Rogues
True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
-
-
4.3 • 16 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, twelve enthralling stories of misbehavior and skullduggery by one of the most decorated journalists of our time.
"I read everything he writes. Every time he writes a book, I read it. Every time he writes an article, I read it. . . . He's a national treasure." --Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Blowout
Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award for his meticulously reported, hypnotically engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker. As Keefe says in his preface, "They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial."
Keefe brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines whether a whistle-blower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black-market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death-penalty attorney who represents the "worst of the worst," among other bravura works of literary journalism.
The appearance of his byline in The New Yorker is always an event, and collected here for the first time readers can see his work forms an always enthralling but deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up against them.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this engaging essay collection, one of America’s finest investigative journalists profiles criminals, rule breakers, iconoclasts, and the people entangled with them. Patrick Radden Keefe (Say Nothing, Empire of Pain) spent years at The New Yorker finding out what makes people tick, and this anthology gathers 12 of his best pieces. We meet a wine collector hunting for the forger who sold him counterfeit vintages, a Dutch woman living in fear of one of the Netherlands’ most notorious criminals (who’s also her brother), and outsider media figures ranging from the late Anthony Bourdain to the TV producer who repackaged a bankruptcy-prone real estate developer into a credible businessman. Each piece balances skepticism with genuine curiosity about what drives people to cross lines—legal, ethical, or social. This is long-form magazine journalism at its finest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 12 essays in this superlative collection from New Yorker staff writer Keefe (Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty) reflect, as he says in his preface, his abiding preoccupations: "crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial." "The Jefferson Bottles" chronicles how the sale of bottles of wine that supposedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson, for hundreds of thousands of dollars, resulted in a lifelong crusade against wine fraud by billionaire Bill Koch. "Crime Family" charts the daily life in hiding of Astrid Holleeder, a Dutch woman who brought down her own crime family by testifying against her brother. "A Loaded Gun" explores why neurobiologist Amy Bishop shot and killed three colleagues at the University of Alabama decades after she was suspected of killing her own brother. "Winning" takes a look at the rise of Donald Trump from the point of view of Mark Burnett, creator of The Apprentice, and in "Journeyman," chef Anthony Bourdain, more rebel than rogue, muses on dining with Barack Obama. Every one of these selections is a journalistic gem. Immensely enjoyable writing married with fascinating subjects makes this a must-read.
