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

Campbell, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593716000 ISBN 13: 9780593716007

Publisher: Portfolio, 2026

Synopsis

From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the gilded halls of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a tale of stolen treasures, and the battle to reclaim a nation’s soul.

Amidst the chaos of Cambodia's brutal genocide, a new crime wave emerged—one that would sweep across borders and entangle the world's most prestigious art institutions. Priceless treasures of the ancient Khmer Empire, the civilization that produced Angkor Wat, vanished from sacred temples, looted by smugglers and trafficked into the hands of elite collectors. At the center of it all was a man named Douglas Latchford. 

Known later as "Dynamite Doug" for the ruthless methods used to extract statues from temple ruins, Latchford orchestrated one of history's most audacious cultural heists. From dusty Cambodian villages to the glittering auction houses of London and New York and institutions like the Met, he played a double game—posing as an expert on Khmer art while secretly flooding the market with stolen antiquities. 

In The Man Who Stole the Gods, award-winning journalist Matthew Campbell unravels the gripping, stranger-than-fiction story of Latchford's criminal enterprise, and a global conspiracy of greed, corruption, and complicity—one that involves some of the world's most powerful museums, collectors, and auction houses. 

A masterful blend of true crime, history, and investigative journalism, The Man Who Stole the Gods is the definitive account of one man's greed, an industry's complicity, and the fight to expose the truth and restore stolen treasures to their rightful home.

About this title

About the Author

Matthew Campbell is an award-winning reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and the author of The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy. His previous book, Dead in the Water—written with Kit Chellel—was selected as a Book of the Year by The Economist, the Financial Times, and The Times.

Campbell has reported from more than twenty-five countries on topics including crime, corruption, terrorism, economics, public health, and the environment. His work has been recognized with some of the most prestigious honors in journalism. He and Chellel won Gerald Loeb and Overseas Press Club awards for their coverage of Goldman Sachs’s business dealings with Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, and Campbell has also received National Press Club, SOPA, and SABEW awards for feature and investigative reporting. He is a seven-time Loeb finalist in addition to his win with Chellel and in 2022 was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for public interest reporting. He lives in Singapore with his family.

Edition details

• Publisher: Portfolio
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593716000
• ISBN 13: 9780593716007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416