A review by asab27
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel

3.0

I did like this book overall, but I struggled with what to rate it. The story it tells is amazing and one that everyone should know about. It brings up interesting questions of where the line is drawn between the lives of humans and timeless cultural treasures--between what destruction is necessary and what would help each side get ahead. This book exposes another horrible side to the Nazis, that they didn't just want to kill people they found inferior, they wanted to exterminate their culture and all physical records that they existed. However, the book's format results in a story that can be a little difficult to follow. There are so many people in the story that it is impossible to keep them all straight. If you take this book as little vignettes showing the most important events without trying to keep multiple consistent narratives flowing I think it will be easier to follow. This is an important topic to learn about so I think the book is still worth reading through any structure issues. I think a lot of the problems with the structure and flow are inescapable unless the author only focused on one individual Monuments Men narrative, so it works with what it can well. I would also suggest the excellent documentary the Rape of Europa (on Netflix currently) which does an excellent job of covering this topic and is a project of one of the collaborators on this book.