The Wall Street Journal called him ldquo;a living legend.rdquo; The London Times dubbed him ldquo;the most famous art detective in the world.rdquo; In Priceless; Robert K. Wittman; the founder of the FBIrsquo;s Art Crime Team; pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time; offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair. Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer; Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover; usually unarmed; to catch art thieves; scammers; and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia; Rio and Santa Fe; Miami and Madrid. In this page-turning memoir; Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nationrsquo;s first African-American regiments. The breadth of Wittmanrsquo;s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt; Pissarro; Monet and Picasso; often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home; he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. By the FBIrsquo;s accounting; Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isnrsquo;t important. After all; whorsquo;s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? Theyre both priceless. The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor; smart to foolish; organized criminals to desperate loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroesrsquo; descendants was a slick; aristocratic con man. The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washingtons hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks; figuring no one would miss what hersquo;d filched. In his final case; Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all. From the Hardcover edition.
#2091544 in eBooks 1998-02-05 1998-02-05File Name: B0032Z8GDI
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Soviet posters and textedBy kevin w. wrightI like most writings in Sociology. Bonnells book does not disappoint. I would highly recommend this book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy WillioWell researched and very interesting.9 of 16 people found the following review helpful. Academia at its least comprehensible...By ATLLOYDI have an extensive collection of Soviet posters and consider this book a good. even seminal. work on the subject. but the writing is horribly dull and mostly made of the well-nigh incomprehensible academic goop that made the idea of graduate school so unappealing. If you are interested in Soviet posters or propaganda posters as a general matter you would do better with "Persuasive Images" or any of several commercial sites that sell original posters on the net. This is not a general interest book and those looking for an interest collection of posters to view would do better elsewhere.Whats worse. though. is that the author describes in great detail about posters not even pictured in the book. Since these posters are not in general circulation. the author has done a great disservice by not providing more representations of the works which she discusses.Still. it does have some interesting information about Soviet poster art. if you can manage to get through the bootstrap proto-feminist garbage about Soviet women...
