Best book I've read this year!

I needn't write a lengthy review as some of my fellow armchair critics included here have done. I will only second what the majority of them have said. Even J. Edgar Hoover would have had a difficult time disliking this guy!. I'm sure if one had actually been there and suffered personal losses as too many did, he would see it much differently, but from the perspective of this author, Ponzi was a most likeable person and you can't help rooting for him, and poor loyal Rose) until the bitter end! Buy this book! You'll be glad you did.

Engaging and Entertaining

In a very engaging account of the arguably the "best" financial scam (before Enron days atleast), Zuckoff narrates the fascinating story an Italian immigrant to the US and his seemingly unending tale of woe, charm, financial trickery - all combined! As the plot (even though this is an actual account of real events, it reads as if it were one of the best written thriller!) develops, one cannot but imagine if any other person could have survived the events Ponzi had to suffer through. Using a brilliant narrative technique, the author develops the main actors' roles in a systematic manner, most notably those of Charles Ponzi, his wife, and Gozier (publisher).

Each chapter also includes a reproduction of a relevant photograph obtained from the famed Post, Boston Library and other sources. Those pictures are so well chosen that they capture the essence of the ensuing chapter very well.

As can be expected from a professor of journalism, the book is well documented with plenty of detailed notes and bibliography for any serious reader.

It should be pointed out that the Epilogue should not be forgotten at all. The unravelling of the "plot" happens mostly in the epilogue and contains numerous twists and turns associated with the fascinating life of Charles Ponzi.

An excellent read, but make sure you have cleared out an entire day or weekend for it, because once you start reading it, you wont stop until you are at the last page!

+++COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!!!+++

LOVED this book. Zuckoff's account reads like a well-honed work of fiction, but, as he states in his notes on sources, "the truth was better than anything I could have invented."

The unexpected bonus was a marvelously interesting history of early 20th century Boston politics and newspapers. I grew up here and had heard tell of many of the names mentioned in the book, but never had them fully fleshed out. And of course, I now fully understand the meaning of the phrase, "Ponzi scheme."

Mr. Ponzi was a charming thief, and though he brought ruin through unethical means to countless people whose faith was terribly misplaced, Zuckoff understands that in order to "hate" a character, you have to care about him first. No good villian is 100 percent evil, otherwise, the reader has nothing invested his his tale except clean and simple revenge. In Zuckoff's hands, the verifiable facts of Ponzi's life and character bring to life a villian who adores and is faithful to his wife, loves his mother, literally gives the skin of his back to a stranger, and accumulates 15 million dollars in 10's from laborers and 100,000's from Brahmins and thinks, in the end, he can make good by literally robbing his own bank.

You couldn't make this stuff up, and lucky for us, Zuckoff didn't have to!

BRAVO!!!!