New Books In Literature

As a journalist and author I usually work in factual financial news and analysis. Recently however, I have noticed an apparent increase in books that wrap the real financial tumult of our times into a fictional novel, thereby allowing the author to make a personal statement, blend characters and events and mix real truth with fiction. Before the Barnard Madoff scandal many individuals may not have completely understood the meaning of ponzi. Simply put, in a ponzi scheme a fraud artist creates an illusion of a successful investment and pays returns to investors by using money from subsequent investors, rather than genuine profit actually earned by the investment. The scheme entices new investors with promises of unrealistic returns and needs constant inflows of new funds to keep the fraud in operation. Charles Ponzi became famous – or infamous — for using the scheme in the 1920’s the technique is actually centuries old. At some point, as with Bernard Madoff the scheme collapses and badly burn