The Man Who Stole the Gods
A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy

Quotes

“Extraordinary...The incredible story of Latchford’s life and crimes alone would make The Man Who Stole The Gods well worth reading, but its author, the journalist Matthew Campbell, positions his wrongdoing within a much wider context...It’s greatly reassuring that the arc of this fascinating and scrupulously researched story bends finally towards justice.”
— Financial Times

"Fascinating...'The Man Who Stole the Gods' reads like a thriller...the story romps along with dogged lawyers and a ludicrous, devious antagonist."
— The Economist

“A cross between a well-reported exposé and...a page-turning true-crime procedural. There are shady art dealers, greedy museum curators, Khmer Rouge guerillas, American tycoons turned art collectors, indefatigable Feds, honest lawyers, Thai body-builders: everything needed for a multi-episode TV docudrama…Campbell excels at building a narrative."
— Asian Review of Books

"Shocking...a race against time."
— The New York Times

“Painstakingly researched and paced like a thriller, this sweeping, cinematic account weaves together true crime and Asian history to shine a light on a little-explored art world scandal. It’s a breathtaking ride.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Thought-provoking true crime on a grand scale.”
— Kirkus

"Wildly compelling...investigated with great skill and depth"
— CrimeReads

"As unnerving as it is engrossing...unfurls like a global detective novel"
— The Irish News

“For those who loved The Art Thief, or any page-turning history of true crime, Matthew Campbell’s latest should be on your radar. In The Man Who Stole the Gods, Campbell takes us behind the scenes to understand how a white man in Cambodia pilfered local statues, temples, and art, making millions and selling to Western museums like the Met, who were eager to expand their collections—and as Campbell shows, incredibly unscrupulously. A fascinating, page-turning story of an art heist where the pilfered works are still on view today at some of the most storied institutions in the world."
— Amazon Book Review

“An epic tale of art, war, and crime, The Man Who Stole the Gods unspools a sprawling conspiracy of tomb raiders, art dealers, and museum curators, with one elusive expatriate at the heart of it all. Campbell brings the story to life with brisk pacing, an instinct for drama, and a firm grasp of the moral and historical stakes.”
— Stuart A. Reid, senior fellow for history and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Lumumba Plot

“The Man Who Stole the Gods transcends reportage, marrying investigative rigor to the emotional force of great fiction. Propulsive and devastating, it traces a story of greed and violence that opens, finally, onto redemption, rendered with exceptional clarity and insight.”
— Katie Engelhart, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Inevitable

“Immaculately researched and beautifully written, The Man Who Stole the Gods is a gripping real-life exposé of the ugly deals that underpin the trade in beautiful objects.”
— Oliver Bullough, author of Everybody Loves Our Dollars and Moneyland

“The Man Who Stole the Gods is both an archaeological adventure to rival David Grann’s Lost City of Z, and a riveting exposé of the plunder that still fills the world’s top art museums.”
— Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up

“Masterfully reported and beautifully told, The Man Who Stole the Gods is a piercing indictment of our unequal world. It reads like a thriller, starring elite curators, business moguls, despots, freedom fighters, and one of the most fascinating anti- heroes in modern memory.”
— Sheelah Kolhatkar, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Black Edge

“Reads like a thriller while laying out the entwined histories of the Cambodian genocide and the rapacious hunger of Western collectors for the images of Hindu and Buddhist deities.”
— Hyperallergic