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Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World | 
 enlarge | Author: Sharon Waxman
Publisher: Times Books
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $19.80
You Save: $10.20 (34%)
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Rating:  6 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0805086536
Dewey Decimal Number: 709.01
EAN: 9780805086539
Publication Date: October 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
A journey across four continents to the heart of the conflict over who should own the great works of ancient art Why are the Elgin Marbles in London and not on the Acropolis? Why do there seem to be as many mummies in France as there are in Egypt? Why are so many Etruscan masterworks in America? For the past two centuries, the West has been plundering the treasures of the ancient world to fill its great museums, but in recent years, the countries where ancient civilizations originated have begun to push back, taking museums to court, prosecuting curators, and threatening to force the return of these priceless objects. Where do these treasures rightly belong? Sharon Waxman, a former culture reporter for The New York Times and a longtime foreign correspondent, brings us inside this high-stakes conflict, examining the implications for the preservation of the objects themselves and for how we understand our shared cultural heritage. Her journey takes readers from the great cities of Europe and America to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, as these countries face down the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She also introduces a cast of determined and implacable characters whose battles may strip these museums of some of their most cherished treasures. For readers who are fascinated by antiquity, who love to frequent museums, and who believe in the value of cultural exchange, Loot opens a new window on an enduring conflict.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Must Not Know Much About Art... January 6, 2009
I admit that I have not read this book, but I am skeptical of the author's knowledge of art history and ability to critically examine its nuances. In the glowing review above from the Washington Post (the paper she works for in fact) there is the following quote:
"It is shocking. Imagine the Mona Lisa's face cut out of her canvas with a kitchen knife," writes Waxman.
Any person with even a basic background in Art or just an admirer of the Mona Lisa knows that it is not painted on canvas, but is a panel painting.
A bit beyond a rookie mistake for me, it ruins any sense of authority on the matter even before I would read the book. Are there no editors and fact checkers at work anymore?????
 LOOT INDEED January 5, 2009
This is thoroughly researched, fascinating book. The author goes above and beyond to try to give both sides of the debate their due. After reading this, I totally side with the musuems..I mean where would these treasures be if they had not been saved years ago..Do you really think Greece or Turkey would have taken such care of these treasures?..or that the millions that have tranversed the British Museum to see the Marbles would have seen them..in Greece? The returning of these items is a slippery slope..though I understand and respect countries wanting their treasures back, I feel that if they had cared more about them in the first place they would not find themselves in this mess. The Met, the Lourve et.al..advance culture to the masses...these great museums serve as a becon of civilized culture...the items are safe at these state of the art museums, the are respected and given due reverence. Greece and Turkey and the rest should thank Britian and America for having the respect to save these items and not just trample them or destroy them..I am not advocating what Napoleon did or what the notrious Germans did in World War II..that was mass looting....Great book, great read
Who Owns The Ancient World's Treasures? December 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For the last couple of centuries Western invaders have helped themselves to art and treasure from ancient world, as control and ownership have changed hands. Now, many of those countries have started demanding the return of those items. Waxman takes a journalists view of the claims, counter-claims and reality of situations, in an engaging well written book. Loot focuses on the collections in four major museums - the Louvre, the British Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art - following some of the most controversial parts of their collections, their history and the current state of disputes. And the issue is not so clear cut as to who should hold many of these items, and Waxman makes that clear. Some countries are demanding return of artifacts that have nothing to do with the current inhabitants of the land where they were found (Turkey wanting the return of Greek, Roman, Phonetician and other early cultures that lived there many centuries before modern Turks arrived). Many of the countries wanting the return of potentially priceless treasures, have no system in place to display or guard those treasures, bringing the question of why return them to mind. Much of the looting done in the past was damaging to the artifacts (or their source), and Waxman is honest in pointing these issues out.
