Michael Blanding – Carol's Notebook

Author: Michael Blanding

Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Smithsonian, Slate, The Nation, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Boston. His latest book, In Shakespeare’s Shadow: A Rogue Scholar’s Quest to Reveal the True Source Behind the World’s Greatest Plays, was published by Hachette Books in 2021, and won the International Book Award for Narrative Non-Fiction. His previous book, The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, was published in 2014 and named a New York Times Bestseller; an NPR Book of the Year; a New England Indie Bestseller; and winner of an NES Book Award from the New England Society of New York. His first book, The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink, was published in 2010.

Michael was formerly a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University and a senior writing fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In addition, he has been a senior writer at Harvard Business School; a senior writer and associate editor at Boston Magazine; and editor of New England Travel magazine. He has also co-written several travel guides to New England destinations for Moon Handbooks, and taught journalism and creative nonfiction at Tufts University, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and GrubStreet Writers. He lives outside Boston with his two children.

I found The Map Thief absolutely fascinating, not so much because of map dealer turned thief E. Forbes Smiley, but because of all the information about the history of mapmaking and map collecting. I will admit that I did pick it up because it's a true crime story. Smiley was a respected antiquarian map dealer in who ended up over his head and began stealing rare and famous maps from universities and turning around and selling them. Eventually, he got caught, but it was surprising how little security the rare book/map rooms had. And how incomplete the record-keeping was. And collectors and most other dealers never questioned his finds either. My favorite parts of the book were when Blanding spent time explaining the maps that were stolen and their significance. It was well-researched and easy to read. I learned so much about maps, their uses, the history of map making, and the historical figures behind them. I probably won't remember much...