Robert M. Edsel is the #1 New York Times best­selling author of four non-fic­tion books includ­ing Res­cu­ing da Vin­ci, Sav­ing Italy, and The Mon­u­ments Men (also with Bret Wit­ter), which served as the basis for Acad­e­my Award recip­i­ent George Clooney’s 2014 film. Mr. Edsel has been hon­ored with the Texas Medal of the Arts; the Pres­i­den­t’s Call to Ser­vice Award; the Hope for Human­i­ty Award, pre­sent­ed by the Dal­las Holo­caust Muse­um; and the Foun­da­tion for the Nation­al Archives’ Records of Achieve­ment Award. In 2022, the Unit­ed States Army and the Smith­son­ian Insti­tu­tion made Mr. Edsel an hon­orary grad­u­ate of the first Army Mon­u­ments Offi­cer Train­ing Pro­gram, an idea Mr. Edsel advo­cat­ed for near­ly twen­ty years. Mr. Edsel is also the Founder and Chair­man of the Mon­u­ments Men and Women Foun­da­tion, recip­i­ent of the Nation­al Human­i­ties Medal, award­ed by Pres­i­dent George W. Bush.