Menu
The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History
Bottom of the pile
16
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
15/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Margalit Fox
Publisher:
Random House
Date:
June 1, 2021
Imprisoned in a remote Turkish prison camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors.
What The Reviewers Say
Fox, however, goes far beyond Jones’s autobiographical account by enlarging its scope. She does this by interweaving two supplementary narrative threads that help explain why this improbable scam actually worked. First, at appropriate intervals, she reminds us of the era’s scientific and pseudoscientific beliefs, especially the vogue for spiritualism, telepathy and Ouija boards. Second, she links Jones and Hill’s ultimate success to their mastery of the deceptive skills and subtle mind games practiced by stage magicians, con artists and lawyers.
Fox’s book is less about war than the winding path home.
Ms. Fox brings a deadpan touch to her story.
A journalist reconstructs the brazen exploits of two World War I prisoners of war who faked mental illness to escape from 'the Alcatraz of its day.'.
