The Big Con

David W. Maurer, a linguistics professor who specialized in the slang of the underworld, studies the confidence man, whom he called the aristocrat of grifters. Maurer gained the trust of hundreds of swindlers, who shared their language and customs and explained the elaborate schemes by which marks, drawn in by their own greed and dishonesty, were cheated of thousands of dollars. These big cons were scripted and rehearsed like a Hollywood production. The book records the trade's vocabulary, from ropers and shills to the convincer, the payoff, the rag and the cold poke, and characters such as Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch, Limehouse Chappie and Larry the Lug. It became the source for the Academy Award-winning film The Sting.

Ryan Holiday put it on his list of 24 books for a strategic mind, arguing that con men, though more tactical than strategic, are expert at spotting opportunities and building plans so seamless that their marks often notice nothing.