Book description
'Of all the gifters, the confidence man is the aristocrat, ' wrote
David Maurer, a proposition he definitively proved in The Big Con. A
professor of linguistics who specialised in underworld argot, Maurer won
the trust of hundreds of swindlers. They let him in on not simply their
language, but their folkwrys 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 products of amazing ingenuity, crack timing
and attention to every last detail, these 'big cons', as thoroughly
scripted and rehearsed as any Hollywood production, richly deserve
Maurer's description as 'the most effective swindling device which man
has ever invented. ' The Big Con is a treasure trove of American lingo
(the write, the rag, the pay-off, ropers, shills, the cold poke and the
convincer) and indeliable characters (Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch,
the Seldom-Seen Kid, Limehouse Chappie and Larry the Lug). First
published in 1940, The Big Con makes compelling reading whilst being the
most authentic and utterly authoritative study on the con artist and his
game.
