Name: David Pascuzzo's review of Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel
Item: Monuments Men
Rating: 3
Author: David Pascuzzo

Robert M. Edsel

Bret Witter

Now a major film starring GEORGE CLOONEY, MATT DAMON, CATE BLANCHETT, BILL MURRAY, JOHN GOODMAN, HUGH BONNEVILLE, BOB BALABAN, JEAN DUJARDIN and DIMITRI LEONIDAS. What if I told you that there was an epic story about World War II that has not been told, involving the most unlikely group of heroes? What if I told you there was a group of men on the front lines who didn't carry machine guns or drive tanks; a new kind of soldier, one charged with saving, not destroying. From caves to castles in a thrilling race against time, these men risked their lives daily to save hundreds of thousands of the world's greatest works of art. THEY were the Monuments Men, and THIS is their extraordinary true story. 'Remarkable' Washington Post 'Engaging, inspiring' Publishers Weekly

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

Monuments Men

David Pascuzzo

"The previously untold story of a little-known WWII Allied division whose mission was to track down European art and treasures that had been looted by the Nazis at Hitler's command"--Provided by the publisher.

Allied heros, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history

The monuments men

Stef Hite

War bad, humanities good. It's a nice deep dive into a fascinating slice of history, even if not always fascinatingly told.

elizabeth

I really liked this look into a very esoteric field in the army. Like the ending said, it seems like no other war turned into people being dedicated to reclaim art from the enemy. It was a very in-depth look at the evolution of the division, with the growing pains to eventual obscurity.

Jeni Enjaian

I expected a lot more out of this book than it delivered, thus the average rating. First, I noticed from the start that it lacked the coherency necessary to string together a decent narrative about a relatively unknown topic. This continues to plague the book throughout. (I would have also enjoyed some discussion about what when on in Italy. He author said that he kept it out because of length. I've read much longer books.)
Second, this book probably requires much closer attention than I gave. 
Third, the narrator's affected accents are horrible. Seriously awful. 
Fourth, once the narrative shifted to discussion of the rescue of pieces from the salt mine it found its feet. 
Fifth, while the final outcome of the lives of the villains is interesting, morbidly fascinating really, it does not seem to fit the book. 
I think I'll watch the movie and probably end up preferring it.

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 Fuehrer 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 Momuments 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 save the world's great art from the Nazis.

The Monuments Men

I was quite surprised when I pulled up the book on goodreads to write a review and found that I had already read the book back barely a year and a half ago. Either that means that the book was remarkably unremarkable or I'm reading books too quickly now to generate a lasting impression or a combination of both. I honestly have no recollection of reading this book and it's not like some that I discover that I've read five or six years ago.

That being said, I am pleased to see that my opinion of the book did not really change. I noticed a couple different things this time around than before and my thought the time spent on what happened to the "villains" did not occur while reading the second time.

When I approached the book this time, I was excited to read it. I had just recently watched the movie via Amazon Prime (through a free trial add-on streaming service) and couldn't wait to delve back into that world. I ended up being a little let down. Something that I did not pay attention to the first time around really bothered me during this reading. As soon as I read Edsel's comment in the introduction that he had fictionalized some dialogue but kept it as close to what it likely was at the time, I became wary. This is a work of history, not historical fiction. Each time dialogue occurred throughout the book, in my mind, it lowered the quality of the historiography. Another thing that I did not note in my previous review was the difficulty to get into the narrative because of the frequent step backs in time to go over the back story of countless new characters. I know that many men were involved but it is possible to write a history such as this without trying to get the reader involved in the life story of every monuments men and a few "villians" from the German side. Once again it felt like Edsel was trying to fictionalize the story or at least create a narrative from which a movie could be made. Lastly, at one point Edsel included, in italics, the supposed thoughts of one of the Monuments Men. That bothered me immensely. That technique belongs to the world of authors of fictions not historiographers.
I finished this book wary to pick up the companion piece, Saving Italy. Spoiler alert: Edsel avoided the above mistakes and wrote a much better book.

Lucy

Bridget D

Pierke Bosschieter

Ryan LaFerney

Now a major film starring GEORGE CLOONEY, MATT DAMON, CATE BLANCHETT, BILL MURRAY, JOHN GOODMAN, HUGH BONNEVILLE, BOB BALABAN, JEAN DUJARDIN and DIMITRI LEONIDAS. What if I told you that there was an epic story about World War II that has not been told, involving the most unlikely group of heroes? What if I told you there was a group of men on the front lines who didn’t carry machine guns or drive tanks; a new kind of soldier, one charged with saving, not destroying. From caves to castles in a thrilling race against time, these men risked their lives daily to save hundreds of thousands of the world’s greatest works of art. THEY were the Monuments Men, and THIS is their extraordinary true story. ‘Remarkable’ Washington Post ‘Engaging, inspiring’ Publishers Weekly

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

Sara Piteira 

Reiko Fu

Sophie Will

Shay Henrion

Felipe Gamez

Liz Prinz

Brooks Bradley Leete

Amanda Gilson

Summer Stanley

Alissa Kirchner

From the Author's Note...

What if I told you there was a group of men on the front lines who quite literally saved the world as we know it; a group that didn’t carry machine guns or drive tanks, who weren’t official statesmen; men who not only had the vision to understand the grave threat to the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of civilization, but then joined the front lines to do something about it?

These unknown heroes were known as the “Monuments Men,” a group of soldiers who served in the Western Allied military effort from 1943 until 1951. Their initial responsibility was to mitigate combat damage, primarily to structures—churches, museums, and other important monuments. As the war progressed and the German border was breached, their focus shifted to locating movable works of art and other cultural items stolen or otherwise missing. During their occupation of Europe, Hitler and the Nazis pulled off the “greatest theft in history,” seizing and transporting more than five million cultural objects to the Third Reich. The Western Allied effort, spearheaded by the Monuments Men, thus became the “greatest treasure hunt in history,” with all the unimaginable and bizarre stories that only war can produce.

David Pascuzzo &
Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

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David Pascuzzo &Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

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David Pascuzzo &
Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel