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Big Con : The Story of the Confidence Man by David Maurer (1999, Trade Paperback)
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everything-including-the-sun (3859)
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It served as the source for the Oscar-winning film The Sting.
- Buy It NowThe Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man BK327
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-100385495382
ISBN-139780385495387
eBay Product ID (ePID)543188
Product Key Features
Book TitleBig Con : the Story of the Confidence Man
Number of Pages336 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year1999
TopicHoaxes & Deceptions, White Collar Crime, Criminology
GenreTrue Crime, Social Science
AuthorDavid Maurer
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height1 in
Item Weight9.7 Oz
Item Length7.8 in
Item Width5.2 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN99-025494
TitleLeadingThe
SynopsisThe 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 aristocrat," wrote David Maurer, a proposition he definitely proved in The Big Con , one of the most colorful, well-researched, and entertaining works of criminology ever written. A professor of linguistics who specialized in underworld argot, Maurer won the trust of hundreds of swindlers, who let him in on not simply their language but their folkways and the astonishingly complex and elaborate schemes whereby unsuspecting marks, hooked by their own greed and dishonesty, were "taken off" - i.e. cheated--of thousands upon thousands of dollars. The Big Con is a treasure trove of American lingo ( the write, the rag, the payoff, ropers, shills, the cold poke, the convincer, to put on the send ) and indelible characters (Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch, the Seldom Seen Kid, Limehouse Chappie, Larry the Lug). It served as the source for the Oscar-winning film The Sting ., 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 aristocrat," wrote David Maurer, a proposition he definitely proved in The Big Con , one of the most colorful, well-researched, and entertaining works of criminology ever written. A professor of linguistics who specialized in underworld argot, Maurer won the trust of hundreds of swindlers, who let him in on not simply their language but their folkways and the astonishingly complex and elaborate schemes whereby unsuspecting marks, hooked by their own greed and dishonesty, were "taken off" - i.e. cheated-of thousands upon thousands of dollars. The Big Con is a treasure trove of American lingo ( the write, the rag, the payoff, ropers, shills, the cold poke, the convincer, to put on the send ) and indelible characters (Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch, the Seldom Seen Kid, Limehouse Chappie, Larry the Lug). It served as the source for the Oscar-winning film The Sting ., Crossroads is a collection of thirty-seven colorful and perceptive writings left by early travelers and settlers who ventured west of the Allegheny Mountains. Traders, surveyors, soldiers, preachers, and immigrants, some of them well known and some obscure, tell of the loneliness, terror, and beauty of the frontier.
LC Classification NumberHV6691.M3 1999
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Ratings and Reviews
Most relevant reviews
- Oct 30, 2018
Required Reading!
Crucial information we should all know about one of the United States' less-distinguished traditions.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- Aug 29, 2018
captivating
hilarious yet incisiveVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- Jun 01, 2024
Nuce
NuceVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
