Charlatan by Pope Brock

[FNAWrite]

Charlatan by Pope Brock

This 2008 book is a fascinating look not only into the man called in sub-title "America's Greatest Huckster" but into American culture and society in the years between the wars.

"Dr." John R. Brinkley opened clinics and hospitals, almost won the governorship of Kansas and made "eleven hundred thousand dollars" one year when most doctors, those who had actually graduated medical school, made less than forty thousand. (He feared admitting to making more than a million dolllars annually, thus "eleven hundred thousand".)

This book follows both Brinkley and the man who finally brought him down, the head of the American Medial Association, as they clash during the height of what the author calls the "flim-flam" era.

Snake oil, goat testicles and the most powerful radio station in the world (ever wonder why ZZ Top sang that they heard "heard it on the X"?).

I highly recommend this fast paced, easy reading book. As the critics say "5 out of 5". An amazing story.