My sister read this book first and posted a review that you can read here. As a history student and someone fascinated with World War II history I had a quick interest in this book. I had seen some trailer or other for a movie version of the story, but it was EA's review that tipped me. I had decided that I needed another nonfiction book and figured that I would go with The Monuments Men. The history is a hard one to tell because even though the author stuck with just the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) operations that occurred after D-day to the end of the war the story was huge. Was was surprising was how few were actually involved in this work. It really is the story of the individual men of the MFAA. Here is a link to the Audible page for the book. It was narrated by Jeremy Davidson, and I liked his interpretation of the characters.
Plot: During WWII while several million soldiers were concerned with killing the enemy and returning home the museum directors, curators, and art historians realized that if nothing was done, that the cultural icons of centuries would become the victim of the raging armies. With the fall of France in 1940 the American Art establishment started to considered what steps should be taken to preserve the cultural heritage of the world. It would be another four years before the first soldier bearing the designation of Monuments Man would land with the invading allies and strive to keep the modern war machine from destroying the culture of the people they were fighting for. Once boots were on the ground the men of the MFAA learned of the organized looting that the Nazi higher ups were involved in. With men like the Robert Posey, Walker Hancock, and Jams Rorimer, led by the unstoppable George Stout the Nazis couldn't hide anything. With determination, perseverance, and a whole lot of luck they recovered thousands of pieces of art worth million (and possibly billions) of dollars covering centuries of time from all over Europe. What's amazing is that they did it with no formal support from the army. They often had to hitchhike from one location to another. Or when the treasures were discovered they would have limited resources to pack and ship the works out of the mines and caves that many were stored in. By the end of the war they had helped restore the heritage of Europe, protecting many of the art that is currently in the leading museums around the world. Yet after the war their work in Europe fell into obscurity. The men themselves went on to grand things in the art world, but not many know what they did to protect that which they felt was most important.
My personal favorites: The history is an unknown one, and it should be known. The accomplishments of this very small group of men and women is monumental in what it accomplished. I enjoyed the personal touches that the author provided. It was like getting to know these non-traditional soldiers. They were older men with families, wives, children, and careers and despite this they worked themselves almost to death for that which they knew was worth preserving. The background on the fighting was useful information to put the MFAA's work in context. This book works very well with Citizen Soldier in that it covers much of the same time period. In fact, Edsel uses Ambrose as a reference at one point. This book did a good job at showing the importance of the MFAA's work and the need for it to continue as conflicts spread across the world.
Considerations: There is little to no language in this book, and all of it is in the form of quotes from the men and women involved in the work. The only other thing I would mention is that there were a fair number of people involved in the MFAA's work and so keeping names straight can be a little trying. Also, because of the nature of their work the narrative jumps around from one person to another and keeping everything straight may take a little effort.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys not just the history of WWII but also those that what to see more of the human side to war. Wars are destructive by nature, but this group of soldiers were on the field to preserve, find, and restore that which was lost. The total length was a little over 14 hours.
Plot: During WWII while several million soldiers were concerned with killing the enemy and returning home the museum directors, curators, and art historians realized that if nothing was done, that the cultural icons of centuries would become the victim of the raging armies. With the fall of France in 1940 the American Art establishment started to considered what steps should be taken to preserve the cultural heritage of the world. It would be another four years before the first soldier bearing the designation of Monuments Man would land with the invading allies and strive to keep the modern war machine from destroying the culture of the people they were fighting for. Once boots were on the ground the men of the MFAA learned of the organized looting that the Nazi higher ups were involved in. With men like the Robert Posey, Walker Hancock, and Jams Rorimer, led by the unstoppable George Stout the Nazis couldn't hide anything. With determination, perseverance, and a whole lot of luck they recovered thousands of pieces of art worth million (and possibly billions) of dollars covering centuries of time from all over Europe. What's amazing is that they did it with no formal support from the army. They often had to hitchhike from one location to another. Or when the treasures were discovered they would have limited resources to pack and ship the works out of the mines and caves that many were stored in. By the end of the war they had helped restore the heritage of Europe, protecting many of the art that is currently in the leading museums around the world. Yet after the war their work in Europe fell into obscurity. The men themselves went on to grand things in the art world, but not many know what they did to protect that which they felt was most important.My personal favorites: The history is an unknown one, and it should be known. The accomplishments of this very small group of men and women is monumental in what it accomplished. I enjoyed the personal touches that the author provided. It was like getting to know these non-traditional soldiers. They were older men with families, wives, children, and careers and despite this they worked themselves almost to death for that which they knew was worth preserving. The background on the fighting was useful information to put the MFAA's work in context. This book works very well with Citizen Soldier in that it covers much of the same time period. In fact, Edsel uses Ambrose as a reference at one point. This book did a good job at showing the importance of the MFAA's work and the need for it to continue as conflicts spread across the world.
Considerations: There is little to no language in this book, and all of it is in the form of quotes from the men and women involved in the work. The only other thing I would mention is that there were a fair number of people involved in the MFAA's work and so keeping names straight can be a little trying. Also, because of the nature of their work the narrative jumps around from one person to another and keeping everything straight may take a little effort.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys not just the history of WWII but also those that what to see more of the human side to war. Wars are destructive by nature, but this group of soldiers were on the field to preserve, find, and restore that which was lost. The total length was a little over 14 hours.
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