A Story of Ambition in 50 Hoaxes: From the Trojan Horse to Fake Tech Support

by Gale Eaton, Phillip Hoose (Editor)

The con artists in this book pursued a variety of ambitions—making money, winning wars, mocking authority, finding fame, trading an ordinary life for a glamorous one—but
they all chose the lowest, fastest road to get there.
Every hoax is a curtain, and behind it is a deceiver operating levers and smoke
machines to make us see what is not there and miss what is. As P.T. Barnum
knew, you can short-circuit critical thinking in any century by telling people
what they want to hear. Most scams operate on a personal scale, but some have
shaped the balance of world power, inspired explorers to sail uncharted seas, derailed
scientific progress, or caused terrible massacres.
A HISTORY OF AMBITION IN 50 HOAXES guides us through a rogue’s gallery of
hustlers, liars, swindlers, impostors, scammers, pretenders, and cheats. In
Gale Eaton’s wide-ranging synthesis, the history of deception is a colorful
tour, with surprising insights behind every curtain. 

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical

288 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2019

About the author

Gale Eaton has spent a lifetime with books for children and young adults, first as a children's librarian at the Boston Public Library and the Berkshire Athenaeum, and later as a professor of children's literature at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad to say that this book didn't live up to my expectations Basically there was nothing here that most people don't already know: i.e. the moon landing, the forged Hitler diaries, the Feejee Mermaid, the Ponzi scheme. That is not to say that it isn't interesting to a point as it is always fun to read how gullible society can be sometimes.

I think what bothered me most and gave it a lower rating was that it appears it was written for either children or people whose first language is not English. The author explained what some words meant, such as Gestapo, imposter, theory, and anthropology........as if the reader had never heard or understood what these words mean.

Disappointing but not a total waste of time.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written at a level that will appeal to busy young teens being pushed to read a book, but not dumbed down. The library I got my copy from had in the Juvenile section but I'm a savvy adult and I liked it just fine (and was surprised how many of these were new to me!). Good appendices for further reading. Good final chapters that pointed out that people are still being fooled now, that the scams we have to be wary of now are much like the scams of the old days.

I liked the presentation, too, the progression through time with similar treatment of each hoax or fraud. Plenty of illustrations and inset boxes. Nice heavy pages. And Eaton makes it clear that people in the old days weren't stupid; they just didn't have the same access to resources that we do now, and they had the lens of faith so firmly in their minds' eyes that it occluded their ability to evaluate evidence.

"Even if we learned some experimental techniques in school, we learn most of out scientific knowledge from teachers, the media, and the internet. We accept it on authority--or we reject it, because we accept a different authority. Does having to choose between conflicting authorities make us easier to hoax?"

I'm not sure... maybe, if the choice is made based on which authority is more appealing or eloquent... but I believe that skeptics are often ppl who have had to make that choice in the past and now carefully question everything....

I want to investigate the blog called Retraction Watch. I'm glad to see the shout-out for Snopes.

"Skepticism may be the first line of defense."

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all of the hoaxes and frauds described here were criminal, but all of them were fascinating. Eaton provides 3 to 4 pages illustrated with color photos for each of the 50 hoaxes, providing just enough information about the subject to give readers the basics of what happened (and to make me want to read more!). And if you decide to explore further, she includes an extensive bibliography of books and articles where you can learn more about each hoax. Some of these were familiar to me, and some were new, but all of them were entertaining. I see that there is also another book in this series, A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters, which should also be good. I hope they continue to produce more in the series. Recommended.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Story of Ambition in 50 Hoaxes: From the Trojan Horse to Fake Tech Support
Author: Gale Eaton
Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers
Publishing Date: 2016
Pgs: 270
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
_________________________________________
Genre:
Nonfiction
History
Hoax


Why this book:
I wanted to say I love a good hoax. Rubes gotta rube.
_________________________________________
Favorite Quote:
Clifford Irving, the author of a faux Howard Hughes autobiography, said "I believe that the past is fiction, the future is fantasy, and the present for the most part is an ongoing hoax."

Favorite Concept:
Rubes want to believe. It's what makes the hoaxster's job easier.

Hmm Moments:
Marco Polo, real, and Sir John Mandeville, probably not real, both had texts describing awesome unverifiable adventures beyond the local areas of the world. And helped inspire the Age of Exploration. The myths surrounding them and, in Marco's case, accumulating on the actual story, inspired Prince Henry the Navigator and Christopher Columbus, among others, out into a wider world

They lacked intellectual caution; they built overly ambitious theories on flimsy evidence, and they rejected things that didn't fit their theories.Sounds very much like modern American political thought amongst the masses.

