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A review by mnboyer
The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell
3.0
I couldn't decide between 3 and 4 stars on this one, and decided to go 3 stars.
The Nazis, in sort, suck -- alongside their genocide of Jewish individuals (and many others) they decided that confiscating and destroying books would be a great way to erase certain aspects of culture/history that they saw as anti-Nazi. This book discusses what happened to these books and explains how researchers are trying to get books back to "where they came from."
The book delves into Nazi policy and discusses the Jewish genocide. Both of these divert, at times, from what I thought most of the book would be about: books. I picked this up to add to my "library sciences" shelf and decided it really sits more comfortably in the history genre. The book has a lot of "dry" moments and "boring" springs to mind. This is unfortunate, as I really wanted to love this. If you're looking for adventure, pick up [b:The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History|6514074|The Monuments Men Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History|Robert M. Edsel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344270659s/6514074.jpg|6705842] because this book is not as "adventure".
A good book, but one that I expected more from. That may be my issue as a reader though. Still, a really good addition to research on WWII, Nazis, Jewish culture, etc.
The Nazis, in sort, suck -- alongside their genocide of Jewish individuals (and many others) they decided that confiscating and destroying books would be a great way to erase certain aspects of culture/history that they saw as anti-Nazi. This book discusses what happened to these books and explains how researchers are trying to get books back to "where they came from."
The book delves into Nazi policy and discusses the Jewish genocide. Both of these divert, at times, from what I thought most of the book would be about: books. I picked this up to add to my "library sciences" shelf and decided it really sits more comfortably in the history genre. The book has a lot of "dry" moments and "boring" springs to mind. This is unfortunate, as I really wanted to love this. If you're looking for adventure, pick up [b:The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History|6514074|The Monuments Men Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History|Robert M. Edsel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344270659s/6514074.jpg|6705842] because this book is not as "adventure".
A good book, but one that I expected more from. That may be my issue as a reader though. Still, a really good addition to research on WWII, Nazis, Jewish culture, etc.