Heist

When four men in grey coveralls walked into the world's most famous museum in 2025 and walked out eight minutes later with €88 million in crown jewels, I hoped they'd get away with it. I know this makes me a morally inconsistent person. But I'm willing to bet you understand the strange appeal of a really good heist.

Why do we root for heist criminals while despising ordinary thieves? Why does a pickpocket disgust us, but a gentleman cat burglar captivate us? Why have we been telling stories about clever thieves for centuries, from Robin Hood to Danny Ocean?

This book explores those questions through thirty of history's most spectacular crimes, spanning 3,000 years from the systematic plundering of Egyptian tombs in 1100 BCE to that audacious Louvre robbery in 2025.