The Ultimate Book of Impostors: Over 100 True Stories of the Greatest Phonies and Frauds

by Ian Graham

Think You Know Who Your Friends Are?
Think again... From Mata Hari to D. B. Cooper, history is littered with people pretending to be someone else. Some go undetected for years, cultivating their false identities so skillfully, even their spouses don't know. Other frauds go up in flames after one misstep. The Ultimate Book of Impostors presents the astonishing true stories behind over one hundred of the craziest and funniest phonies in history, •A fake French government official who managed to sell the Eiffel Tower― twice
•One of the Wild West's toughest and more admired "male" stagecoach drivers, who was actually a woman!
•An Israeli Mossad team that stole the identities of real British and Australian citizens to trap an unsuspecting target for assassination Packed with fun facts and outrageous accounts of fake pilots, phony princesses, imitation Indians, and serial sham artists, this irresistible book exposes the truth behind the world's wildest fraud―and why they did it―and reveals that even those we think we know best may not be exactly who they seem.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Short Stories, Biography, Crime

306 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

After working as an in-house journalist and editor in consumer electronics magazines, Ian Graham became a freelance writer. He has written more than 230 illustrated non-fiction books for children and teens, and contributed chapters to books including Dorling Kindersley’s Know it All and Big Ideas that Changed the World. He has a degree in applied physics and a postgraduate diploma in journalism.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that make a good companion for your lunchtime, travel time or for times when you just need a break from heavier subjects. As the title explains, it is about some of the great imposters and con men/women of the last couple of centuries and includes segments on everyone from pretenders to royal thrones, people passing themselves off as the children of celebrities. stock swindlers to DB Cooper who jumped from a commercial airplane with hundreds of thousands of dollars and was never caught. Some of these mostly clever folks we have probably never heard of but their stories are fascinating. The author admits that most of these scams would be impossible in the current electronic age but a few of these scoundrels gave it a try, unsuccessfully of course. It is a lot of fun but do not try to read it straight through. It is only meant to be read a few chapters at a time and picked up at leisure. Interesting stuff!!

[Armand Rosamilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I've heard, seen or read about a lot of these imposters, it was great to get another angle on some of them. The ones I'd not heard about were fun to read about, and some of these were so over the top you wouldn't think they were real!

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than enough strange stories to keep a reader entertained. Many accounts are very brief, but in those cases the book is a good jumping-off point for further research.

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a great deal. A lot of the other reviews talk about how it's not an easy read to go straight through, and it's rather dry, but I disagree. I think it was interesting from beginning to end.

I even took to googling some of the different characters to find out more about them. The first chapter alone, which focuses on women who disguised themselves as men in order to survive, or serve in the army, was absolutely fascinating.

Well worth reading.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read... you can pick it up and start anywhere! The book is a collection of over 100 true stories of some really interesting and unique characters - frauds and phonies!
If you like trivia and silly bits of information this is a book that will interest you! Read about con artists, phony princesses, liars, etc.
You can also read a fascinating story related to Tsar Nicholas of Russia... Rasputin, ...

[Clued-in With A Book (Elvina Ulrich) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You may wonder why on earth so many people would risk so much - their lives families, careers, freedom - simply to put on a different face. In most cases, their various motivations can be boiled down to just four things, the four E's: Envy, Ego, Escape, Espionage"

Oh wow, this was indeed the ULTIMATE book of impostors! From serial offenders, false heirs, fugitives to fantasists, I can't believe that there were so many impostors throughout history! It was insane and some of them even got away with their schemes! Ugh.

This is a book to be savoured in small bites since there are A LOT of interesting and unbelievable stories! It took me about three weeks to finish this book:

- I loved reading the cases on espionage, secret agents, secret operations. The stories of Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle) and Operation Mincemeat were so intriguing!
- Victor Lustig, a highly skilled notorious con artist who sold the Eiffel Tower twice and even scammed Al Capone and got away with it!
- Chinese magician and scam artist Chung Ling Soo was so famous, the real magician Ching Ling Foo was accused of being a fake;
- A distasteful royal prank by two radio DJs - Mel Greig and Mike Christian - which ended badly;
- and many many more …..