Loot is a thought provoking book, with no clear answers, even though Waxman does provide some thoughts as to how both sides could be best served, and still protect the art, and the public's access to it. However, as her many interviews with the personalities at all levels of the situation will show, both sides, have dug in their positions, with no interest in compromising.
A New Way of Looking at the Acquisitions of Museums November 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Think about the current placement of the Rosetta Stone. It was discovered in Egypt by Napoleon's army in 1799. Then the French army capitulated to the British, with the stipulation that all the specimens uncovered by the savants who accompanied Napoleon had to be turned over. The stone was eventually transferred to England, and has been prominent within the British Museum ever since. While the French and English scuffled and argued over its ownership, no one was asking the Egyptians what they thought. Perhaps the Egyptians didn't really care much; it took the scholarship of the French to start the still unending interest in Egyptology. But the Egyptians care now, or at least some of them do. Why should the Rosetta Stone be so far away from its home and from its context? Why should it not be returned, since the nation of its origin was never consulted about "donating" it? The Rosetta Stone is just one artifact mentioned in _Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World_ (Times Books) by Sharon Waxman. The author is a journalist with expertise in Middle East studies, and places the acquisition of such treasures within the history of the nationalism and colonial reach of the expanding powers starting at the end of the eighteenth century and continuing to the present. The present, however, is especially complicated. Current nations presiding over their ancient troves would like to recover what they have lost, and some of them are making it happen, using "lawsuits and criminal prosecution, public embarrassment, and bare-knuckled threats." Since this is a story of world history and culture, it touches us all, and Waxman has provided an exciting account that pays close attention to all sides of the issues as the controversy enters a new phase.
Regarding finds of previous centuries, there are few disputes in which the feelings of both sides have such strong and comprehensible arguments to support them. Those who feel that treasures, like the Rosetta Stone, ought to stay just where they now maintain that these are not artifacts that belong to a region, but are part of the history of all humankind. The great museums have plenty of visitors, so that the objects get appreciated and the lands from which they were taken reap increased interest and tourist visits. The museums have staff and security to take care of the finds. The opposing view is that objects of ancient history are best appreciated in the region of their own culture; a concentration of such objects found in one region could easily be displayed in good museums not far from where the treasure was found. The context with the other objects could be unbroken. Other cultures ripping out the treasures and taking them away steal the soul and history of a nation, a link between present and past vital for national identity. A good deal of Waxman's book has to do with the Elgin Marbles, the pieces of the Acropolis Lord Elgin took two centuries ago and which have pride of place in the British Museum. This is the oldest and loudest of the repatriation battles. Waxman shows that in this supreme argument about repatriation, Greece may trump any argument from the British Museum, but the museum is going to fight for a reason that surpasses the Elgin controversy: if the museum gives the marbles back, then there will be an inevitable deluge of petitions to return all that other looted stuff, not only to Greece, and not only from the British Museum, but worldwide.
There is plenty of controversy here to go around, and few easy answers. There is, at least, some new hesitation from museums to take on acquisitions that might have wrongfully come to them, although that hesitation has been obtained by the threat of legal procedure and financial loss. The museum world may not be close to solving the problem of the acquisitions from the old colonial days, but at least the pros and cons are being considered, rather than a mechanical acceptance of the status quo. Waxman takes us on a tour of sleek museums and dank tombs, and introduces us to a cast of scholars, gadflies, and rogues. Writing about such a controversial topic, it is not surprising that she cannot offer pat answers to the repatriation question. She does, however, ask the right questions. Anyone who has an interest in museums or ancient art will benefit from the light she has brought to a complex controversy.
Balanced and Informative--and a Great Read November 22, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Sharon Waxman has written a remarkable book. With skill and insight, she takes the reader inside the world's great museums and through the sordid antiquities market. She poses difficult questions and uncovers uncomfortable truths, but without rancor and with a reporter's attention to nuance. "Loot" also never lags as it hopscotches from Europe to the Middle East to the United States. I couldn't put it down--and I certainly will never look at the Louvre or the Met the same way again.
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