Men became a movie. I still didn't really have any interest in reading it...until the Popsugar Reading Challenge threw out "A book that was made into a movie." While I had other books that had become movies, I'd also picked up The Monuments Men when it was on sale on Kindle, so I figured this was as good a time as ever to read it. And? Well, it was much, much better than The Rape of Europa.
Don't get me wrong. Europa was good. But it was a very academic work, one that was written for more of an art history audience. It seemed to rely heavily on the reader knowing the names of tons of artists and tons of pieces of art, and its scope meant that it went from place to place very quickly. The Monuments Men also jumped from place to place, but Edsel did this very purposefully to build tension and cover a select handful of people rather than to just cover as much territory as humanly possible. Edsel also focuses exclusively on the work of the Monuments Men in the areas of France, Germany, and Austria, mostly from D-Day onward, and the recovery efforts of the few who made it into the Monuments Men's ranks. By restraining his scope, Edsel manages to make this a narrative history that, while it's well-noted and researched, still manages to be engaging and readable to someone who isn't totally versed in either WWII history or art. Instead of producing laundry lists of art and artists, Edsel uses a few well-known artists (Vermeer, Michelangelo) and a few iconic pieces of art (The Astronomer) to illustrate his points and keep a continuous narrative. Consequently, the book is informative while also reading like a gripping war story.
I had two main complaints about this book. The first was the chapter length. Edsel's chapters vary wildly in length; some are only a handful of pages long, taking less than five minutes to read. Others are more than four times that long. While none of the chapters were bad, the differences in length could be frustrating. There were many times that I wouldn't start a new chapter because I just didn't have time for it--though if it had been the length of the other chapters, I could have read two or three more. The other complaint was that, at the end, Edsel suddenly seems to switch from telling a story to solving a mystery. I didn't necessarily mind the mystery-solving aspect, because most history books do revolve around an argument that tries to "solve" some aspect of history. However, in most cases, the entire book revolves around building and supporting an argument; any narratives are secondary to the argument. In this case, it was the other way around. Most of the book was a narrative, and the argument came out of nowhere at the end, which just seemed...odd.
Okay, there was a third thing, and that was that Edsel suddenly took a moralistic approach at the end. World War II was horrible on so many fronts. We know that. (Well, most of us do. There are certainly Holocaust deniers out there, but I doubt they'd be reading this to begin with.) Edsel's random preachy moment at the end, about one of the Monuments Men recovering a painting that he, as a German Jew, had never been allowed to see when it was on display, came across as rather abrupt, and it would have been best if it had been either left out or worked in a bit more subtly...which would have been hard, because the Monuments Man in question really wasn't even involved for most of the story, and instead seemed to have been incorporated only for this purpose. It was weird.
Despite the rather jarring bits at the end which didn't seem to properly incorporated, I did enjoy this. The narrative style worked well, and the book as a whole was engaging. I definitely read on later than I should have on several occasions, because it was just so good. I might even read this one again. Maybe. We'll see.
4 stars out of 5.
The Monuments Men came to my attention during one of the most awesome courses I took in college, "Indiana Jones in History," which wasn't about Indiana Jones so much as it was about historiography--that is, who gets to tell history and how they form those narratives. As part of the course, we read The Rape of Europa, which is about the looting of art, sculptures, etc. from locations all across Europe during World War II, as well as the efforts to protect and preserve those same cultural items and to retrieve the ones that were stolen. It was interesting, and the Monuments Men factored into it, and I consequently didn't really have any interest in reading The Monuments Men because I figured The Rape of Europa had already covered it all. And then, of course, The Monuments Men became a movie. I still didn't really have any interest in reading it...until the Popsugar Reading Challenge threw out "A book that was made into a movie." While I had other books that had become movies, I'd also picked up The Monuments Men when it was on sale on Kindle, so I figured this was as good a time as ever to read it. And? Well, it was much, much better than The Rape of Europa.
Don't get me wrong. Europa was good. But it was a very academic work, one that was written for more of an art history audience. It seemed to rely heavily on the reader knowing the names of tons of artists and tons of pieces of art, and its scope meant that it went from place to place very quickly. The Monuments Men also jumped from place to place, but Edsel did this very purposefully to build tension and cover a select handful of people rather than to just cover as much territory as humanly possible. Edsel also focuses exclusively on the work of the Monuments Men in the areas of France, Germany, and Austria, mostly from D-Day onward, and the recovery efforts of the few who made it into the Monuments Men's ranks. By restraining his scope, Edsel manages to make this a narrative history that, while it's well-noted and researched, still manages to be engaging and readable to someone who isn't totally versed in either WWII history or art. Instead of producing laundry lists of art and artists, Edsel uses a few well-known artists (Vermeer, Michelangelo) and a few iconic pieces of art (The Astronomer) to illustrate his points and keep a continuous narrative. Consequently, the book is informative while also reading like a gripping war story.
I had two main complaints about this book. The first was the chapter length. Edsel's chapters vary wildly in length; some are only a handful of pages long, taking less than five minutes to read. Others are more than four times that long. While none of the chapters were bad, the differences in length could be frustrating. There were many times that I wouldn't start a new chapter because I just didn't have time for it--though if it had been the length of the other chapters, I could have read two or three more. The other complaint was that, at the end, Edsel suddenly seems to switch from telling a story to solving a mystery. I didn't necessarily mind the mystery-solving aspect, because most history books do revolve around an argument that tries to "solve" some aspect of history. However, in most cases, the entire book revolves around building and supporting an argument; any narratives are secondary to the argument. In this case, it was the other way around. Most of the book was a narrative, and the argument came out of nowhere at the end, which just seemed...odd.
Okay, there was a third thing, and that was that Edsel suddenly took a moralistic approach at the end. World War II was horrible on so many fronts. We know that. (Well, most of us do. There are certainly Holocaust deniers out there, but I doubt they'd be reading this to begin with.) Edsel's random preachy moment at the end, about one of the Monuments Men recovering a painting that he, as a German Jew, had never been allowed to see when it was on display, came across as rather abrupt, and it would have been best if it had been either left out or worked in a bit more subtly...which would have been hard, because the Monuments Man in question really wasn't even involved for most of the story, and instead seemed to have been incorporated only for this purpose. It was weird.
Despite the rather jarring bits at the end which didn't seem to properly incorporated, I did enjoy this. The narrative style worked well, and the book as a whole was engaging. I definitely read on later than I should have on several occasions, because it was just so good. I might even read this one again. Maybe. We'll see.
4 stars out of 5.