{"product_id":"victor-lustig-christopher-sandford-9781803997711","title":"Victor Lustig: The Man Who Conned the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Fascinating' \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An incredible story' \u003ci\u003eDaily Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe period after the First World War was a golden age for the confidence man. 'A new kind of entrepreneur is stirring amongst us, ' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e wrote in 1919. 'He is prone to the most detestable tactics, and is a stranger to charity and public spirit. One may nonetheless note his acuity in separating others from their money.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEnter Victor Lustig (not his real name). An Austro-Hungarian with a dark streak, by the age of sixteen he had learned how to hustle at billiards and lay odds at the local racecourse. By nineteen he had acquired a livid facial scar in an altercation with a jealous husband. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat blemish aside, he was a man of athletic good looks, with a taste for larceny and foreign intrigue. He spoke six languages and went under nearly as many aliases in the course of a continent-hopping life that also saw him act as a double (or possibly triple) agent. Along the way, he found time to dupe an impressive variety of banks and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic; to escape from no fewer than three supposedly impregnable prisons; and to swindle Al Capone out of thousands of dollars, while living to tell the tale. Undoubtedly the greatest of his hoaxes was the sale, to a wealthy but gullible Parisian scrap-metal dealer, of the Eiffel Tower in 1925.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a narrative that thrills like a crime caper, best-selling biographer Christopher Sandford draws on newly released documents to tell the whole story of the greatest conman of the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Christopher Sandford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1803997710\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781803997711\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e History Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"Christopher Sandford","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46334686101759,"sku":"9781803997711","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c13be723-c18b-405f-a6ea-1e99a3b55d82.jpg?v=1731467498","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/victor-lustig-christopher-sandford-9781803997711","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}