![]() ![]() We learn about Wittman’s background (he is mixed race, his father a white American who served in the Korean War and married Wittman’s Japanese mother while on deployment), along with why he became interested in being an FBI agent. The structure of this book is from a textbook in memoir writing: start with a dramatic incident at the height of Wittman’s career, then yank us back to the beginning of his life to tell us how he got involved in the FBI and art theft. Yet Wittman largely won me over, and most importantly, I feel like I learned a lot. ![]() As with many memoirs, one must swallow his stories with a grain of salt, sift through the small moments of self-aggrandizement. Wittman’s memoir is a treasure trove of insight into how art theft and the underground art market works, along with some interesting looks at how world events in the 1990s and 2000s shaped FBI enforcement and pursuit of things like art crime. I was excited to hear from a retired law enforcement officer who specialized at going undercover. Wittman offered a perspective I haven’t heard from-I’ve read a lot of stories from the points of view of the criminals, as well as from the marks. So I was drawn to Priceless because Robert K. As many of you know, I am a sucker for heist and con artists stories. ![]()
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