This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.
Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend and over 140,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

62 used & new from $0.74
See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend
 
 
Start reading Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend (Perfect Paperback)

by Mitchell Zuckoff (Author) "The huge blue car moved slowly through the crooked streets of the old city, its owner sitting on the wide rear seat, his bottom comforted..." (more)
Key Phrases: matured notes, bank commissioner, postal coupons, Securities Exchange Company, Hanover Trust, School Street (more...)
4.7 out of 5 stars  (22 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


62 used & new available from $0.74
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Kindle Edition (Kindle Book) $7.96
Paperback $14.95 $11.66 36 used & new from $3.82
Audio Download $27.50 $14.44
Audio CD Order it used!
Audio CD (Abridged,Audiobook) 5 used & new from $14.74
Audio Cassette (Abridged,Audiobook) 3 used & new from $28.33
 
   

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Dark Genius Of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons

The Dark Genius Of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons by Edward J., Jr. Renehan

4.2 out of 5 stars (15) 
Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York

Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York by Kenneth D. Ackerman

4.5 out of 5 stars (22)  $11.53
The Gold Ring : Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869

The Gold Ring : Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 by Kenneth D. Ackerman

4.3 out of 5 stars (3) 
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein

4.4 out of 5 stars (206)  $10.17
The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy

The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy by Charles R. Morris

3.7 out of 5 stars (7)  $11.56
Explore similar items : Books (35)

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Before Charles Ponzi (1882â€"1949) sailed from Italy to the shores of America in 1903, his father assured him that the streets were really paved with gold - and that Ponzi would be able to get a piece. As journalist Zuckoff observes in this engaging and fast-paced biography, Ponzi learned as soon as he disembarked that though the streets were often cobblestone, he could still make a fortune in a culture caught in the throes of the Gilded Age. Zuckoff deftly chronicles Ponzi's mercurial rise and fall as he conjured up one get-rich-quick scheme after another. Charming, gregarious and popular, Ponzi devised and carried out the scheme that carries his name in 1920 in the open (and with a brief period of approval from Boston's newspapers and financial sector). Many investors did indeed double their investments, as Ponzi would use money of new investors to pay old investors, and Ponzi himself became a millionaire. Eventually, Zuckoff shows, the Boston Post uncovered this "robbing Peter to pay Paul" system (as it was then known), and Ponzi's life unraveled. Zuckoff provides not only a definitive portrait of Ponzi's life but also insights into immigrant life and the social world of early 20th-century Boston.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
A journalism professor at Boston University, Zuckoff has written a solid biography of a great American legend. Zuckoff, who mined archival newspapers, almanacs, letters, and photographs, recreates intriguing characters. Greed may have driven Ponzi, who led a comfortable life in Italy, and yet the great schemer emerges as charismatic, clever, and even strangely lovable. The efficient narrative, despite some digressions, focuses on Ponzi’s story and largely ignores the era’s social and political milieu. At the same time, a parallel tale of young Boston publisher Richard Grozier competes for attention. Flaws aside, Ponzi’s Scheme captures a compelling story. After all, wrote the Boston Post at the time, "Of all the get-rich-quick magnates … Ponzi is the king." In this day and age, that is quite an accomplishment.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews


Product Details
  • Perfect Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Random House (March 8, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400060397
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400060399
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #509,592 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
    (Publishers and