In my latest for @TheSpectator I look at the British Museum scandal and the increasingly anti-social arrogance that leads to museum theft with author Kirk Wallace Johnson, whose superb "The Feather Thief" is being made into a TV series by Universal.
https://t.co/oqMBGKSMcE
Whenever I glance at my bookshelf I’m tempted to grab this again and dive in. A beyond-fascinating true story of obsession, collecting, craftsmanship, a niche internet community (with its own dark market), and best of all: audacious criminality. THE FEATHER THIEF. Read it
By popular vote, our Gulf Coast Reads Book Pick for 2023 is The Fisherman and the Dragon by @KirkWJohnson ⛵
Join HCPL, partner libraries and organizations, for special programs including a virtual author talk with Kirk Wallace Johnson!
More info https://t.co/enk2GgiQY7
This quote was the moment I realized I had to write the book. That it was coming from a dude tying feathers to a hook made it that much better.
Thanks to @ThisAmerLife for such a wonderful telling of The Feather Thief.
"We're a small, tight-knit community. And you do not want to piss us off." The story of what may be the greatest feather caper in history. https://t.co/xE5CBIJrgi
On the radio this weekend: A flute player breaks into a British museum and makes off with a million dollars worth of dead birds. https://t.co/xE5CBIJZ5Q
@KirkWJohnson Congratulations! The Fishermen and the Dragon by Kirk Wallace Johnson is one of @NYPL's 2022 #BestBooks for Adults! https://t.co/9Dcg2a9Vp9
@nytopinion references The Fishermen and the Dragon and the events at the heart of the book (the Texas Klan's militia and its harassment of Vietnamese refugees in the early 80s) in this essay from the editorial board. @katiekings
"The American public is gradually and alarmingly becoming inured to the presence of this violence, but it is the duty of our lawmakers to take this threat seriously," writes the Times editorial board of political violence in the U.S. https://t.co/6UCRLBC6h4
I moved to Houston and officially begin my 12 months of field research today, supported by a @ssrc_org international dissertation grant.
On the reading list: @KirkWJohnson's new book about racial injustice @unreasonabledw's fight against Formosa Plastics in Seadrift, Texas.
Latest from me: I review @KirkWJohnson's new book on the attacks on Vietnamese refugees in Galveston Bay that were initiated by the Klan, all while the chemical companies were staging an all out assault on all of them.
https://t.co/HltmGYMz3T
Since the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836, there has been bitter disagreement about exactly who belongs here.
Three new books remind us that the question of who is welcome in Texas has been with us for a very long time. https://t.co/2B1q7EJohc
“The Fishermen and the Dragon” is a thoroughly researched work of social history. The passages on environmental decay along the Gulf coast are resonant, too https://t.co/O1mpx6q3eH
When Vietnamese Fishermen Went to War With the Klan in Texas
Amazing story.
An excerpt from @KirkWJohnson's new book "The Fishermen and the Dragon" via @thedailybeast
https://t.co/8O0pkaRaHV
Read an excerpt of @KirkWJohnson's "richly reported and dramatically rendered investigative work" (@FortuneMagazine) THE FISHERMEN AND THE DRAGON in @thedailybeast now! https://t.co/NjcosiFRND
The @waybackmachine contained *tons* of incriminating (and deleted) posts in the bird smuggling/feather trading underworld at the heart of THE FEATHER THIEF. Couldn't have written the book without those screengrabs...
This would be a fantastic week to say something about how the Internet Archive has helped you over the years. Quote-tweet or reply.
https://t.co/pvwAEWBfbr / https://t.co/wPEvAlNKU6