Reviews of: Big Con: Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts, and Swindles in American History by Nate Hendley Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff by Edward J. Balliesen Houdini’s ‘Girl Detective’ compiled by Tony Wolf The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For it…Every Time by Maria Konnikova

REVIEWED BY MICHELLE AINSWORTH

ABC CLIO, 2016, 380 pp. $89. ISBN 9781610695855

Princeton University Press, 2017, 479 pp. $35. ISBN 9780691164557

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 93 pp. $8.00. ISBN: 9781537143965

Viking, 2016. 352 pp. $28. ISBN-10: 0525427414

What is the scope of fraud and cons and how can they be deterred? Four new books discuss these questions from several perspectives. Crime writer Nate Hendley’s The Big Con: Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts, and Swindles in American History is an overview of frauds (past and present) by type. Historian Edward J. Balleisen’s Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff is a coherent analysis of how government has responded to fraudulent business operations over the past two centuries. Early 20th century spiritualist seance fraud is the focus of Houdini’s ‘Girl Detective’: The Real-Life Ghost-Busting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg, a collection of articles compiled by Tony Wolf. Science writer Maria Konnikova’s The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For it…Every Time gives readers an overview of what we know about cons and frauds, historically and psychologically.

The main text of Hendley’s The Big Con is divided into 11 “sections” (not chapters)—each begins with a half page introduction. Most sections are about a particular category of con, such as “Classic Cons, Hoaxes, Urban Legends, and Popular Delusions,” and the sadly perennial “Dubious Remedies.” The nine sections are each divided into subsections, from a few paragraphs to a few pages long, describing a subtopic or example. There is usually no segue between them. Some sections include helpful sidebars on identifying or protecting oneself from the fraud being discussed, mostly in the “Business Fraud” and timely “Online Scams” sections. The final two sections profile “A Gallery of Rogues (and One Hero)” and present the transcripts of four original interviews by Hendley.