{"product_id":"the-50-greatest-cons-in-frances-pierce-9798196298776","title":"The 50 Greatest Cons in History: Eight Centuries of Fraud, Forgery, and Confidence","description":"Eight centuries. Fifty schemes. One unsettling truth about human credulity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom medieval mystics promising to turn lead into gold to twenty-first-century fraudsters running funds that exist only on paper, the long arc of human civilization runs alongside an equally long arc of human deception. The 50 Greatest Cons in History is a definitive chronicle of that other arc. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn fifty meticulously researched case studies spanning eight hundred years, Frances Pierce examines the masterminds - the forgers and false prophets, the market manipulators and confidence men, the women who married for fortunes that never existed and the men who sold national monuments they didn't own. Each scheme is told with documentary rigor and a dry, unsparing eye for what made it work, who paid the price, and what it revealed about the era that produced it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut this is not a parade of villains. Pierce treats fraud as a serious historical force - a pressure that has shaped legal systems, financial regulation, religious institutions, and our collective sense of what can be trusted. The Renaissance art forger and the digital crypto-grifter are not separate species; they are the same species adapted to different climates. To read these fifty stories together is to see the unsettling pattern beneath them all. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRequired reading for anyone fascinated by financial history, true crime, the limits of due diligence, or simply curious about the long human business of telling lies to people who want to believe. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEight centuries. Fifty schemes. One unsettling truth: the cleverness of the swindler is always one step ahead of the credulity of the mark.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Frances Pierce\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798196298776\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/10\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d","brand":"Frances Pierce","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48874665640191,"sku":"9798196298776","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-50-greatest-cons-in-frances-pierce-9798196298776","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}