Calling the Ball:
Useful hoaxes have existed all throughout history. All you need are rubes willing to believe it.

As for the "moon landing not happening" hoax, I would invite any of those idiots to say that in front of Buzz Aldrin.

Wait...What?:
Professor Gupta faked fossil locations for decades before being caught out. And then, having his technician be killed in a hit-and-run after promising to come forward and tell the whole story. There's a conspiracy theory wrapped into this hoax. It’s so cut and dried that the technician was killed just as he was going to come forward. Maybe others involved in Gupta’s success didn’t have an appetite to be on the periphery of ongoing and continued scandal. Gupta continued to be a professor and work for the balance of his life despite his shenanigans.

Suspension of Disbelief:
The hoax says what we want it to say, so why should we challenge its authenticity?

Turd in the Punchbowl:
The Donation of Constantine is a horrifying document when you put in context the pain and suffering brought about by the world surrendering the power to arbitrarily draw lines on a map to the Pope and all that comes from it, a power taken by kings, prime ministers, and presidents, secularly. The countries of Western Civilization have been doing this to each other and the rest of the world ever since with sometimes disastrous results.

Your ~ism is Showing:
Prester John's myth was a comfort to the Christians in the Crusades period, under siege by the Muslim invasion of Europe, they succored themselves with the idea that someone could be riding to the rescue from the east, a powerful Christian ally state from India.

Juxtaposition:
The Spectric poets are a hoax on other poets and critics, but the poets involved hoaxed themselves and continued being Spectrics for the rest of their careers.
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Last Page Sound:
I’m definitely seeking out more of these “Stories in 50” series books.


Questions I’m Left With:
So was/is the “reality” tv series “Naked and Afraid” based on a hoax? Are they a hoax?
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[Ike · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative read, but certainly not a barn burner. Seems like there are crooks, shysters and self-aggrandizing people in every generation that desire to make a quick and easy buck on someone else's lack of knowledge, gulibiity or just plain ignorance. Granted a seemingly majority of the hoaxes occurred prior to the last 75 years (or so), but a few have occurred in most of our lifetime. What still amazes me is that so many are so ready to to believe anything put on Facebook or that comes to them through their email. Guess what Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." continues to ring true (and probably always will).

[Darnell]

Extremely superficial - but in this book's defense, I don't think it was written for adults. It covers some interesting subject matter, but I'm afraid it would probably be best-suited for whetting a young student's appetite for history.

This is what happens when I'm temporarily running out of books and have to take random experiments from the library.

[Abi (The Knights Who Say Book) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hardly ever read nonfiction, but I found the premise of this book really interesting. The stories it told ranged from medieval manuscripts to modern day fake computer help schemes, from hoaxes passed off as truth to truths passed off as fakes. It’s not dense and you’ll even find historical figures you already know scattered throughout. Not to mention extra points for highlighting the issues of blackface, the horrible consequences of hoaxes like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and other issues while breaking history into chunks in a way you don’t usually see. Basically, it’s a unique and interesting history book where you don’t even lose anything if you decide to skip chapters you’re not interested in.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely YA nonfiction. It's obvious from some of the word choices and sidebars. Knowing that going in, I was able to fully enjoy this book. The hoaxes featured are indeed an interesting mix, everything from the Hitler diaries to the donation of Constantine to the feejee mermaid. Some of the entries are serious, others far less so. Even though I had heard of almost everything in here, and the short format doesn't allow for a lot of depth, Eaton was able to bring some interesting nuances to some of the entries. This is part of a short series, and I think I'll be looking at the other books in the series.

[Heather Kirkpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and informative book--great for reading about just a few hoaxes before bedtime. Interesting, but low commitment when I'm tired. Ranged from the trojan horse, to Prester John, to Viking ruins......in Minnesota. All the way up to crop circles and microsoft technical support. All with annotations to scholarship in these areas. I will look for other books by this author!

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a little overly long, as I found some of the hoaxes not even necessarily hoax-worthy. Others, however, were fascinating! I also wish that the cover/marketing of this series was slightly more attractive to teens.

[Kristie Lock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 13: The first writer of fake news?
Chapter 23: The first Wikipedia?
Chapter 29: The first "episode" of Naked and Afraid?
Chapter 36: The Loch Ness Monster is real?

[Emily]

Interesting!

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, quickly read on the notable "hoaxes" that have played on us throughout history, from the Piltdown Man and the Cardiff Giant to the Hitler diaries.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, easy and fun read.