Recent press, reviews and interviews for T.D. Thornton's books
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My Adventures with Your Money: George Graham Rice and the Golden Age of the Con Artist
"Mr. Thornton offers up a hugely entertaining biography....My Adventures With Your Money is written in a fast-paced and jaunty style, as befits the subject....Yet Mr.Thornton also has a sharp eye for detail...The Jazz Age is wonderfully conjured up with its numerous crazes and dubious promotions, from 'extracting gold from seawater...to devising a "spirit laboratory" to consult dead inventors'...My Adventures With Your Money is a grand addition to the grifting genre. Pick your own pocket and buy a copy."
(The Wall Street Journal)
“Set against the backdrop of the Roaring ’20s and its subculture of con men, this dazzling portrait traces Rice’s progress from small-time grifts such as inflating penny stocks to later being known as the “Jackal of Wall Street”…Thornton successfully transforms this unsavory character into a charming, irresistible anti-hero. This easy-to-read tale of survival during the earliest part of the 20th century
will make readers hungry for more grifts.”
(Publishers Weekly)
“Thornton effectively establishes Rice as the original shuckster, portraying his start as a small-time hoodlum who served time and stumbled into building a powerful network of suckers…As he went from overseeing bets on horses to mines out West to the New York Stock Exchange, Rice impressively adapted to any situation and could turn any obstacle into an advantage. VERDICT: This remarkable read of a man who swindled thousands of people out of millions of dollars is for fans of con artists,
stock market history, and the films Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street.”
(Library Journal)
“The narrative is evocative and a great insight into the power of promotion, illusion and creative journalism…This reader found My Adventures with Your Money to be a very unusual and intriguing book, focusing on the Roaring Twenties from a fascinating new angle.” (History ASM)
_"Bernie Madoff looks like a small-time crook compared to this master con man."
(MarketWatch)
"If you’re ever tempted to believe that the current financial system has never been shadier or more corrupt, this book will quickly cause you to count your blessings...The book is as much a treatment of human nature as it is about an individual crook."
(Ranked #5 of 10 Best Business Books of 2015 by Wealth Management)
"A rollicking story of high-stakes tomfoolery."
(The Dispatch)
"Thornton tells the story of the most notorious grifter you probably never heard of…As such, his story is an interesting tour through the early years of Wall Street and the often blurry lines between legal and illegal business practices. A good read
for anyone interested in confidence men and the history of Wall Street."
(Kirkus)
“Packed with rich period detail and written in a rollicking style that perfectly captures the sheer, unbounded vitality of its incorrigible subject, T.D. Thornton’s My Adventures with Your Money is a both vivid evocation of a uniquely colorful era in our nation’s past and a dazzling portrait of one of its most flamboyant figures—George Graham Rice, con-artist extraordinaire. Thanks to Thornton’s exuberant biography, the unaccountably forgotten Rice has been restored to his rightful place alongside the likes of P. T. Barnum and Charles Ponzi in the great rogues gallery of all-American hucksters, swindlers, and confidence men.”
(Harold Schechter, author of The Mad Sculptor: The Model, the Maniac, and the Murder that Shook the Nation)
“In My Adventures With Your Money, T.D. Thornton shows us the heart and soul, such as they were, of one of our finest swindlers. This highly entertaining portrait of George Graham Rice, a top-drawer hustler in the nation's great era of con, never fails to fascinate. From doped-up thoroughbreds to bogus gold stocks, Rice's money-making schemes roped in the suckers.
But the big winners here are Thornton's lucky readers.”
(Doug J. Swanson, author of Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker)
"The book succeeds where a lot of biographies fail. This is as much a book about human nature as it is about George Graham Rice.” (Thoroughbred Daily News)
Not by a Long Shot--A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track
"Thornton's credentials are impeccable, he has unrivaled access, and he delivers keen observations
in a style that alternates between workmanlike and poetic."
(Publishers Weekly)
"Like all good narrative nonfiction, this scrappy outsider pulls you in early and won't let go until the bitter(sweet) end."
(Louisville Courier-Journal)
"Thornton manages to communicate the weird allure of horse racing…
the grim pleasures of the book lie in the details of the daily racetrack routine.”
(New York Times)
"Terrific portrait of a season at Suffolk Downs." (starred review, Kirkus)
NPR's "Only A Game" interview featuring Not by a Long Shot (scroll to May 5)
“Thornton’s book is a racing certainty.” (United Kingdom Sports Journalists’ Association)
T.D. Thornton wins Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award (Turf Luck)
“Thornton pens terrific winner.” (Lowell Sun)
“T.D. Thornton was standing ankle deep in floodwater when he sold his first book..." (Off Track Thoroughbreds)
Not by a Long Shot (The Page 99 Test)
Talkin' Horses online chat with T.D. Thornton (The Blood-Horse)
"Mr. Thornton offers up a hugely entertaining biography....My Adventures With Your Money is written in a fast-paced and jaunty style, as befits the subject....Yet Mr.Thornton also has a sharp eye for detail...The Jazz Age is wonderfully conjured up with its numerous crazes and dubious promotions, from 'extracting gold from seawater...to devising a "spirit laboratory" to consult dead inventors'...My Adventures With Your Money is a grand addition to the grifting genre. Pick your own pocket and buy a copy."
