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"On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins--some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them--and escaped into the darkness. 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."--Page [2] of cover.… (more)
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A young "savant", Edwin Rist, had everything going for him. A brilliant flautist, he and his brother (also a savant), discovered the art of tying Atlantic Salmon flies. Throwing themselves into the
These feathers come from some of the rarest birds in the world, such as the Resplendent Quetzal, the King Bird of Paradise, the Flame Bowerbird, and the Blue Chatterer. Due to the rarity of the birds, the world came together and enacted a treaty to protect them, and other rare and endangered species. It became known as the "CITES" treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). It's the basis for the laws prohibiting trade in ivory, for example, as well as many other animals and plants.
Rather than simply using substitute feathers (which the majority of us make do with), Edwin concocts a scheme to break into the British Natural History Museum. The museum housed a vast collection of the birds that Rist needed feathers from. The bird carcasses were collected over hundreds of years, and were being stored for scientific purposes.
To not give the entire book away, Rist burglarizes the museum, and makes away with hundreds of the rare birds. It seems that he has committed the perfect crime, as he gets away with it for quite a while. Eventually, people become suspicious of Rist, as he seems to have an unending suppy of the feathers for sale (the feathers can be sold, if it can be proven that they were obtained before the CITES treaty went into effect). He is arrested, but is given a slap on the wrist and released.
Along comes the author. A fascinating man in his own right, Johnson is a modern day Sherlock Holmes. He personifies the word persistent. Through an unending, multi-year investigation, Johnson uncovers much more information. The investigation, and it's revelations, really is quite a fascinating story in itself. Again, I don't want to spoil the book for any readers, so I will stop here!
Not only a story of Rist and his exploits, the book covers many other subjects. Early explorers searching for unknown species, the whole phenomenon of "feather fashion", the history of salmon fly tying, and the fly tying community itself. The author melds these subjects into the story seamlessly.
The entire book flows along very well. You cannot help but learn a great deal about many, varied subjects, painlessly. You will find yourself at times pulling for Rist, and yet at times disgusted by his greed. You wonder how the author found the willpower to keep going on in his investigation, when he hits so many dead ends.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. To sportsmen, to crime buffs, to pyschology students, and to anyone else who loves a good mystery.
Thank you to Edelweiss, who provided me a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Modern day trout fly tying has little to do with the Victorian art. Modern fly tiers
The Victorians, however, were fond of gaudy excess. They began tying flies for salmon fishing made of bright exotic feathers. These became exquisite works of art.
The art of tying the Victorian flies is practiced today, but unfortunately many of the feathers used are from birds that are rare or even extinct.
Thus there is a thriving black market for the rarest of the feathers required. So when Rist became short of money, wanting to buy a a nice quality flute and the rare feathers for his hobby where he enjoyed a measure of fame, he formed the plan to steal rare specimens from the British Museum of Natural History.
In 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, he carried out his plan, stealing hundreds of rare bird skins, many collected up to 150 years earlier.
I loved the way this book began; the background info including the story of Alfred Russell Wallace who independently came up with the theory of evolution after studying the birds of Malaya; the Victorian feather trade; the explanation of tying the arcane salmon flies and the heist from the British Museum of Natural History.
I thought the ending weaker - perhaps because there wasn't really closure in the case; perhaps because I had the feeling that this would have made a fascinating magazine article, but had a lot of filler to expand it into a book.
Sure to appeal to readers interested in exotic birds, true crime, lost art forms and/or mental health, this well-written, well-researched book is gripping from beginning to end. Highly recommended.
Background information is provided about the acquisition of those specimens by Alfred Russel Wallace
How a twenty-year old American music prodigy, broke into a small British museum and stole the feathers and skins of dozens of rare bird specimens, worth a veritable fortune, is just part of this oddball story. The author's relentless pursuit of this young man, who had escaped capture, is another key element, along with a look at the art of Victorian salmon fly-tying and the black market feather trade.
This is solid narrative nonfiction. Nicely researched and well-written.
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
The author goes back to explain how the obsession with feathers began particularly in fashion. During Victorian England, women would wear entire birds on their hats and the rarer the bird, the most fashionable it was. Thus the wealthy paid crazy prices for the birds encouraging traders to comb the world searching for these birds and bringing thousands back to England and America. The men soon got in on the act with using the rare feathers to tie fishing ties particularly for the salmon. The history of this fashion and the over the top obsession with feathers for tiers is interesting and humorous if it wasn't so sad.
