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The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era. Told in richly novelistic detail, The Sun and the Moon brings the raucous world of 1830s New York City vividly to life, including such larger-than-life personages as Richard Adams Locke, who authored the moon series but who never intended it to be a hoax; fledgling showman P. T. Barnum, who had just brought his own hoax to town; and a young Edgar Allan Poe, convinced that the series was a plagiarism of his own work.
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First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Matthew Goodman
30 books119 followersMatthew Goodman is the bestselling author of three books of non-fiction.
His essays, articles, short stories, and reviews have appeared in The American Scholar, Harvard Review, Salon, the Village Voice, the Forward, Bon Appetit, and many other publications, and have been cited for Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Story anthologies.
Matthew has taught creative writing and literature at Vermont College, Tufts University, Emerson College, and at writers’ conferences including the Antioch Writers Workshop and the Chautauqua Institution. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (twice) and the Corporation of Yaddo.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two children.
His essays, articles, short stories, and reviews have appeared in The American Scholar, Harvard Review, Salon, the Village Voice, the Forward, Bon Appetit, and many other publications, and have been cited for Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Story anthologies.
Matthew has taught creative writing and literature at Vermont College, Tufts University, Emerson College, and at writers’ conferences including the Antioch Writers Workshop and the Chautauqua Institution. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (twice) and the Corporation of Yaddo.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
September 6, 2017
The title subject is not the only subject; we also dive into the birth of the penny newspaper in the 1830s (New York's Sun, which printed the great hoax in 1835, was the first), and the careers of James Gordon Bennett (the publisher of the Sun's great rival, the Herald), Edgar Allen Poe (who felt ripped off), and P.T. Barnum (who knew a good con when he saw one).
Very entertaining.
Very entertaining.
April 26, 2009
The title of “The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York” is misleading only in that it's not as all-encompassing as it could be. The subtitle could easily have included an alcoholic fiction writer, a slave-turned-fabulist, and an ill-used astronomer, and as a result been even more inclusive of the book's many subplots. (That would take into account Edgar Allan Poe, Joice Heth and John Herschel, respectively.)
Matthew Goodman has saved from obscurity a fascinating if relatively minor chapter in the history of journalism, New York City in the 1830s, and 19th-century literature. Important or not, “The Sun and the Moon” is great fun, whether it's focusing on P.T. Barnum, New York's rival newspaper publishers, or the various hoaxes -- or, in the parlance of the time, humbugs -- of the day.
While the ostensible focus of the book is a series of articles by Richard Adams Locke that ran in the New York Sun in 1835 -- a series that claimed winged men and other creatures had been discovered on the Moon, and which helped boost the Sun's circulation to the point that it became the most widely read newspaper in the world -- Goodman uses the series merely as a starting point to discuss Poe, Heth, Barnum and other figures who were connected to Locke, some directly, some tangentially, and all of them interesting in their own right.
The decision to do so was a smart one. The story of the Moon series, while interesting, is a bit thin for a full-length book. (By bringing in the other stories, though, the book becomes jam-packed with material.) Also, not a lot is known about Locke himself or his motives for writing the series. As a result, Goodman finds himself at times speculating on what Locke thought, saw or felt -- or, as is common in history books intended for a general readership, describing somewhat generically the time period and places in which he lived. These are easily the weakest sections of the book, with one in particular -- a description of Locke's trip across the Atlantic that's almost completely speculative -- being especially wanting. Fortunately, such passages are confined mostly to the book's early pages, and lessen as the story progresses and Goodman has a greater amount of printed source material from which to work.
The book's only other significant weakness is a passage near its conclusion in which Goodman seems to accept without reservations Locke's published explanation -- an explanation that came many years after the original publication of the Moon series -- for writing the articles: They never were intended to be accepted as fact, but rather were meant as satire. Maybe. Or maybe Locke decided later, in a bid to burnish his reputation, that this explanation made him appear better than a simple flimflam man. Goodman never seems to consider this though, and never explains to his readers why we shouldn't consider it ourselves.
These are relatively minor quibbles though. “The Sun and the Moon” is a lot of fun, and its few weaknesses can be easily overlooked. Few readers with even a passing interest in New York in the 19th century, the development of newspaper journalism, or famous hoaxes will have many complaints about this book.
Matthew Goodman has saved from obscurity a fascinating if relatively minor chapter in the history of journalism, New York City in the 1830s, and 19th-century literature. Important or not, “The Sun and the Moon” is great fun, whether it's focusing on P.T. Barnum, New York's rival newspaper publishers, or the various hoaxes -- or, in the parlance of the time, humbugs -- of the day.
