Charlatans by Moisés Naím and Quico Toro focuses on 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. 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 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.
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, Charlatans guides readers to understand that this is a threat not of the past, but one compounded by technology. However, 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