The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel

The Monuments Men
473 pages
6 hours

This is a fascinating account of the WWII Allied division whose mission it was to save the world's treasures from the Nazis. Their initial mission was to lessen the damage bombs did to churches, museums, and other monuments. As the war progressed, their responsibility changed to recovering the European treasures looted by Hitler. Most of these people were in their 40s and recruited from museums. Some traveled hundreds of miles, working on tips, while others stayed close to home. Rose Valland was a volunteeer at the Jeu de Paume museum, adjacent to the Louvre. She remained at her position through the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris, and her journals helped recover much of the art looted from Paris during the war.

Mary Slater