Warren, Spencer, and Eric are childhood friends. Disillusioned with freshman year of college and determined to escape from their mundane Middle-American existences, the three hatch a plan to steal millions of dollars worth of artwork and rare manuscripts from a university museum. The story that unfolds is a gripping adventure of teenage rebellion, from pageturning meetings with black-market art dealers in Amsterdam, to the opulent galleries of Christie's auction house in Rockefeller Center. American Animals ushers the reader along a gut-wrenching ride of adolescent self-destruction, providing a front-row seat to the inception, planning, and execution of the heist, while offering a rare glimpse into the evolution of a crime—all narrated by one of the perpetrators in a darkly comic, action-packed, true-crime caper.