Best Hoaxes & Deceptions

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path.

Few gain entry to the privileged world of ultrafine wines, where billionaires flock to exclusive auction houses to vie for the scarce surviving bottles from truly legendary years. But Rudy Kurniawan, an unknown twentysomething from Indonesia, was blessed with two gifts that opened doors: a virtuoso palate for wine tasting, and access to a seemingly limitless (if mysterious) supply of the world’s most coveted wines. After bursting onto the scene in 2002, Kurniawan quickly became the leading purveyor of rare wines to the American elite. Journalist Peter Hellman was there, and he would closely investigate as a singular cast of characters—including a Kansas-born billionaire and self-proclaimed “hoarder,” a dignified Burgundian winemaker, a wine-loving young prosecutor, and a crusty FBI agent who prepared for the case by reading French Wine for Dummies —worked to unravel the biggest con in wine history. Whether driven by the love of wine or of justice, all were asking the same question: Was the mild-mannered Kurniawan himself a dupe? He presents, without overt judgment, the macho, competitive, one-upmanship world of the collectors, an atmosphere that perhaps contributed to their gullibility in the high-rolling economy of the early 2000s.”— The New York Times. “[A] compelling mix of wine devotion (journalist Hellman’s included) and true crime (complete with avenging furies, from a bloody-minded Koch brother to a passionate French vintner).”— Maclean’s. “Like Law & Order for oenophiles, In Vino Duplicitas is a true crime account set among the cognoscenti of the wine world.”— Imbibe. He saves his disdain for those who seemed to have colluded in the scam, the auctioneers and rich collectors so eager for economic gain and status that they willfully ignored the evidence in front of them. “Peter Hellman led the way in reporting on Rudy Kurniawan’s monumental fraud, and he has written the book it deserves: tenaciously researched, propulsively told, and infused with earned wisdom about the wine world. I found it hard to put In Vino Duplicitas down and, like one of the authentically magical bottles the book describes, it will linger in your mind.” —Benjamin Wallace, author of The Billionaire’s Vinega r. Riveting, deftly-researched, entertaining, it’s a page-turner that reveals all sorts of new details about the largest wine fraud in history.”. — Mark Oldman. , author of How to Drink Like a Billionaire. Hellman has managed to sift through the swirling nebulae of rumor, conjecture, evidence and facts and pull together a compelling and systematic account of how this mind-boggling fraud took place.”—JancisRobinson.com.

Bunk 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. “[Young’s] scrupulous feel for archival traces ― for the urgent materiality of memory ― is one of the superpowers he brings to both his poems and nonfiction. The newest example is Bunk , Young’s enthralling and essential new study of our collective American love affair with pernicious and intractable moonshine. Bunk is a sort of book that comes along rarely: the encompassing survey of some vast realm of human activity, encyclopedic but also unapologetically subjective. Bunk is a reader’s feast, a shaggy, generous tome with a slim volume of devastating aphorisms lurking inside; it also shimmers with moments of brief personal testimony." “In Bunk , Kevin Young exhaustively tracks our longtime ambivalence toward ‘hoaxes, humbug, plagiarists, phonies, post-facts, and fake news.’ In these pages our founding father isn’t George Washington, who supposedly couldn’t tell a lie, but rather showman P.T. “A wild, incisive, exhilarating tour through Western culture’s sideshows and dark corners. Like a sideshow barker, Young writes with unbridled enthusiasm, a showman’s conviction, and a carny’s canny, telling a story that at times defies belief. Barnum, Rachel Dolezal, the forged Hitler Diaries, Binjamin Wilkomirski’s fabricated Holocaust memoir, James Frey, Stephen Glass and Lance Armstrong. [Young's] subject, a procession of outlandish, inventive, theatrical, and utterly brazen liars, is inherently entertaining.” ― Slate. “[Young’s] copious research, his talents in literary analysis and his associative skills as a poet are on acrobatic display as he argues convincingly that the hoax is all too often an underrecognized mechanism for maintaining white ― and to a concurrent extent, male ― supremacy. “Reading Bunk , one may get the sense that Young’s history of the secret themes of our society has suddenly moved out of the shadows and into full view. “This enlightening, entertaining and timely tome is just what we need to understand and protect against the pervasive cynicism that threatens our nation to our very core.” ― Detroit Free Press. “[A] profoundly erudite new study of the ways truthiness, as Stephen Colbert used to call it, travels through America’s fabric.” ― Literary Hub. “Thick and information-laden as the internet cacophony, Young’s book proves a worthy and exhaustingly researched read.” ― Paste. “Young is a fine poet―incoming poetry editor of The New Yorker , no less―and his often recursive, textured prose is the perfect delivery for the cyclical nature of literary lies.” ― The Millions. “[Kevin Young is] second to none in his ability to make unlikely pop cultural connections and bring in a vast and complex sense of history.” ― Vol. It’s an important book for 2017, not only because ‘fake news’ is a part of the zeitgeist, but because public discourse about white supremacy and political hucksterism suffers from citizens’ short memory. “If you're ready for a riveting lesson on a loaded subject, immerse yourself in award-winning poet and critic Kevin Young’s Bunk .” ―Elle.com. “Young chronicles a distinctly American brand of deception in this history of hoaxers, fabricators, liars, and imposters. [He] astutely declares the hoax a frequent metaphor for a ‘deep-seated cultural wish’ that confirms prejudicial ideas and stereotypes. Young’s remarks on race and his comparison of Trump and Barnum, both of whom gained power from spectacle, in the book’s coda are well worth sifting through.” ― Publishers Weekly , starred review. “As we adjust to life with a president who plays fast and loose with the truth and whose backstory arouses growing skepticism, this examination of the long and colorful history of hoaxes and cons is most welcome. Young, an award-winning poet and director of the New York Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, explores the deep roots of hoaxing in entertainment, literature, journalism, sports, and public life. The final chapter touches on the current ‘post-fact’ world and its rejection of expertise, raising important questions about how we can know the truth. This dense and wide-ranging critique offers a fascinating view of the impact of fraud on truth.” ― Library Journal , starred review.

