My Adventures with Your Money

August 31, 2015
Thornton (Not By a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track) explores the fascinating life and career of notorious con artist George Graham Rice, who made a name for himself as a hustler, writer, and stock speculator in the early 20th century. Thornton depicts Rice as an uncompromising crook who was drawn to the idea of deception and considered get-rich-quick profiteering an art form. Set against the backdrop of the Roaring ’20s and its subculture of con men, this dazzling portrait traces Rice’s progress from small-time grifts such as inflating penny stocks to later being known as the “Jackal of Wall Street.” Rice also endured numerous arrests and prison stints, at one point even sharing a cell with Al Capone. Thornton successfully transforms this unsavory character into a charming, irresistible anti-hero. This easy-to-read tale of survival during the earliest part of the 20th century will make readers hungry for more grifts. Agent: David Patterson, Foundary Literary + Media.

September 15, 2015
The tale of an early-20th-century con man who swindled millions through horse racing, mining claims, and penny stocks. Thornton (Not by a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track, 2007) tells the story of the most notorious grifter you probably never heard of. Born Jacob Simon Herzig to Austrian immigrants in Manhattan's Jewish ghetto, he was more interested in betting on horse races than a legitimate life path. After Herzig stole from his family's fur business for the second time, he was incarcerated in Elmira Reformatory. While imprisoned, he endured a range of tortuous treatments and came out a new person with a new name. Taking a surname from a fellow prisoner and older newspaperman-turned-forger, Herzig became George Graham Rice. Along with adopting the former newspaperman's last name, he also took up the habit of displaying a certain journalistic flair. Specifically, Rice would use newsletters as a means to market his dubious promises and products. After a venture in the business of predicting winners at the horse track, Rice moved west and began to sell shares in mining claims of questionable worth. When that scheme hit a dead end, he returned to New York and became involved in the emerging business of selling penny stocks. On Wall Street, his reputation was exemplified by the various names the public gave him, including "jackal." While jumping between coasts, Rice was also in and out of various prisons. Throughout his career, he straddled the line between legitimate and illegitimate business and befriended pivotal figures in both worlds-e.g., Teddy Roosevelt's son and the infamous racketeer Arnold Rothstein. As such, his story is an interesting tour through the early years of Wall Street and the often blurry lines between legal and illegal business practices. A good read for anyone interested in confidence men and the history of Wall Street.

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October 1, 2015

In the early 20th century, George Graham Rice would help you determine how much more money he could squeeze out of you while you were imploring that you lost everything based on his last stock tip. In this book, Thornton (Not by a Long Shot) shares the life of Rice, otherwise known as GG or Ricecakes, who was born Jacob Simon Herzig in 1870. Thornton effectively establishes Rice as the original shuckster, portraying his start as a small-time hoodlum, who served time and stumbled into building a powerful network of suckers (as the book calls them)--people willing to listen to the same source over and over with the promise of getting rich. As he went from overseeing bets on horses to mines out West to the New York Stock Exchange, Rice impressively adapted to any situation and could turn any obstacle into an advantage. VERDICT This remarkable read of a man who swindled thousands of people out of millions of dollars is for fans of con artists, stock market history, and the films Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street.--Ryan Claringbole, Coll. Lib. at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

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