The Big Con
eBook - ePub

The Big Con

Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts, and Swindles in American History

  1. 400 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Big Con

Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts, and Swindles in American History

About this book

This book examines a broad range of infamous scams, cons, swindles, and hoaxes throughout American history—and considers why human gullibility continues in an age of easy access to information. Covering American cons and hoaxes past and present, including the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, the controversy over "subliminal messaging" (do bands, filmmakers, and advertisers really put secret messages in their works?), the panic about "satanic" daycare operators in the 1980s, and recent Internet scams, this book provides a fascinating, fact-based look at infamous frauds across the centuries. Offering an engaging mix of history, sociology, and psychology, author Nate Hendley gives readers an appreciation of how prominent scams, cons, "confidence men, " and hoaxes have impacted American society, past and present. Each entry details the scheme or hoax and the pertinent con artist/schemer involved, examining the sociological, cultural, political, and/or economic effect of the scams. Each topic is accompanied by a short bibliography of further reading selections. As the old saying goes, "There is a sucker born every minute"—and there has always been a keen-eyed swindler to take advantage of the situation. The Big Con: Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts, and Swindles in American History explores this sordid underbelly of American civilization and invites readers to revel in the felonious experience.

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Yes, you can access The Big Con by Nate Hendley in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Law & Law Theory & Practice. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
ABC-CLIO
Year
2016
Print ISBN
9781610695855
eBook ISBN
9798216053361
Edition
1
Topic
Law
Index
Law

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. Section One: Classic Cons
  9. Section Two: Business Fraud
  10. Section Three: Despicable Scams
  11. Section Four: Great Pretenders
  12. Section Five: Hoaxes, Urban Legends, and Popular Delusions
  13. Section Six: Dubious Remedies
  14. Section Seven: Online Scams
  15. Section Eight: Para-Abnormal Fraud
  16. Section Nine: Pop Culture Cons
  17. Section Ten: A Gallery of Rogues (and One Hero)
  18. Section Eleven: Interviews
  19. Selected Bibliography
  20. Index
  21. About the Author