The Mark Inside

A riveting, masterfully told narrative history of con artistry in America and, in particular, of one rancher from Texas, who lost it all to the big con and set out to get his revenge.

In the fall of 1919, when the legendary "Big Joe" Furey and his gang of con artists swindled J. Frank Norfleet--an honest, fifty-four-year-old, self-made man--of everything he was worth, they chose the wrong mark. Over the next four years, Norfleet would traverse the country, becoming the nation's most celebrated vigilante as he tried to unearth Furey's gang one by one. Amy Reading tells Norfleet's remarkable story with the dramatic élan of a novel, and interweaves his narrative with a behind-the-scenes exploration of one big con that examines the history of con artistry in America within a broad cultural context. The result is a spellbinding look into one of the most secretive, and fascinating, strata of our society.