Matthew P. MayoRezensionen

I enjoyed a few of the stories but I didn't enjoy the writing style.

This is the sort of content that would be more at home on Buzzfeed. "Top Ten Sleaziest Hornswogglers -- You won't believe who number seven conned!" And that's a shame, because the subject matter was fascinating, and is worthy of a better treatment than it received here.

The biggest issue I had was with the historical fiction woven in with historical fact. I suppose that it made me read more critically, as I was constantly in the position of needing to separate fact from fiction. That's a great skill to have, and one that I apply constantly when reading suspect sources. But I don't typically care to get my knowledge of history from such sources unless no others are available.

This is not the sit down and read cover to cover type of book. This is more of a collection of short stories that you read one when you have time. It was an okay book as long as you know what you are getting your self into before you start.

I take my responsibility as an “Early Reviewer” very seriously, so when I obtain a book under such circumstances, I feel an obligation to both the author and the Early Reviewers program to read it through cover-to-cover in order to fairly evaluate it. Absent that strong sense of commitment, I would certainly have abandoned Hornswogglers, Fourflushers & Snake-Oil Salesmen: True Tales of the Old West's Sleaziest Swindlers, by Matthew P. Mayo, somewhere around page twelve. Instead, I agonizingly forced my way through all of its twenty-two chapters and two hundred seventy-seven pages of character sketches – which unfortunately simply reinforced my first impression.
In fairness to the author, I am probably the wrong audience for a book like this, as reader or reviewer. Still, in fairness to me it is billed as American History – which is why I initially requested it – and the back cover duly claims it as History/US-19th Century. But more importantly, in fairness to actual historians who painstakingly research, analyze, interpret and write books about history, Hornswogglers hardly qualifies as history at all, except perhaps in the very broadest sense in that its content is concerned with the past. This book is written for a popular rather than a scholarly academic audience, but I do not object to that; I commonly read both kinds of histories and am comfortable evaluating each on their respective merits. I might, in general, take exception to the absence of notes, which is sloppy for either kind of work, but in this case that is really the very least complaint a reviewer could raise. To my mind, this is simply a dreadfully bad book on a variety of levels.
Deafening alarm bells went off on the third page of the “Introduction” as Mayo nonchalantly reveals that: “At various points I used poetic license by adding dialogue and supporting characters where firsthand accounts were scarce.” [p xiii] Really??? I must admit a sense of astonishment: this is my first experience with an author of an ostensible work of history who has freely and insouciantly confessed to the manufacture of conversations as well as some of the individuals peopling his chronicle. We have a name for books that fall into this category – historical fiction – a perfectly legitimate genre that has produced magnificent works by the likes of Michael Shaara, Mary Renault and Gore Vidal. But these are emphatically not styled as history.
By way of exception, I will grant a willingness to give a pass to Thucydides, who in his magisterial The History of the Peloponnesian War clearly imagines exchanges between key individuals that he could not have witnessed. But nothing in Hornswogglers comes up even close to the level of the “Melian Dialogue.” In fact, concocted inner-monologues and dialogues characterize at least eighty percent of the narrative, and much of it reeks with simply bad writing, of the “dark and stormy night” variety. Moreover, it lacks all measure of authenticity, especially because it tries so hard to be authentic. Imagine, if you would, the kinds of scripts written for popular “Grade-B” Westerns in the Hollywood of the 1940s, with a character actor such as Walter Brennan cast as a grizzled prospector downing a foamy beer in a saloon while spouting the derivative canned vernacular that was a typical ingredient of an old-fashioned celluloid horse opera – much of Hornswogglers is a poorer echo of that!
And what of the author, Matthew P. Mayo? The back cover bio proudly touts that he “is a Spur Award-winning writer” (an award for writers of Western fiction), and goes on to note that: “He roves the highways and byways of North America . . . in search of high adventure, hot coffee, and tasty whisky.” His website adds only that he is an Eagle Scout and an “on-screen expert for a popular BBC-TV series about lost treasure.” Whether he has had a formal education or any training for writing proper history is conspicuous in its absence. My guess would be not so much.
I suppose there are those who would be entertained by some of the colorful character vignettes in this book, but I would suspect that those like myself concerned with the documentary history of the American West would not be a part of this audience. A “hornswoggler” is apparently defined as a deceiver who dupes a hapless victim: I cannot help but feel that I was hornswoggled into reading this book.

My review of: "Hornswogglers, Fourflushers & Snake-Oil Salesmen" by Matthew Mayo is live on my book blog http://wp.me/p5Hb6f-70

I thought that this was going to be a straightforward historical nonfiction read--which as a history nerd I was looking forward to. However, it went down several notches in my book with the addition of fictionalized conversations these hornswoggles and fourflushers might have had. I found that completely unnecessary, distracting, and hamfisted. If I had been more adequately prepared for what I was getting, or had it been closer to what I was expecting, I might have enjoyed it more.

The actual historical content was quite interesting. Many of these swindlers I'd never heard of before. The organization and layout of the book was a bit off for me, including the first chapter, which would not have been my choice for the first chapter. There are some really intriguing, crazy stories contained in the book, and I would have started out with something more catching than Mayo did.

I did really appreciate a chapter on the US government swindling Native Americans out of basically everything we ever promised them. Too often this ugly trend in our past (and present) is conveniently omitted, so it was refreshing to see that.

Overall, not really for me, but interesting enough to keep me from throwing it out altogether.

