The Monuments Men : Allied heroes, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history

Title:

Author:

Summary:

At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

Edition:

Large print edition.

Contents:

The mission -- Northern Europe -- Germany -- The void -- The aftermath.

Physical Description:

755 pages (large print) : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Genre:

Large type books.

Personal Subject:

Balfour, Ronald Edmond, 1904-1945.

Ettlinger, Harry.

Hancock, Walker Kirtland, 1901-1998.

Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-1996.

Rorimer, James J. (James Joseph), 1905-1966.

Stout, George L. (George Leslie)

Valland, Rose.

Corporate Subject:

Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section -- History.

Subject Term:

Art thefts -- Germany -- History -- 20th century.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Confiscations and contributions -- Germany.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war

World War, 1939-1945 -- Destruction and pillage -- Europe.

Art treasures in war -- Europe -- History -- 20th century.

Cultural property -- Protection -- Europe -- History -- 20th century.

Author(s):

Witter, Bret.

Publisher:

Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning,

Publication Date:

2014

2009

ISBN:

9781410471222

Publication Information:

Waterville, Maine : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2014.

Call Number:

LP 940.53 EDSEL

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002890930	Large Print Nonfiction	940.53 EDSEL	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

A New York Times Bestseller As Adolf Hitler attempted to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he would collect and the "degenerate" works he would destroy. Behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, and art historians raced against time to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.

Author Notes

Robert M. Edsel was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1956. He is the author of several non-fiction books including Rescuing Da Vinci, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, and Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis. The Monuments Men was adapted into a film starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett. Edsel is the founder and president of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, which received the 2007 National Humanities Medal under President George W. Bush.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

WWII was the most destructive war in history and caused the greatest dislocation of cultural artifacts. Hundreds of thousands of items remain missing. The main burden fell to a few hundred men and women, curators and archivists, artists and art historians from 13 nations. Their task was to save and preserve what they could of Europe's great art, and they were called the Monuments Men. (Coincidentally or not, this book appears only briefly after Ilaria Dagnini Brey's The Venus Fixers: The Untold Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II, Reviews, June 1.) Edsel has presented their achievements in documentaries and photographs. He and Witter (coauthor of the bestselling Dewey) are no less successful here. Focusing on the organization's role in northwest Europe, they describe the Monuments Men from their initial mission to limit combat damage to structures and artifacts to their changed focus of locating missing items. Most had been stolen by the Nazis. In southern Germany alone, over a thousand caches emerged, containing everything from church bells to insect collections. The story is both engaging and inspiring. In the midst of a total war, armies systematically sought to mitigate cultural loss. (Sept. 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal Review

Adolf Hitler's plan for the subjugation of the world included its culture and treasures. Art was to be taken from conquered countries and stored in Germany until Hitler could build the world's largest museum complex in his hometown of Linz, Austria. It was the job of the Monuments Men (as they came to be called) to track down these missing treasures during the latter years of the war. This story concentrates on Northwest Europe only, where men (and at least one woman) from 13 nations, largely from professional arts-related backgrounds and past combat age, effectively saved much of European culture from a gang of murderous thieves. This intriguing story, told largely through letters written by the rescuers and now in various government archives, will appeal to many general and military history readers. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.