“This was a truly hilarious and sobering account of a truly "great man" who "pulled himself up by his own bootstraps" to become a doctor, politician, and pioneer of radio. The fact that he did it by playing on the deeper fears we have doesn't matter. We had "quacks" then and we have "quacks" now and I believe it's good that we take a look at the whole business of miracle cures-whether it's medical, financial, or psychological and spiritual. When we're in crisis we want to believe in someone or something that will solve our problems for us. Falling for the kind of sexual rejuvenation the doctor peddled wasn't limited to the poor-people of great wealth, "educated" people fell for it and paid out substantial sums of money to have goat glands implanted to restore sexual vigor. (I wonder what flim-flams posterity will be laughing and crying about 50 years from now? It's certain there will be more than one of each in every field of human activity-science, religion, politics,sports etc. "How on earth did those turn of the century folks fall for that bs?")
The author meticulously documents a cultural phenomenon without becoming pedantic. Charlatan reads at the pace of a good novel and is just long enough to make a satisfactory pool book. You'll be highly entertained by Charlatan if you have a well developed sense of irony and skepticism and a love of America's history, culture, and mores or just enjoy an object lesson in human nature.”
