Amy Reading holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale
University. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two
children.
www.amyreading.com
“Amy Reading is a crackerjack storyteller. . . . [A] lively
history of a nation on the make.” —The Dallas Morning News
“[A] remarkable piece of storytelling . . .[filled with] brilliant
portraits. . . . It’s great fun to read. No crime in that, is
there?” —The Boston Globe
“Perhaps the best book I’ve ever read on con artists and con
artistry. . . . It’s thrilling and hilarious by turns and when
you’re done, you understand the past and the present better.” —Cory
Doctorow, Boing Boing
“An engaging book for anybody who wants to better understand
misconduct in the realm of finance—and the consequences of such
misconduct for everybody involved.” —USA Today
“Most scholarship reads like a trip to the dentist. The Mark Inside
reads like a trip to the track.” —David Mamet, Pulitzer
Prize–winning author of Glengarry Glen Ross and House of Games
“An astounding tale, brought to vivid life by an historian who has
had to become an expert at distinguishing fact from romantic
fiction.” —Businessweek
“A skillful exploration of the development of con artistry in
America. . . . Reading’s side narratives and contextual notes are
illuminating, giving us a more refined sense of what it felt like
to live in an America that was developing at a breakneck pace.”
—Fortune
“Amy Reading brings to life one actual con in a book as riveting as
a movie. . . . [The Mark Inside] is an amazing piece of historical
research that will ensnare the reader.” —Newark Star-Ledger
“[Reading] delivers the goods. . . . A whopping good tale.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Thrilling and suspenseful." --Winnipeg Free Press
“Engrossing. . . . [Reading] gets to the center of both Norfleet’s
story and the mass appeal of the con artist as a figure in American
culture.” —The Paris Review
“An entertaining read, grounded in detailed historical analysis. .
. . A fascinating story of crime and punishment.” —New York Journal
of Books
“An uproarious history of the con game in America.” —Asbury Park
Press
“This account of con artists and obsessive revenge is replete with
dramatic twists and turns. . . . [and] vibrant characterizations. .
. . This narrative of vigilante justice flows like fiction, as con
artistry is illuminated throughout, with resonance in today’s world
of high-tech con artistry.” —Publishers Weekly
“This work, which puts deception in a sociological context from the
settlement of the colonies on, is riveting, exciting, and
eye-opening. . . . Thoroughly researched and engagingly presented.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“[The Mark Inside] takes us inside the world of grifting and
one of the slickest scams in history outside of Wall Street.”
—Gizmodo
“With pitch-perfect storytelling and stylish prose, Amy Reading
weaves a gripping tale of a grand swindle and even grander act of
revenge, a solo manhunt throughout North America that’s as
hilarious as it is compelling. Rarely has history been this fun,
fast-paced, and fulfilling. The Mark Inside is a book you won’t put
down and a story you’ll never forget.” —Karen Abbott, New York
Times bestselling author of American Rose and Sin in the Second
City
“Part page-turning crime drama, part juicy tale of vengeance and
obsession, part informative social history, and part
intriguing epistemological rumination about literary truth, Amy
Reading’s The Mark Inside is always great fun. From the first page
Ms. Reading hooks the reader as shrewdly as any of the bunco men
she writes about—only she makes good on this enticement, delivering
narrative gold.” —Howard Blum, bestselling author of The Floor of
Heaven and American Lightning
“An astonishing story of one victim’s determined quest to bring
down a ring of swindling confidence men. We have rigged
fights, fake stock exchanges, gun battles, jailbreaks, a hardy
Texan, an honest dentist and a righteous DA. Here’s early
twentieth-century capitalism—a great humbug run by the ghost of a
grinning P.T. Barnum.” —Ann Fabian, author of Card Sharps and
Bucket Shops
“It’s tempting to say that The Mark Inside reads like a historical
novel, but really it’s more like a great heist film. Amy Reading
entertains while explaining why all Americans—from Ben Franklin to
Bernie Madoff—are part trickster and part sucker.” —Scott A.
Sandage, author of Born Losers
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