King’s journalism professor Dean Jobb continues to receive accolades for his latest book. Empire of Deception has won the Chicago Writer’s Association Award for Book of the Year in Traditional Nonfiction. CWA judge Richard Reeder called Jobb’s book “a fascinating, little known story” that is “one of the best pieces of non-fiction that I have encountered recently.”
Empire of Deception tells the story of Leo Koretz, a pre-Ponzi schemer who swindled millions in investments and absconded from his native Chicago to Nova Scotia. The book is also a portrait of Chicago in the roaring twenties, when Al Capone rose to prominence and insiders gambled on any stock that promised an easy buck.
The award comes after Jobb was also recently named a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Nonfiction.
