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The Feather Thief
Books | Nature / Animals / Birds
4.2
(267)
Kirk Wallace Johnson
As heard on NPR's This American Life“Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air“One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science MonitorFrom the author of The Fishermen and the Dragon, a rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief.On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness.Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.
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More Details:
Author
Kirk Wallace Johnson
Pages
336
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019-04-23
ISBN
1101981636 9781101981634
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was an unusual book about a unique heist. This true crime story takes you far into the history of bird capturing, feathers as fashion, and finally fly tying, an obsession that apparently leads many to an illegal trade for feathers, and one (or more) going as far as to break into a museum to steal scientific bird property. If you’re interested in natural sciences, history or an interesting heist story, this would be a good option to read."
"Thought provoking and engrossing. I frequently think of lessons I learned from this book. It combines so many great topics in one true story. #natural_history #crime #science #history"
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MP
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