{"product_id":"bunk-kevin-young-9781555977917","title":"Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"There Kevin Young goes again, giving us books we greatly need, cleverly disguised as books we merely want. Unexpectedly essential.\"--Marlon James\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAward-winning poet and critic Kevin Young tours us through a rogue's gallery of hoaxers, plagiarists, forgers, and fakers--from the humbug of P. T. Barnum and Edgar Allan Poe to the unrepentant bunk of JT LeRoy and Donald J. Trump. \u003ci\u003eBunk\u003c\/i\u003e traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum professed was a newly discovered missing link in evolution.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBunk\u003c\/i\u003e then turns to the hoaxing of history and the ways that forgers, plagiarists, and journalistic fakers invent backstories and falsehoods to sell us lies about themselves and about the world in our own time, from pretend Native Americans Grey Owl and Nasdijj to the deadly imposture of Clark Rockefeller, from the made-up memoirs of James Frey to the identity theft of Rachel Dolezal. In this brilliant and timely work, Young asks what it means to live in a post-factual world of \"truthiness\" where everything is up for interpretation and everyone is subject to a pervasive cynicism that damages our ideas of reality, fact, and art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kevin Young\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 155597791X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781555977917\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Graywolf Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/14\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/14\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews Fall Preview\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/15\/2017 pg. 35\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/2017 pg. 84\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2017 pg. 3\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2017","brand":"Kevin Young","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43991596269823,"sku":"9781555977917","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6e70e123-11b6-4a1b-92ac-97ae1538bb9a.jpg?v=1683311169","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/bunk-kevin-young-9781555977917","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}