Charlatans

“Compelling and disturbing.”—Nature

“Timely, often witty.”—Washington Independent Review of Books

“The authors show how any one of us can easily fall prey, because what charlatans do best is reflect our dreams back to us… Against an arsenal of exploitative technologies, understanding our vulnerabilities is our best shield.”—Kirkus

“A wry examination of deceptions and why we fall for them.” —Library Journal

“We live in an era of liars, fakers, grifters and charlatans. Moises Naim and Quico Toro explain how this happened, and what it means, in eloquent, urgent prose.”—Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag

“The world has always been full of scam artists and con men. But did you ever wonder why we are so susceptible to their tricks? And why we seem particularly susceptible these days? Moisés Naím and Quico Toro have written a fascinating book that tells the stories, gives us explanations, and even has some thoughts on what to do about these charlatans.”—Fareed Zakaria, author of Age of Revolutions

“Who would have thought it would be so enthralling to read about the ways we have been bamboozled by hucksters throughout human history—from ancient alchemists to Dr. Oz, and from Trump University to the infinitely cunning frontiers of AI? Telling this twisted tale with a combination of precision and verve, Moisés Naím and Quico Toro place us—the chumps—squarely at the heart of the story. Charlatans is at once a dazzling carnival of grifters and a cautionary tale.”—Marie Arana, author of Bolívar and inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress

“Why do so many smart people get duped? Naim and Toro’s Charlatans isn't a story of unscrupulous villains and unsuspecting victims, but a masterful dissection of the drivers and vulnerabilities—in our tech, our psychology, and our institutional antibodies—that make us all targets for exploitation. Essential reading for understanding and surviving our golden age of deception.”—Ian Bremmer, president, The Eurasia Group