Written by P. T. Barnum — the man who knew a thing or two about humbug from personal experience — The Humbugs of the World (1865) is an entertaining survey of fraudsters, quacks, imposters, and self-deceivers across history. Barnum gleefully exposes patent medicine sellers, fake spiritualists, financial swindlers, and others while maintaining with perfect irony the air of a man who has merely been a disinterested observer of all such things.
The irony is rich, the anecdotes plentiful, and the hypocrisy gloriously calculated. Download this free EPUB for a guide to human gullibility written by its most celebrated and self-aware practitioner.