While the ostensible focus of the book is a series of articles by Richard Adams Locke that ran in the New York Sun in 1835 -- a series that claimed winged men and other creatures had been discovered on the Moon, and which helped boost the Sun's circulation to the point that it became the most widely read newspaper in the world -- Goodman uses the series merely as a starting point to discuss Poe, Heth, Barnum and other figures who were connected to Locke, some directly, some tangentially, and all of them interesting in their own right.
The decision to do so was a smart one. The story of the Moon series, while interesting, is a bit thin for a full-length book. (By bringing in the other stories, though, the book becomes jam-packed with material.) Also, not a lot is known about Locke himself or his motives for writing the series. As a result, Goodman finds himself at times speculating on what Locke thought, saw or felt -- or, as is common in history books intended for a general readership, describing somewhat generically the time period and places in which he lived. These are easily the weakest sections of the book, with one in particular -- a description of Locke's trip across the Atlantic that's almost completely speculative -- being especially wanting. Fortunately, such passages are confined mostly to the book's early pages, and lessen as the story progresses and Goodman has a greater amount of printed source material from which to work.
The book's only other significant weakness is a passage near its conclusion in which Goodman seems to accept without reservations Locke's published explanation -- an explanation that came many years after the original publication of the Moon series -- for writing the articles: They never were intended to be accepted as fact, but rather were meant as satire. Maybe. Or maybe Locke decided later, in a bid to burnish his reputation, that this explanation made him appear better than a simple flimflam man. Goodman never seems to consider this though, and never explains to his readers why we shouldn't consider it ourselves.
These are relatively minor quibbles though. “The Sun and the Moon” is a lot of fun, and its few weaknesses can be easily overlooked. Few readers with even a passing interest in New York in the 19th century, the development of newspaper journalism, or famous hoaxes will have many complaints about this book.
February 10, 2016
The narrative meanders, but it is meandering with a purpose. He ties in some of the major figures of the Day (P.T. Barnum, E. A. Poe) in an entertaining and informative way.
The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 star rating (which it probably deserves) is that in its meandering it skips back and forth and back and forth in time. I am most happy when you keep things linear (guess I have a rather linear mind). I also would have liked to have read the actual hoax in its entirety.
The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 star rating (which it probably deserves) is that in its meandering it skips back and forth and back and forth in time. I am most happy when you keep things linear (guess I have a rather linear mind). I also would have liked to have read the actual hoax in its entirety.
July 19, 2022
A very strong 3.5 stars.
This definitely gets bogged down by too many side biographies and stories. While I love a good microhistory that's embedded with fun facts about other microhistories, in this case it truly just distracted from the story about The Sun and Locke's writing of the hoax. I loved the descriptions of New York at the time, and appreciated the newspaper history as well, but the extensive biographies and focus on other characters of the time (Barnum, Poe, Herschel) just were not needed. Of course I very much enjoyed learning about them, and they are vital characters to the overall story, so they should be introduced, just not to this extensive extent.
However overall, it was still a fascinating history about the Moon Hoax, how it came to be, and how it helped The Sun's business model become even more influential in changing the way that newspapers were circulated.
If you love microhistories, especially about journalism/newspapers, science hoaxes, or 1830s New York, this is definitely one to pick up!
This definitely gets bogged down by too many side biographies and stories. While I love a good microhistory that's embedded with fun facts about other microhistories, in this case it truly just distracted from the story about The Sun and Locke's writing of the hoax. I loved the descriptions of New York at the time, and appreciated the newspaper history as well, but the extensive biographies and focus on other characters of the time (Barnum, Poe, Herschel) just were not needed. Of course I very much enjoyed learning about them, and they are vital characters to the overall story, so they should be introduced, just not to this extensive extent.
However overall, it was still a fascinating history about the Moon Hoax, how it came to be, and how it helped The Sun's business model become even more influential in changing the way that newspapers were circulated.
If you love microhistories, especially about journalism/newspapers, science hoaxes, or 1830s New York, this is definitely one to pick up!
October 11, 2017
A bit uneven, but ultimately interesting. The parts about the actual articles and then the explanation of why Locke wrote the articles were the better parts. All the stuff about the newspaper/s wasn't very interesting (which is a bit funny for me personally since part of my job is writing essays about newspapers...).
