Based on a review by Janet Maslin online in the NY Times, I added "Charlatan" by Pope Brock, a new author for me, to my ever growing "to read" list. When my wife or kids ask me what I want for Christmas, birthday or father's day, I usually give them the names of a few paperback books from this list to choose from or the names of a cd or dvd. Published in 2008, the book's full title is "Charlatan, America's Most Dangerous Huckster, The Man Who Pursued Him, and The Age of Flimflam". Since I always like hearing stories about con men, snake oil salesmen, etc., getting their comeuppance (remember the "King" and the "Duke" in Huckleberry Finn), this book moved to the front of my list.
Mr. Brock writes of our nation's special genius for swindle and an unlimited supply of often willing victims. Starting with the patent medicine salesman, whose product cured whatever you had, medical fraud was the king of cons and the virility racket was a sure money maker. Although the story deals with events primarily between the two World Wars, you can see its relevance in today's world as we are constantly assaulted by erectile dysfunction commercials, even at the dinner hour. Dr. J.R. Brinkley's top selling point was transforming the bedroom bungler into "the ram that am with every lamb" with goat glands. The man was a genius at self promotion, using his own radio station to promote the business that led to his becoming a multimillionaire. He even ran for governor of Kansas. Morris Fishbein, working for the American Medical Association, was the Quackbuster determined to put him out of business. The cast of characters in this non-fiction work also includes Declaration of Independence signer Dr. Benjamin Rush, H.L. Mencken, country music's the Carter Family and Wolfman Jack among others.
"Charlatan" may be primarily a "guy" read based on the reactions I got after telling my wife and sisters-in-law about the story. Despite my obvious enthusiasm, they didn't ask me to let them read it when I finished. I think they kind of thought the goat gland business was pretty gross. Since I enjoyed Charlatan so much, I'll have to read Mr. Brock's first book, "Indiana Gothic".
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