A very accessible and layperson-oriented non-fiction book. The subject matter is interesting and although the book lacks depth, it makes up for it in variety. Culled from various sources, the tales of con artists in the Old West are curated into this hodgepodge collection. There were some bits of (supposedly) fictionalized dialogue and third-person action in some (but not all) of the chapters, which was....an interesting choice, for something mostly classified as "true".
It was fun to read, but I wouldn't look to this as an academic text.½

Definitely enjoyed this book. I love anything to do with the old west and getting to read about the "sleaziest swindlers" was most enjoyable. Surprisingly (I'm not going to give anything away in this review. You should definitely read it for yourself!), the women in the book were the most interesting, maybe because we always hear about the legends and criminals of the west being men, but apparently there were some pretty bad women as well. Would recommend, even for research purposes.

This isn't so much a history of chicanery and cheats in the old west as a collection of hamfisted creative writing exercizes paired with summaries of their historical inspiration. I might be embarrassed for all the cliches and stock characters if Mayo's book didn't ooze such misplaced self-satisfaction.

The review by MarysGirl covers pretty much the exact same critiques I have about this title. However, it was an entertaining enough read, the content was mostly new to me, and I would read other titles by the same author, (if they were free).

Weird blend of historical fiction with historical fact, which, like I said, was entertaining, but didn't make me feel that I was reading something particularly authoritative or vetted. I noticed that the author has several titles with similar themes, ("bad" guys/gals in history), so I would venture that this is an easy format to stick to and sell.

I found it difficult to read more than a chapter at a time, due, in great part, to the blend of fiction/fact. Still, the old west stuck in my head while I was making my way through this title- I was very enthused to watch "A Million Days to Die in the West" during the time that this was in my reading pile.

So, ultimately, I learned some things from this book and I'm glad I read it, but the format would be a barrier to some readers. Also, if it matters to you, primary sources are not cited - only other books written by people who went out and presumably did original research.½

2.5 stars--it was OK. I have a number of these types of books and they all follow a formula of breezy modern descriptions of historical people in whatever category the author is covering. I like them for their short subjects, lively writing, and long bibliographies which I use for research. This one didn't live up my (generally lower) standards for these types of bibliography/history books. The research seemed fine and I enjoyed the photos, but I didn't care for the "creative non-fiction" vignettes where Mayo made up dialog and put us inside the feelings of the characters. I'm sure that makes for more interesting reading for many folks, but for someone looking for more history than entertainment, I found that distracting and inauthentic. If the author wanted to write historical fiction, he's got lots of material, but (IMHO) straight history shouldn't be presented that way.

I also had a minor problem with the way the content was organized. Mayo included chapters on the U.S. government and their consistent cheating of Native Americans, frontier guidebook writers as a group, and San Francisco's struggle to maintain some control over crime during several decades. While all were interesting and worthwhile subjects, they seemed out of character when the subjects of the other chapters were individual people. Plus the women were all shoehorned into one chapter like an afterthought when they could easily have been featured in the other chapters on gamblers, pimps, and con artists. Add on the ugly cover (Mayo should be hopping mad that you can't read his name) and the poorly designed interior and the effort comes off as amateurish.

As someone who reads a lot of serious history, I (probably) have higher standards than the casual consumer of historical entertainment, so add a star if you're looking for entertaining reading about rascally characters. This book does deliver on that.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.½

Enjoyable book with short biographies of crooks, thieves and card sharks in the Old West. A good book for travel with short chapters explaining the life and crimes of some well known, lesser known and unknown charlatans. I especially liked the section on the Great Diamond Hoax where diamonds and other gems were "salted" in an area that fooled some of the great names in America. However, the author, Matthew Mayo, missed a point when Clarence King, the geologist who disproved the scam, was also a scammer, living a double life as a married black man in New York and simultaneously becoming the first Director of the US Geological Survey in DC.
I also liked the story of Carlotta J. Thompkins, aka Lottie Deno or "Faro Nell". Not only was she a riverboat card shark, but she also ran a mean Faro game, the most rigged card game of the time. She not only thrived and did well, a few decades after her death, she became the inspiration for Miss Kitty in the TV and radio show, Gunsmoke.
In short, this is interesting and well told stories of America's march to the west. A well recommended book.

A wonderful book!! I have not even finished it yet but wanted to write the review for it. We have a read or seen these characters in western movies and books about the old west. To finally get to know some of the real cheats of the west, their skills and tricks and how all their skills are still applied today on late night TV, On-line Multilevel marketing ckems and
at flea markets around the world. It hard to believe anyone fell for these guys and the stuff they were selling, but we must all admit we each have bought some "snake oil" in one form or fashion at one time or another. Don't feel bad everyone gets suckered and it has been going on since time began.

Thanks to the folks at LibraryThing for giving me a copy.
An interesting study of con men who plied their trade in the old west. Better written than most non-fiction but I thought the dialogue which the author admitted he took liberties with would have been better if it had been omitted. A bit too long in terms of the number of different individuals presented as after a while the swindles are mostly variations on the same theme. I found it interesting that schemes which are still being perpetrated today can be traced all the way back to the 1800s. Overall a nice look at a bunch of shady characters.½

This book is as fun to read as the name implies. Mayo presents many interesting old American slime-balls in quick and satisfying little chapters. It’s often easy to say “that’s greed for you” but there were other cons that could break your heart.

While many of these scams seem so obvious to us today, it makes you realize how desperate, ill-informed and hopeful their marks were. Practically begging for someone to take their money in exchange for a taste of the American dream of success. And where you find dreams, you will always find dream-catchers. Those old sons-o-guns!

This review is based on a copy I received from Librarything.com.