Johnson takes it on himself to track down the bird skins that were not returned to the museum after Rist was caught. The Asperger's Defense was used to get Rist exonerated from his crime. Throughout the book, the author introduces many individuals who are caught up in this crime. Totally fascinating read.
I loved
As I mentioned, I still recommend the book and no doubt some will find the second part more interesting than I did.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
This is another book that has sat on my TBR list for an entire year. I added it because it was labeled as true crime and because the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. However, every time I thought about reading it, I
I admit I still don’t fully understand fly fishing, or the obsession with Salmon fliers. I still don’t have any interest in the sport, and I never will- but one thing is for sure- I was never bored while reading this book!
It seems there is nothing out there in this world that doesn’t have a dark underbelly…
The author of this book first learned of Edwin Rist while fly fishing in Mexico, and quickly became as obsessed with this crime as Edwin Rist was with rare bird skins and Salmon fliers.
What are Salmon fliers? Apparently, they are a brightly colored lure, made with bird feathers that mimics small fish, which Salmon will snap at. Victorian, exotic, or rare feathers are highly sought after by collectors and expert ‘tyers’.
Edwin Rist, a musician, also happened to be an expert Salmon tyer. To that end, in 2009, Edwin broke into the British Natural History Museum and stole 299 rare bird skins, including 37 Birds of Paradise.
Once Kirk Wallace Johnson heard about this most unusual heist, he jumped down the rabbit hole with both feet, beginning a long journey for the truth, which culminated in this book.
I don’t understand the concept of being an expert ‘tyer’ if you don’t even fly fish. Not only that, it is my understanding that the salmon can’t tell the difference anyway. It all seemed like such a tremendous waste. The history, however, that sets these events in motion is utterly fascinating, if a bit peculiar.
The author traces the origins of the feathers and how they came to be in the museum, which is far more interesting than one might think. From there the book builds into a detective story, then a legal drama, then finally a personal quest for the whole truth and maybe some modicum of justice.
Not to give too much away, but evidently, Rist earned some money from his daring heist, selling some of the feathers/ skins on the black market. Yes, there really is a black market for these feathers and a lucrative one at that. I knew one could find all manner of things for sale on eBay but – vintage bird feathers?
While Rist was eventually caught, his legal troubles didn’t turn out the way I had anticipated,which is one of the reasons why Johnson felt compelled to draw out as much of the truth as possible.
Some mysteries remain unsolved, but one can take a few educated guesses about what happened and why, though that knowledge doesn’t bring about much satisfaction.
Today, Rist uses a different name, and has carved out a unique niche for himself by playing heavy metal music with his flute- perhaps the flute he bought with his eBay profits. (Johnson didn’t reveal Rist's assumed name, but a simple Google search brought up his infamous Metallica cover of ‘Master of Puppets’ right away-you have to see it to believe it.)
Rist, who claims to suffer from Asperger's syndrome is clever, educated, talented and skilled, and while his crime is not a violent one, he still did a horrible thing- and based on Johnson's exclusive interviews with Rist, he comes off as a greedy, little sociopath who never expressed the proper amount of remorse for his crimes. I’m afraid I did not find him to be sympathetic character at all- sorry, not sorry...
As to the writing and organization of the book- the presentation is very well done. However, the author does take an interesting stance here. He took a risk, in my opinion, by inserting himself into the saga by calling out the fly-fishing community for their role in helping to create the atmosphere within in this sub-culture that makes this crime, and others like it, so alluring- and lucrative. He seems to feel they, too are responsible- although his words have probably fallen on deaf ears.
I usually become exasperated if an author refuses to maintain strict neutrality when writing nonfiction. I want the facts, not the author's interpretation of them, or his or her opinion. In this case, however, I can understand why Johnson felt compelled to make such a bold move and he was right in doing so.
Ultimately, this is a fascinating True Crime saga. I found myself immersed in it, more than I ever imagined possible. I learned some interesting history, and a lot about bird feathers/skins, salmon fliers and expert tiers, as well the strange obsessions of men. The greed that results from these obsessions, of course, is a story as old as man.
While this may not sound like a book that would appeal to a broad audience, it should. Those familiar with the sport of fly-fishing will understand aspects and nuances many of us never will, about this case, but historians, true crime readers, mystery fans and even fans of legal dramas, will find this to be a very compelling story.
4 stars