Includes index

Finding my religion -- Refrigerator trumps cathedral -- Sailing to Byzantium, through Bucharest -- Saving a God key from the toilet -- Trouble with fakes -- Seduced by Saint Peter -- "Call after midnight, Paris time" -- Working the numinous -- "I loved to fondle it" -- "All the red flags are up" -- The men who knew too much -- "They're vomiting blood!" -- What's with the new suit? -- Ready to explode -- Getting beat up with Eduard Shevardnadze -- A mitzvah acquisition -- "They'll scare the rich old ladies away" -- Living with loot -- The mysterious Mr. Egrette

"Memoir by former Director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore reveals what goes on behind the scenes. Shocking and comical backstories include tales of failed exhibitions, looted antiquities, fakes, and inside jobs of theft and bribery among a cast of crooked dealers, deluded collectors, and duplicitous public officials"--