Robert M. Edsel

As Adolf Hitler attempted to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he would collect and the "degenerate" works he would destroy. Behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, and art historians raced against time to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. (Bestseller)...

"As the most destructive war in history ravaged Europe, many of the world's most cherished cultural objects were in harm's way. The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History recounts the astonishing true story of eleven men and one woman who risked their lives amidst the bloodshed of World War II to preserve churches, libraries, monuments, and works of art that for centuries defined the heritage of Western civilization. As the war raged, these American and...

When Hitler's armies occupied Italy in 1943, they also seized control of mankind's greatest cultural treasures. As they had done throughout Europe, the Nazis could now plunder the masterpieces of the Renaissance, the treasures of the Vatican, and the antiquities of the Roman Empire. In May 1944 two unlikely American heroes--artist Deane Keller and scholar Fred Hartt--embarked from Naples on the treasure hunt of a lifetime, tracking billions of dollars...

Robert M. Edsel's contributions as a WWII historian have brought wide attention and a National Humanities Medal to his Monuments Men Foundation. In Saving Italy, Edsel recounts how, in May 1944, General Eisenhower sent two men—artist Deane Keller and scholar Fred Hartt—on a desperate hunt to locate priceless works of art fallen into Nazi hands. Keller and Hartt would find aid from an unlikely source—top-level Nazi officer General...

At the same time that Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Führer had begun cataloging the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: the "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, a group of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their...