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Informative,
Interesting,
Fun

3 reviews

Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam
by Pope Brock

Published: 2009-01-13
Paperback : 344 pages
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Recommended to book clubs by 3 of 3 members
The inspiration for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival documentary, NUTS!. “An extraordinary saga of the most dangerous quack of all time...entrancing” –USA Today

In 1917, John R. Brinkley–America’s most brazen con man–introduced an outlandish surgical method for restoring ...
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Introduction

The inspiration for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival documentary, NUTS!. “An extraordinary saga of the most dangerous quack of all time...entrancing” –USA Today

In 1917, John R. Brinkley–America’s most brazen con man–introduced an outlandish surgical method for restoring fading male virility.

It was all nonsense, but thousands of eager customers quickly made “Dr.” Brinkley one of America’s richest men–and a national celebrity. The great quack buster Morris Fishbein vowed to put the country’ s “most daring and dangerous” charlatan out of business, yet each effort seemed only to spur Brinkley to new heights of ingenuity, and the worlds of advertising, broadcasting, and politics soon proved to be equally fertile grounds for his potent brand of flimflam.

Culminating in a decisive courtroom confrontation, Charlatan is a marvelous portrait of a boundlessly audacious rogue on the loose in an America ripe for the bamboozling.

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by Steve S. (see profile) 03/07/19

 
by Susan K. (see profile) 01/27/19

 
  "Fun nonfiction"by Megan F. (see profile) 08/18/10

The author's dry wit made this nonfiction book fun to read.

 
  "Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam"by Maryelizabeth H. (see profile) 08/21/09

Provides fascinating insights on a formative period of American history and discussion fodder for contemporary parallels in "miracle cures."

 
  "One of our best discussions"by Maryelizabeth H. (see profile) 08/21/09

We had a fantastic discussion with Charlatan. The book itself provides a tremendous amount of fodder for talk but we were also able to correlate the events to many events that happen today. It was definitely... (read more)

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