The Map Thief: The Gripping Story Of An Esteemed Rare Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps

Author: Michael Blanding

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $32.99 AUD
  • : 9781592408177
  • : Penguin Putnam Inc
  • : Gotham Books
  • :
  • : 0.513
  • : April 2014
  • : 236mm X 161mm X 33mm
  • : United States
  • : 32.99
  • : July 2014
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Michael Blanding
  • :
  • : Hardback
  • : 1
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • : 320
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9781592408177
9781592408177

Description

Once considered a respectable rare-map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley made millions and was highly esteemed for his knowledge; until he was arrested for slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. Though pieces of the story have been told before, Blanding is the first reporter to gain access to Smiley himself after he'd gone silent. Although Smiley swears he has admitted to all of the maps he stole, libraries claim he stole hundreds more, and offer evidence to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews, Blanding teases out the whole story.

Reviews

"In this cartographic caper, Michael Blanding slips into the antique map trade and takes a magnifying glass to the mind and motivations of a curious character named E. Forbes Smiley III, a New England polymath with a special talent for taking razors to rare books. The setting and the character belong in a novel, and this engrossing book reads like fiction." --Nina Burleigh, author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Italian Trials of Amanda Knox" ""The Map Thief" isn't just a perceptive, meticulously researched portrait of an exceedingly unlikely felon. It's also a tribute to the beautiful old maps that inspired his cartographic crimes--and shaped our modern world." --Ken Jennings, author of "Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks" "Old maps tug powerfully at the imagination, and not always in healthy ways. Nothing makes that clearer than the strange, unsettling case of Forbes Smiley, whose story Michael Blanding has pieced together in captivating detail. This is an unforgettable and cautionary tale, told by an expert investigative reporter who writes with the narrative flair of a novelist. A great read!" --Toby Lester, author of "The Fourth Part of the World: An Astonishing Epic of Global Discovery, Imperial Ambition, and the Birth of America" "Disgraced map dealer Forbes Smiley once said that he hoped that the stories about his thefts 'would go away.' That might be so. But thankfully Michael Blanding decided otherwise, and he tells a powerful story about the nature of crime, greed and art. Smart, suspenseful, and engaging, this book is a fascinating read." --Ulrich Boser, bestselling author of "The Gardner Heist" "This is a terrific book. The portrait of Forbes Smiley here is one we rarely get of cultural heritage thieves--complete and even-handed, without being either credulous or vindictive. "The Map Thief," aside from being wonderfully readable, is a valuable a

Author description

Michael Blanding is an author and journalist with more than fifteen years of experience writing long-form narrative and investigative journalism and has written for "The Nation, The New Republic, Consumers Digest, " and "The Boston Globe Magazine." He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.