Book description
The classic 1940 study of con men and con games that Luc Sante in Salon called “a bonanza of wild but credible stories, told concisely with deadpan humor, as sly and rich in atmosphere as anything this side of Mark Twain.”
“Of all the grifters, the confidence man is the…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Big Con as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Linguistics professor Maurer was fascinated by con-artist slang and subcultures, but this classic 1940 work is more than a sociology treatise.
It offers precious insights and yarns from the aristocrats of the underworld, the operators of the Big Con, a high-stakes form of flim-flammery that required many talented performers and thrived in the early years of the twentieth century.
(The fake betting parlor in the movie The Sting is a good example of how these folks operated.)
Maurer peels back the layers of a juicy world of crime and deception.
From Alan's list on con artists, swindlers, and other big fat liars.
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