{"product_id":"9780345804693","title":"A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe compelling behind-the-scenes story of the greatest swindler of the Gilded Age, whose villainy bankrupted Ulysses S. Grant and stunned the world of finance—told by his great-grandson, award-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFerdinand Ward, the son of a Protestant missionary and small-town pastor, moved to New York at twenty-one and, in less than a decade, made himself the business partner of a former president and established himself as the “Young Napoleon of Finance.” In truth, he was running a massive pyramid scheme. Drawing from thousands of family documents never before examined, Geoffrey C. Ward traces his great-grandfather’s rapid rise to riches and fame, and his even more dizzying fall from grace, in a narrative populated with mistresses, crooked bankers, corrupt New York officials, and a desperate kidnapping scheme. Here is a great story about a classic American con artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47048365801712,"sku":"9780345804693","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780345804693_p0.jpg?v=1763688472","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780345804693","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}