Robert M. Edsel

Describes the efforts of an artist and a scholar, who, at the behest of General Dwight Eisenhower, tracked down billions of dollars of stolen, priceless art in Naples just before the 1943 invasion of Italy. Reprint.

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis

Jeni Enjaian

I admit that I was not looking forward to this book thanks to the major let down of "Monuments Men." Thankfully, Edsel avoided the near-fictionalization that plagued the unfortunately more popular of the two companion pieces.
He approached this book with a much more straightforward, chronologically speaking, narrative that despite the numerous players involved, avoided confusion and told a compelling narrative. I loved being able to picture the actual locations having been to many of these places. A few times in the book I wished that I had read the book before going to Italy so I could have found many of these little nuances (like a plaque to Wolff on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence) while we were over there.
As is often the case, it is much easier to write a critique than a compliment.
If you have the choice, read Saving Italy versus Monuments Men.

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis

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