In a race against time, a group 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 period between D-Day and V-E Day, this book follows the Monuments Men on their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis. These unlikely heroes, mostly middle-aged family men, walked away from successful careers into the epicenter of the war risking and some losing their lives. They included: Ronald Edmund Balfour, Henry Ettlinger, Walker Hancock, Walter Huchthausen, Jacques Jaujard, Lincoln Kirstein, Robert Posey, James J. Rorimer, George Stout, and Rose Valland. -- Provided by the publisher.