Product Description

It was a time when anything seemed possible–instant wealth, glittering fame, fabulous luxury–and for a run of magical weeks in the spring and summer of 1920, Charles Ponzi made it all come true. Promising to double investors’ money in three months, the dapper, charming Ponzi raised the “rob Peter to pay Paul” scam to an art form. At the peak of his success, Ponzi was raking in more than $2 million a week at his office in downtown Boston. Then his house of cards came crashing down–thanks in large part to the relentless investigative reporting of Richard Grozier’s Boston Post. A classic American tale of immigrant life and the dream of success, Ponzi’s Scheme is the amazing story of the magnetic scoundrel who launched the most successful scheme of financial alchemy in modern history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51255 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-10
• Released on: 2006-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780812968361
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* His scheme had been around for years and was fairly simple: offer to pay investors huge returns in a short time frame, paying the early investors with capital from later ones, and abscond with the money before the whole thing collapses. Previously, the game was known as "robbing Peter to pay Paul," but Charles Ponzi did it on a grand scale in 1920, and the scheme bears his name to this day. At the height of his operations in Boston, he had a large staff, salespeople, and numerous branches throughout the Northeast. His deposits peaked at $15 million, and his "customers" included much of Boston's police force. Zuckoff's biography of Ponzi is meticulously accurate, based on memoirs and newspaper accounts of the day, weaving the story of the rise of this small-time Italian immigrant with that of Richard Grozier, second-generation editor of the Boston Post, living under the shadow of his father and out to make a name for himself. The reader, knowing it all must end badly, cannot help but root for the deluded Ponzi, with his devoted wife, Rose, blindly loyal to him all the way to the heartbreaking conclusion. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

An Incredible Page Turner!
Having just finished the book in the span of two evenings, I have to say it is an incredibly well written account of the meteoric rise and rapid decent of Charles Ponzi. This was one of my quickest cover to cover reads ever. My highest recommendations to anyone interested in learning about the inner workings of this complex,spellbinding man, his love for his wife and how he mesmorized the masses. Guaranteed to get any reader 50% more pleasure than what the book costs you(inside joke once you've read the book)!

The Friendly Thief
We've all heard of the Ponzi Scheme, what they referred to in that era as "robbing Peter to pay Paul". But this well researched book traces the tragic story of how Charles Ponzi came to America, what he did before the Ponzi scheme and what happened to him afterwards. It would make a great movie! Situated in Boston, he ran ads for great returns and when many middle class people invested, publicity soon followed with various members of the media warning that it was a scam. No common criminal, he took the press on and argued the opposite winning much public support.

It is a fascinating tale! The side story of the faithful wife who only wanted her husband at home without the money and the final outcome of their marriage is also heartwarming and tragic.

I like business biographies and this certainly qualifies although I wouldn't consider him the classic success story. This book offers so much more with detailed history of that time period and the roles regulators, politicians and media played in society at that time. And the story itself is charming in many ways. Charles Ponzi was a common man that on the surface became wealthy and everyone rooted for him. But it only lasted so long. If you have interest in finance you will like this book. If you have interest in the history of the early 1900s in this growing country you will be interested. If you like novels and good character growth I think this will also be of interest as it reads like a novel as he develops his scheme.

Great telling of the story behind a household name
I love books that tell the story behind a well-known phrase with a little-known background, so Ponzi's Scheme was a natural selection for me. Turns out it was a great choice. The story of Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to America, is a fast-moving rollercoaster of a tale told with skill by Zuckoff.

The result is a very readable book with a combination of good lessons for its reader about too-good-to-be-true propositions, great characters, good history, financial lessons, and a tradgedy of Shakesperean proportions.

Highly recommended for history buffs, fans of character-driven stories, people in financial markets, and anyone who's curious to know the story behind the phrase "Ponzi Scheme."