The book that serves as the basis for the acclaimed George Clooney major motion picture, The Monuments Men.
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 save the world's great art from the Nazis.
Table of Contents:
Author's Note -- Main Characters -- Map -- I. The Mission -- 1. Out of Germany -- 2. Hitler's Dream -- 3. The Call to Arms -- 4. A Dull and Empty World -- 5. Leptis Magna -- 6. The First Campaign -- 7. Monte Cassino -- 8. Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives -- 9. The Task -- II. Northern Europe -- 10. Winning Respect -- 11. A Meeting in the Field -- 12. Michelangelo's Madonna -- 13. The Cathedral and the Masterpiece -- 14. Van Eyck's Mystic Lamb -- 15. James Rorimer Visits the Louvre -- 16. Entering Germany -- 17. A Field Trip -- 18. Tapestry -- 19. Christmas Wishes -- 20. The Madonna of La Gleize -- 21. The Train -- 22. The Bulge -- 23. Champagne -- III. Germany -- 24. A German Jew in the U.S. Army -- 25. Coming Through the Battle -- 26. The New Monuments Man -- 27. George Stout with His Maps -- 28. Art on the Move -- 29. Two Turning Points -- 30. Hitler's Nero Decree -- 31. First Army Across the Rhine -- 32. Treasure Map -- 33. Frustration -- 34. Inside the Mountain -- 35. Lost -- 36. A Week to Remember -- IV. The Void -- 37. Salt -- 38. Horror -- 39. The Gauleiter -- 40. The Battered Mine -- 41. Last Birthday -- 42. Plans -- 43. The Noose -- 44. Discoveries -- 45. The Noose Tightens -- 46. The Race -- 47. Final Days -- 48. The Translator -- 49. The Sound of Music -- 50. End of the Road -- V. The Aftermath -- 51. Understanding Altaussee -- 52. Evacuation -- 53. The Journey Home -- 54. Heroes of Civilization -- Cast of Characters -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- What Is Your Connection to the Story? -- Index.
Robert M. Edsel is the Founder and President of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, a not-for-profit entity that received the National Humanities Medal, the highest honor given in the United States for work in the humanities field. He also serves as a Trustee at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. He lives in Dallas.
Bret Witter cowrote the bestseller Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Grand Central). He lives in Louisville, KY.