Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: An Insider's Look at Flea Markets, Antiques, and Collecting Book on antiques, flea market, and collecting subculture wins the 2012 Massachusetts Book Award, announced September 2012.
News-Antique.com - Sep 24,2012 - Maureen's Stanton's book, Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: An Insider's Look at the World of Flea Markets, Antiques, and Collecting was just selected as the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award, among a dozen finalists by acclaimed writers.
Stanton's book takes a serious look at the world of antiques and collecting from the perspective of a mid-level, "itinerant" self-taught dealer. For Killer Stuff and Tons of Money, she "shadowed" a Massachusetts-based dealer intermittently over seven years. This deep research allowed for an authentic story that takes readers behind-the-scenes of this fascinating subculture, from flea markets, to high-end antiques shows, n the set of Antiques Roadshow, at auctions, and even interviews with a master forger of antique Windsor chairs. For Stanton, who teaches creative writing at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, this honor for her first book is gratifying, as she spent eight years writing and researching the topic. Other finalists for the award included notes historians and Pulitzer Prize winning authors, as well as writers with several NY Times best sellers. Stanton's book shows that the world of antiques is fascinating, entertaining, compelling and lively, and that dealers are passionate, hard-working and "not in it just for the money."
The Massachusetts Center for the Book, which sponsored the award, will host a ceremony in November 2012 at the state house. Winners were chosen in fiction, poetry, children's literature, and nonfiction, the category in which Killer Stuff and Tons of Money was selected winner.
