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The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
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2024 Nonfiction Challenges > 2Q24 Group Nonfiction Read: The Art Thief

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Jennifer (jhaltenburger) | 1835 comments Mod
The winner of the poll for the nonfiction group read for 2Q24 is

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel

One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: 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.


Patricia | 1170 comments I finished this yesterday. A crazy tale of a crazy person. How and why Breitwieser did what he did is hard to take in. Very sad as well; as most true crime is in some way or other. One thing I found interesting was the differences between Breitwieser and most other art thieves. I won't say more until others read this.


message 3: by Lea (new) - rated it 4 stars

Lea (leaspot) | 3712 comments I'm just starting this one!


Ellen Librarian (ellenlibrarian) | 6 comments I finished this yesterday. All I can say is, "Wow." It's an amazing story that also raises some questions about who owns and who, if anyone, should own art.


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