The World of Art Crime

After reading Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman, I was sent tumbling head-over-heels down the rabbit hole of art crime! 

Art crime is a $6 billion industry, and Priceless really drives home the lengths thieves will go to in order to steal priceless works of art, only to then sell them for a fraction of their value. For example, in 1994, Edvard Munch’s masterpiece The Scream was stolen from a museum in Oslo, Norway. The thieves attempted to sell the $75 million painting for a paltry $750,000! 

Wittman’s memoir is a riveting, almost thriller-like account of the recoveries of priceless art and antiquities. It seamlessly blends stories of heists and black-market transactions with Wittman’s early life and his time in the FBI Academy, including his founding of the FBI Art Crime Unit. If you enjoy the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY of art history and true crime—this book will undoubtedly feed your appetite! 

Looking for more on the topic? Here are a few more titles to send you down your own rabbit hole! 

• Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts by John Barelli 
• The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist by Anthony M. Amore 
• Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony M. Amore 
• The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk W. Johnson 
• The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of An Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding 
• The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel

Lisa P.
Information and Reader Services