i loved this book, I love learning about lost history items and I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved that it had different items.

The perfect book for the person who loves history. The Authors do a great job showing the importance of preserving documents of the past. The book follows the Raab family business and their search for important historical documents. Different chapters show the process from from learning of a possible collection to the acquisition and sale of the items. Imagine Indiana Jones as a rare books and manuscripts dealer. Although there is not a whip and fedora, it was just as exciting reading of their finds. I hope there will be follow up books.

I didn't want this book to end, it was that good. I enjoy reading history and this book now has a spot on my favorites list as well as on the gift list for various people in my life. Nathan Raab has a way with words and knows how to grab the reader and take them for a wondrous journey through time. As I read, I found myself wanting to read parts out loud, to share my new knowledge. Imagine holding in your hands a flag that went to the moon or a piece of Edison's electric cable. To be honest, if I had had a history teacher who could have gotten me this enthusiastic about the subject when I was in school, well I might just have made that my major. It would be great if Nathan Raab and his writing partner, Luke Barr were to pen another volume or two.....or three.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

As a fan of history I couldn’t wait to read this book. And I am so glad I got to. I have never heard of Nathan Raab but I will be looking into him more now. I found the information he has really fascinating. So much rare and informative documents and artifacts.

I loved the writing style of Raab. I found myself sharing some of the information with others without even realizing I had retained the facts.

I actually think I will buy the hard copy so we have it for generations to come.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually one to pick up a history book for a quiet reading sesh, but this book is incredible! Nathan Raab makes history exciting. Finding hidden treasures at auctions or random people walking into his family store with remarkable historical artifacts keeps this book moving at a quick pace. I learned so much about American history and I cannot recommend this book enough. I loved it!

The Hunt For History by Nathan Raab. This nerd loves history, and this book was just amazing! Nathan Raab is the president of the Raab Collection, a dealer of historical artifacts. He is what I would call a treasure hunter. In this book he details some of his most memorable and exciting finds! He is essentially living the show Antiques Roadshow! Letters from Churchill, Einstein and recordings from Air Force One after Kennedy had been assassinated. And those are just a few of his finds! I loved reading this book and did not want it to end!! A book about history and told in such a way that you don't even realize you are learning!! I will definitely buy this book!! 5⭐

Nathan Raab has crafted an engrossing page turner of a read in The Hunt for History. Well worth the read!

This was a very interesting and informative read. I am a huge fan of history and if you are a fan of shows like Pawn Stars and American Pickers you will probably enjoy this book. The author has an obvious respect and love for history and is in direct contact with history in his line of work. The author grew up with a father that seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of history and the author has followed in his father's footsteps in dealing with history.. The author buys and sells items of interest from history. Items from presidents, kings, generals and celebrities . A few examples are an audio recording from Air Force One after Kennedy's assassination, a letter from Ben Franklin or even a piece of the first electric wire used by Edison. There was a very interesting story about a note written by Winston Churchill showing his respect for a soldier who had captured Winston during the Boer War. The author has years of experience in determining the authenticity of documents and goes into detail describing the many ways some individuals try to fake historical items. An interesting and informative book.

WHO ARE THE AUTHORS?

Nathan Raab is the Principal of The Raab Collection and an established author. Mr. Raab is a familiar presence in the international media scene and has appeared in several broadcasts, in magazines and periodicals, and online.

Nathan has worked with the Library of Congress, the British Library, and many others. He has advised the descendants of many notable historical figures on the treasures that they have inherited. The Raab Collection has handled manuscripts and artifacts from a rich and diverse range of luminaries. Some of these esteemed historical figures are; 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.

Luke Barr is a New York Times bestselling author and was a features editor. He is known for his titles Ritz & Escoffier and his bestseller Provence, 1970. He worked as an editor at Travel + Leisure magazine. Luke now lives with his wife and their two daughters in Brooklyn.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

The Hunt for History is a cross between a real-life detective story and an Easter Egg Hunt. It is a risky business and the find can sometimes be valued in excess of six figures. If you enjoy the thrill of the chase, the drama of the reveal, or relish the trip through the adventure of the hunt you will love this text. Any history buff, collector of ephemera, antiquarian, museum curator, or student of history will be guaranteed to enjoy and appreciate the skill, hard work, and commitment employed by this family of literary sleuths. Those who are aficionados of fictional characters such as: Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, or Hercule Poirot then this true-life detective story will most certainly fascinate, entertain, and enthrall.

The Raab’s have much to teach their contemporaries about maintaining humanity and ethics in business practice. Nathan Raab goes to great pains to clarify that it is not just the monetary rewards that are important but the legacy that they help hand down to history through their discoveries. The Raab Collection’s ethics seem to be a distinct characteristic that separates the Raab’s from their competition, and it is why the monied class approach them repeatedly to sell, value or auction their family jewels.

SYNOPSIS

The Hunt for History will inevitably be compared to the Raiders of the Lost Ark and for very good reason.

These antiquarian detectives don’t hunt down criminals or solve murders; no, they solve puzzles far more complex than any thought up by the great mystery writers of the past. Their story is every bit as exciting and intense as a Sherlock Holmes tale.

Truth being stranger than fiction; this family of ‘detectives’ are far more skilled, intelligent, analytical, and intuitive than any of their fictional counterparts. Nathan Raab asserts that his success is due in part to the ‘Blink’ moment and a skill impossible to cultivate except through practical experience and the passage of time. These qualities include a detailed and working knowledge of a foreign language (in Nathan’s case that language is French) a good grounding in law, as well as a keen manuscript hunting mentality. It’s these traits that Raab confirms are the key personal characteristics that make the family business so successful.

