Robert M. Edsel was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1956. He is the author of several non-fiction books including Rescuing Da Vinci, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, and Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis. The Monuments Men was adapted into a film starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett. Edsel is the founder and president of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, which received the 2007 National Humanities Medal under President George W. Bush.
Bret Witter is a book editor and professional writer. For eleven years, he worked as an editor for HarperCollins, Penguin Putnam, and HCI. He was also a ghost writer during that time. He became a professional writer in 2007 and works primarily as a collaborator on histories and memoirs. His first book was a collaboration with Vicki Myron on Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. His other collaborations include The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History with Robert M. Edsel, Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever who Saved Him with Luis Carlos Montalv�n, Until I Say Goodbye: My Year of Living with Joy with… Susan Spencer-Wendel, and Stronger with Jeff Bauman.