For the A to Z blogging challenge I’ve decided to blog about the 1940′s. And in the spirit of the 1940′s, at the end of the month, I’ll be giving away an ebook copy of one of my favorite books, Summer at Tiffany, to one of my newsletter subscribers (sign-up on the sidebar if you are so inclined.) It’s a light-hearted memoir of two college girls let loose in New York City for a summer. What a hoot.

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I learned of the work of the Monuments Men about a year before I first heard about the movie starring George Clooney. The Monuments Men were those men and women whose job it was to protect the art, significant monuments, and architecture in Europe during WWII. They were few workers for such a large task. After the war, their jobs turned into recovery and restoration as they searched for all the stolen artwork hidden in treasure troves around Europe.

The Monuments Men story was instantly captivating to my imagination. You can read descriptions of how the art was stolen and hidden and then recovered, but the photos are really what you want to see. Amazing. Here are some books, and of course, a video that shows many of these archival photos. The second book, Rescuing Da Vinci, is the one with the most pictures.