The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art

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Summary: A really interesting part of WWII that I never knew before.
Review: A fascinating story about another way the Germans persecuted the countries they conquered during WWII. The writing is not great and there are problems of a linear time-line, but overall an interesting read because it is very obvious the author did a lot of research into this seldom written about part of the war.

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Summary: German arrogance and art dealer greed in WWII.
Review: A repititious summary of art work confiscations by the Nazis, particularly from Jewish galleries, during World War II. Plentiful accusations of greed by cooperating art dealers, including some famous names, during and after the war. The French government to this day has performed questionably in returning works by famous artists to their pre-war owners. The Swiss government, in harmony with its management of Jewish refugee bank deposits, has performed even worse. Over-all, a depressing litany of evil deeds in a poorly structured account of art world activity during the German occupation of France.

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Summary: A really interesting part of WWII that I never knew before.
Review: Excellent research and documentation. Incredible detail. History buffs will love this book. The author, Hector Feliciano, recently came to Washington with the Alliance Francaise, to speak at the Holocaust Museum. He gave a fascinating presentation.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read
Review: Excellent research and documentation. Incredible detail. History buffs will love this book. The author, Hector Feliciano, recently came to Washington with the Alliance Francaise, to speak at the Holocaust Museum. He gave a fascinating presentation.

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Summary: A great, courageous and valuable book
Review: Hector Feliciano has done a noble deed, exposing the seamy past of art world collaborators with Nazi Germany. Part detective novel, part thriller, part morality play, it is a "must-read" for anyone who has ever gone to an art museum.

Rating:
Summary: A great, courageous and valuable book
Review: Hector Feliciano has done a noble deed, exposing the seamy past of art world collaborators with Nazi Germany. Part detective novel, part thriller, part morality play, it is a "must-read" for anyone who has ever gone to an art museum.

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Summary: nothing bookish about it.
Review: I loved the part where Hugo finally found his mother in the crate with the Vermeer after all those years. And then they rolled her up in a rug by accident when the Louvre came. There's drama. Imagine. All those years

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Summary: What a dirty trick
Review: I was seduced by the sinister cover and the synopsis on the inside cover into thinking this was going to be a chilling account- Account my foot! I gingerly turned the first page and instantly drowned in wave after wave of details. As if the rough draft was a series of scraps stapled together and mailed off to an impatient publisher

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Summary: A fascinating story poorly told
Review: Those of you who read Lynn Nicholas' astonishing The Rape of Europa will be disappointed by this book, which is in many ways a necessary supplement to Nicholas' spine-tingling work. The record of greed, fear, coercion and barbarism visible behind the glittering surface of the Parisian art world in the 1940's is a truly moving human story. The photographs, all of now-vanished works of modern art, provide a valuable record for the historian, as many of the lost works have never been published. Unfortunately, the book is nearly ruined by a flat and pedestrian writing style. The author may have taken years to write this book, and conducted hundreds of interviews, but one would never know that. Feliciano writes as if he were a USA Today reporter - utterly superficial treatments of serious issues and no sign whatsoever of any personal investment in the story. The art and personalities of the period deserved a better historian than Mr. Feliciano, I am sorry to say. Useful for the documentary information only.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating story poorly told
Review: Those of you who read Lynn Nicholas' astonishing The Rape of Europa will be disappointed by this book, which is in many ways a necessary supplement to Nicholas' spine-tingling work. The record of greed, fear, coercion and barbarism visible behind the glittering surface of the Parisian art world in the 1940's is a truly moving human story. The photographs, all of now-vanished works of modern art, provide a valuable record for the historian, as many of the lost works have never been published. Unfortunately, the book is nearly ruined by a flat and pedestrian writing style. The author may have taken years to write this book, and conducted hundreds of interviews, but one would never know that. Feliciano writes as if he were a USA Today reporter - utterly superficial treatments of serious issues and no sign whatsoever of any personal investment in the story. The art and personalities of the period deserved a better historian than Mr. Feliciano, I am sorry to say. Useful for the documentary information only.