The first six novels featuring Harry Dresden—Chicago’s only professional wizard—are a perfect introduction to the # 1 New York Times bestselling series that Entertainment Weekly describes as “ Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.” STORM FRONT. FOOL MOON. GRAVE PERIL. SUMMER KNIGHT. DEATH MASKS. BLOOD RITES. Praise for the Dresden Files “Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”— Entertainment Weekly “Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff will love this series.”— Midwest Book Review “Superlative.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review). “One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.”— Cinescape “Butcher...spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting.

Drawing on previously classified CIA documents and on interviews with firsthand participants, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting and a riveting true story of intrigue in the final years of the Cold War. What [Hoffman]’s accomplished here isn’t just a remarkable example of journalistic talent but also an ability to weave an absolutely gripping nonfiction narrative.” — The Dallas Morning News “This riveting drama. packs valuable insights into the final decade of the cloak-and-dagger rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Human tension hangs over every page of The Billion Dollar Spy like the smell of leaded gasoline. [Hoffman] knows the intelligence world well and has expertly used recently declassified documents to tell this unsettling and suspenseful story. Hoffman is a scrupulous, meticulous writer whose pages of footnotes and references attest to how carefully he sticks to his sources. “Hoffman viscerally evokes the secret, ruthless Cold War battle between the American Central Intelligence Agency and the Soviet KGB in his true-life espionage thriller. An exciting, revealing tale with a courageous, sympathetic protagonist.” — Tampa Bay Times “The fine first sentence of The Billion Dollar Spy could almost have been written with an icicle. A work of painstaking historical research that’s paced like a thriller.” — Departures “Hoffman [proves] that nonfiction can read like a John le Carré thriller. Hoffman’s revealing of [Adolf Tolkachev] as a person and a spy is brilliantly done, making this mesmerizing true story scary and thrilling.” — Booklist (starred review). “Hoffman ably navigates the many strands of this complex espionage story. “A fabulous read that also provides chilling insights into the Cold War spy game between Washington and Moscow that has erupted anew under Vladimir Putin. It is also an evocative portrait of everyday life in the crumbling Soviet Union and a meticulously researched guide to CIA sources and methods. I devoured every word, including the footnotes.” —Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War. This is a breakthrough book in intelligence writing, drawing on CIA operational cables—the holy grail of the spy world—to narrate each astonishing move. Hoffman reveals CIA tradecraft tricks that are more delicious than anything in a spy novel, and his command of the Soviet landscape is masterful. Full of twists so amazing you couldn’t make them up, this is spy fact that really is better than fiction.” —David Ignatius, author of The Director. It is a gripping story of courage, professionalism, and betrayal in the secret world.” —Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992. “A scrupulously researched work of history that is also a gripping thriller, The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman is an unforgettable journey into Cold War espionage. This spellbinding story pulses with the dramatic tension of running an agent in Soviet-era Moscow—where the KGB is ubiquitous and CIA officers and Russian assets are prey.

