The grand staircase -- Windows -- A Pietà -- Of millions of years -- Further shores -- Flesh and blood -- Cloisters -- Sentinels -- Kouros -- The veteran -- Unfinished -- Days' work -- As much as I can carry

"A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard"--

"Only a few select people enjoy unrestricted access to every nook and cranny of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and among them are the guards who keep a watchful eye on the two-million-square-foot treasure house. For Bringley, the Museum was a temporary refuge that became his home away from home for a decade. Here he explores his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the subculture of museum guards. Though Bringley gradually returned to the larger world, here he explores the Museum's hidden wonders-- and the people who make it tick."--