
The 19th Century Confidence Man - Avawelles
https://mimimatthews.com/2016/06/20/the-19th-century-confidence-man/
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Booktrope
For a remarkable fictional exposition of this, read The Confidence Man by
Herman Melville one of the truly great American novels. Many of the examples
described in this article are brought to life, and used to generate a very
funny, strange and interesting kind of literary and intellectual experience.

The book doesn't have one main character -- instead, it describes a riverboat
trip where various avatars of the confidence man appear one after the other,
although at one point two avatars appear at the same time and try to con each
other. It was written in the mid-19th century but so advanced that Melville
couldn't get it published -- it finally got into print about 50 years after he
died.

Plus, if you want to understand the historical roots of Donald Trump, try the
chapter in this book called "Some account of a man of questionable morality,
but who, nevertheless, would seem entitled to the esteem of that eminent
English moralist who said he liked a good hater."

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smacktoward
If this subject interests you, I cannot recommend highly enough David Maurer's
classic book "The Big Con," ([https://www.amazon.com/Big-Con-Story-Confidence-
Man/dp/03854...](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Con-Story-Confidence-
Man/dp/0385495382/ref=sr_1_2)) published in 1940.

Its subject is the early 20th century confidence man rather than that of the
19th, but it's full of rich detail both on the types of cons that were being
run in that era and the personalities of the people who ran them. And its
prose is so well-crafted that it reads like a contemporary book, despite being
more than 75 years old now. It's such a fun book to read.

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Gustomaximus
Reading this makes me think of this review of a private equity lead float.
It's the contemporary confidence man;

[https://foragerfunds.com/bristlemouth/dick-smith-is-the-
grea...](https://foragerfunds.com/bristlemouth/dick-smith-is-the-greatest-
private-equity-heist-of-all-time/)

Dick Smith officially went bankrupt some months after this article.

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nsajko
P.T. Barnum and Soapy Smith, who gained enormous power from confidence tricks
and hoaxes, weren't even mentioned.

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devy
This article reminds me of Neal Caffery from the USA Network original series
"White Collar".

Sometimes, conman's life is fascinating.

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bluebelle1
It reminds me of the big cons in Ocean's 11. Although, I wonder if they were
thieves or conmen? And is there a difference?

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norswap
The term "heist" seems more appropriate here. I thought "heister" was a word,
but apparently only in the (excellent) game Payday: The Heist.

