The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel

Adolf Hitler and his second in command, Hermann Goering, both had an insatiable appetite for collecting fine art and cultural treasures.  As they invaded European countries during World War II they helped themselves to art collections of private citizens and public museums.  One American art professor, Frank Stokes, proposed to President Roosevelt that a military unit be created that could oversee the protection and recovery of cultural treasures during the war.  Stokes was appointed to head up the unit which initially consisted of only 11 men, most with art or architecture preservation backgrounds. Initially they just followed in the wake of advancing armies, trying to figure out what had been destroyed, stolen, or damaged, but later they actively searched for the Nazi treasure troves that Hitler and Goering had established to store their ill gotten gains.

This is a new Young Readers' Edition of the book The Monuments Men that was made into a major motion picture in 2014.  The chapters flip from one Monument's Man to another, each stationed in a different region, and follows their successes and failures month by month, from 1943 when they arrived to after the end of the war.  The information was super interesting to me as a humanities major, and I was able to relate with the horror these men felt when they found the world's most famous art damaged, or poorly protected. That said, I am not sure what child or teen would be interested in this book. I think the best audience for this book are adults who kind of wanted to read The Monuments Men but were daunted by its nearly 500 pages. With this book they can get a "cleaned up" version that's about 150 pages shorter. (2019, 333 p.)