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The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter

by Mark Seal

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

Hardcover, 323 pages, Penguin Group USA, List Price: $26.95 | purchase

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Book Summary

Traces the thirty-year con of Clark Rockefeller, a German-born immigrant who assumed numerous identities to charm his way into exclusive clubs and financial institutions before divorcing his Harvard-graduate wife and kidnapping his own daughter.

NPR stories about The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

Author Interviews

30-Year Con: From German Kid To Rockefeller Scion

by NPR Staff

For three decades, Christian Gerhartsreiter claimed to be someone else. After fleeing his German hometown, he developed a series of false identities, moving up the social ladder as he moved across the U.S. Ultimately, he married a lawyer who believed he was a Rockefeller. Journalist Mark Seal talks about the mystery man at the center of his new book, The Man in the Rockefeller Suit.

Christian Gerhartsreiter moved to America at 17 and spent the next 30 years of his life assuming false identities. His deception culminated in a 12-year marriage to a woman who believed he was a Rockefeller.

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