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A review by categal
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding
2.0
I give Michael Blanding a 3-1/2 to 4 stars on this one, and E. Forbes Smiley, the map thief himself, a -100 stars, so using advance mathematics, that works out to 2 stars for this one. Blanding states at the beginning of the book that he grew up with a love and wonder of maps, and his writing proves it. I was captivated by the history, marveled at how unknown the unknown world really was, and how political cartography was at various points in time.
The story of E. Forbes Smiley has none of that wonder or charm. It's a People-magazine-fallen-hero type of tale - a rich guy who bilked friends, clients, librarians (!), weirdly tried to control the denizens of a small Maine town, was caught, served a scant amount of time for damaging, destroying, and losing historical treasures, and then retreated back to Martha's Vineyard. Huh? Are libraries at fault for not fingerprinting every visitor? Are collectors at fault for not caring about the provenance of maps they buy? Further at fault for not wanting stolen maps to be returned to rightful owners? Dealers at fault for routinely taking maps out of bound volumes to get a higher price?
Blarg, I don't know, and it's really an exercise in contemplating the greedy, seedy underside of something really remarkable. The maps in this book were actually hard to read, and I found that I just skipped past the references to them at a certain point because I couldn't see many of the details that Blanding was describing. I'd recommend visiting them in your local library, but call ahead - they might not be there anymore.
The story of E. Forbes Smiley has none of that wonder or charm. It's a People-magazine-fallen-hero type of tale - a rich guy who bilked friends, clients, librarians (!), weirdly tried to control the denizens of a small Maine town, was caught, served a scant amount of time for damaging, destroying, and losing historical treasures, and then retreated back to Martha's Vineyard. Huh? Are libraries at fault for not fingerprinting every visitor? Are collectors at fault for not caring about the provenance of maps they buy? Further at fault for not wanting stolen maps to be returned to rightful owners? Dealers at fault for routinely taking maps out of bound volumes to get a higher price?
Blarg, I don't know, and it's really an exercise in contemplating the greedy, seedy underside of something really remarkable. The maps in this book were actually hard to read, and I found that I just skipped past the references to them at a certain point because I couldn't see many of the details that Blanding was describing. I'd recommend visiting them in your local library, but call ahead - they might not be there anymore.