Catch Me If You Can… Tracing Impostors in the Long Twentieth Century

“Fake it till you make it”? According to the media, imposture has become epidemic. However, it is neither a new phenomenon nor one that has remained constant throughout history. Rather, as we argue, it is a socio-cultural phenomenon specific to the long 20 ^th century. The period around 1900, characterized by unprecedented social mobility, urbanization, mass media, and the anonymity of the metropolis, shaped modern imposture – both as a practice and a representation. This introduction sets the stage for a transnational history of imposture from the 1890s to the 1990s, examining how acts of imposture are remembered and how older narratives shape our understanding of imposture today. As this special issue reveals, imposture thrived in rapidly changing societies, where traditional roles and norms faced crisis and began to erode. Studying imposture reveals societal desires and accepted social conventions and cultural values. Against this backdrop, this introduction aims to historicize and conceptualize imposture by tracing this shifting phenomenon, its rich semantics, and its various representations throughout the 20 ^th century.