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Not a Paradise 6/4/2018 8:42:19 PM
Nate Hendley is a writer based in Toronto who specializes in non-fiction stories about crime and criminals -- Dutch Schultz, for example, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde. He's also written two accounts of young men who were imprisoned for murders they didn't commit. That's got to be among the worst things that can happen to a person.
Nate has recently published a different sort of book which he calls "The Big Con" -- an encyclopedic compendium of people involved in perpetrating confidence schemes. Some of his subjects are well known -- Charles Ponzi, Bernard Madoff. Others are not -- James Frey, Steve Brodie, Linda Taylor. He tells all their stories with economy and skill. He brings his material up to date, too, by treating internet cons and phone scams.
Here are some random thoughts while reading Nate's work:
The inventiveness of con artists can be astonishing, but skill at fraud is surely a minority pursuit. I have a friend who says that 90% of people are decent and law-abiding. She could be right. The troublemaking percentage of humanity can keep the rest of society stirred up, however: nasty phone calls, deceptive busness opportunities, false friends who turn up out of nowhere, and many kinds of online dishonesty, not to mention pestiferous viruses.
Nate is definitely on the side of law officers who pursue con artists. I was pleased to read about FBI people and other government agents who do their work conscientiously and with the public good in mind. Refreshing insights after news reports every day about questionable behavior in high places, including leaders of the FBI.
Nate presents a wide range of material: confidence tricks that were meant for amusement, such as some of P. T. Barnum's offerings and Orson Welles' famous radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds"; people who decide to make their livings by deceiving unsuspecting, law-abiding citizens; and those who create grievous harm by robbing people of their savings and leaving them in serious difficulties. Among other benefits, Nate's work reminds us that we need to be on guard, that we can never think the world we live in is a paradise.
Nate told me that he wrote this book in the first place for use in high schools and community colleges. Readers with experience of life in the world would also find it interesting and useful, for it not only gives a picture of one of life's bad sides but also offers advice about how to avoid the wiles of con artists and assures us that governments work hard to protect the public from those who would prey on it.
