{"product_id":"2940014372817","title":"99 Cent The Confidence-Man ( story, tale, saga, legend, history, anecdote, news, information, message, piece of news, intelligence, story )","description":"Long considered the author's strangest novel, The Confidence-Man is a comic allegory aimed at the optimism and materialism of mid-eighteenth-century America. A mysterious shape-changing Confidence-Man approaches passengers on a Mississippi steamboat and, winning over the (not quite innocent) victims with his charm, urges them to implicitly trust in the cosmos, in nature, and even in human nature-with predictable results. The Confidence-Man represented a departure for Melville, a satirical and socially acute work that was to be a further step away from his sea novels. Yet it confused and angered reviewers who preferred to pigeonhole him as an adventure writer. Some have argued the book was a joke on the readers loyal to his sea stories, but if so, it backfired. Dismissed by critics as unreadable, and an undoubted financial failure, The Confidence-Man's cold reception undermined Melville's belief in his ability to make a living writing works that were both popular and profound, and he soon gave up fiction. It was not until the mid-twentieth century that critics rediscovered the book and praised its wit, stunningly modern technique, and wry view that life may be just a cosmic con game.","brand":"classics reborn","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083610931440,"sku":"2940014372817","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014372817_p0.jpg?v=1763607230","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014372817","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}