SHOP and BUY - The Land That Never Was: Sir Gregor Macgregor and the Most Audacious Fraud in History
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Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 941.1074092 EAN: 9780306814112 ISBN: 0306814110 Label: Da Capo Press Manufacturer: Da Capo Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 384 Publication Date: 2004-12-28 Publisher: Da Capo Press Release Date: 2004-12-28 Studio: Da Capo Press
Customer Rating: Summary: Read a different book Comment: Sinclair using too long quotes, sometimes going for 2-plus pages. More thorough and in-depth despcription of the hardships the colonists went through could have contributed to this book that was frankly hard-to-finish. Too much time was spent talking about various interest rates he was charging where the true bread and butter of the story takes place across the Atlantic. Customer Rating: Summary: can't believ e he actually got people to go for this Comment: In an amazing bit of marketing, Macgregor created a "country" and sold land that he had no claim to, amassing and losing a fortune several time over! Customer Rating: Summary: quotes, quotes, and more quotes Comment: The author makes a habit of extensively quoting other authors memoirs of the events surround the Poyais scheme. When he is not doing that he is listing loan interest rates and payment schedules involved in the plot and there is enough unnecessary number crunching in the book to teach an economics class with. It seems that the author had a hard time finding any new original material in his research and so what we get is a mix of speculation and facts that have already been arrived at by the authors Davis researched. But other than that I suppose this was an interesting story. I wouldn't say that Gregors Poyais scheme was the Most 'Audacious Fraud in History' by the end of the book even Davis agrees that the Poyais scheme barely supported his family. Customer Rating: Summary: Fascinating tale of a deadly swindle Comment: Poyais was a lush Caribbean paradise - perfect climate for comfortable living and fertile agriculture, peaceful natives, and beautiful scenery. It was the perfect place to start a new living or simply invest in. The only problem? It didn't actually exist.
The Land That Never Was chronicles the life and times of Gregor MacGregor - one of the most outrageous, balls-out con artists of all time - who, in the early 1800s, tricked the world into believing he was an aristocrat, a knight, a hero of countless South American military campaigns, and the cazique (king) of an untouched, beautiful land. His powers of charm and manipulation were so great that even as his fraud was unraveled, he still managed to escape unscathed, legally and reputation-wise. Even the settlers of this new land - that is, those who survived the barren, disease-ridden nightmare of a place where they were dumped and abandoned - never blamed MacGregor, but the various intermediaries MacGregor had put in place.
The swindle was so well thought out and detailed that the fake land of Poyais had its own 300-page guidebook, Constitution, purchase orders for tracts of land, various other forged documents, and travel agencies throughout England and Scotland, that helped recruit hundreds of new settlers. The book begins with the predicament that these settlers found themselves in after arriving in "Poyais"; namely, having given up everything they had to die in a horrible place - and spending their life savings for the opportunity!
The book then looks at MacGregor's colorful past prior to the Poyais scheme, spending much time on his cowardly misadventures as a soldier for fortune in South America. The narrative then focuses on the second half of his life, as he sought every which way to make money off of a complete fantasy, even bankrupting and killing hundreds of innocents in the process, and always staying one step ahead of the law.
This is a fascinating story of chutzpah and creative swindling, and of a delusional man who may have even began believing his own tall tales. The only drawback to the book is the lack of broader research during MacGregor's wartime years, of which a good portion of the book is spent: most of the research is from the memoirs of a disillusioned colonel that served with MacGregor (though his version of events are likely more accurate than MacGregor's, who would have you believe he single-handedly liberated South America!). All other aspects of the book are great: it is richly detailed and engaging, and a must-read for anyone interested in the lesser-known annals of history. Customer Rating: Summary: A good story? Comment: The biggest thing to jump out at me, was why all these different people kept getting suckered in by this guy, it became more frustrating than entertaining.
Once upon a time, in the heart of Central America, there was a country named Poyais. It was exceptionally rich in resources, civilization, and culture and was ruled by the brave and enlightened Scottish soldier, Sir Gregor MacGregor, who became its ruler after his heroic exploits in the fight for South American independence. On a cold January morning in 1823, a group of Scottish immigrants looking for a new life set sail for this tropical Eden called Poyais. The only catch was that it didn't exist.
A month later the ship landed on the swamp-infested Mosquito Coast and the settlers realized that they had become the victims of one of the most elaborate hoaxes in history. The land they had been sold was nonexistent, the banknotes and guidebooks they carried with them were forgeries, their documents were worthless. Poyais was a fiction. The man responsible? Sir Gregor MacGregor. Who was this eccentric, scurrilous man? And why is he such a lovable rogue?
