Product Description

Crop circles. Aliens on earth. Fairies caught on film. Giant cats. What do these phenomena have in common? They are all hoaxes. Elaine Pascoe presents well-researched chapters on nearly a dozen infamous hoaxesfrom the 1800s to the presentexploring the stories behind them (how they came to be as well as who instigated them) and pondering why people were so easily fooled. These tantalizing accounts hold tremendous appeal for all ages and are as much about the craftiness of perpetrators as about the gullibility of believers. Would you have been fooled? Youll just have to read Fooled You! to find out.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #344007 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Released on: 2005-07-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6–Pascoe employs a light tone to describe 11 pranks and frauds perpetrated in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most of the stories will be familiar to fans of historical oddities. The Fejee Mermaid, the Cardiff Giant, the Piltdown Man, fairy photographs, Bigfoot, and crop circles have been the subjects of similar works, such as Alex Boese's The Museum of Hoaxes (Penguin, 2003) and Judith Herbst's Hoaxes (Lerner, 2004). Like other volumes on this subject, this one includes a few lesser-known items including the New York Sun's report of the first East to West Atlantic balloon crossing in 1844, a report submitted by a struggling journalist named Edgar Allan Poe. What is not as common in other works on the topic are the clear explanations of who thought of the hoaxes and how and why they developed them. A list of six similar titles from the 1990s and another of nine Web sites that track current hoaxes or describe historical ones are appended. Keller's silly cartoon illustrations help maintain a light tone. Entertainment that encourages healthy skepticism makes this title a winner.–Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-6. Pascoe describes 11 notable hoaxes, several of which involve some famous names. In the ninteenth century, P. T. Barnum, master of the bogus, made people believe in a mermaid. Edgar Allan Poe offered a false newspaper report describing a transatlantic balloon flight, and he promoted a machine that supposedly created energy by releasing "luminiferous ether." The twentieth century brought hoaxes such as the 1917 "fairies in the garden" photo that fooled Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Piltdown Man fossil fraud, film footage of Bigfoot, and crop circles in England. Cartoonlike drawings with blue shading give pages a jaunty air, though at times readers might have preferred photos of the phenomena discussed. Those motivated to search for photos, further facts, or other examples of fakes can start with the appended lists of recommended books and Internet sites. Clearly written, the text begins and ends with a discussion that warns about passing along false stories, pictures, and viruses via the Internet. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Customer Reviews

IF YOU ENJOY A GOOD HOAX...
...then be sure to pick up the book TURN ME ON, DEAD MAN by Andru J. Reeve. It's the true saga of the story behind the infamous "Paul-Is-Dead" hoax of 1969, when millions believed a persistent rumor that Beatle Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash, his death kept a secret while the Beatles replaced him with a lookalike and planted "clues" to his death on subsequent Beatles albums. It's an amazing story and Reeve explores the who-what-and-whys of the story, explaining how this hoax was perpetrated and who was behind it. One of the most talked-about books of the year -- and it's available right now, right here at Amazon.com !!!

"An Amazing Book! I couldn't put it down!" -- Dr. Heritage Smith, folklorist and urban legends historian