March 26, 2009
I am a bad book reviewer. Or at least a tardy one. This review ran late last year:
One late summer morning in 1835, the people of New York City were greeted with the shocking news that life had been discovered on the moon. And not just an "animalcule" of the sort that was on display under a microscope at Scudder's American Museum at Broadway and Ann Street but a whole menagerie of celestial creatures: water birds, unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and a race of winged creatures dubbed "Vespertilio-homo, or man-bat."
As we read in Matthew Goodman's delightful history "The Sun and the Moon," all of New York was convulsed by this discovery. The newspaper offices of the New York Sun, which printed the series of articles revealing the findings, "was besieged by thousands of [newsboy:] applicants from dawn to midnight" waiting for the opportunity for more papers to arrive.
The articles were so popular that a pamphlet, "A Complete Account of the Late Discoveries in the Moon," was hastily assembled and sold for 12 1/2 cents apiece and lithographs of "Lunar Animals and Other Objects" went for a quarter. P.T. Barnum, a former newspaper editor who knew a thing or two about a good hoax, claimed in his book "The Humbugs of the World" that the Sun sold no less than $25,000 worth of moon-hoax paraphernalia. An astounding number, considering the entire population of New York City was just a shade over a quarter-million.
How was such a stunt possible? It was a vastly different age. Gas and steam were being harnessed to provide all manner of conveniences, but few understood how they worked. Marvels such as the microscope and the telescope were making it plain that the universe was far more vast than previously imagined. Claims that the fossils of gargantuan creatures that kept turning up were the remains of living species that hadn't been discovered yet were becoming increasingly hard to explain. For all this progress, newspapers were methodically printed and distributed by newsboys, horse-drawn coaches and sailing ships. Suffice to say, news traveled slowly.
However, much of the credit for the hoax's success goes to the series' author and editor, Richard Adams Locke, a descendant of the English philosopher John Locke. Looking for a way to drum up sales for the Sun, one of the bold, new penny papers that were turning the New York newspaper establishment on its ear, Locke used his interest in astronomy to construct a fanciful -- yet believable -- narrative. His masterstroke was to credit the discovery to John Herschel,the world's leading astronomer, who was hard at work at the Cape of Good Hope and in no position to repudiate Locke's claims. The articles, it was asserted, were excerpts of Herschel's latest findings published in a copy of the Edinburgh Journal of Science.
Thus girded, Locke proceeded to impress his readers with descriptions of a device that combined the principles of the microscope with those of the telescope, providing Herschel with a view of the moon the likes of which had not been seen before. The details were so thorough that even men of science were fooled. How many were taken in by Locke's "unquestionable plausibility and verisimilitude," in the words of Horace Greeley? According to Greeley, who at age 24 was already working his way up the editorial ranks, "nine-tenths of us, at the least."
Goodman's book, however, is more than the story of a good leg-pull. He explains not only the details of the hoax but also the circumstances that made it possible. This includes brief investigations into the rise of the penny press and its dueling (literally) editors, Locke's background as one of America's first court reporters, the powder keg that was the anti-abolitionist/pro-slavery conflict, Barnum's role in introducing New Yorkers to strange attractions, early 19th century astronomy's uneasy relationship with natural theology, and Edgar Allan's Poe's jealous response to the hullabaloo. Apparently, Poe's short story "Hans Phaall -- A Tale," which recounts one explorer's unintentional visit to the moon, was printed shortly before Locke's series ran. Upset that Locke's story became an international sensation while his did not, Poe -- a notorious plagiarist -- was convinced that Locke had stolen the idea from him.
The drawback to this approach is that Goodman takes his readers away from Manhattan to New England, South Africa, Baltimore and beyond, and while these detours certainly enhance the story, we don't arrive at the moon until halfway through the book.
For modern readers, it is helpful to remember that in Locke's day, newspapers were not monolithic bastions of objectivity. On the contrary, many were funded by political parties whose names could be found on the mastheads. Editors fulminated over the causes they championed and thundered the evils of their opponents. The genius of "The Sun and the Moon" is that it endeavors to explore, through the lens of 19th century New York and the prism of the press, why we believe what we believe, particularly when those beliefs go beyond the pale of plausibility.
One late summer morning in 1835, the people of New York City were greeted with the shocking news that life had been discovered on the moon. And not just an "animalcule" of the sort that was on display under a microscope at Scudder's American Museum at Broadway and Ann Street but a whole menagerie of celestial creatures: water birds, unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and a race of winged creatures dubbed "Vespertilio-homo, or man-bat."
