Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It

Rescuing Da Vinci uses 460 photographs to tell the "untold story of the 'Monuments Men'" and their discovery of more than 1,000 repositories filled with millions of items including paintings, sculptures, furniture, archives and other treasures stolen during WWII by Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. Rescuing Da Vinci includes photographs of Hitler designing the Fuhrer Museum, along with photographs of the extraordinary measures taken by museum officials in Europe to protect their masterpieces from the Nazis' planned looting. Ultimately, Hitler and the Nazis' unprecedented theft of Europe gave way to the greatest treasure hunt in history, the search for art and other treasures valued at more than a trillion dollars! The Allies created a special force known as Monuments, Fine Art and Archives Section comprised of museum directors, curators and art historians- men and women from more than 15 nations who spent more than six years locating, rescuing and then returning these treasures to the countries from which they were stolen. Efforts to locate and return missing artwork continue to this day.

Customer Reviews:

Priceless!

By Paula - December 21, 2006

It's hard to imagine why this EXTRAORDINARY story about EXTRAORDINARY men (and women) is just now being revealed to a mass audience. As a civilization, we owe the salvation of our culture to the efforts of the heroes in "Rescuing Da Vinci." HATS OFF TOO to Mr. Edsel for his vision of putting forth the greatest "untold" story of WWII in a brilliantly assembled book. It is the PERFECT gift for members of the "Greatest Generation," art collectors, war buffs, museum buffs or any thinker. The breathtaking pictures make it a superb gift for photographers, designers, architects and the like. Plus, I've discovered it's a wonderful "conversation piece" for my coffee table!

Titles aren't everything.

By C. Rawson-Tetley "Sickert" - January 31, 2007

You could be forgiven for dismissing this book, if you only went by titles, as just another book that is cashing in on the Da Vinci myth in concert with a patriotic nostalgia for the Second World War as a time of moral absolutes. You would be wrong. The photographs are superb, many published for the first time, and the accompanying text is precise,jargon free and direct. Robert Edsel may, as he says, be obsessed with the subject but his approach is measured and clear. I am an English fine art academic and heard of this book via a small article in an English newspaper and was sufficiently intrigued to order the book from Amazon in the US (it is not available in Great Britain). I have recommended it to many of my friends (not something to do lightly) as it compliments and extends, visually, much of the existing literature on the subject of art theft.

Art in the ETO

By Christian Schlect - December 31, 2006

An effective pictorial survey of the cultural crimes waged by Germany during World War II.

That much plundered European art was found, protected and returned to rightful owners by the U.S. military in these difficult days is a bright star in our nation's history. Mr. Edsel has delivered a fitting tribute to the many U.S. and British art experts, and others, who volunteered to do what was possible to make aright the unpardonable cultural crimes committed by the Nazis.