Feather Thieves and Salmon at Dan's

Dinner and Acknowledgments

Last Wednesday, Dan's challenge was to prepare a meal themed around a story about the theft of centuries-old bird skins.  He nailed it.  With help from Roy, Dan started us with gravlax and then served freshly-caught cedar plank salmon and roasted chicken, pan-fried corn, salad, and french bread. To close, he put out a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies and a chaser of aquavit.  

The salmon was a nod to the "salmon flies" at the center of our story, and the chicken stood in for the many feathered species so prized by Edwin Rist and his fly-tying community.  Bravo, Dan!  

Our Review and Discussion of The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson

Until Dan proposed the title, few of us had heard about the theft of bird skins from London's Natural History Museum in 2009. Moreover, it seemed a slender premise for a book.  But once we started reading, most of us were quite taken by Johnson's non-fiction account of young Edwin Rist and his brazen heist.

Johnson opens with a history of rare and exotic birds in South America and Southeast Asia.  He explains that Englishman Alfred Russel Wallace's acquisition and study of birds in the Malay Archipelago led him to formulate a theory of evolution ahead of Charles Darwin. His work also resulted in the donation of over 125,000 birds to the Natural History Museum, which now boasts the largest ornithology collection in the world.  

As Wallace was collecting birds, women's fashion turned to bird feathers for hats and coats.  At the same time, the gentry in England developed a passion for fly-tying, including so-called "salmon flies," the ne plus ultra of  fishing flies.  As with women's hats, the more exotic the bird, the more desirable its feathers, even though most salmon flies weren't actually used for fishing.  

All of this was prelude to the theft at the heart of Johnson's story.  By the 1990's, making and collecting salmon flies had regained popularity, but the same problem bedeviled current collectors: where to get  exotic feathers whose sale was banned by international law?  Enter Edwin Rist, who while studying at the Royal College of Music to become a flautist broke into the Natural History Museum and stole 299 bird skins.  His capture, trial, and the subsequent search for the missing skins are Johnson's focus in the latter half of the book.  

Our Rating of the The Feather Thief 

Ok, we liked the book, but with some big caveats. First off, several guys (Dean, Terry) noted the parallels to our prior book about Teddy Roosevelt's 1913 exploration of the Amazon (River of Doubt), as Wallace's first ornithology expedition covered similar terrain with as punishing an outcome.  But after building a strong back story, Johnson disappoints following Rist's criminal trial.  As Doug noted, Rist faced no accountability by receiving a suspended sentence.  And as Paul, Jack, Larry, and Roy all observed, once Johnson begins his own search for the missing skins, his failure to find them makes for a deeply unsatisfying ending.  Even our non-fiction devotee Glenn, who likened the obsession with faux fishing flies to the Ming vase obsession, was disappointed by the ending.

Despite our reservations about the ending, we gave Johnson a healthy 6.8 for a fascinating peek into the history of birds and their fly-tying antagonists. 

Next Up: Dead Wake by Erik Larson

We read The Devil in the White City years ago, and have several times suggested other Larson titles, but to no avail.  Finally, we get another chance.  In August, we'll convene at Glenn's to discuss a U-boat, an ocean liner, and a World War.