The Confidence-Man (Penguin Classics)

The Devil buys a ticket and steps onto a Mississippi riverboat in this late, dark prose work by Herman Melville. Once aboard, he approaches passengers in forms which reflect their fears and prejudices: a legless beggar, a cosmopolitan traveler, a savvy businessman. In each of these guises he appeals to the charitable instincts of the passengers and asks for their trust. It is never given to him, but not because the Confidence-Man's "marks" recognize his diabolic nature, but because of their lack, or shallow acceptance of, Christian principles. Through the failures of his cons the devil wins. 351 pages.