Book cover for The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter

The Monuments Men

Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

2009 Released
469 Pages
9-10 Hours
★ 3.78 44,083 ratings
Audiobook Unavailable
Center StreetISBN 9781599952659

The heroic, #1 New York Times bestselling tale of the men who saved the world's greatest art from the Nazis, and the basis for the acclaimed motion picture starring George Clooney.

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 Fuhrer 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 rescue invaluable art.

Robert M. Edsel

Robert M. Edsel is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four non-fiction books including Rescuing da Vinci, Saving Italy, and The Monuments Men (also with Bret Witter), which served as the basis for Academy Award recipient George Clooney’s 2014 film. Mr. Edsel has been honored with the Texas Medal of the Arts; the President’s Call to Service Award; the Hope for Humanity Award, presented by the Dallas Holocaust Museum; and the Foundation for the National Archives’ Records of Achievement Award. In 2022, the United States Army and the Smithsonian Institution made Mr. Edsel an honorary graduate of the first Army Monuments Officer Training Program, an idea Mr. Edsel advocated for nearly twenty years. Mr. Edsel is also the Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, recipient of the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President George W. Bush.

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