The author takes readers back to the late 19th century to the earliest slip-and-fall artists, one of whom known as "Banana Anna" feigned injuries for money by slipping on banana peels on steam trains throughout the Midwest. He also notes the "ambulance chasers" and "shysters" in New York who pioneered the personal injury trade, accident racketeers of the 1920s, excesses of self-mutilation for profit during the Great Depression, and the whiplash industry of the 1960s and 1970s. Through original interviews and research, the author reports on contemporary gangs whose members travel the streets of cities around the country staging car accidents for insurance money. He points out accident fakers have become a serious concern to big corporations and law enforcement. Notes and photographs