Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend
by Zuckoff, Mitchell
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good/Good
- ISBN 10
- 1400060397
- ISBN 13
- 9781400060399
- Seller
-
Portland, Oregon, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
You've heard of the scheme. Now comes the man behind it. In Mitchell Zuckoff's exhilarating book, the first nonfiction account of Charles Ponzi, we meet the charismatic rogue who launched the most famous and extraordinary scam in the annals of American finance.It was a time when anything seemed possible--instant wealth, glittering fame, fabulous luxury--and for a run of magical weeks in the spring and summer of 1920, Charles Ponzi made it all come true. Promising to double investors' money in three months, the dapper, charming Ponzi raised the "rob Peter to pay Paul" scam to an art form and raked in millions at his office in downtown Boston. Ponzi's Scheme is the amazing true story of the irresistible scoundrel who launched the most successful scheme of financial alchemy in modern history--and uttered the first roar of the Roaring Twenties.Ponzi may have been a charlatan, but he was also a wonderfully likable man. His intentions were noble, his manners impeccable, his sales pitch enchanting. Born to a genteel Italian family, he immigrated to the United States with big dreams but no money. Only after he became hopelessly enamored of a stenographer named Rose Gnecco and persuaded her to marry him did Ponzi light on the means to make his dreams come true. His true motive was not greed but love.With rich narrative skill, Mitchell Zuckoff conjures up the feverish atmosphere of Boston during the weeks when Ponzi's bubble grew bigger and bigger. At the peak of his success, Ponzi was taking in more than $2 million a week. And then his house of cards came crashing down--thanks in large part to the relentless investigative reporting of Richard Grozier's Boston Post. In Zuckoff's hands, Ponzi is no mere swindler; instead he is appealing and magnetic, a colorful and poignant figure, someone who struggled his whole life to attain great wealth and who sincerely believed--to the very end--that he could have made good on his investment promises if only he'd had enough time. Ponzi is a classic American tale of immigrant life and the dream of success, and the unexpectedly moving story of a man who--for a fleeting, illusory moment--attained it all.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Chaparral Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- CHAPzucPON
- Title
- Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend
- Author
- Zuckoff, Mitchell
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 1400060397
- ISBN 13
- 9781400060399
- Publisher
- Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2005-03-07
- Size
- 6x1x9
- X weight
- 23 oz
Terms of Sale
Chaparral Books
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Chaparral Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Bumps
- Indicates that the affected part of the book has been impacted in such a way so as to cause a flattening, indention, or light...