The Monuments Men has been on my to-be-read list pile since it came out, and I finally started it because I finished The Last Masterpiece by Laura Morelli dealing with the same subject. As someone with a lifelong interest in art and a former resident of Italy, this seemed to be right up my alley. The author admits upfront that the book, as originally written, was far too long, so he removed everything about Italy.
The book details the Nazis’ looting of European works of art. Hitler, who deems himself a painter, plans to build a Führermuseum, a cultural area for his hometown of Linz. He has Goring and others under his command steal works of art to be displayed there, and of course, they had sticky fingers and add stolen art to their private collections. The Allies arrange for the MFAA (Monuments, Fine Art, and Archives), a handful of male and female art experts to try to save as much of the European patrimony as possible.
Though this is well-researched nonfiction, it lacks any sparkle that might make it a compelling read. I could only handle the prose in small quantities: it is plodding and repetitive. The art, much of which I’ve seen firsthand, is essentially missing from this work. What is mentioned is not described with enough detail to give readers the insight into the beauty or the cultural significance of the works; granted since there are hundreds of thousands of looted works, each work cannot be detailed individually. The MFAA men Edsel describes are flat, lacking characterization; he doesn’t mention any MFAA women. Rose Villand, an employee of the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris, is the only character who has any depth.
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The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History (Center Street, September 3, 2009) is available through:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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