Includes bibliographical references (pages 451-533) and index.

Book one. A history of the hoax : I. 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 -- II. 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 -- III. 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 : IV. The vampire's mirror: of imposture, forgery & monsters : Butterfly books : Frankensteins ; Frederic Prokosch ; Lily ; Thomas Wise ; Major Byron ; 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 -- V. 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 -- VI. 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 of influence ; Conceptual poetry ; Lynching ; Christian Ward ; Brad Vice -- Coda : The age of euphemism.