This was one fun and entertaining read! If you enjoy learning random facts (which may be helpful in trivia!) give this a read!

[Graham Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian Graham has written a humorous and funny expose of imposters from the Middle Ages up to the present day. Graham identifies the four main motivations for someone becoming an imposter - envy, ego, escape and espionage, and then has a chapter on specific types of imposters - recidivists, women impersonating men, false heirs, fugitives from justice, frauds and freebooters, imitation Indians, fabulous fantasists and spooks and cops. An entertaining read.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. I recognized several characters from Mysteries at the Museum and the news. Abercrombie from the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Catch Me If You Can is in there as well as "Christopher Rockafeller" Recommended for lovers of true crime or anyone who needs to learn how easy it is to be conned.

[Candace James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable book but he jumped around on his timelines. He would talk about a subject’s life and death and then talk about his life again. It could be very confusing. The notation boxes were often a source of confusion.

[Alaa ϟ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun.

Serial offenders: 4stars
Gender Benders: 2stars
False Heirs: 3stars
Fugitives from justice: 4stars
Frauds and freebooters: 4stars
Imitation Indians: 3stars
Fabulous fantasists: 2stars
Spooks and cops: 3stars
Misc: 4stars

[Evalina Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of impostors throughout history. It's amazing was a lot of confidence and the gullibility of an audience can accomplish.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't BELIEVE what some of these people got away with. Goes to show if you have chutzpah you have most of what you need if you want to run a con job.

[NonFiction 24/7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok, some people were to short and some were to long. The section on Native Americans was interesting.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not read this whole entire book in great detail. Sometimes I read the stories, sometimes I skimmed, but what I can tell you is ... we have some weird and seriously crazy people in this world. AND, these are the ones that most of us do NOT know about, or did not learn about until it was too late.

Also, not to make a political statement, but we know about the illegal aliens (adults and kids) sneaking in / pouring in from Mexico. However, there are people that come over here on Tourist Visas, and then stay beyond their "ticket." These are some of the people that we should be worrying about, because they are the ones committing the crimes, as you will see if you read this book!

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved it!

This is not a copy and paste book and although they did have one or two stories I had heard before. The stories came with no fax I hadn’t heard. 99.9% of the book was all new to me and I obsessively read civilian or obscure history. I do think this is my new favorite book in that genre. I first read this on Kindle unlimited, but now I’m going to buy the book because I know I will read it again in the future. I highly recommend this book to those who love stories about people pretending to being they are not. An excellent book!

[Mrs Olga A Danes-Volkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but...

This was potentially a fascinating book and it is not at all badly written but it comes across as a list of facts which makes it slightly boring.

It is interesting and indeed alarming that throughout time people have managed to create completely fallacious lives for themselves and in the process, often do a really immense amount of damage to others.

I'm glad I read it despite my slight reservations.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course any student of hoaxes and frauds will already be familiar with most of these stories. Nonetheless, this is quite an entertaining book provided one takes the titular "Ultimate" with a grain of salt. A truly comprehensive look at the subject would require an encyclopedia or two. Anyway, I quite enjoyed this book, though it gets a bit dry in spots.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this fascinating- particularly the chapter on "Gender Benders". It took me a long time to get through the book because I kept getting hung up on various impostors & stopping to do my own research. Fun!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hundred or so quick blurbs about some of the known impostors. Great for travel, waiting or bathroom reading. Some are very famous, such as Mata Hari and many had movies made about them. Guess they are infamous now.

[Robert Mynatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

It was an interesting read. There were quite a few spelling and grammar issues, but they didn't make it unreadable. Overall, the concept of impostors and what motivates them is an intriguing concept that was well worth the read.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting stories, but they get tiresome after a while if you're just reading straight through. Makes a better skim/bathroom reader.

[Gregory Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Didn't want it to end

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a very interesting read. If I had my time again I would probably break it up by reading one chapter at a time as it got a bit dry at points but I ultimately enjoyed the book.