About this item
Nathan Raab, Americas preeminent rare documents dealer, describes his years as the Sherlock Holmes of historical artifacts - questing after precious finds and determining their authenticity - and he shows us what the past can tell us about the present.. A box uncovered in a Maine attic with twenty letters written by Alexander Hamilton; a handheld address to Congress by President George Washington; a long-lost Gold Medal that belonged to an American President; a note that Winston Churchill wrote to his captor when he was a young POW in South Africa; paperwork signed and filled out by Amelia Earhart when she became the first woman to fly the Atlantic; an American flag carried to the moon and back by Neil Armstrong; an unpublished letter written by Albert Einstein, discussing his theory of relativity. Each day, people from all over the world contact Nathan Raab for help understanding what they have, what it might be worth, and how to sell it. The Raab Collections president, Nathan is a modern-day treasure hunter and one of the worlds most prominent dealers of historical artifacts. Most weeks, he travels the country, scours auctions, or fields phone calls and emails from people who think they may have found something of note in a grandparents attic. In The Hunt for History, Raab shares some fascinating stories about his professional exploits: spotting a letter from British officials that secured the Rosetta Stone; discovering a piece of the first electric cable laid by Edison; restoring a fragmented letter from Andrew Jackson that led to the infamous Trail of Tears; and locating copies of missing audio that had been recorded on Air Force One as the plane brought JFKs body back to Washington. Whether its the first report of Napoleons death or an unpublished letter penned by Albert Einstein to a curious soldier, every document and artifact Raab uncovers comes with a spellbinding story - and often offers new insights into a life we thought we knew.
About the Author
Nathan Raab is President of The Raab Collection and one of the world's foremost experts on historical documents and authenticity. His firm's clients include the Library of Congress, the British Library, Harvard University, and many of the great private and public collections in the U.S. and around the world. Nathan has advised the families of many great historical figures on evaluating the treasures that have descended to them, including Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James K. Polk, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, Gerald Ford, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, senior leadership in the Civil War, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Nathan is a regular presence in the media and has appeared on international broadcast, print and online outlets including CNN, CNN International, NBC Nightly News, CBS Morning News, Fox & Friends, People, Forbes, Huffington Post and Daily Mail. His writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and he writes a column, "Historically Speaking," for Forbes.com.Nathan was a long time member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where he chaired several committees. The Hunt for History is his first book, and in it he takes the reader on a journey of discovery, unearthing great documents of history and bringing them to light.
