The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel #Bookreview

Title: The Monuments Men
Author: Robert M. Edsel
Publisher: September 15th 2009
Published Date: Macmillan Audio
Genre: History, Nonfiction, Art, Book to Movie
Format: Audio

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
As Hitler was attempting to conquer the countries of Europe, and Russia, his armies were methodically pillaging the finest cultural treasures in Europe, from sculptures by Michelangelo to paintings by Da Vinci, Van Eyck, and Vermeer, all stolen for the museum Adolf Hitler intended on building-the world's greatest museum-the Führer museum. While the Monuments Men had a mandate from President Roosevelt and the support of General Eisenhower, they had no vehicles, gasoline, typewriters, food supplies, or command authority. In a race against time, each man built his own treasure map from scraps and hints. These unlikely heroes, mostly middle-aged family men with accomplished careers who had everything to lose, volunteered for service and like other members of the Greatest Generation, embodied the heroic spirit that enabled the best of humanity to defeat the worst.                              

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 My Review:

“If, in time of peace, our museums and art galleries are important to the community, in time of war they are doubly valuable. For then, when the petty and the trivial fall way and we are face to face with final and lasting values, we… must summon to our defense all our intellectual and spiritual resources. We must guard jealously all we have inherited from a long past, all we are capable of creating in a trying present, and all we are determined to preserve in a foreseeable future. Art is the imperishable and dynamic expression of these aims. It is, and always has been, the visible evidence of the activity of free minds.…” 

 During WWII a group of art experts were sent to Europe in order to save the worlds most famous and historically important works of art. They had very little provisions provided for them and most of the time, the other people in charge had no idea what to do with them. They also had no real idea if some of the pieces had been taken by allies and hidden away, or if they had been stolen by the Nazi's. It was a constant race of trying to get pieces before they were taken and trying to convince the original owners that the pieces needed to be protected at all in some situations.

Overall I found it fascinating to learn more about art/monument history during WWII. We knew that some pieces had been protected by the allies, but no real idea how they got into their hands in the first place before the Nazi's got them. Without the museum men and women that saved the world's history from possibly being destroyed in the enemy's hands so much would have been lost. So to all of them, we thank you.

For the book to movie part. I think the movie did really well and I would highly recommend it. It's hard to imagine without the photos etc, of how much the Nazi's really took.

“To save the culture of your allies is a small thing. To cherish the culture of your enemy, to risk your life and the life of other men to save it, to give it all back to them as soon as the battle was won… it was unheard of, but that is exactly what Walker Hancock and the other Monuments Men intended to do.”