As we read in Matthew Goodman's delightful history "The Sun and the Moon," all of New York was convulsed by this discovery. The newspaper offices of the New York Sun, which printed the series of articles revealing the findings, "was besieged by thousands of [newsboy:] applicants from dawn to midnight" waiting for the opportunity for more papers to arrive.
The articles were so popular that a pamphlet, "A Complete Account of the Late Discoveries in the Moon," was hastily assembled and sold for 12 1/2 cents apiece and lithographs of "Lunar Animals and Other Objects" went for a quarter. P.T. Barnum, a former newspaper editor who knew a thing or two about a good hoax, claimed in his book "The Humbugs of the World" that the Sun sold no less than $25,000 worth of moon-hoax paraphernalia. An astounding number, considering the entire population of New York City was just a shade over a quarter-million.
How was such a stunt possible? It was a vastly different age. Gas and steam were being harnessed to provide all manner of conveniences, but few understood how they worked. Marvels such as the microscope and the telescope were making it plain that the universe was far more vast than previously imagined. Claims that the fossils of gargantuan creatures that kept turning up were the remains of living species that hadn't been discovered yet were becoming increasingly hard to explain. For all this progress, newspapers were methodically printed and distributed by newsboys, horse-drawn coaches and sailing ships. Suffice to say, news traveled slowly.
However, much of the credit for the hoax's success goes to the series' author and editor, Richard Adams Locke, a descendant of the English philosopher John Locke. Looking for a way to drum up sales for the Sun, one of the bold, new penny papers that were turning the New York newspaper establishment on its ear, Locke used his interest in astronomy to construct a fanciful -- yet believable -- narrative. His masterstroke was to credit the discovery to John Herschel,the world's leading astronomer, who was hard at work at the Cape of Good Hope and in no position to repudiate Locke's claims. The articles, it was asserted, were excerpts of Herschel's latest findings published in a copy of the Edinburgh Journal of Science.
Thus girded, Locke proceeded to impress his readers with descriptions of a device that combined the principles of the microscope with those of the telescope, providing Herschel with a view of the moon the likes of which had not been seen before. The details were so thorough that even men of science were fooled. How many were taken in by Locke's "unquestionable plausibility and verisimilitude," in the words of Horace Greeley? According to Greeley, who at age 24 was already working his way up the editorial ranks, "nine-tenths of us, at the least."
Goodman's book, however, is more than the story of a good leg-pull. He explains not only the details of the hoax but also the circumstances that made it possible. This includes brief investigations into the rise of the penny press and its dueling (literally) editors, Locke's background as one of America's first court reporters, the powder keg that was the anti-abolitionist/pro-slavery conflict, Barnum's role in introducing New Yorkers to strange attractions, early 19th century astronomy's uneasy relationship with natural theology, and Edgar Allan's Poe's jealous response to the hullabaloo. Apparently, Poe's short story "Hans Phaall -- A Tale," which recounts one explorer's unintentional visit to the moon, was printed shortly before Locke's series ran. Upset that Locke's story became an international sensation while his did not, Poe -- a notorious plagiarist -- was convinced that Locke had stolen the idea from him.
The drawback to this approach is that Goodman takes his readers away from Manhattan to New England, South Africa, Baltimore and beyond, and while these detours certainly enhance the story, we don't arrive at the moon until halfway through the book.
For modern readers, it is helpful to remember that in Locke's day, newspapers were not monolithic bastions of objectivity. On the contrary, many were funded by political parties whose names could be found on the mastheads. Editors fulminated over the causes they championed and thundered the evils of their opponents. The genius of "The Sun and the Moon" is that it endeavors to explore, through the lens of 19th century New York and the prism of the press, why we believe what we believe, particularly when those beliefs go beyond the pale of plausibility.
January 14, 2015
RAUCOUS GOOD LISTENING/READING
“Told in richly novelistic detail, The Sun and the Moon brings the raucous world of 1830s New York City vividly to life—the noise, the excitement, the sense that almost anything was possible. The book overflows with larger-than-life characters, including Richard Adams Locke, author of the moon series (who never intended it to be a hoax at all); a fledgling showman named P.T. Barnum, who had just brought his own hoax to New York; and the young writer Edgar Allan Poe, who was convinced that the moon series was a plagiarism of his own work.”—from the goodreads.com synopsis
I’ve long been a lover of a good and proper humbug, and of the “raucous world of 1830s New York City”. Matthew Goodman’s nonfiction offering, THE SUN AND THE MOON; The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Luna Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York provides full measures of both; along with some great glimpses of the early days of New York’s ’penny dailies’—probably journalism’s most exciting time.
