The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century [PB]
by Johnson, Kirk Wallace![The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century [PB] The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century [PB]](graphics/covers/L/14870P.jpg)
Product Details
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.
Johnson makes his true-crime debut with this enthralling account of a truly bizarre crime. In 2009, Edwin Rist, an American student at London's Royal Academy of Music, stole 299 rare and scientifically significant bird skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring, in Hertfordshire, England, plucked their feathers, and sold them for top dollar to men who shared his obsession with the Victorian art of salmon-fly tying. Johnson explores the expensive and exotic hobby of salmon-fly tying that emerged in the 19th century and uses that context to frame Rist's story, including his trial. In the book's final section, Johnson goes deep into the exotic bird and feather trade and concludes that though obsession and greed know no bounds, they certainly make for a fascinating tale. The result is a page-turner that will likely appeal to science, history, and true crime readers.
Includes A Penguin Readers Guide to The Feather Thief, including An Introduction to The Feather Thief and A Conversation with Kirk Wallace Johnson.
ISBN: 9781101981634
Publisher: Viking
Year of Publication: 2019
Page Count: 308