The Feather Thief
Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Ratings24
Average rating3.9
On a cool June evening in 2009, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist grabbed hundreds of bird skins - some collected 150 years earlier - and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? This is the gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice.
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This was such a bizarre story, but super interesting!
I've recently listened to this podcast about the Victorian bird market, which is super interesting too: https://www.dressedpodcast.com/podcasts/murderous-millinery.htm
Also, guys, Edwin Rist does flute covers of pop songs and tv music! https://youtu.be/CKnEp5qdANQ
Educational, fun to read, and by the end of it I found myself genuinely invested in the story. The writing itself is compelling, and although I was intitially confused by the author's inclusion of personal details in the narrative, by the end it did make sense. I thought the author approached a sensitive topic with great care, and wrote with a lot of respect about the people involved in the story.
