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The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
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About This Book
One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first the story of the world's most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser's strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser's strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart's content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict's need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend's pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Reviews
"Despite this book's slim size, Finkel's efforts to fill its pages eventually strain, padding them with generic musings on why people make art ..."
"Finkel controls the pace effortlessly, broadening and narrowing focus from the day-to-day of the thieves to the intricate plotting of their thefts and a history of art crime, as well as who steals and why."
"A fascinating account of Breitwieser's crime spree that attempts to understand the mind of this criminal aesthete ..."
"But while the book is, as the subtitle says, a story of crime, it's also, on a quieter level, an exploration of archiving and ownership ..."
"The account is at its best when it revels in the audacity of the escapades, including feats of misdirection in broad daylight, and the slow, inexorable pace of the law."
"Finkel tells an enthralling story."
"Finkel's extensive research, survey of art history, and hours of interviews with his subject combine for a compelling read."
"Over all, The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."
"Finkel examines the circumstances that fed Breitwieser's obsession and led to his downfall."
"Although the definition of a page-turner, this book will also likely force the reader to consider why details of this kind are so exhilarating to us in the first place."
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