Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession
"Craig Childs understands [archeological] epiphanies, and he beautifully captures them...along with the moral ambiguities that come from exposing a long-hidden world."—George Johnson,New York Times Book Review"[Childs is] a desert ecologist who also happens to be a fine storyteller...[Finders Keepersis] a fascinating book, full of swashbuckling pothunters, FBI raids, greasy museum curators who don't really care and many, many other characters...Childs looks at moral issues from varied angles. He doubts others as he doubts himself, a beautiful inverse of the golden rule."—Susan Salter Reynolds,Los Angeles Times"Reads almost like a thriller, chock-full of vendettas, suicides and large scale criminal enterprises dedicated to the multimillion-dollar trade in antiques."—NPR,"Weekend All Things Considered""This is a delightful account of the complicated world of archeology by an author who loves (one might say is borderline obsessed with) the past... This nicely wrought, even poetic book about archeological excavation and the variety of people who are passionate about the past and its artifacts will fascinate everyone from high school students to professional archaeologists digging in the field. Highly recommended."—Library Journal"Finders Keepersmay be [Childs's] most tender and ferocious dissection...If you have ever ached to possess - or lost what you believed you possessed to change, time or someone else - you may find yourself equally possessed by Childs's razor-edge analysis and compassion."—Mary Sojourner,Psychology Today"[Childs is] a superb storyteller...As Childs makes clear in this engrossing book, how people grapple with the past is as varied as history itself."—Jonathan Keats,The New Scientist