Recommendation: There’s an awful lot to like about this tale: the times, the places, and the larger-than-life characters. Truth often stranger than fiction, and a lot more fun to read about.
MP3 Audiobook edition; 12 hours, 22 minutes.
“Told in richly novelistic detail, The Sun and the Moon brings the raucous world of 1830s New York City vividly to life—the noise, the excitement, the sense that almost anything was possible. The book overflows with larger-than-life characters, including Richard Adams Locke, author of the moon series (who never intended it to be a hoax at all); a fledgling showman named P.T. Barnum, who had just brought his own hoax to New York; and the young writer Edgar Allan Poe, who was convinced that the moon series was a plagiarism of his own work.”—from the goodreads.com synopsis
I’ve long been a lover of a good and proper humbug, and of the “raucous world of 1830s New York City”. Matthew Goodman’s nonfiction offering, THE SUN AND THE MOON; The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Luna Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York provides full measures of both; along with some great glimpses of the early days of New York’s ’penny dailies’—probably journalism’s most exciting time.
Recommendation: There’s an awful lot to like about this tale: the times, the places, and the larger-than-life characters. Truth often stranger than fiction, and a lot more fun to read about.
MP3 Audiobook edition; 12 hours, 22 minutes.
December 13, 2017
2.5 stars. Just an overall tedious read. The book is obviously very well researched, but the writing is not incredibly engaging. There is an excessive amount of quoting where short summaries of what was said or written would make it flow so much better— probably a good 1/4 of this book could have been in the notes at the back and not part of the narrative. It does meander a lot, but for the most part I did enjoy the parts about P.T. Barnum and Edgar Allan Poe.
October 8, 2016
Livro reconstrói os primórdios do jornalismo e fraude que tornou um jornal popular o mais lido do mundo.
No dia 26 de agosto de 1835 o jornal nova-iorquino The Sun publicou o primeiro de uma série de artigos sobre recentes descobertas lunares feitas por um novo tipo de telescópio, que revelaram que o satélite terrestre era habitado por homens-morcego, castores bípedes e unicórnios. Não brinco.
E praticamente o mundo inteiro acreditou. O que fez com que o pequeno jornal popular (os chamados penny papers) se tornasse o mais lido do mundo, ultrapassando gigantes como o Times de Londres em uma época na qual a população de Nova York era uma fração da londrina, e já possuía uma tradição jornalística que nem se comparava à americana.
The Sun and the Moon utiliza esse episódio que ficou conhecido como The Great Moon Hoax para mostrar esse jornalismo pré-cambriano, no qual a cópia integral de artigos era prática comum, os distintos editores se enfrentam no braço –ou facadas- com rivais nas ruas, e, é claro, o compromisso com a verdade era até mais tênue do que o de uma certa publicação semanal com seu artigo sobre a união genética entre bois e tomates.
O autor Matthew Goodman faz um trabalho surpreendente de reconstrução da Nova York do começo do século 19. Longe da metrópole cosmopolita de hoje, era uma cidade na qual as pessoas deixavam portas e janelas fechadas mesmo no verão para impedir a entrada do fedor do esgoto a céu aberto que era a rua e que tinha uma população que apoiava com violência e fervor sulista a escravidão. Eu me senti como se tivesse andado pelas ruas da cidade.
Há inúmeros personagens deliciosos no livro, de editores com ego astronômico a showmens como P. T. Barnum, que apresentava uma escrava que supostamente tinha 230 anos e que teria acompanhado a infância de Jorge Washington, ao odiado editor do Herald James Gordon Bennet que, diziam os desafetos, ouvia da boca do próprio diabo o que deveria colocar no jornal. Um dos personagens mais inesquecíveis é um jovem escritor chamado Edgar Allan Poe, que estava convencido que os artigos das descobertas astronômicas eram plágio de sua obra, mesmo que ele não deixasse de pegar emprestado parágrafos inteiros de outros em seus textos.
É também interessante ler esse livro no momento que estamos. The Sun and the Moon mostra os primórdios de muitas atividades que se tornaram corriqueiras no jornalismo, como as reportagens policiais, quando antes os jornais eram mais um grande emaranhado de artigos opinativos de que descritivos de acontecimentos. Um momento de crise e mudança no paradigma da profissão como o que vivemos hoje.
