In this 2018 New York Times Notable Book,Paige Williams "does for fossils what Susan Orlean did for orchids" (Book Riot) in her account of one Florida man's attempt to sell a dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia--a story "steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics" (Rebecca Skloot).
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.
Paige Williams is a staff writer at the New Yorker and a Mississippi native. A National Magazine Award winner for feature writing, she has had her journalism anthologized in various volumes of the Best American series, including The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Crime Writing. She is the Laventhol/Newsday Visiting Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and has taught at schools including the University of Mississippi, New York University, the Missouri School of Journalism, and, at M.I.T., in the Knight Science Journalism program. Williams has been a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. At the New Yorker, she has written about suburban politics in Detroit, the death penalty in Alabama, paleoanthropology in South Africa, and the theft of cultural palimony from the Tlingit peoples of Alaska.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations xi
Author's Note xiii
Introduction: Origins xv
Part I
1 "Superb Tyrannosaurus Skeleton" 3
2 Land O'Lakes 16
3 Garcia, King of the Ice Age 22
4 Dive 31
5 Deal 41
6 Tucson 52
7 Big Game 63
8 Middleman in Japan 79
9 Hollywood Headhunters 85
Part II
10 The Warrior and the Explorer 93
11 The Flaming Cliffs 105
12 Market Conditions 116
13 "Go Gobi" 132
14 The Ghost of Mary Anning 147
15 The Last Dinosaur 162
16 The President's Predicament 176
17 United States of America v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton 194
Part III
18 Raid! 207
19 Verdict 219
20 Tarbomania 232
21 Petersburg Low 242
22 The Dinosaur Bus 252
Epilogue 263
Acknowledgments 279
Quick Reference to Deep Time 287
Selected Bibliography 289
Notes 293
Index 383
What People are Saying About This
#1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
“THE DINOSAUR ARTIST is a breathtaking feat of writing and reporting: a strange, irresistible and beautifully written story steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics. It's at once laugh-out-loud funny and deeply sobering. I was blown away by the depth of its characters, its vivid details, and Paige Williams’ incredible command of the facts. Bottom line: this is an extraordinary debut by one of the best nonfiction writers we've got.”
#1 New York Times-bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann
“Paige Williams is that rare reporter who burrows into a subject until all of its dimensions, all of its darkened corners and secret chambers, are illuminated. With THE DINOSAUR ARTIST, she has done more than reveal a gripping true crime story; she has cast light on everything from obsessive fossil hunters to how the earth evolved. This is a tremendous book.”
New York Times-bestselling author of Michelle and Code Girls - Liza Mundy
"I am in awe of Paige Williams. Every line of THE DINOSAUR ARTIST--from her deeply informed discussions of paleontology and the law to her often withering and hilarious descriptions--was a pleasure to read. Few nonfiction writers are capable of mining their characters with such a winning blend of sympathy, wonder, and rigor.”