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history. In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. The Amazon Editors' Pick for the Best Book of 2017: In the 1920s, the Osage found themselves in a unique position among Native Americans tribes. As other tribal lands were parceled out in an effort by the government to encourage dissolution and assimilation of both lands and culture, the Osage negotiated to maintain the mineral rights for their corner of Oklahoma, creating a kind of “underground reservation.” It proved a savvy move; soon countless oil rigs punctured the dusty landscape, making the Osage very rich.

Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller In the Garden of Beasts —intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel. It doesn’t hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction.” — The New York Times. “Another successful exploration of American history. Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World’s Fair.” — USA Today. “As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find.” — San Francisco Chronicle. “Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come.” — Entertainment Weekly.

From a small town in Mexico to the boardrooms of Big Pharma, an explosive and shocking account of addiction and black tar heroin in the heartland of America. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America--addiction like no other the country has ever faced. “Over the last 15 years, he has filed the best dispatches about Mexican migration and its effects on the United States and Mexico, bar none.” ― Los Angeles Times Book Review. “Journalist Quinones weaves an extraordinary story, including the personal journeys of the addicted, the drug traffickers, law enforcement, and scores of families affected by the scourge, as he details the social, economic, and political forces that eventually destroyed communities in the American heartland and continues to have a resounding impact.” ―starred review, Booklist. “In Dreamland , former Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones deftly recounts how a flood of prescription pain meds, along with black tar heroin from Nayarit, Mexico, transformed the once-vital blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, and other American communities into heartlands of addiction. With prose direct yet empathic, he interweaves the stories of Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics agents, and small-town folks whose lives were upended by the deluge of drugs, leaving them shaking their heads, wondering how they could possibly have resisted.” ― Mother Jones. “Smack is back in the news as heroin use spikes and busts pile up at the border, making Dreamland a timely book. But he also goes way deeper; he tells the social and human stories at the heart of the opiate trade and how it tortures the souls of America and Mexico.” ―Ioan Grillo, author of EL NARCO. “ Dreamland spreads out like a transnational episode of The Wire , alternately maddening, thrilling, depressing, and with writing as sharp and insightful as a razor blade. Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic is an intricate jigsaw puzzle piecing together his findings from intensive investigation of the unprecedented spread of heroin addiction throughout the United States over the past two decades . Dreamland stands as a model of meticulous investigative reporting providing important insights not only the current opiate epidemic but also into the sometimes negative symbiosis between our country and our neighbors to the south.” ― New York Journal of Books. "The path of heroin from America’s urban slums to its trim suburban subdivisions is traced by a Los Angeles Times reporter. Quinones’ deeply researched and readable book says well-heeled addicts got hooked first on pain-killing medications like OxyContin--but then switched to much cheaper Mexican heroin, feeding a problem across the nation." Using expert storytelling and exhaustive detail, Quinones chronicles the perfect storm of circumstances that cleared the way for the Mexican narcotic to infiltrate our small and midsize communities over the last two decades.” ― Kansas City Star. "You won’t find this story told better anywhere else, from the economic hollowing-out of the middle class to the greedy and reckless marketing of pharmaceutical opiates to the remarkable entrepreneurial industry of the residents of the obscure Mexican state of Nayarit . Quinones combines thorough research with superlative narrative skills to produce a horrifying but compulsively readable book about opiate addiction . Spanning the central U.S. and crossing the Mexican border, Dreamland adroitly unsnarls the tangled business that feeds a growing lust for chemical euphoria and relief.” ― Shelf Awareness. "[A] powerful investigation into the explosion of heroin abuse in suburban America that combines skillful reporting and strong research with a superb narrative."

A tragic suicide, a likely murder, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story giving them a frightening perspective on justice corrupted and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld. The takeaway is that both Bushies and Obamaites should be very afraid: over the last few years, a coterie of vicious and unethical prosecutors who are unfit to practice law has been harbored within and enabled by the now ironically named Department of Justice.''. ''When you ve finished reading this fast-paced thriller, you will want to stand up and applaud Powell's courage in daring to shine light into the darkest recesses of America's justice system. ''I have covered hundreds of court cases over the years and have witnessed far too often the kind of duplicity and governmental heavy-handedness Ms. Powell describes in her well-written book, Licensed to Lie.''.