The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History Paperback – June 7, 2022

Had difficulty putting this book down. Really interesting, historically educational and entertaining,

The author, based primarily on the memoirs of the men involved, published now a century ago, recounts the incredible story of how two British POWs held in an Ottoman prison camp used fake seances to convince their captors to take them to the Mediterranean coast where they could escape. When this plan went awry, the clever Brits successfully feigned insanity in order to become eligible for a prisoner exchange. The author helps to explain their success through discussions of the popularity of spiritualism in the Victorian and Edwardian eras—even in Turkey—and of the psychology of cult members. A story hard to believe but fun!

"The Confidence Men" by Margalit Fox is a fairly thin read. The true story of two British prisoners of war in a Turkish POW camp during World War I is subtitled, “How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History.” And so, perhaps, it was, in a manner of speaking. Elias Henry Jones and Cedric Waters Hill, two British POWs, spend months convincing first the other prisoners and then their Turkish captors that they could commune with supernatural spirits “beyond the living.” What begins as an entertaining diversion for their fellow prisoners gradually evolves into a plan to escape to freedom. Eventually even the Turkish camp commandant becomes involved when the two men promise that they can locate a treasure for him using the help of spirits that they converse with.After endless schemes, planning and creating a plot too complicated for any Hollywood movie, Hill and Jones eventually convince the enemy doctors that they have jointly lost their minds and should therefore be released home. Instead, Jones and Hill’s entire elaborate plot to escape the prison camp and return to Allied lines ultimately lands them in a Turkish insane asylum in Constantinople. After being incarcerated there for six months, the two are finally released by the Ottoman government as war casualties, to be repatriated.Was it worth it? Did they actually “escape?” Did all the planning; the knife-edged dangers, discomforts and genuine physical illness that they faced so that they could return to Allied lines pay off for them? Or was it all for nothing?What they gained was little.Hill is dispatched to England (before Jones is) on a British hospital ship on November 1, 1918—only 10 days before the General Armistice is declared ending World War I. Earlier, the defeated Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros with Great Britain on October 30, ending the war between the two nations. It took effect the next day, October 31, the day before Hill’s sailing.In addition to Hill and Jones’ adventure, Fox devotes perhaps half of her book to the histories of magic tricks, séances, Ouija boards, and other forms of supernatural entertainment. Her book is a fairly good primer on the arts of persuasion, techniques that stage magicians, con men, politicians and other illusionists use, together with an extensive look at psychological elements that cause people to believe whatever an “influence technician” wants them to. (These parts may be especially relevant today in helping explain why so many Americans, despite absolute proof to the contrary, still desperately believe that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump.) However, while often interesting, these lengthy sections have little to do with Hill and Jones’ story except as background. They probably could be in a separate publication. It would be an enlightening read.Finally, Fox makes several attempts to apologize for the “Orientalism, essentialism and racism that pervade many British memoirs of the period.” In this, she apparently wants to convince her readers of her own, modern, “woke” views while condemning men of a completely different age. In some places in her book, Fox is like a ballerina dancing through a minefield, being careful to assure her readers that she is no fan of Rudyard Kipling-style sentiments, still less of the British Empire. Fox displays a lack of empathy with the incarcerated British soldiers and airmen. They, after enduring incredible hardship in the primitive, deadly prisoner of war camps, were understandably unlikely to be especially “PC” about their Turkish guards in their memoirs.Fox’s book is, to some extent, a retelling of Elias Jones’ original, first-person account, "The Road to En-dor: Being an Account of How Two Prisoners of War at Yozgad in Turkey Won Their Way to Freedom". A paperback version of the 1919 original was printed in 2014. Thus, you can read The Confidence Men—or go to the original source.

At first, I thought this story was preposterous, couldn't possibly be true, But as the book progressed, Margalit Fox beautifully laid out the historical context in such a way that the story became both believable and incredibly engaging, My only criticism was that the last few chapters--don't want to give anything away--lagged for me. But otherwise lovely read

Good read but sometimes too much delving into minute details.

I had given “Conan Doyle …” to my British brother-in-law as a gift and was sending this along, too. When I let him know, he said, “Oh, of course, you know I read Jones’ book in the ‘50s …” So I thought he knew all about it, but turned out he “loved every page.” I think when you have become trusted as a writer, curious readers know your work will teach them more, the things they probably didn’t catch. They look forward to your next, and then hopefully, your next. This is what happened with “The Confidence Men”. Margalit Fox tells the best stories because she knows everything about her subject matter, then seems to hope she will find still more in the writing. It’s her greatest gift to the reader.

If this was a novel no one would believe it. A true story of two POWs trying the impossible to escape.There is no lack of imagination in their plot to get free. Didn't want to put the book down, had to see what challenge they would face (and hope to overcome) next.

If you really want to know this story, then read the books written by the two men themselves - E. H. Jones and C. W. Hill. This book has 329 pages. The index is 313-329. Author's notes 253-312. References are 241-251 and acknowledgments cover pages 239 & 240. This leaves about 240 pages of content. A large number of pages have footnotes - most of which don't add to the story - unless you're into geography and history. Example: City "A" used to be called "B", but then it's name was changed to "C". Or...something like this: " *A deliberately oblique reference to Jones and Hill." Gee, thanks for explaining that!! Much of the dialog is taken directly from the biographies written by Jones and Hill themselves, and the "Notes" section of this book is filled with credits to their books and lots of "Ibids". Reading this reminded me of writing "papers" in school and having to list references, etc. I'm not really sure how this book became a national best seller and got so many great reviews. Theactual story IS GREAT and interesting and well worth knowing. However....go directly to the source (Jones & Hill) and don't bother with this 3rd person account who gleaned the storyline from reading all the other books.