Ebook: The Hunt for History: On the Trail of the World's Lost Treasures—from the Letters of Lincoln, Churchill, and Einstein to the Secret Recordings Onboard JFK's Air Force One

Nathan Raab, America’s preeminent rare documents broker, describes his years as the “Sherlock Holmes” of historical artifacts—questing after precious finds and determining their authenticity—and shows us what the past can tell us about the present.

A box uncovered in a North Dakota attic with twenty letters written by Alexander Hamilton; Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to his clerk, Meriwether Lewis, before Lewis’s western expedition; a pilot’s license form filled out and signed by Amelia Earhart; an American flag carried to the moon and back by Neil Armstrong; an unpublished letter written by Albert Einstein, discussing his theory of relativity.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 Collection's president, he is a modern-day treasure hunter and one of the world’s most prominent dealers of historical artifacts. Most weeks, Raab travels the country, scouring auctions and fielding phone calls and emails from people who think they may have found something of note in a grandparent’s 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; brokering a piece of the first electric cable laid by Edison; restoring a shredded letter from Andrew Jackson describing the policy that led to the infamous Trail of Tears; and discovering copies of missing audio that had been recorded on Air Force One as the plane brought JFK’s body back to Washington. Whether it’s the first report of Napoleon’s death or a surreptitious letter penned by Martin Luther King Jr. to his mistress, every document and artifact Raab uncovers comes with a spellbinding story—and often offers new insights into a life we thought we knew.