My adventures with your money :

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Title :

My adventures with your money : George Graham Rice and the golden age of the con artist / by T.D. Thornton.

Title:

My adventures with your money :

Author:

Thornton, T. D.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

298 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

ISBN:

9781250054371

Production / Publication Information:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2015.

Summary:

"Today, we talk about Bernard Madoff, but in the early 20th century, they talked about George Graham Rice. Born Jacob Simon Herzig in 1870, he later changed his name - just as he would frequently change his swindles to make himself into one of the most colorfully successful villains in American history. T.D. Thornton now tells the story of Rice's life as it unfolded against the dark rise of American greed in the early 20th century. In the early 1900s, Rice made market-manipulation killings valued at billions in today's dollars by inventing fictitious boom towns in Death Valley and flagrantly exaggerating worthless mining claims throughout the West. As a shameless racetrack tipster, Rice cultivated a national following of 100,000 daily subscribers who paid for the privilege of being tipped to bet on hopeless nags.Vilified by securities regulators as the "Jackal of Wall Street, " Rice sparked riots in Manhattan's financial district by perfecting the art of "bucket shop" trading with the sole purpose of bilking the public blind. He was capable of pulling off everything from street corner rip-offs for pocket change to elaborately scripted gambling hoaxes, all while being vilified by old-guard profiteers like J.P. Morgan and befriended by gangsters like Arnold Rothstein.In My Adventures With Your Money, T.D. Thornton has given us a real-life version of The Sting with one of America's most colorful con men at it's center"--

Language:

English

Genre:

Geographic Term:

Personal Subject:

Subject Term:

Swindlers and swindling -- United States -- Biography.

Speculation -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

Finance -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

Finance.

Speculation.

Swindlers and swindling.

Electronic Access:

Cover image http://www.netread.com/jcusers2/bk1388/371/9781250054371/image/lgcover.9781250054371.jpg

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Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	364.163 THO	31330007948783	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	BIOGRAPHY RICE G	32128003375095	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Master swindler George Graham Rice operated at the zenith of America's golden age of con artistry with plenty of illicit competition, but he stood apart from all others thanks to the sheer audacity, pure nerve and nefarious brilliance of his scams. Against the dark rise of American greed in the early 20th Century into the Roaring Twenties, the dapper but devious "GG" feasted on a nation of gullible prey with the flair of circus showman P.T. Barnum and on a financial scale comparable to modernfraudster Bernie Madoff.

Born Jacob Simon Herzig in 1870, he later changed his name - just as he would frequently change his swindles - to make himself into one of the most imaginatively successful villains in American history. With only seven dollars to his name, Rice parlayed a chance horse racing tip into millions, lost it all to pride and ego, then won it back many times over. Vilified by securities regulators as the "Jackal of Wall Street," he sparked riots in Manhattan's financial district by perfecting the artof "bucket shop" trading with the sole purpose of bilking the public blind. From the lawless frontier of the Gold Rush to his lust for dizzying riches on Wall Street, GG's supreme knowledge of "sucker psychology" empowered him to orchestrate everything from street corner rip-offs for pocket change to elaborately scripted gambling hoaxes for hundreds of thousands of dollars, all while being vilified by old-guard profiteers like J.P. Morgan and befriended by gangsters like Arnold Rothstein.

In My Adventures with Your Money , T.D. Thornton has given us an unforgettable real-life version of The Sting with one of America's most colorful con men at its center.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Thornton (Not By a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track) explores the fascinating life and career of notorious con artist George Graham Rice, who made a name for himself as a hustler, writer, and stock speculator in the early 20th century. Thornton depicts Rice as an uncompromising crook who was drawn to the idea of deception and considered get-rich-quick profiteering an art form. Set against the backdrop of the Roaring '20s and its subculture of con men, this dazzling portrait traces Rice's progress from small-time grifts such as inflating penny stocks to later being known as the "Jackal of Wall Street." Rice also endured numerous arrests and prison stints, at one point even sharing a cell with Al Capone. Thornton successfully transforms this unsavory character into a charming, irresistible anti-hero. This easy-to-read tale of survival during the earliest part of the 20th century will make readers hungry for more grifts. Agent: David Patterson, Foundary Literary + Media. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

The tale of an early-20th-century con man who swindled millions through horse racing, mining claims, and penny stocks. Thornton (Not by a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track, 2007) tells the story of the most notorious grifter you probably never heard of. Born Jacob Simon Herzig to Austrian immigrants in Manhattan's Jewish ghetto, he was more interested in betting on horse races than a legitimate life path. After Herzig stole from his family's fur business for the second time, he was incarcerated in Elmira Reformatory. While imprisoned, he endured a range of tortuous treatments and came out a new person with a new name. Taking a surname from a fellow prisoner and older newspaperman-turned-forger, Herzig became George Graham Rice. Along with adopting the former newspaperman's last name, he also took up the habit of displaying a certain journalistic flair. Specifically, Rice would use newsletters as a means to market his dubious promises and products. After a venture in the business of predicting winners at the horse track, Rice moved west and began to sell shares in mining claims of questionable worth. When that scheme hit a dead end, he returned to New York and became involved in the emerging business of selling penny stocks. On Wall Street, his reputation was exemplified by the various names the public gave him, including "jackal." While jumping between coasts, Rice was also in and out of various prisons. Throughout his career, he straddled the line between legitimate and illegitimate business and befriended pivotal figures in both worldse.g., Teddy Roosevelt's son and the infamous racketeer Arnold Rothstein. As such, his story is an interesting tour through the early years of Wall Street and the often blurry lines between legal and illegal business practices. A good read for anyone interested in confidence men and the history of Wall Street. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

In the early 20th century, George Graham Rice would help you determine how much more money he could squeeze out of you while you were imploring that you lost everything based on his last stock tip. In this book, Thornton (Not by a Long Shot) shares the life of Rice, otherwise known as GG or Ricecakes, who was born Jacob Simon Herzig in 1870. Thornton effectively establishes Rice as the original shuckster, portraying his start as a small-time hoodlum, who served time and stumbled into building a powerful network of suckers (as the book calls them)-people willing to listen to the same source over and over with the promise of getting rich. As he went from overseeing bets on horses to mines out West to the New York Stock Exchange, Rice impressively adapted to any situation and could turn any obstacle into an advantage. -VERDICT This remarkable read of a man who swindled thousands of people out of millions of dollars is for fans of con artists, stock market history, and the films Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street.-Ryan -Claringbole, Coll. Lib. at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

1 Confidence Man	p. 1
2 Gold Without Digging for It	p. 63
3 Blue Skies and Bucket Shops	p. 126
4 Jackal of Wall Street	p. 184
5 Vortex of Decadence	p. 218
6 Vanishing Act	p. 260
Epilogue	p. 271
Notes and Sources	p. 277
Acknowledgments	p. 297

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

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