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ehays84 's review for:
This was a really excellent book that captured two elements of World War II which you don't typically hear too much about, and captured them with rigorous scholarship and a compelling style. I haven't looked at other reviews, but I am not sure why it doesn't get a higher rating. I did watch the movie years ago, and with all of the great actors in it, that was fun in its own way, but this story was really way too complex to capture in a movie, so I am kind of glad I hardly remembered anything from the movie when I read this.
The first of these answers the question: what happened to all of the art work that the Nazis stole? If you want to know the answer to that question, read this book. And the way that the author does it makes it so much more readable: he tells it through the personal stories of several of the key monuments men (Allied soldiers whose job it was to track down and preserve anything of cultural value in war-torn Europe). The letters home interspersed through the book really give the story a sense of emotion and a sense of reality that would not be there otherwise. I mean, these men saw the absolute best (people of various nationalities working together to preserve culture and art so as to lay a foundation for rebuilding Europe after the war) and worst of things (radical Nazis doing their utmost to destroy anything they couldn't keep or concentration camps to name but two) during their time there. The book also gives you an inside look at the largest Nazi caches of art and treasures, including both how they were found and how people (including some people who were officially members of the Nazi Party) worked together to prevent the most radical of Nazis from destroying them near the end of the war. The historiography surrounding the Altaussee Mine was particularly interesting.
The second key element answers the question: what was it like for American troops to be there in northern Europe from June 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945? Basically, the monuments men could only go where the Allied armies (mostly American) took back territory from the Germans in Western Europe, so this was a helpful walk through of some of the key points. I mean, you typically only hear about D-Day, then skip to the Battle of the Bulge, and then skip to V-E Day. There is obviously a lot more to it than that, and this book fills that gap quite well. For example, the void of power in much of southern Germany as the war neared its end presents a very interesting scenario--what will people do when no one is really in charge? As with everything in war, it brings out both the best and the worst of people. Readers get a fly on the wall view of places like Paris, Bruges, Normandy, Metz, or Salzburg as the war nears its close in Europe.
It's tough to sum up this book because it is so comprehensive, and I am leaving out a lot in this review, but I am also trying to avoid spoilers. If you like reading history at all, not just World War II history, this book is for you. And if you like the art and culture of Europe at all, this book is also for you. For me, this book was a merger of a lot of interests, and I can't really recommend it highly enough.
The first of these answers the question: what happened to all of the art work that the Nazis stole? If you want to know the answer to that question, read this book. And the way that the author does it makes it so much more readable: he tells it through the personal stories of several of the key monuments men (Allied soldiers whose job it was to track down and preserve anything of cultural value in war-torn Europe). The letters home interspersed through the book really give the story a sense of emotion and a sense of reality that would not be there otherwise. I mean, these men saw the absolute best (people of various nationalities working together to preserve culture and art so as to lay a foundation for rebuilding Europe after the war) and worst of things (radical Nazis doing their utmost to destroy anything they couldn't keep or concentration camps to name but two) during their time there. The book also gives you an inside look at the largest Nazi caches of art and treasures, including both how they were found and how people (including some people who were officially members of the Nazi Party) worked together to prevent the most radical of Nazis from destroying them near the end of the war. The historiography surrounding the Altaussee Mine was particularly interesting.
The second key element answers the question: what was it like for American troops to be there in northern Europe from June 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945? Basically, the monuments men could only go where the Allied armies (mostly American) took back territory from the Germans in Western Europe, so this was a helpful walk through of some of the key points. I mean, you typically only hear about D-Day, then skip to the Battle of the Bulge, and then skip to V-E Day. There is obviously a lot more to it than that, and this book fills that gap quite well. For example, the void of power in much of southern Germany as the war neared its end presents a very interesting scenario--what will people do when no one is really in charge? As with everything in war, it brings out both the best and the worst of people. Readers get a fly on the wall view of places like Paris, Bruges, Normandy, Metz, or Salzburg as the war nears its close in Europe.
It's tough to sum up this book because it is so comprehensive, and I am leaving out a lot in this review, but I am also trying to avoid spoilers. If you like reading history at all, not just World War II history, this book is for you. And if you like the art and culture of Europe at all, this book is also for you. For me, this book was a merger of a lot of interests, and I can't really recommend it highly enough.