It covers a range of associated activities: Nazi appropriation and storage, patriotic concealment and smuggling during World War II, discoveries by the Allies, and the extraordinary tasks of preserving, tracking, and returning by the American Monuments officers and their colleagues.

Midway through the book, the role of American and Allied organizations is introduced, including the frustratingly tentative planning and lack of resources they faced.

The book concludes with chapters about post war activities: resolving problems of ownership, coordinating the return of stolen art, and attempting to collect what was yet missing.

[4] Among the featured vignettes in the film is Jewish refugee Maria Altmann, who in 2006 restituted Gustav Klimt's 1907 masterpiece Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.

Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, and Bonni Cohen were nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay for The Rape of Europa.