Les plus belles histoires de l’escroquerie (A History of The Greatest Swindles) reveals the genius and cruelty of some of the greatest crooks in History, and how these larger-than-life characters were as seductive and charming as they were immune to all feeling of qualms and guilt.

A columnist for Alternatives économiques and broadcast media France Inter, Christian Chavagneux shares his fascination for the evil intelligence of these men and women and deconstructs the brilliant scenarios they have invented, establishing for each of them an “equation of fraud” that displays their key factors.

From the scandal of The Queen Marie-Antoinette’s Necklace to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme, Chavagneux makes the point that one can no longer defraud with the same techniques in times of deregulated finance as when family inheritance was the main source of wealth. A fun and instructive read!

Les plus belles histoires de l’escroquerie, by Christophe Chavagneux, Seuil

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Can you imagine, for a moment, that cavemen with their frugal lifestyle might have been happier than we are now, in our hyper-connected world?
More than sixty historians, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists have joined forces and knowledge to establish this narrative of happiness throughout Human history. And they point out to us that the notion of happiness defines the singularity of each civilization from Ancient India to modern China, including Pharaonic Egypt, Renaissance Europe, and so on and so forth.
A World History of Happiness reveals the universality of our quest for happiness and delivers the keys to start our own path toward a more fulfilling existence.

Histoire Mondiale du bonheur. (A World History of Happiness)
Collectif under the direction of François Dupaire, Le Cherche Midi
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On a foggy summer night, eleven people–ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter–depart Martha’s Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean.
The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul’s family.

Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work?
A storm of media attention brings Scott fame that quickly morphs into notoriety and accusations, and he scrambles to salvage truth from the wreckage.
Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Avant la chute, a novel by Noah Hawley, translated by Antoine Chainas, Folio policier

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In the winter of 1968, 12 prisoners escape from jail in Old Lonesome, a small Colorado town. Prison guards, journalists looking for a scoop, and a weed dealer looking for her cousin chase them. The fugitives part ways in the blizzard, and violence spreads everywhere they go.
According to Pierre Lemaître who wrote the forewords of the French edition, there will only be two categories of readers for this novel:
– the ones that will be impressed because they’ve never read anything by Whitmer,
– and the ones that will wriggle with joy as they know that what they’re holding in their hands is the quintessence of crime novel!

Evasion, trans. by Jacques Mailhos, Gallmeister

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