{"product_id":"victor-lustig-the-man-who-conned-the-world-9780750993678","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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eChristopher Sandford is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. He has written numerous biographies of music, film and sports stars, as well as \u003ci\u003eUnion Jack\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ea bestselling book on John F. Kennedy's special relationship with Great Britain described by the \u003ci\u003eNational Review\u003c\/i\u003e as 'political history of a high order - the Kennedy book to beat'. Born and raised in England, Christopher currently lives in Seattle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"History Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50452708557074,"sku":"9780750993678","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0c834afb-7a47-47cc-aaea-129199eb6ee3.jpg?v=1729819700","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/victor-lustig-the-man-who-conned-the-world-9780750993678","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}