Includes bibliographical references (pages 509-533) and index.

Book one: A history of the hoax. One: The American museum : on the madness of crowds. ; The age of imposture ; The freaks of Dame Fortune ; Splitfoot ; Bearded ladies -- Two: Neverland : on race & other popular delusions. Cowboys & aliens ; Blood nation ; Lost boys ; The time machine -- Three: Mysteria : a sideshow. The heart is deceitful ; Eve Black -- Book two: The hoaxing of history. Four: The vampire's mirror : of imposture, forgery & monsters. Butterfly books ; Spruce goose ; Bakelite ; The vampire's wife -- Five: Hack heaven : of the journalist & the liar. Glass ceilings ; The gingerbread man ; In bad blood ; Burning down -- Six : Unoriginal sin : on plagiary, murder, bad poetry & other crimes. Blacker than thou ; Professor Plum ; Ghostbusters ; Michael Brown's body -- Coda: The age of euphemism.

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" hoaz ; 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.