Rogues' Gallery: The Secret Story of the Lust, Lies, Greed, and Betrayals That Made the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Note to self: don't donate to the Metropolitan Museum, apparently they don't want you. This narrative history of the museum's bosses may be the last blow to my desire to work there, which was on its last legs over the whole repatriation issue.

There are, frankly, too many damn people — I had a really hard time keeping track of who was who and what they were responsible for and what their relationships were to each other. Junior Rockefeller made the biggest impression, and seemed the sanest person in this entire book (a Rockefeller. Sane. I know.), while Tom Hoving was just endless. I was kind of surprised by how little attention was paid to Phillippe de Montebello, but that's probably a lack of historical perspective talking.

Oh, this was so limp. It's a look at the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a focus on some of the individuals who were key influences on the Museum and its collection at various points from its founding to more contemporary times. It's not a bad premise, but I hated the simpering tone that ran through it and always seemed to be saying "OMG! Rich people! Behaving badly! Quelle surprise!" The writing was fairly weak as well. Reading it was like having a long conversation with the author while he insisted upon talking behind his hand the entire time for effect. Poor effect, I would say.