The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

“That so much of what they stole was eventually recovered by this tiny band of determined people was nothing short of miraculous. It makes for a terrific story.” —Washington Post Book World

“Edsel has presented their achievements in documentaries and photographs. He and Witter…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..[that] in the midst of a total war, armies systematically sought to mitigate cultural loss.” —Publishers Weekly

“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.” —Library Journal

“This book recounts how a small group of art historians and restorers, curators, and archivists sought to save art treasures during WWII. It reads more like an adventure novel than a mere retelling of history, especially after the unit’s mission changes from preserving treasures from bombing to recovering looted artwork. And that’s the tone that reader Jeremy Davidson delivers. He varies the pacing effectively, based on the nature of the text. He speeds up slightly during exciting action-filled sequences. He reads letters and documents with a flatter tone, making it easy for listeners to discern when the document stops and the author’s words resume. He also gives a slight but not intrusive or cartoonish British accent to quotations by Britishers.” —AudioFile