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Synopsis
Presents an entertaining collection of hundreds of documented historical hoaxes, pranks, deceptions, and stunts that have fooled the public from the Middle Ages to the present day, from Edgar Allan Poe's literary deception to P. T. Barnum, the master hoaxer, discussing the origin of April Fool's Day, providing a Gullibility Test, and more. Reprint.
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About the Author
Alex Boese is a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego, where he is completing his doctoral dissertation. He is the creator and curator of www.museumofhoaxes.com, which began in 1997 as research notes for his dissertation. His website has received acclaim from Yahoo!, as well as USA Today and other newspapers around the world.
From Publishers Weekly
Boese, the "curator" of www.museumofhoaxes.com, here collects some of the more fascinating hoaxes from medieval times to the dot-com era. After an initial "gullibility test," designed to show how hard it can be to detect actual hoaxes, Boese organizes his entries chronologically, arguing that hoaxing styles and subjects reflect an era's overall mood. Thus, in pre-modern times, the "concept of truth" was treated "allegorically and spiritually," so hoaxes (such as Sir John Mandeville's fantastical beasts) were not as scientifically involved as our modern frauds (Rorvik's 1978 cloning of a man or the 1999 Piltdown Chicken). Happily, Boese minimizes his theorizing, letting readers just have fun browsing through a few centuries of human trickery. While most of these hoaxes are entertaining (England's Mary Toft, who in 1726 "began to give birth to rabbits" or the South Seas fatu-liva bird that laid square eggs "which remarkably resembled dice"), a handful are disturbing (the 1987 Tawana Brawley case, involving an unsubstantiated act of racial hatred) or even deadly (e.g., the case of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, which was used to justify anti-Semitism). While short accounts of a variety of hoaxes won't satisfy aficionados, the general public may find it useful to know how some familiar hoaxes e.g., the Loch Ness monster were unmasked, and Boese's "suggested reading" list will help intrigued readers dig deeper. Photos and illus.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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- PublisherPlume
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0452284651
- ISBN 13 9780452284654
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages288
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