Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures

Every so often I just want to read a book for fun. I don't like fiction, and to be honest, life can be a lot more interesting than fiction. I think Wittman's book hits the mark on both points. It is just a great, easy read. Full of interesting characters, priceless art, and dangerous undercover missions. I think it took me only a few hours to read the whole book, but I learned a lot and had fun. I was really in suspense toward the end of the book. If you never had an interest in art before, you will after reading this book. I would definitely recommend!

This book started well then became repetitive and mainly about Indiginous Indian objects rather than Art Masterpieces. This was not for me.

Interesting read - the world of stolen art can be for me fascinating.

interesting with some insight into the factual workings of the FBI, CIA, etc

This is such a super book. It combines art and detective work in a rare and intelligent manner that turns the pages for you. I don't know very much about art. I have been to a few museams and art galleries but I would certainly not call myself well-educated in the art world. I hear the news reports on stolen art or recovered art and like many I forget the story almost immediately. Here, in this book, the reader is taken behind the news reports and it becomes personal. We are given an insight into the mind of the art thief and those who pursue this crime against all that is cultured and learned in our societies.There is nothing high-brow about this book. The author and detective had to learn about art and what motivates the art thief - usually plain and simple greed - and he shares his lived experience in pages that are a delight to read. Even if you know nothing about art this is a great detective piece of writing. A wonderful and interesting take on sharing one's life work with others.

Fascinating book.

This book exceeded my expectations. The author shows integrity and exceptional courage in solving some of the worlds serious art thefts. He describes how he became involved by studying art so that he could recognize the real thing or a fake and then working within the FBI Art Crimes unit with limited support. Some of the undercover work was very dangerous and the subsequent recovery of the stolen art involved face to face meetings with some really shady characters . The author should be very proud of his brave achievements.

"Priceless," is by Robert K. Wittman, who spent twenty years as an American FBI special agent, working out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his accomplishments included the creation of the bureau's Art Crime Team. He's teamed up in the creation of this book with John Shiffman, an award-winning investigative reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and together they have created quite an interesting read: as Jack Garcia said, and I wish I had, "more realistic than  The Thomas Crown Affair [DVD] [1968 ], more entertaining than  Catch Me If You Can [DVD] [2002 ]." Wittman, who is also the former leader of the FBI's Art Crime Team, spent most of those twenty years working undercover, recovering $225 million of stolen art. He was armed with a scholar's knowledge, and passion - he insists that the theft of art is also the theft of a society's history; a conman's smile, and, apparently, a very cool set of nerves, as he pulled off big bucks undercover stings all over the world, among them finding paintings by Rembrandt, Renoir and Rockwell; a headdress of the Indian chief Geronimo, a blood flag of an African-American Civil War regiment, and an original copy of the American Bill of Rights. He busted a heartless scam on that favorite PBS entertainment in America, "Antiques Roadshow." The author has been called a living legend by the Wall Street Journal and the most famous art detective in the world by The Times of London.Like one of the best painters he loves, Wittman fills his canvas from corner to corner; it's brimming with telling, interesting detail, the real deal, such that I felt I knew him, his coworkers and family, and a bunch of assorted art world bad guys pretty well by the time I finished it. He also instructs us on how to go undercover, if that is a career goal of yours: apparently he taught FBI classes in that particular art. It seems that the only famous contemporary art world theft he failed to solve was the largest one, the March 18, 1990 theft of thirteen priceless artworks, including a very rare Vermeer, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston Massachusetts, which he mentions very frequently. But hey, I bet you he's still got his eye on the case, as a private detective now, and I would never bet against him.