The Fabulist
The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos
-
- £11.99
-
- £11.99
Publisher Description
From the dogged Long Island reporter who has been on his trail since 2019, the bizarre, page-turning, and frankly hysterical story of America’s most outrageous grifter—former US Representative George Santos.
America has grown used to larger-than-life politicians: Teflon Don, AOC, MTG, Dark Brandon, and all the rest have injected DC politics with an unmistakable edge of celebrity flair and tabloid intrigue. Yet in 2022, a new player on the national scene outshone them all. George Anthony Devolder Santos, and his revolving door of pseudonyms, shed glaring new light on how far we’d all let our politics slide as his claimed resume was shred to bits in the wake of a longshot run to office from New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
From Wall Street gigs to an amateur volleyball career, from embellished claims of Jewish heritage to a fabricated 9/11 story involving his mother’s death, Santos’s legend continued to grow as his web of lies evaporated in real time. And the only thing wilder than this charlatan embedding himself in the warm, consequence-evading arms of our nation’s capital was the Queens con artist’s refusal to bow his head in shame.
Newsday alum and PEN/Hemingway honoree Mark Chiusano tells the full (well, as full as can be given the subject) story of Santos here for the first time. From humble years spent in Brazil, to glamorous nights on the west side of Manhattan, to the stunning small-time scams employed to ease his slippery climb up the American society ladder, The Fabulist tells a story you’ll have to read for yourself to believe…and even then, it’s George Santos, so who’s to say for sure.
Combining the very best of boots-on-the-ground journalism, dishy backroom dealings, and glittery details about Gold Coast mansions and bodice-baring drag shows that’d feel just as at home in your next summer beach read, The Fabulist is truly stranger than fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The deceits, frauds, and unlikely triumphs of the Republican congressman from New York are untangled in this labyrinthine exposé. Journalist Chiusano (Marine Park) explores the gap between Santos's public image during his 2022 congressional campaign as a Wall Street highflier from a wealthy family with Jewish ancestry—none of which was true—and his reality as the son of working-class Brazilian immigrants in Queens. Chiusano's colorful portrait of Santos's early career is a tapestry of petty rackets, including check fraud charges in Brazil, a probable green-card marriage, and a charitable scam called Friends of Pets United (Santos allegedly set up a Go Fund Me page to fund cancer surgery for a homeless veteran's dog, then pocketed the $3,000 he raised and let the pooch die). Pandering to MAGA diehards as a congressional candidate, Santos generated a flood of campaign funds that he skimmed with the help of shady accounting. The exposure of his frauds after his election victory, rather than ruining him, proved an apotheosis, Chiusano contends: Santos became a folk hero of sorts for shamelessly lying his way to the top of what is widely perceived as an intrinsically dishonest profession. Combining punchy reportage with thoughtful analysis, Chiusano's richly textured profile makes Santos into a fitting embodiment of today's declining public faith in politics.