Rate this book

Saving Italy: The Race To Rescue A Nation's Treasures From The Nazis (2014)

by Robert M. Edsel(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393348806 (ISBN13: 9780393348804)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: This is an interesting book and I learned something completely new - it is about saving Italy's art treasures and masterpieces during World War II; however, it reads as a (very long) newspaper article rather than a book. (It is written by the same person who wrote Monuments Men that became a George Clooney movie.) The book is full of facts - who did what, at what point of the war, in what city, on behalf of what organization, on what date, and how they did it. Not only the Allies were trying to save the treasures, German officers were also exceptionally concerned about Italy's art, including of course at the very top (although he was expecting to create a FuhrerMuseum with the loot). Nevertheless, between the two sides they managed to save a great deal of Italy (and the Wo... morerld's) cultural heritage by avoiding bombing art-enriched areas, and moving the art to salt mines, the Vatican, and other underground or above-ground vaults for safe keeping - German vaults were near the German border, Allies kept them within Italy. We will discuss today (Oct 8, 2014) at my Kent Library Book Club.
review 2: Interesting story. It reads very much like a documentary and less like a novel. If you know that going into it you will probably like it more. I gave it three stars because for as much as it is a war story and about saving priceless works of art, it is really pretty dry and not really captivating. I was really hoping to like this one even better than his first one, Monuments Men, because Saving Italy deals with Italian art which I like more than Northern European art, which is what Monuments Men deals with. However, I felt that Monuments Men presented the stories better, helped you connect better to the MFAA people, and was just an easier read. And even it was sometimes dry. So, it is worth a read. But it is sometimes really hard to get through. less

Download links for: Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis

Advertising