Uncovering the Hidden Treasures of WWII: The Untold Story of the Monuments Men and Their Epic Quest to Rescue Art from Nazi Thieves

Kindle Customer: Had to do a program on it for a book club

United States on Sep 23, 2023

W. Borkowski: Truly inspirational

United States on Aug 30, 2023

Janie U: I saw this film in the cinema several years ago and bought the book as a gift for my husband. He said it was great so I decided to read it too, but the book had languished on my shelf for some time. Having picked it up now though I was curious to see more about the real story with the Hollywood glamour taken out.
There is plenty of explanation about the backgrounds of the individuals involved. They all come from artistic worlds to some degree and relished the opportunity to have a part in saving the culture heritage of Europe.
Conflict of many kinds is at the heart of this book. There is the actual fighting against the Germans and also the dilemma of trying not to cause any more damage than is absolutely necessary. It was one of the jobs of the Monuments Men to keep reminding everyone of their obligations to the fabric of the countries they were saving.
A lot is written about World War II but I've never read so much detail about the advance of the troops across Europe after D day. The winter of 1944/5 created dreadful conditions for the men and this author describes the conditions perfectly - I had complete understanding without any overwhelming drama.
Throughout the...

United Kingdom on Apr 18, 2016

R. J. Matthews: The Monuments Men and The Women Who Wrote the War both tell interesting stories in their own right, and also provide a bonus by describing aspects of the history of World War II not covered in the mainstream accounts.

The Monuments Men (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives) were a part of the allied armies. They were archivists and art historians; part of the army, but not expected to fight, they frequently found themselves at the front line. Although men from the MFAA section served in other areas, this book concentrates on the campaign in North-West Europe from D-day until the end of the war (and beyond). As well as finding themselves in the middle of a war zone, as victory loomed they also became involved in the growing tension between the Western allies and the Soviet Union that was eventually to become the Cold War.

The Women Who Wrote the War covers a wider canvas and a longer timescale. It documents the experience of women reporters (mainly American) who covered the Second World War for a variety of publications and news bureaux. The early chapters cover conflicts such as the Spanish Civil War and the Sino-Japanese hostilities of the late 1930s which were part...

United Kingdom on Jul 06, 2014

Carolyn M. Appleton: This book has taken some time for me to read, but for no other reason than it has been somewhat painful to consider in such detail how ruthless Hitler and his minions were during the World War II. I first learned about the book during a public lecture by Robert M. Edsel at the McNay Museum in San Antonio in May, 2013.

On a personal note, I secured a Master's Degree in art history several years ago. But admittedly, I missed this critical chapter in museum and art conservation history. I had not been made aware that such an organized, impressive, and inspiring effort had been undertaken to save the cultural treasures of Europe.

By way of background, the Monuments Men were men and women from several nations who served in the "Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives" section of the Allied effort. They were museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators, artists, architects, and archivists, who supported the war effort in their own specialized ways.

Robert M. Edsel suggests one of the Monuments Men - Walker Hancock - must have been thinking while viewing Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" rolled-up and in storage, "war is strange." This sums my feelings up as...

United States on Jun 29, 2014

Dr. Tim Parker: Most people will pick up this book because of the movie. Be warned in advance: this is a long book (500 pages) that will take a while to read. It's not really the sort of book you get hooked on and want to finish in one sitting.

What the book is based on is true, but there's a fair amount of artistic license in the telling of the story, blending history with fiction novel along the way. The subject, for those unaware, is the recovery of art and other artifacts stolen by the Nazis in the run-up and during World War 2. The facts behind this are well documented, as the Nazis actually kept decent records. This book becomes a combination of the story of the theft of the artworks, along with the team of Allies who tried to recover them, find their provenance, and orchestra their return to their original owners (when it was convenient).

The book won't grab you right away, unfortunately. The writing style is not gripping, and I often got distracted in the first third of the book, putting it down in favor of other things, simply because I couldn't get hooked into the story. The history is interesting, but it is conveyed in a style that simply didn't rivet me to the page. The...

Canada on Apr 08, 2014

Gerry: This book clearly could have been another 200 pages and it still would have kept me interested. I was a little weary at first of reading this book when I considered how many reviews had been completed ahead of me. Ironically, on my old spreadsheet/workbook I used to keep - this book was placed there on the "old list" in 2010. It would seem now it has notoriety as a result of the movie that is currently in movie theatre's around the country. Lieutenant George Stout was a U.S. Navy Officer assigned to the U.S. First and Twelfth Army; a simple annotation to his rank and photo in the beginning of the book would have been appreciated - I kept looking at the "rail road tracks" on his helmet and couldn't understand why he was being called "Lieutenant" when I believed him to be "Captain". Blame this small find on my USMC mentality for military detail; it really is no big deal to the story line nor the book overall.

The first thing I personally thought of before I opened up a page to this book was the Battle for Monte Cassino. This battle within the Gustav Line to this day (as with all other parts of the battle for the Gustav Line) simply is a great battle to study and from both the...

United States on Mar 05, 2014

C. Ball: The Nazis were perhaps the greatest art-thieves in history, intent not just on conquering nations and enslaving and murdering large groups of people, but also on appropriating the most important cultural and artistic items in Western Europe for the benefit of Germany and the Third Reich. Untold numbers of paintings, sculptures, prints, documents, even stained glass windows and carved doors were all packed up and transported to Germany, many for Hitler and Göring's private collections. But many more by far were hidden away in secret storehouses, bunkers, abandoned mines, all for the future day when the war would be over and Germany victorious.

That such a day never came is obviously the subject of an endless number of books - this book is concerned with the effort of a small group of men and women to discover the locations of these artistic treasure troves and to ensure the art was returned to the nations and individuals it had been stolen from. The MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program) scarcely numbered more than 400, and the majority of these were only assigned after the end of the war. In the final years of the war, the main figures in the MFAA, followed in...

United Kingdom on Oct 30, 2012

Miss Mapp: I read this book in record time because it was so fascinating and well written. Having read the excellent book, The Rape of Europa by Lynn H Nicholas, which tells the story of the merciless Nazi plunder and theft of art during the 1930s and WW2, I knew about the staggering quantities of art which were looted both from private Jewish and other collections, and from museums. Hitler and Goring were the worst culprits, and with Nazi efficiency train loads and truck loads of art were hidden to await the time of Nazi victory.

This book is the story of the recovery of that art. The Monuments Men were given the huge task of finding these hidden treasures, sometimes in the nick of time before they were destroyed. Few in number, they heroically went into places where sometimes fighting was still going on in order to save treasures.

Another reviewer has already noted that British Monuments Men were hardly mentioned, and another slight shortfall was that the original owners of the art and the methods used by the Nazis to loot it were barely mentioned. However, that is all in Lynn Nicholas' book, which I would say complements this book wonderfully.

I recommend this book...

United Kingdom on Oct 01, 2012