Monuments Men - Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History (Book) Review

by Discover Your History magazine
Monuments Men - Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

Released: 13th February 2014
RRP: £7.99
Publisher: Arrow Books
Author: Robert M Edsel
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9780099567943
Pages: 496

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Between 1943 and 1951, about 350 men and women from 13 Allied nations served as the men and women of the Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives section (MFAA) of the Allied armed forces. They were part of an ambitious effort to preserve the world’s cultural heritage in times of war. Those given this responsibility were simply referred to as Monuments Men. During the fighting in Europe, from D-Day to VE-Day, there were only 65 Monuments Men in the forward operating area. That’s 65 men to cover thousands of square miles, save hundreds of damaged buildings and find millions of cultural items before they were destroyed by the Nazis forever. Monuments Men tells the story of eight of these men: America’s top art conservator; an up-and-coming young museum curator; a sculptor; a straight-arrow architect; a gay New York cultural impresario; and an infantry private with no prior knowledge of or appreciation for art, but first-hand experience as a victim of the Nazi regime. Robert M. Edsel provides us with a book that reads like a novel but is full of facts about a fascinating aspect of the Second World War.


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