{"product_id":"2940169577433","title":"The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his ninth and final novel, cultural observer, novelist, and poet Herman Melville gives us a picture of everything wrong with America in the decade preceding the Civil War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvoking Chaucer¿s \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e, this is a story of interlocking tales from a group of steamboat passengers traveling down the Mississippi toward New Orleans. Aboard the \u003ci\u003eFidèle \u003c\/i\u003ecan be found all manner of con man, from those selling stock in failing companies and herbal cure-all ¿medicines¿ to those who are raising money for a supposed charitable organization and those who simply ask for money outright. One man sneaks aboard ship to test the so-called confidence of the passengers, and everyone is forced to confront that in which he places his trust before journey¿s end. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMixing his trademark satirical style with allegory and metaphysical treatise, Melville¿s \u003ci\u003eThe Confidence-Man \u003c\/i\u003eis a precursor to the twentieth-century literary preoccupations with nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Audio, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47100466462960,"sku":"2940169577433","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169577433_p0.jpg?v=1769897182","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169577433","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}