History’s Biggest Frauds is a work of narrative nonfiction that uncovers how celebrated figures and cultural heroes built their reputations on lies, theft, erasure, and manipulation. The book is organized around six core methods of deception: reinvention, omission, believability, deception, cover up, and reckoning. Each section reframes how reputations are made and unmade.

The manuscript is represented by Giles Anderson of The Anderson Literary Agency.

Yeah, but what’s it about?

This is not a book about how to lie. It is a book about what happens when lies outlast the truth. Through dramatic, story-rich cases, it asks what powers allow a fraud to flourish and why revelation so rarely comes before trust is broken.

Don’t be coy, friend. Who’s in it?

Albert Einstein

Jonas Salk

Sigmund Freud

Andrew Jackson

Douglas MacArthur

Henry Ford

Walt Disney

Charlie Chaplin

Walt Whitman

Frank Lloyd Wright

Coco Chanel

Allan Pinkerton

Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Smith

Albert Schwitzer

Albert Einstein Jonas Salk Sigmund Freud Andrew Jackson Douglas MacArthur Henry Ford Walt Disney Charlie Chaplin Walt Whitman Frank Lloyd Wright Coco Chanel Allan Pinkerton Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Smith Albert Schwitzer

Lots of books. Why does this one matter?

We celebrate reputation but often hesitate to investigate how it was earned. This book shows how the lies behind legend shape what we believe, who we trust, and what we expect from power. It reframes fraud not as simple scandal but as a structure of cultural deception that endures long after the truth is known.