2 records matched your query       

Author:

Williams, Paige, (Journalist) author.

Title:

The dinosaur artist : obsession, betrayal, and the quest for Earth's ultimate trophy / Paige Williams.

Edition:

First edition.

Publisher:

Hachette Books,

Copyright Date:

2018

Description:

xxii, 410 pages ; 24 cm

Subject:

Prokopi, Eric--(Fossil collector).
Fossils--Collection and preservation.
Fossils--Collection and preservation--Mongolia.
Tyrannosaurus.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (289-381) and index.

Contents:

"Superb tyrannosaurus skeleton" -- Land O' Lakes -- Garcia, king of the Ice Age -- Dive -- Deal -- Tucson -- Big game -- Middleman in Japan -- Hollywood headhunters -- The warrior and the explorer -- The flaming cliffs -- Market conditions -- "Go Gobi" -- The ghost of Mary Anning -- The last dinosaur -- The President's predicament -- United States of America v. One tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton -- Raid! -- Verdict -- Tarbomania -- Petersburg low -- The dinosaur bus.

Summary:

In 2012, a New York auction catalogue boasted an unusual offering: "a superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton." In fact, Lot 49135 consisted of a nearly complete T. bataar, a close cousin to the most famous animal that ever lived. The fossils now on display in a Manhattan event space had been unearthed in Mongolia, more than 6,000 miles away. At eight-feet high and 24 feet long, the specimen was spectacular, and when the gavel sounded the winning bid was over $1 million. Eric Prokopi, a thirty-eight-year-old Floridian, was the man who had brought this extraordinary skeleton to market. A onetime swimmer who spent his teenage years diving for shark teeth, Prokopi's singular obsession with fossils fueled a thriving business hunting, preparing, and selling specimens, to clients ranging from natural history museums to avid private collectors like actor Leonardo DiCaprio. But there was a problem. This time, facing financial strain, had Prokopi gone too far? As the T. bataar went to auction, a network of paleontologists alerted the government of Mongolia to the eye-catching lot. As an international custody battle ensued, Prokopi watched as his own world unraveled. In the tradition of The Orchid Thief, The Dinosaur Artist is a stunning work of narrative journalism about humans' relationship with natural history and a seemingly intractable conflict between science and commerce. A story that stretches from Florida's Land O' Lakes to the Gobi Desert, The Dinosaur Artist illuminates the history of fossil collecting--a murky, sometimes risky business, populated by eccentrics and obsessives, where the lines between poacher and hunter, collector and smuggler, enthusiast and opportunist, can easily blur. In her first book, Paige Williams has given readers an irresistible story that spans continents, cultures, and millennia as she examines the question of who, ultimately, owns the past.

ISBN:

9780316382533
0316382531

OCLC:

(OCoLC)1043403360

LCCN:

2018937293

Locations:

USUX851 -- Iowa State University - Parks Library (Ames)

BOPG851 -- Ames Public Library (Ames)

GBPF771 -- Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library (Ankeny)

TCPG826 -- Bettendorf Public Library Information Center (Bettendorf)

PNAX964 -- Northeast Iowa Community College Library - Calmar (Calmar)

SAPG074 -- Cedar Falls Public Library (Cedar Falls)

TYPH572 -- Cedar Rapids Public Library (Cedar Rapids)

CDPF771 -- Clive Public Library (Clive)

XXPH787 -- Council Bluffs Public Library (Council Bluffs)

BAPH771 -- Des Moines Public Library (Des Moines)

ALPE516 -- Fairfield Public Library (Fairfield)

YCPD572 -- Hiawatha Public Library (Hiawatha)

OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)

YEPF572 -- Marion Public Library (Marion)

GOPG641 -- Marshalltown Public Library (Marshalltown)

BVPE851 -- Nevada Public Library (Nevada)

UJPE911 -- Norwalk Easter Public Library (Norwalk)

GZPE631 -- Pella Public Library (Pella)

SFPH074 -- Waterloo Public Library (Waterloo)