kw: book reviews, nonfiction, fraud, deceit, history
Michael Farquhar loves a wicked tale. Just look at his former titles: A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing and A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors. With his new book, A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History's Greatest, Hoaxes, Fakes, and Frauds, he takes in new territory. While many scandals of the past involved widespread deception, the new book focuses on the deception itself, in a run of events where the scandal element was less prominent, and the cleverness, or heinousness, of the deciver(s) was primary.
In the seventy chapters and four appendices, we find P.T. Barnum, the unabashed "Prince of the Humbugs"; Ben Franklin and Edgar Allan Poe's delightful hoaxes (though Poe was chagrined that a near-unknown at the New York Sun out-hoaxed him); wartime tricks—some that probably saved freedom—and great excapes; and the most evil lies of recorded history. It was a relief to come off that last category with lighter fare: royal wannabe imposters and practical jokers (though on a scale few of us could pull off).
Reminds me of a prank my brother (among many, many others no doubt) and used to pull with a friend or two, in the early 70s when jewelry for guys became widespread. They'd agreed on some basic signals, and so would dress like slumming royalty, walk around in a place like Venice (Calif), stall near a likely group, and "discuss" things in a phony language. Then one would turn to someone nearby and ask the time, in a bad accent. Usually, they could, with hints and plenty of "translation" with a member or two who feigned no English, convince some folks they were a prince or two from "Lower Slobbovia" or somewhere, with a couple body guards.
On a different note, at the beach we'd sometimes play catch with an invisible ball. Each had a paper lunch bag, to be used as a mitt. Holding it right, you could snap your fingers and make it hop noisily, as though a ball had dropped in. We made great catches, and put on quite a show. Exhausting in short order, so we never did it for long.
Such pranks are fun and pretty are innocent. Many of the lies in the book either cost lives or saved them. We're not talking "little white" variety here. It'll take quite a different book to determine if, when Martha asked, "Does this skirt make me look fat?", George Washington lied. More incentive than hiding a dead tree, d'ye think?
So...how do you like your vice? There's plenty in Farquhar's book to go around.
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