"This informative, funny collection of popular delusions, from Alchemy to Mesmerism, has become a classic--a study of mass manias, crowd behavior, and human folly. The book encompasses a broad range of scams, manias, and deceptions including witch burnings and the Great Crusades…
"Every age has its peculiar folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation," said author Charles Mackay. It was true then in 1841, and it is certainly true now. This info…
Masquerading as a boy to spy on Alexander Cale, Earl of Everton, Christine "Kit" Brantley finds herself unmasked by her quarry, and soon the pair is plunged into one escapade and adventure after another as Alexander tries to uncover the real reason Kit is in London.
Masquerading as a boy to spy on Alexander Cale, Earl of Everton, Christine "Kit" Brantley finds herself unmasked by her quarry, and soon the pair is plunged into one escapade and adventure after another as Alexander tries to uncover the real reason Kit is in London.
Masquerading as a boy to spy on Alexander Cale, Earl of Everton, Christine "Kit" Brantley finds herself unmasked by her quarry, and soon the pair is plunged into one escapade and adventure after another as Alexander tries to uncover the real reason Kit is in London.
"English society in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was fascinated by deception, and concerns about deceptive narratives had a profound effect on reading practices. Kate Loveman's interdisciplinary study explores the ways in which reading habits, first develo…
"English society in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was fascinated by deception, and concerns about deceptive narratives had a profound effect on reading practices. Kate Loveman's interdisciplinary study explores the ways in which reading habits, first develo…
This selection, first published in 1973, compiles a fascinating study of crowd psychology as it examines the moral epidemics and fits of madness that have bewitched the cities of Europe and their citizens from the dark ages to modern times. Among the selections are tales of thie…
Seventeen-year-old Amelia Warner, daughter of an untenured professor, longs to secure a permanent position among the "beautiful people." Her chance comes when she meets Courtney Moore, a lonely Upper East Side heiress-- as long as she can keep her real life a secret.
Seventeen-year-old Amelia Warner, daughter of an untenured professor, longs to secure a permanent position among the "beautiful people." Her chance comes when she meets Courtney Moore, a lonely Upper East Side heiress-- as long as she can keep her real life a secret
An exhaustive collection of the world's most devilish money-making schemes and elaborate practical jokes, from the age-old shell game to cash machine swindles of today, including notorious imposters (Count Alessandro di Cagliostro), master swindlers (Charles Ponzi and "Yellow Ki…
