Word: charlatanism
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...this man a Moses, fitted to lead the people out of a wilderness which is his own creation, only? Is he of the George Washington type, as counsel would have you believe ? Is he not rather of the all too familiar charlatan and demagog type?like Alcibiades, Catiline, and except for a decided difference in poise and mental powers in Burr's favor, like Aaron Burr? He is a good flyer, a fair rider, a good shot, flamboyant, self-advertising, wildly imaginative, destructive, never constructive except in wild non-feasible schemes, and never overly careful as to the ethics...
...doctor who writes for a newspaper, is not necessarily a charlatan. He may be using his specialized knowledge, not for the exploitation of his name, but with the sincere purpose of promoting a better understanding of the body. But since this specialized knowledge is possessed, to a greater or less degree, by thousands of his confreres, gentlemen who make no fanfaronade of what they know, any doctor who writes for a newspaper is, indubitably, "loud." Dr. Evans writes for 70 newspapers. His querulous and meticulous criticism of Dr. Arrowsmith is unsound on the following score...
Probably he would have continued enthroned in the German mind, had not party ambition betrayed him to his enemies. He is no longer the symbol of a lost cause, but a grey-headed politician, and the reverence that he once commanded lies turned to scorn. Charlatan or genius, fool or master, he and his glorious reputation will be dragged in the mire of politics...
...Significance. Readers who prefer literary works which do not require, for assimilation, anything more than spectacles, will perceive after reading the first sentence ("She gave a startled cry") that this is their kind of book. It is true that Mr. Maugham's material has served many a dingy charlatan; true also that his style is undistinguished. But he has a rare grace: humility. He wants to tell a good story, but he does not distort the pattern thrt life imposes upon even the most shoddy events. He writes sensationism with an air of having his manner dictated absolutely...
...Among us politicians the quack and the trickster still flourish and the printed word is their most powerful weapon. Would that you (the publishers) adopt some schedule rates for such political advertising and would decline to publish the appeal of the liar and charlatan. Close your columns to the claptrap and buncombe of the politicians. Scorn our words when you know that we are uttering falsehoods, just as you scorn the dishonest advertiser...