The Race to Catch London’s Acrobatic Book Thieves

Thieves used acrobatics to pull off a brazen heist, scaling a sheer wall, cutting holes in the ceiling, and descending from the roof to evade alarm detection. Among the stolen goods were works by Copernicus, Dante, and Newton—all irreplaceable treasures. An international task force was assembled to track down the mobsters responsible, but they were in a race against time. If they didn’t handle things carefully, the burglars might catch wind of the investigation and destroy the precious treasures. Guest: Marc Wortman, popular historian, journalist, and author of the article "The Case of the Purloined Books" in "Vanity Fair," April 2021.