For a remarkable fictional exposition of this, read The Confidence Man by Herman Melville one of the truly great American novels. Many of the examples described in this article are brought to life, and used to generate a very funny, strange and interesting kind of literary and intellectual experience.
The book doesn't have one main character -- instead, it describes a riverboat trip where various avatars of the confidence man appear one after the other, although at one point two avatars appear at the same time and try to con each other. It was written in the mid-19th century but so advanced that Melville couldn't get it published -- it finally got into print about 50 years after he died.
Plus, if you want to understand the historical roots of Donald Trump, try the chapter in this book called "Some account of a man of questionable morality, but who, nevertheless, would seem entitled to the esteem of that eminent English moralist who said he liked a good hater."
Its subject is the early 20th century confidence man rather than that of the 19th, but it's full of rich detail both on the types of cons that were being run in that era and the personalities of the people who ran them. And its prose is so well-crafted that it reads like a contemporary book, despite being more than 75 years old now. It's such a fun book to read.
The book doesn't have one main character -- instead, it describes a riverboat trip where various avatars of the confidence man appear one after the other, although at one point two avatars appear at the same time and try to con each other. It was written in the mid-19th century but so advanced that Melville couldn't get it published -- it finally got into print about 50 years after he died.
Plus, if you want to understand the historical roots of Donald Trump, try the chapter in this book called "Some account of a man of questionable morality, but who, nevertheless, would seem entitled to the esteem of that eminent English moralist who said he liked a good hater."