Charlatans by Moisés Naím and Quico Toro is about the public figures with "a knack for manipulating groups of people into trusting them." The title might conjure up thoughts of 16th-century grifters who promised to turn the ordinary into gold through alchemy, or snake oil salesmen promising a panacea to the desperate. However, as global affairs experts Naím and Toro explore in their fascinating and informative work, these public figures are still very active today, sometimes in the highest reaches of government, and modern technology has only helped them to proliferate.
Naím (The End of Power) and Toro emphasize that the people running these scams are so successful not because they're able to convince people to do something or buy into something, but because they trade on the beliefs and dreams that people already hold. As a result, the authors emphasize, and despite some scams seeming completely obvious, everyone is susceptible to charlatans in different ways, regardless of amount of education or power. And so, the authors argue, it is essential to be more aware of how these schemes work, rather than blaming or judging the victims. Instead of metal into gold, modern charlatans trade in cryptocurrency and are able to access vulnerable people through the parts of their lives they put online voluntarily, using their very dreams to turn more people into victims. Naím and Toro delve into Ponzi schemes, so-called health gurus, megachurches, online phenomena such as QAnon, and more. They show how all of these different scams use similar methods and principles, which, at the core, amount to what the authors call "hacking HumanOS."
This exploration of charlatanism is expansive and focuses on the perpetrators of these schemes, but Naím and Toro also point out factors that might make people susceptible to falling for them. It is not just a matter of gambits that promise dreams realized, but that those who might be more socially isolated are possibly more prone to becoming victimized by these smooth operators. In essence, by showing these public figures at their worst, and the levels of society and politics that they have infiltrated, Naím and Toro guide readers to understand that this is a threat not of the past, but one that is becoming compounded by technology, so that all aspects of life are under threat from it. Their straightforward approach draws links across a variety of high-profile manipulators and public trials. Making intriguing connections among white-collar crimes across industries, Naím and Toro demonstrate how community might, in the end, be the best defense against being taken in by charlatans. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: Moisés Naím and Quico Toro explain why and how society still falls for the tricks of charlatans and swindlers, and how people might better recognize their games.