Grifting is about as American as apple pie honestly. Melville is of course know for Moby Dick where he delves into the psyche of the Great American Man but he also wrote The Confidence Man. Mark Twain’s work is full of con men and grifters. Ponzi laid the groundwork for more complex schemes in the 20s. Pyramid schemes were all the rage in the 40/50s, Tupperware parties as an example, and of course still are huge today.

It seems like whenever American society is changing very rapidly or has changed very rapidly con men become the powerful ones of the time. Maybe this is true everywhere but as an American I don’t know the history of cons in other countries.