(The Wall Street Journal)
“Set against the backdrop of the Roaring ’20s and its subculture of con men, this dazzling portrait traces Rice’s progress from small-time grifts such as inflating penny stocks to later being known as the “Jackal of Wall Street”…Thornton successfully transforms this unsavory character into a charming, irresistible anti-hero. This easy-to-read tale of survival during the earliest part of the 20th century
will make readers hungry for more grifts.”
(Publishers Weekly)
“Thornton effectively establishes Rice as the original shuckster, portraying his start as a small-time hoodlum who served time and stumbled into building a powerful network of suckers…As he went from overseeing bets on horses to mines out West to the New York Stock Exchange, Rice impressively adapted to any situation and could turn any obstacle into an advantage. VERDICT: This remarkable read of a man who swindled thousands of people out of millions of dollars is for fans of con artists,
stock market history, and the films Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street.”
(Library Journal)
“The narrative is evocative and a great insight into the power of promotion, illusion and creative journalism…This reader found My Adventures with Your Money to be a very unusual and intriguing book, focusing on the Roaring Twenties from a fascinating new angle.” (History ASM)
_"Bernie Madoff looks like a small-time crook compared to this master con man."
(MarketWatch)
"If you’re ever tempted to believe that the current financial system has never been shadier or more corrupt, this book will quickly cause you to count your blessings...The book is as much a treatment of human nature as it is about an individual crook."
(Ranked #5 of 10 Best Business Books of 2015 by Wealth Management)
"A rollicking story of high-stakes tomfoolery."
(The Dispatch)
"Thornton tells the story of the most notorious grifter you probably never heard of…As such, his story is an interesting tour through the early years of Wall Street and the often blurry lines between legal and illegal business practices. A good read
for anyone interested in confidence men and the history of Wall Street."
(Kirkus)
“Packed with rich period detail and written in a rollicking style that perfectly captures the sheer, unbounded vitality of its incorrigible subject, T.D. Thornton’s My Adventures with Your Money is a both vivid evocation of a uniquely colorful era in our nation’s past and a dazzling portrait of one of its most flamboyant figures—George Graham Rice, con-artist extraordinaire. Thanks to Thornton’s exuberant biography, the unaccountably forgotten Rice has been restored to his rightful place alongside the likes of P. T. Barnum and Charles Ponzi in the great rogues gallery of all-American hucksters, swindlers, and confidence men.”
(Harold Schechter, author of The Mad Sculptor: The Model, the Maniac, and the Murder that Shook the Nation)
“In My Adventures With Your Money, T.D. Thornton shows us the heart and soul, such as they were, of one of our finest swindlers. This highly entertaining portrait of George Graham Rice, a top-drawer hustler in the nation's great era of con, never fails to fascinate. From doped-up thoroughbreds to bogus gold stocks, Rice's money-making schemes roped in the suckers.
But the big winners here are Thornton's lucky readers.”
(Doug J. Swanson, author of Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker)
"The book succeeds where a lot of biographies fail. This is as much a book about human nature as it is about George Graham Rice.” (Thoroughbred Daily News)
Not by a Long Shot--A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track
"Thornton's credentials are impeccable, he has unrivaled access, and he delivers keen observations
in a style that alternates between workmanlike and poetic."
(Publishers Weekly)
"Like all good narrative nonfiction, this scrappy outsider pulls you in early and won't let go until the bitter(sweet) end."
(Louisville Courier-Journal)
"Thornton manages to communicate the weird allure of horse racing…
the grim pleasures of the book lie in the details of the daily racetrack routine.”
(New York Times)
"Terrific portrait of a season at Suffolk Downs." (starred review, Kirkus)
NPR's "Only A Game" interview featuring Not by a Long Shot (scroll to May 5)
“Thornton’s book is a racing certainty.” (United Kingdom Sports Journalists’ Association)
T.D. Thornton wins Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award (Turf Luck)
“Thornton pens terrific winner.” (Lowell Sun)
“T.D. Thornton was standing ankle deep in floodwater when he sold his first book..." (Off Track Thoroughbreds)
Not by a Long Shot (The Page 99 Test)
Talkin' Horses online chat with T.D. Thornton (The Blood-Horse)