Book one: A history of the hoax. The American museum: on the madness of crowds.The age of imposture. Humbug ; P.T. Barnum ; Matthias the prophet ; The moon hoax ; Poe ; Tales
The freaks of Dame Fortune. Joice Heth ; The mummy ; The mammy ; What is it? ; The Circassian beauty
Splitfoot. Spiritualism ; William H. Mumler ; The Fox sisters ; Spirit photography ; Heaven tourism ; The Cottingley fairy hoax ; Arthur Conan Doyle
Bearded ladies. The Lincoln letters ; The "Dreadnought" hoax ; George Psalmanazar ; Girl wonders ; Opal Whiteley ; Joan Lowell ; Travel liars
Neverland: on race & other popular delusions. Cowboys & aliens. Pornographies ; Imaginary Indians ; Grey Owl ; Nasdijj
Blood nation. Memoir ; James Frey ; Margaret B. Jones ; Little Tree ; Captivity ; Poetic license
Lost boys. Faction ; Forbidden love ; Three cups of tea ; Gay girl in Damascus ; Mutant message down under
The time machine. Lost races ; Professor Agassiz ; Dr. Moreau ; Degeneration ; Miscegenation ; War of the worlds ; Piltdown man ; The Cardiff giant ; The Tasaday
Mysteria: a sideshow. The heart is deceitful. JT LeRoy ; Lance Armstrong ; Laura Albert ; Sybil ; Anthony Godby Johnson ; Hysteria
Eve Black. Eve White ; South Virginia ; Avatar ; Millennialism
Book two: The hoaxing of history. The vampire's mirror: of imposture, forgery & monsters. Butterfly books. Frankensteins ; Frederic Prokosch ; Lily ; Thomas Wise ; Major Bryon ; Voices
Spruce Goose. The Hitler diaries ; The autobiography of Howard Hughes ; Can you ever forgive me? ; Fake! ; Elmyr
Bakelite. Han Van Meegeren ; The Hitler diaries ; Jerzy Kosinski
The vampire's wife. The painted bird ; Binjamin Wilkomirski ; Laura Grabowski ; Autofiction
Hack heaven: of the journalist & liar. Glass ceilings. The new narrative ; Ravi Desai ; The New Republic ; Ern Malley ; Ruth Shalit ; Stephen Glass ; The journalist & the murderer
The gingerbread man. Taxis & the meaning of work ; Kae Bang
In bad blood. Susan Smith ; Brutal imagination ; The Washington Post ; Jimmy's world ; Ben's world ; Volunteer slavery
Burning down. The New York Times ; Jayson Blair ; Michael Finkel ; The truth
Unoriginal sin: on plagiary, murder, bad poetry & other crimes. Blacker than thou. Rachel Dolezal
Professor plum. Plagiary ; Clark Rockefeller ; Gatsby
Ghostbusters. Kaavya Viswanathan ; Opal Mehta ; Adam Wheeler ; William-Henry Ireland
Michael Brown's body. Trumpism ; The ecstasy influence ; Conceptual poetry ; Lynching ; Christian Ward ; Brad Vice
Coda: The age of euphemism.
