Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Catch Me If You Can

• Genre: Nonfiction; Autobiography/Memoir
• Originally Published: 1980
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 10 chapters; approx. 277 pages; approx. 8 hours, 30 minutes on audio
• Central Concern: Con artist and check-forger Frank Abagnale details the various crimes he committed from 1964 to 1969, between the ages of 16 and 21.

Frank Abagnale, Stan Redding, Authors

• Frank Abagnale Bio: Born in 1948 in Bronxville, NY; runs a consultancy firm; worked as a professional con artist, disguising himself as a copilot, doctor, lawyer, FBI agent, and professor; his memoir inspired a 2002 film directed by Steven Spielberg and a Broadway musical
• Other Works by Frank Abagnale: The Art of the Steal (2001); Stealing Your Life (2007); Scam Me if You Can (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Social Scripts and Performance
• Gender Privilege and the Use of Women
• Identity and Self-Construction

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of social contexts regarding privilege-associated professions that enabled Frank Abagnale to get away with his crimes.
• Make connections between the text’s theme of Gender Privilege and Frank Abagnale’s exploitation of women and leveraging of male privilege in order to succeed in his schemes.
• Discuss the potential effects of writing a memoir for a con man like Abagnale and how he has constructed himself as a larger than life figure through viewing paired texts and thinking about popular media portrayals of crime.