Friday, April 4, 2014

Five top books on hoaxes, frauds, and con men

One title on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on hoaxes, frauds, and con men:
The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
by Matthew Goodman

In August 1835, the New York Sun reported that a new telescope could see poppy fields, waterfalls, unicorns, and horned bears on the moon, as well as four-foot-tall "man-bats" building temples and speaking an alien language. Republished around the globe, the hoax marked the beginning of tabloid journalism and demonstrated how new technologies, intended to illuminate the truth, could be used to perpetuate falsehoods.
Read about the other books on the list.

My Book, The Movie: Matthew Goodman's Eighty Days.

The Page 99 Test: Matthew Goodman's Eighty Days.

--Marshal Zeringue