The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man Paperback – July 20, 1999

pooled ink Reviews:4.5 Stars“Of all the grifters, the confidence man is the aristocrat.”THE BIG CON is a casual narrative that eases you into the world of the modern (1940s) confidence man as its pages offer you true third party insight with the occasional tale or anecdote from those who actively play the game. Educational, amusing, informative, and a remarkably quick read this book provides all that is needed for the casual enthusiast.Non-fiction is pretty hit-or-miss for me but the narrative that spun this research together drew me in immediately. It felt so conversational I became eager to hear him out and learn what was being offered. And what Maurer was offering was a base of history, a trove of secrets, and a smile of stories straight from the horse’s mouth.Read my FULL review here: [...]

This is the book that the writer of the movie, TheSting, based their script elements on., It is a great compendium of early 1900's con slang and the working of the big three cons of the day. This is a non-fiction book written by a professor and it reads that way at times. It gets redundant at times, but a good treatise on the art of the con, written with some affection to the griffters. While nonfiction, it is clear that Maurer lost most of his objectivity while working on this, so the book comes off a bit romanticizes and nostalgic. Good scholarship? Probably not. Good read? Absolutely!

I am not generally a reader of factual books. I prefer Fantasy, Sci-Fi, etc. I am, however, a HUGE fan of The Sting movie. It's for that reason that I gave this book a purchase.This is a fantastic read. I know it was the basis for the Newman/Redford classic "The Sting", and I can hear the music soundtrack in my head as a I read.This is not a story, it's the author's account as he delved into the depths of the grift in the 1940s. It's a slice of Americana that seems to have been forgotten and well worth a read and a gift to a friend.What I particularly loved the most about this book was reading about the history of the con and how it evolved over time. I also enjoyed understanding the different roles each person had and how it fit into the overall tale being told to the mark.

The book is an incredible piece of academic research. However, for the casual reader the book is a bit of a challenge to get through.Some pages I had to read and re-read to understand what was really being said (due to the antiquated jargon used).However, the author does try to explain and there is plenty of repetition. I learned a lot but it was a bit too dry for me.Torn between a 3 and a 4 star review but leaning more to the 3 stars as I did not really enjoy reading it.

I have now studied the psychology and traditions of scams and cons pretty extensively, but no matter whos biography or what book of tricks I read, this volume still stands out as the richest resource on the history and techniques of confidence games.Part history, part mythology, part study of practice through the terminology of criminals, and part explanation of main families of long cons though stories and examples, this book is surprisingly readable and entertaining. But first of all it is thorough and informative.Some readers may be concerned that this book was written in the early 20th century. Surprisingly, it's more charming on its anachronisms than dry. The author was an academic, but here he is a storyteller.

I was a bit worried that the book would be too dated - mostly in the language. I was expecting something like Dashiell Hammett. Enjoyable, but you're constantly reminded that those days are gone. That's not the case here. The book could have been written yesterday from a language perspective, and any linguistic idiosyncrasies are specific to the language of the con man.As some people have noted, it can be repetitive, but that's because most "big" cons (those where the con men work in large teams and have established locations) are very similar in essence; only the execution and specifics are different.I found it to be very interesting, both from a technical perspective on how things were done, as well as a sociological perspective.

This is a wonderful and one-of-a-kind classic on the history of consumer and business frauds and swindles. It goes well beyond the history of Ponzi schemes and includes a wide variety of cons practiced for well over a hundred years, including descriptions of the most colorful con artists, the schemes they employed, who their victims were and how their schemes developed over time. For anyone likely to come across financial fraud issues in their line of work (bankruptcy lawyers and judges, accountants, law enforcement, reporters), this book is a must-have addition to their library. For anyone else who appreciates a well-told and fascinating story proving P.T. Barnum's adage that "There's a sucker born every minute," this book is well worth the investment.

Book got to me ahead of time. Interesting read so far.