From dust jacket notes: "This book was prepared with the assistance of many of the great confidence men who flourished between 1910 and 1950, the period of greatest known activity in the confidence rackets. However, since the principles on which the confidence games operate are basic, and the psychological factors involved timeless, this book constitutes a classic in its field....The field work for this book was done by the author using well-established techniques of anthropological, criminological, and linguistic research. He has explored a large number of criminal subcultures including thieves, gamblers, safecrackers, forgers, counterfeiters, circus and carnival drifters, short change artists, criminal narcotic addicts, and other professional criminals both in this country and abroad. This book should give the reader a better understanding of one phase of professional crime, but it is not intended as an expose. Doctor Maurer does not intend to appear as an apologist for the criminal,

The American Confidence Man,

Politics & Social Sciences

Maurer, David W.

Politics & Government

Charles C. Thomas Pub Ltd

Whiz Mob is David W. Maurer's classic study of the world of pickpockets. Similar to his best-known work, The Big Con, in Whiz Mob Maurer explains the colorful expressions and vivid words used by pickpockets and uses them to provide a window into the life and experiences of the professional criminal. Although he is quick to point out that he never had any actual experience on the racket, Maurer spent many years interviewing pickpockets and learning about their way of life. The result is a fascinating look at the work, lives, morals, and dangers of this element of the criminal subculture. Whiz Mob is essential reading for sociologists, linguists, and everyone interested in the mystery and intrigue of the criminal underworld.

Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern

Sociology

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

[From front jacket flap] A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern. This book is an experiment in what might be called the social structure of language. The language discussed is limited to argot a specialized mode of speech used by organized, professional groups operating outside the law €”and the lexical and semantic elements used are largely differentiate which separate argot from non-argot American usage. The argot selected reflects either directly or indirectly the technology of one category of thieves and €”pickpockets. Moreover, only those elements in the behavior pattern connected with making a living by theft from the person are discussed. Not an expose, this study is a serious attempt to correlate language and behavior in one criminal subculture. The author has written this book for those educated people who have a serious interest in language and social structure.

Whiz Mob

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Kentucky Moonshine

Examines the history and art of distilling as well as the equipment used by and the law's attitude toward the Kentucky moonshiner

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Beverages & Wine

Univ Pr of Kentucky

Book by Maurer, David W., Futrell, Allan W., Wordell, Charles B.

Language of the Underworld

Futrell, Allan W.

Wordell, Charles B.

Social Sciences

The University Press of Kentucky

When the first American tax on distilled spirits was established in 1791, violence broke out in Pennsylvania. The resulting Whiskey Rebellion sent hundreds of families down the Ohio River by flatboat, stills on board, to settle anew in the fertile bottomlands of Kentucky. Here they used cold limestone spring water to make bourbon and found that corn produced even better yields of whiskey than rye. Thus, the licit and illicit branches of the distilling industry grew up side-by-side in the state. This is the story of the illicit side--the moonshiners' craft and craftsmanship, as practiced in Kentucky. A glossary of moonshiner jargon sheds light on such colorful terms as "puker," "slop," and "weed-monkey." With a new foreword by author Wes Berry, David M. Maurer's classic history of this subject is tongue-in-cheek, but nevertheless provides a realistic look at the Kentucky moonshiner and the moonshining industry.

Berry, Wes

University Press of Kentucky

" When the first American tax on distilled spirits was established in 1791, violence broke out in Pennsylvania. The resulting Whiskey Rebellion sent hundreds of families down the Ohio River by flatboat, stills on board, to settle anew in the fertile bottomlands of Kentucky. Here they used cold limestone spring water to make bourbon and found that corn produced even better yields of whiskey than rye. Thus, the licit and illicit branches of the distilling industry grew up side by side in the state. This is the story of the illicit side―the moonshiners' craft and craftsmanship, as practiced in Kentucky. A glossary of moonshiner argot sheds light on such colorful terms as "puker," "slop," and "weed-monkey." David Maurer's tone is tongue-in-cheek, but he provides a realistic look at the Kentucky moonshiner and the moonshining industry.

Business & Money

Economics

A professor of linguistics who specialized in underworld argot, Maurer won the trust of hundreds of swindlers, who let him in on not simply their language, but their folk-ways and the astonishing complex and elaborate schemes whereby unsuspecting marks, hooked by their own greed and dishonesty, were "taken off" - i.e. cheated - of thousands upon thousands of dollars. The products of amazing ingenuity, crack timing, and attention to every last detail, these "big cons" richly deserve Maurer's description as "the most effective swindling device which man has ever invented."The Big Con is a treasure trove of American lingo (the write, the rag, the payoff, ropers, shills, the cold poke, the convincer, to put on the send) and indelible characters (Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch, the Seldom Seen Kid, Limehouse Chappie, Larry the Lug). It served as the source for the Oscar-winning film The Sting and will delight fans of such writers as David Mamet, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, and William Burroughs for its droll, utterly authoritative look at the timeless pursuit of relieving one's fellow man on his surplus cash.

Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man [Hardcover]

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See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Maurer, David W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Maurer, David W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Maurer, David W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The American Confidence Man,

Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern

Whiz Mob

Kentucky Moonshine

Language of the Underworld

Kentucky Moonshine

Kentucky Moonshine

Kentucky Moonshine

Kentucky Moonshine

Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man [Hardcover]