Written by a Holocaust survivor whose family collected art, Plunder and Survival tells the stories of principal figures, events, and artworks that contribute to the intricate story of the ruthless Nazi attack on modern art and the art world's subsequent repositioning in America.
Each chapter focuses on a selection of artworks, the individuals who owned or acquired them, and those who decided their fate. Since the book spotlights Hitler's crusade against "degenerate" art, readers will encounter many Expressionist works, but they will also find old masters stolen by the Nazis and later restituted.
The author has also added a personal element to the text, incorporating autobiographical anecdotes on relatives' special relationships to art, their voyage from Germany to America, and the fate of their collections.
Following the main text, two appendices offer a listing of 100 Nazi-stolen artworks currently housed in U.S. museums and capsule biographies of people discussed in the book.