Was a real life 1920s crook the inspiration for one of the world's most iconic fictional characters, “The Great Gatsby”?

Just before the small-time bootlegger Max Gerlach died, he tried to reveal his secret: he was the inspiration for the mysterious Jay Gatsby. It’s a nice story, but was he telling the truth? Veteran reporter Joe Nocera and producer Poppy Damon investigate this century-old literary mystery and uncover untold secrets about the Great American Novel.

Content Warning:

The Great Gatsby is a book of its time so you will hear racist and anti-Semitic themes and language that some listeners might find offensive. There will also be references to alcohol and drug abuse, depictions of violence and reference to suicide.

Episode 1: Old sport

It’s July 1923 and a scrawled note from a local bootlegger gives celebrity author F Scott Fitzgerald a bright idea… Joe Nocera begins his quest investigating just who this Max Gerlach really was.

Episode 2: Then came the war

Jay Gatsby tells everyone he’s a military man, a war hero. Max Gerlach gives the same impression. But is Gerlach the man he says he is?

Episode 3: Some big bootlegger

Joe explores the shady world of bootlegging and the mob kingpin who bridges fact and fiction.

Episode 4: The golden girl

For many The Great Gatsby is first and foremost a love story. Joe goes looking for Max Gerlach’s “golden girl”. He finds a marriage – but all is not as it seems.

Episode 5: I love you now – isn’t that enough?

Fun fact: most of the ‘Great American Novel’ was written in France. What can the Fitzgeralds’ tempestuous stint on the Riviera reveal about Jay Gatsby and the man who may have inspired him?

Episode 6: He believed in the green light

Joe digs into how Max’s American Dream went sour. Meanwhile, F Scott Fitzgerald’s problems have only just begun.

Episode 7: Forty acres

Joe is forced to ask if he's had the wrong idea all along as he probes the investigation's biggest curveball.

Episode 8: Ceaselessly into the past

As Joe concludes his investigation, they follow every lead to try and get to the bottom of Max and Scott’s relationship. Just how much of Max Gerlach wound up in “The Great Gatsby”?