Product Description Since 1991, Andreas Schroeder has been a regular on the very popular national CBC-Radio show “Basic Black” with Arthur Black. Each month, Schroeder recounts, with wry understatement, yet another outrageous scam or particularly notable rip-off, leaving his listeners speechless with disbelief, amusement, and even grudging admiration.Such was the popularity of his two previous story collections that he has done it again.Stories Include:Another Day, Another Picasso: The decades-long career of aristocratic forger Elmyr de Hory, some of whose Picassos, Matisses, Van Goghs, and Braques still lurk in art museums and reference books, masquerading as the real thing.Making Hay in Cathay: A damning exposé of that thirteenth-century con artist, Marco Polo, which is sure to have readers questioning everything they learned in school.Gangs That Couldn’t Loot Straight: Three tales to prove that incompetence can be elevated to an art form.Extortion by Remote Control: How a technologically inventive bomber (calling himself Dagobert Duck) managed to hold one of Germany’s largest department stores hostage and baffle the police for almost two years.Each story is told in Schroeder’s wicked, deadpan style, which covers a certain underlying glee at the shenanigans of truly ingenious characters - despite their questionable morals. From School Library Journal YA-Witty and entertaining, Fakes is a whirlwind tour of 16 swindlers, con artists, forgers, and extortionists. Schroeder gleefully recounts the exploits of such colorful characters as Emperor Norton I of the United States; Elmyr de Hory, a forger so proficient that his fakes are collectible; and Dagobert Duck, a blackmailer who successfully evaded the German police for two years. The anecdotes are lively, humorous, and fascinating in that the criminals often ended up being publicly lauded for their daring cleverness and sheer nerve, especially when their scams essentially hurt no one or gouged the rich. Even greedy reprobates have their supporters: people continued to invest in the Francis Drake inheritance scam even after Oscar Hartzell was convicted. These stories help prove the adage that truth is stranger than fiction.-Susan Salpini, Purcellville Library, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review “Schroeder…deals with his miscreants and their fraudulent adventures in admirable deadpan style.”-Vancouver Province“Wickedly entertaining reading.”-Globe and Mail From the Back Cover “Schroeder…deals with his miscreants and their fraudulent adventures in admirable deadpan style.”-Vancouver Province“Wickedly entertaining reading.”-Globe and Mail About the Author Andreas Schroeder has published over a dozen books, including File of Uncertainties (poetry), The Late Man (short fiction), Dust Ship Glory (novel), and The Eleventh Commandment (translation). His memoir, Shaking It Rough, was nominated for the Governor General’s Award in 1976. His fiction and poetry have been included in over forty anthologies, and his byline has appeared in most Canadian magazines and newspapers. In 1991 he was awarded the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Best Investigative Journalism Award.In addition to his writing, he has been a regular broadcaster for CBC Radio - most notably on “Basic Black” - and a tireless crusader for writers’ benefits in Canada. He served as Chairman of the Writers’ Union of Canada in 1975-76, and as the founding Chair of Canada’s Public Lending Right Commission in 1986-88. Andreas Schroeder also holds the MacLean-Hunter Chair in Creative Non-fiction at U.B.C’s Creative Writing Program.
