Peachy Reads

An art history whodunit?    Hard to imagine, but this book often reads like a thriller.   The Ghent altarpiece is one of the most stunning artworks ever created.   Its unparalleled beauty and intricate symbolism also made it one of the most prestigious spoils of war throughout the centuries.   Noah Charney describes the genesis of this wonderful work of art and then charts its precarious survival in spite of iconoclasts, unscrupulous caretakers, inept burglars, and foreign invaders.   The last part of the book documents Hitler’s effort to create a mega art museum in Linz with all the stolen booty from the Nazi plundering of Europe.   In the final days of World War II, this priceless depository of art, including the Ghent altarpiece, was nearly destroyed in a salt mine in the Austrian Alps.   Stealing the Mystic Lamb is a bit of fascinating art history with a little Monuments Men thrown in.   Click here for an online link that shows the work in detail .

This is the first Bernie Gunther novel  I have read that was completely set   after the fall of the Third Reich.  It takes place in 1947 with a Berlin in ruins, its inhabitants trying to survive under very difficult circumstances with the Russians exerting an enormous influence, and the fragile peace struck between the allied victors fraying at the seams.  Partly due to the struggle for everyday existence in the former German capital, Bernie takes on a job in Vienna, another city that is split between the Amis, Brits, French, and the Russkies. He very quickly finds himself caught in a complex web of intrigue involving the Russians and Americans, and a shady association of ex-Nazis who are creating a network of influence in postwar Europe.  This novel  is extremely suspenseful up until the last pages, and is an enjoyable foray into the history of Europe in the immediate aftermath of World War II and its earliest efforts at reconstruction.