{"product_id":"all-the-beauty-in-the-world-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-and-me-by-patrick-bringley-paperback","title":"All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMillions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamourous fledgling career at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Patrick Bringley never thought that he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo his surprise and your delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guards—a gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Friends of the St Mary's County Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49044286570745,"sku":"0842","price":2.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0475\/5806\/6334\/files\/101_9769.jpg?v=1789143995","url":"https:\/\/folstmarys.com\/products\/all-the-beauty-in-the-world-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-and-me-by-patrick-bringley-paperback","provider":"Friends of the St Mary's County Library","version":"1.0","type":"link"}