Robert M. Edsel is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four nonfiction 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 Arts; the President’s Call to Service Award; the Hope for Humanity Award, presented by the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum; and the National Archives Foundation's 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 for which Mr. Edsel advocated for nearly twenty years. Mr. Edsel is also the Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, recipient of theNational Humanities Medal, awarded by President George W. Bush.