The monuments men

Allied heroes, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history

755 pages

English language

Published June 16, 2014

ISBN:
978-1-4104-7122-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
879248496

View on OpenLibrary

3 stars (3 reviews)

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.

12 editions

Review of 'The monuments men' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

An interesting story that deserves to be recorded. As a student of the history of WWII I was aware that the Nazis looted art and that much of that art ended up in large hoards uncovered by the US Army at the end of the war, but the details were unknown to me.

Since I probably wouldn't have read this book if not for the upcoming movie, I think it's fair to mention that the book did not make me think that it needed to be made into a movie. Indeed, watching the trailer, nearly everything that appears in it is fiction made for the movie and not incidents from the book.

I would guess that the main thing going for the story for filmmakers was to give a group of 40+ year old actors a semi-legitimate reason to dress up in fatigues and make one more war movie (and …

avatar for LemonSky

rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Allied Forces
  • Art treasures in war
  • Art and the war
  • World War (1939-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01180924
  • Confiscations and contributions
  • Protection
  • Cultural property
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • Art thefts
  • Large type books
  • Destruction and pillage
  • Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section
  • Confiscations
  • History

Places

  • Europe
  • Germany