Hype cover art

Hype

How Scammers, Grifters, Con Artists and Influencers Are Taking Over the Internet – and Why We're Following

Preview
Free with 30-day trial
Prime logo New to Audible Prime Member exclusive:
2 credits with free trial
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Hype

Written by: Gabrielle Bluestone
Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
Free with 30-day trial

₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹1,377.00

Buy Now for ₹1,377.00

About this listen

From Vice journalist and executive producer of hit Netflix documentary Fyre comes an eye-opening look at the con artists, grifters and snake oil salesmen of the digital age—and why we can’t stop falling for them.

"Scams are hot right now, and Bluestone covers the hottest here." – Booklist

We live in an age where scams are the new normal. A charismatic entrepreneur sells thousands of tickets to a festival that never happened. Respected investors pour millions into a start-up centered around fake blood tests. Reviewers and celebrities flock to London’s top-rated restaurant that’s little more than a backyard shed. These unsettling stories of today’s viral grifters have risen to fame and hit the front-page headlines, yet the curious conundrum remains: Why do these scams happen?

Drawing from scientific research, marketing campaigns, and exclusive documents and interviews, Vice reporter Gabrielle Bluestone delves into the irresistible hype that fuels our social media ecosystem, whether it’s from the trusted influencers that peddled Fyre or the consumer reviews that sold Juicero. A cultural examination that is as revelatory as it is relevant, Hype pulls back the curtain on the manipulation game behind the never-ending scam season—and how we as consumers can stop getting played.

“Juicy, sharp, savage and wildly entertaining” – Cat Marnell, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Murder Your Life

Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions Criminology Ethics & Morality Law Philosophy Popular Culture Social Sciences True Crime

Critic Reviews

“A deep dive into the depressing world of grifters, bullsh*t artists, plagiarists and long con experts turbocharged by the Internet—and what, if anything, separates those scammers from some of our most respected captains of industry. Fyre Festival, Bluestone makes clear, may have been a low-water mark so far in the history of empty hype—but the tide, as ever, just keeps rolling out.”– Anna Merlan, author of Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power

"Hype is the best kind of nonfiction: juicy, sharp, savage and wildly entertaining, with a celebrity behaving badly on every page. What more could you want?” – Cat Marnell, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Murder Your Life

“Gabrielle Bluestone is one of the most gifted chroniclers of American culture working today because she is one of the coolest people alive. In Hype, she delivers the story of what the f*ck is wrong with us as only she can: with detailed reporting that skewers the subjects who deserve it — and without an ounce of sanctimony — while taking us for a ride so fun that, by the end, it takes you a second to realize that Hype may have indicted you, too (she is a lawyer, after all). We may not deserve this book, but we do need it. Hype is the most fun, most outrageous, and — most of all — most true book of the year.” – Olivia Nuzzi, author and Washington correspondent, New York magazine

"Scams are hot right now, and Bluestone covers the hottest here."– Booklist

No reviews yet