Purchase
A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con
Knopf
March 2012
On Sale: March 6, 2012
304 pages
ISBN: 0307272486
EAN: 9780307272485
Kindle: B005IQZB3W
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
In 1919, Texas rancher J. Frank Norfleet lost everything he had in a stock market swindle. He did what many other marks didβhe went home, borrowed more money from his family, and returned for another round of swindling. Only after he lost that second fortune did he reclaim control of his story. Instead of crawling back home in shame, he vowed to hunt down the five men who had conned him. Armed with a revolver and a suitcase full of disguises, Norfleet crisscrossed the country from Texas to Florida to California to Colorado, posing as a country hick and allowing himself to be ensnared by confidence men again and again to gather evidence on his enemies. Within four years, Frank Norfleet had become nationally famous for his quest to out-con the con men. Through Norfleetβs ingenious reverse-swindle, Amy Reading reveals the mechanics behind the scenes of the big conβa piece of performance art targeted to the most vulnerable points of human nature. Reading shows how the big con has been woven throughout U.S. history. From the colonies to the railroads and the Chicago Board of Trade, America has always been a speculative enterprise, and bunco men and bankers alike have always understood that the common man was perfectly willing to engage in minor fraud to get a piece of the expanding stock marketβa trait that made him infinitely gullible. Amy Readingβs fascinating account of con artistry in America and Frank Norfleetβs wild caper invites you into the crooked history of a nation on the hustle, constantly feeding the hunger and the hope of the mark inside.
 Media BuzzMorning Edition - May 25, 2012
Weekend Edition Saturday - March 24, 2012
| 
© 2003-2026