The moral, political, and legal problems surrounding the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq are addressed with uncommon frankness in this collection of essays by some of the world's most influential academics, lawyers, journalists, politicians, and military, intelligence, and media experts. Contributions include academics such as Noam Chomsky, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Claes Ryn; journalists Milton Viorst, Robert Fisk, Kirkpatrick Sale, and Justin Raimondo; former CIA professional Ray McGovern; former Defense Intelligence Agency professional W. Patrick Lang; and Fr. Jean-Marie Benjamin, personal friend of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Traiq Aziz. Discussing the Iraq war and related issues such as the legal foundation of the war on terror, the detention practices at Guantanamo bay, and the roots of the American neoconservative ideology, the essays illustrate the hypocrisy and illegality of America's stance on terrorism and its policies of aggression in the Middle East.
"Asserting the traditional, Christian just war doctrine against the neoconservative caricature that masks violence and aggression." Includes bibliographical references (p. [446]-447).
The period after the First World War was a golden age for the confidence man. 'A new kind of entrepreneur is stirring amongst us,' The Times 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.' Enter Victor Lustig (not his real name). An Austro-Hungarian with a dark streak, by the age of 16 he had learned how to hustle at billiards and lay odds at the local racecourse. By 19 he had acquired a livid facial scar in an altercation with a jealous husband. That 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. In 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.
From 2005 to 2009, the heir to one of South Africa’s blue-blood families, Barry Tannenbaum, methodically constructed the largest-ever con in South African history. The Grand Scam exposes details about the brazen greed of the scammers, a bank that facilitated the shady dealings rather than alerting the authorities, and the naivety of business people who should have known better. It goes far beyond the original news stories, containing original research and material that, for the first time, answers the central question of why. Barry Tannenbaum, the grandson of the founder of one of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical firms, Adcock Ingram, offered investors stratospheric returns of more than 200 per cent a year by investing in the components used to make AIDS drugs. It was nothing more than a lie, which suckered the country’s business elite, including the former CEO of Pick n Pay, the one-time head of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the ex-boss of OK Bazaars. After the bubble popped in June 2009, finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced that hundreds of investors in South Africa, Australia and Europe had ploughed more than R12.5 billion into Tannenbaum’s scheme, based on the empty promise of immense riches. Dwarfing the Brett Kebble rip-off, Fidentia and the Krion pyramid scheme, it proved to be the most embarrassing financial disaster in the country’s history, and it exposed holes in a banking and financial system billed as one of the safest in the world. For Tannenbaum’s victims, the nightmare continued after the scheme collapsed, as liquidators, tax officials and criminal investigators demanded their pound of flesh. But Tannenbaum, now at large on Australia’s Gold Coast, continues to live as if nothing happened, working for an Australian insurance company. The question that hasn’t been answered until now is, how did Tannenbaum swindle so many people with such ease? And, more crucially, why did he do it? Through extensive interviews with his family, friends and numerous ‘investors’, this book provides the startling answers to those questions. For the first time, the real motivation that fuelled South Africa’s Bernie Madoff is laid bare.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Sex and the City meets Bad Blood and Catch Me if You Can in the astonishing true story of Anna Delvey, a young con artist posing as an heiress in New York City—as told by the former Vanity Fair photo editor who got seduced by her friendship and then scammed out of more than $62,000. Rachel DeLoache Williams’s new friend Anna Delvey, a self-proclaimed German heiress, was worldly and ambitious. She was also generous—picking up the tab for lavish dinners at Le Coucou, infrared sauna sessions at HigherDOSE, drinks at the 11 Howard Library bar, and regular workout sessions with a celebrity personal trainer. When Anna proposed an all-expenses-paid trip to Marrakech at the five-star La Mamounia hotel, Rachel jumped at the chance. But when Anna’s credit cards mysteriously stopped working, the dream vacation quickly took a dark turn. Anna asked Rachel to begin fronting costs—first for flights, then meals and shopping, and, finally, for their $7,500-per-night private villa. Before Rachel knew it, more than $62,000 had been charged to her credit cards. Anna swore she would reimburse Rachel the moment they returned to New York. Back in Manhattan, the repayment never materialized, and a shocking pattern of deception emerged. Rachel learned that Anna had left a trail of deceit—and unpaid bills—wherever she’d been. Mortified, Rachel contacted the district attorney, and in a stunning turn of events, found herself helping to bring down one of the city’s most notorious con artists. With breathless pacing and in-depth reporting from the person who experienced it firsthand, My Friend Anna is an unforgettable true story of “glamour, greed, lust for power” (The New York Times), and female friendship.
A critical analysis of the consequences of felony disenfranchisement laws that prohibit people in prison or on parole from voting cites the laws' origins in the post-Civil War segregationist South, in an account by an award-winning journalist that also profiles Americans who are trying to reverse current policies.
We all lose time and money because of bad decisions, perfectly happy in the illusion that our common sense is choosing the right path for us. In Conned Again, Watson! Sherlock Holmes uses his vast knowledge solve crimes and protect the innocent in a series of cautionary tales of greedy gamblers, reckless businessmen and ruthless conmen. From 'The Execution of Andrews' to 'The Case of the Gambling Nobleman' and 'The Case of the Paranoid Student', there has never been a more exciting way to learn when to take a calculated risk - and how to spot a scam. In this illuminating collection of twelve new Sherlock Holmes stories, challenges of logic, probability, statistics, game theory and more are illustrated. A thought-provoking introduction to maths relevant to everyday life, this book will change the way you look at making decisions.
"It’s a startling and disconcerting read that should make you think twice every time a friend of a friend offers you the opportunity of a lifetime.” —Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and bestselling author of Devil in the White City Think you can’t get conned? Think again. The New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes explains how to spot the con before they spot you. “[An] excellent study of Con Artists, stories & the human need to believe” –Neil Gaiman, via Twitter A compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists—and the people who fall for their cons over and over again. While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen—the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs—are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book. From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.
What do you do when your best friend is on the line- the business end of your fishing line? Finding his murdered best friend’s body drags a soon-to-be-retiring financial executive into the ruthless world of con artists and scammers that prowl idyllic Nantucket Island for unsuspecting marks. Chief Financial Officer Harry Bartlett hasn’t made plans for his impending retirement, but he’s happy for now vacationing on Nantucket Island at the compound of his best and only friend, Ian Bradford, a wealthy wine merchant. But that abruptly changes when he fishes Ian’s body from a Nantucket Island pond full of snapping turtles. Harry volunteers to break the news to Ginny, Ian’s widow, and is dumbfounded when she tells him that she has $20 in her wallet, a maxed-out credit card, and no knowledge of their financial affairs. Harry pays Ginny’s bills while he digs into Ian’s books with his unique financial insights. But the more he digs, the more he discovers Ian’s financial trickery and illegal wine businesses. Teaming up with his new girlfriend, Yvette Truque, a snarky local reporter, Steve Malarkey, and his ex-Mob enforcer relative, Uncle Louie, Harry must wade through a web of lies, deceptions and attacks- tossed overboard from the local ferry, a hit-and-run while bicycling, and attacked by ‘gator attack in Florida - to recover Ian’s money in time to keep Ginny and her two kid from being evicted from their home. Debut author Robert Ainsworth has created an eccentric cast of characters with tongue-in-cheek humor. CONNED is an intricate story with just enough financial detail to bring the reader into the story and feel-like-you-are-there descriptions of Nantucket. Harry Bartlett is no flat protagonist, but instead tackles the passions, loneliness,and compulsions that we all face. CONNED is a fast-paced, complex story that keeps your attention to the unexpected end.
