Book · 1857 · Fiction
The Confidence Man
- mentions
- 4
- people
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- podcasts
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- episodes
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- recommendations
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I always always when the argument of the Great American Novel comes up I always make a plug for the confidence man which i think is sort of representative it says so much about America.
Tyler Cowen · Conversations with Tyler · Jul 2016 Listen at 38:32 The best things said about it
Uh The Confidence Man is a great book for example.
The first novel that really devotes itself to con artists that I could find was Melville's the confidence man and that was his last book.
Maria Konnikova The Book Review · Jan 2016 Where and when it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
4 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville is a complex, darkly satirical novel set on a Mississippi River steamboat that serves as a profound meditation on trust, identity, and American capitalism. On The Ezra Klein Show, Darrin Burnett recommended the lesser-known book as a wild card choice, praising its exploration of how human belief forms and the nature of charismatic figures who manipulate it. John Gray also recommended the novel on Conversations with Tyler, simply calling it a great book, while Tyler Cowen regularly champions the work on the same podcast as his primary choice for the Great American Novel, arguing that it captures fundamental truths about American society. Additionally, Maria Konnikova appeared on The Book Review to discuss con artists in literature, noting that Melville's final novel was the earliest work she could find that truly dedicated itself to examining the archetype of the con artist.
Every mention
Darrin Burnett but I'm going to invoke his much stranger book The cont man which is a book about how belief happens and wh… 1
“but I'm going to invoke his much stranger book The cont man which is a book about how belief happens and who the people are who can make us believe”
John Gray Uh The Confidence Man is a great book for example. 1
“Uh The Confidence Man is a great book for example.”
Tyler Cowen I always always when the argument of the Great American Novel comes up I always make a plug for the confide… 1
“I always always when the argument of the Great American Novel comes up I always make a plug for the confidence man which i think is sort of representative it says so much about America”
Maria Konnikova the first novel that really devotes itself to con artists that I could find was Melville's the confidence m… 1
“the first novel that really devotes itself to con artists that I could find was Melville's the confidence man and that was his last book”