Raab takes the reader along on a number of historically important quests for irreplaceable artifact and manuscripts. He describes how his father trained him and how his experiences developed the necessary skills that were essential to search for invaluable artifacts from times long past. Some treasure troves he discovered are so important that they would make even the hardest archivists salivate. Together this family has saved documents that eluded generations of sleuths, in one case they linked a lost document to the Rosetta Stone story.

The Raab family’s dogged determination and intellect often lead to official, personal, and historically significant artifacts and personal property of some of the history’s greatest players being found. They have discovered historic scripts from Kings, presidents and other notables. Although the hunt brings rich rewards financially, this isn’t the sole motivation for the Raab family. This family cares in every sense of the word in the legacy that is often attached to many of the items they manage to recover for posterity.

There is a genuine sense of empathy expressed at the relinquishment of unique and historically important items by those who have owned the various ‘objet d’arts’ over many generations; in one particular case spanning some 400 years. Most of all, it is the chase that will keep you turning the pages as it did for me. I was beguiled by each and every detail of the various reveals. The reader gets a real sense of the ups and downs emotionally and otherwise of the family’s commitment to finding and acquiring important antiquated collectibles.

Raab recounts the family’s investment in time, money, and effort in seeking out elusive historic treasures. The journey is a long one. The excitement grows as one incredible find is usurped by another then another, and they get more extraordinary with each turn of the page.

CONCLUSION

Put simply, this volume is a rip-roaring tale. If you read no other book in 2020, I highly recommend this one. As a book reviewer, I have only given 3 books a 5-star rating this year, and one of them goes to this work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere thanks go to: Nathan Raab and Luke Barr, NetGalley, and the publisher, Scribner for affording me the opportunity to review The Hunt For History.

FURTHER READING

You can find manuscripts they have for sale here: https://www.raabcollection.com/buy

The Raab Collection provide a PDF advice guide for those elite families who hold valuable items. Download it here or visit their site: https://www.raabcollection.com/selling

Fascinating and broad in its scope, this is a quick and informative read, although it carefully skirts some of the more incendiary aspects of the history it covers.

Like other readers, I found this panders a bit to the author's business sideline, but that doesn't get in the way of a fun read.

A good gift book for the budding teenaged history nerd in your life.

This may seem like I'm damning the book with faint praise, or saying that it's too simple for adults, but that's not my intention. I mean it to say that it is a clear and easy read about the business of collecting, buying, and selling historical signatures, documents, and such like. It may open up a facet of history of which the teenager was unaware. Or maybe I mean to say that it would have appealed to me when I was a teenaged history nerd.

In any case, it might also demonstrate to a young person that, if you are interested in history, there are career paths open to you aside from high school teacher or barista. It might also show that, even if you end up in a more conventional career path, there are still ways to incorporate the passion for history into your life, as Raab's clients did when they bought and sold documents and other memorabilia.

I'd like to talk about something that I liked about the book first, and then do a little ill-natured grousing about it.

This is a great book to read at bedtime. Again, I'm afraid you will think I am ridiculing the book. Not at all. Finding the proper book for bedtime is a delicate task. Reading a good book at bedtime remains one of life's cheap and simple pleasures. For me, I want a book about history that stimulates the grey matter without coming down too hard on the undeniable fact that life, and history, is often cruel and unfair. This book hits that sweet spot. At the same time I was reading this book, I was also reading an important and serious book about a depressing historical episode of racist cruelty in which the villains were completely triumphant and, depressingly, still to this day have not received the vilification they deserve. That book was worthy and necessary, but when I wanted to turn in at the end of a wearying day, this was the book I chose. It had just the right mix of conflict and cheerfulness.

Grousing: In addition to being an interesting read (shoutout to second-credit author Luke Barr, who probably helped in this regard), I accuse this book of being a marketing device for the author's ongoing commercial enterprise of buying and selling historically-significant letters and popular signatures. As such, it can apparently never show Nathan Raab making a mistake. He makes sound judgment in all cases presented and is generally the smartest guy in the room at all times. That's a good way to present yourself if you want people to use your business, but it makes for a slightly duller book. It reminded me of the old TV series Perry Mason, where Perry ALWAYS wins the case (except that time he went to East Germany). Who didn't long for Perry to lose every once in a while? The book could have been a little more interesting if we had had an episode where Raab was fooled by a swindler or let a great and profitable piece of business slip by. People's failures are often both more instructive and more interesting than their successes.

Similarly, the authors' apparent decision to go easy and not dish the dirt on others (with whom they may have to work in the future) means that the book is somewhat less entertaining than it might be. For example, in Chapter 17, Raab acquires a document in which President Andrew Jackson announces to Native Americans that they soon will be embarking on the journey now known as the “Trail of Tears”. Almost everybody thought it was a great find. “The only person who wasn't pleased was the editor of the Papers of Andrew Jackson, who felt the letter put Jackson in an unnecessarily bad light” (Kindle location 2979). Oh? What's this guy's name anyway? What did he say? What did he do? Did he defend Jackson's decision to kick Native Americans off the land? Given the suffering that resulted, why did he think that the “bad light” that Jackson appeared in was unnecessary?

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the free advance egalley copy of this book.

This was an excellent book that was fun to read. I requested it on a lark, but I quickly determined that it would keep me enthralled all the way through. If you love history and the hunt for history, this is the book for you.

I enjoy books on history and historical objects. I found this book to be an interesting read with all kinds of stories on various items found.