Best Selling Books by Robert M Edsel

The book that serves as the basis for the acclaimed George Clooney major motion picture, The Monuments Men. At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuhrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world''s great art from the Nazis.

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Monuments Men: "An astonishing account of a little-known American effort to save Italy''s…art during World War II." —Tom Brokaw 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. On the eve of the Allied invasion, General Dwight Eisenhower empowered a new kind of soldier to protect these historic riches. 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 of missing art, including works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Titian, Caravaggio, and Botticelli. With the German army retreating up the Italian peninsula, orders came from the highest levels of the Nazi government to transport truckloads of art north across the border into the Reich. Standing in the way was General Karl Wolff, a top-level Nazi officer. As German forces blew up the magnificent bridges of Florence, General Wolff commandeered the great collections of the Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace, later risking his life to negotiate a secret Nazi surrender with American spymaster Allen Dulles. Brilliantly researched and vividly written, the New York Times bestselling Saving Italy brings readers from Milan and the near destruction of The Last Supper to the inner sanctum of the Vatican and behind closed doors with the preeminent Allied and Axis leaders: Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Churchill; Hitler, Göring, and Himmler. An unforgettable story of epic thievery and political intrigue, Saving Italy is a testament to heroism on behalf of art, culture, and history.

Robert M. Edsel brings the story of his #1 NYT bestseller for adults The Monuments Men to young readers for the first time in this dynamic, narrative nonfiction project packed with photos. Robert M. Edsel, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men, brings this story to young readers for the first time in a sweeping, dynamic adventure detailing history''s greatest treasure hunt.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 11 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 British volunteers -- museum curators, art scholars and educators, architects, archivists, and artists, known as the Monuments Men -- found themselves in a desperate race against time to locate and save the many priceless treasures and works of art stolen by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Uses photographs to tell the untold story of the "Monuments Men" and their discovery of more than 1,000 repositories, many of which contained paintings, sculpture, furniture, and other treasures stolen by the Nazis.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “An intimate, moving look at the war that extracts deep meaning from the carnage and loss.” – Publishers Weekly What happens when you lose your freedom and the people who eventually get it back for you are no longer alive to thank? Remember Us, by Robert Edsel—#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men—begins in the pre-dawn hours of Hitler’s invasion of Western Europe on May 10, 1940, when his forces rolled into the small rural province of Limburg in the Netherlands shattering more than 100 years of peace. Their freedom gone, the Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until American forces reached Limburg in September 1944, the last portion of Western Europe liberated by the Allies before their advance on Nazi Germany slammed to a halt. Like The Monuments Men, Remember Us is an ensemble piece that follows twelve main characters over a six-year span, zeroing in on ordinary people including Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who falls in love with an American soldier; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; and Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama for yet another indignity—digging graves. Drawing on never-before-seen letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, on the battlefields and inside American homes. In this rich, dramatic, and suspenseful story, he captures both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude, showing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. Remember Us is exactly the book we need—a reminder that grief is universal, that humanity knows no national or racial boundaries, and that we all want to be remembered, somehow, someway, by somebody.

Depois de Caçadores de obras-primas, adaptado para o cinema por George Clooney, o norte-americano Robert M. Edsel dedica-se, em Salvando a Itália, à história de dois curiosos e heroicos homens que se tornaram personagens fundamentais no resgate das obras de arte saqueadas pelos nazistas, durante a invasão das tropas de Adolf Hitler à Itália na Segunda Guerra Mundial. Integrantes de uma tropa inusitada de artistas e intelectuais encarregados de localizar os tesouros culturais usurpados pelo exército alemão, o professor Deane Keller e o historiador Fred Hart uniram-se na missão de recuperar nada mais nada menos do que obras do Renascimento, antiguidades do Império Romano e preciosidades do Vaticano, cujo valor histórico, cultural e financeiro é incalculável. Em Salvando a Itália, Robert M. Edsel torna a investigar e revelar mais detalhes da fascinante história dos Monuments Men, como ficaram conhecidos os diretores de museus, curadores, artistas, arquivistas, educadores, bibliotecários e arquitetos que se apresentaram como voluntários e arriscaram as suas vidas para resgatar o patrimônio artístico e cultural europeu. O capitão Deane Keller e o tenente Fred Hart foram dois agentes que atuaram na Itália ocupada pelos nazistas. Atuando nos bastidores do conflito que deixou cerca de 65 milhões de mortos, eles correram todo tipo de perigo negociando com líderes da igreja católica, oficiais da SS nazista e militantes da resistência italiana. Graças a esses heróis anônimos, revelados nos livros de Robert M. Edsel, obras de gênios como Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Donatello e Botticelli foram preservadas para a posteridade, sendo exibidas até hoje em museus da Europa. Com acesso exclusivo a documentos de acervos particulares, entrevistas inéditas e extensa pesquisa histórica, Edsel conta como os Caçadores de obras-primas agiram numa Itália dividida, em que museus, monumentos e igrejas estavam no meio da guerra.

L''a. fornisce una documentazione storica e fotografica delle vicende di alcune opere leonardiane durante la seconda guerra mondiale: dai danneggiamenti dell''Ultima Cena, al furto della Dama dell''Ermellino, alle particolari misure di sicurezza adottate per sottrarre al furto la Gioconda.