No dia 26 de agosto de 1835 o jornal nova-iorquino The Sun publicou o primeiro de uma série de artigos sobre recentes descobertas lunares feitas por um novo tipo de telescópio, que revelaram que o satélite terrestre era habitado por homens-morcego, castores bípedes e unicórnios. Não brinco.
E praticamente o mundo inteiro acreditou. O que fez com que o pequeno jornal popular (os chamados penny papers) se tornasse o mais lido do mundo, ultrapassando gigantes como o Times de Londres em uma época na qual a população de Nova York era uma fração da londrina, e já possuía uma tradição jornalística que nem se comparava à americana.
The Sun and the Moon utiliza esse episódio que ficou conhecido como The Great Moon Hoax para mostrar esse jornalismo pré-cambriano, no qual a cópia integral de artigos era prática comum, os distintos editores se enfrentam no braço –ou facadas- com rivais nas ruas, e, é claro, o compromisso com a verdade era até mais tênue do que o de uma certa publicação semanal com seu artigo sobre a união genética entre bois e tomates.
O autor Matthew Goodman faz um trabalho surpreendente de reconstrução da Nova York do começo do século 19. Longe da metrópole cosmopolita de hoje, era uma cidade na qual as pessoas deixavam portas e janelas fechadas mesmo no verão para impedir a entrada do fedor do esgoto a céu aberto que era a rua e que tinha uma população que apoiava com violência e fervor sulista a escravidão. Eu me senti como se tivesse andado pelas ruas da cidade.
Há inúmeros personagens deliciosos no livro, de editores com ego astronômico a showmens como P. T. Barnum, que apresentava uma escrava que supostamente tinha 230 anos e que teria acompanhado a infância de Jorge Washington, ao odiado editor do Herald James Gordon Bennet que, diziam os desafetos, ouvia da boca do próprio diabo o que deveria colocar no jornal. Um dos personagens mais inesquecíveis é um jovem escritor chamado Edgar Allan Poe, que estava convencido que os artigos das descobertas astronômicas eram plágio de sua obra, mesmo que ele não deixasse de pegar emprestado parágrafos inteiros de outros em seus textos.
É também interessante ler esse livro no momento que estamos. The Sun and the Moon mostra os primórdios de muitas atividades que se tornaram corriqueiras no jornalismo, como as reportagens policiais, quando antes os jornais eram mais um grande emaranhado de artigos opinativos de que descritivos de acontecimentos. Um momento de crise e mudança no paradigma da profissão como o que vivemos hoje.
December 30, 2013
I didn't hate this, but if social history is your thing, you can probably do better. Goodman looks at 1830s America, particularly the newspapers of New York. It's an interesting time, as daily newspapers were just figuring out how to do business. Showmen and writers were trying to understand how far they could push before an entertainment or good natured hoax became an actual fraud.
Goodman's trouble is that he narrows his focus a little too specifically on a couple of incidents that just aren't all that entertaining. Edgar Allan Poe? Sure. P.T. Barnum? Bring it on! Richard Adams Locke? Uh, maybe not so much. Locke was a newspaper editor and writer who published a hoax about life on the moon supposedly discovered by the astronomer William Herschel, who was off in South Africa at the time (and days away from communication in Scotland under the best of circumstances). Lots of people fell for it and then felt a little vindictive when they discovered they'd been so easily fooled. This might make a nice chapter, but Goodman dissects every bit of the story, drawing connections to Poe's Hans Pfaal story and the beginnings of science fiction, to Barnum's hoax with an African-American woman who was supposedly Washington's nursemaid, and to very detailed accounts about Locke's every interaction with other newspapers. It starts to read like a master's thesis padded out into a popular history. I kind of quit caring long before the book was over. Goodman has enough material here, but as a writer, he's repetitive, unable to separate interesting details from dull details, and unable to find his arguments.
Goodman's trouble is that he narrows his focus a little too specifically on a couple of incidents that just aren't all that entertaining. Edgar Allan Poe? Sure. P.T. Barnum? Bring it on! Richard Adams Locke? Uh, maybe not so much. Locke was a newspaper editor and writer who published a hoax about life on the moon supposedly discovered by the astronomer William Herschel, who was off in South Africa at the time (and days away from communication in Scotland under the best of circumstances). Lots of people fell for it and then felt a little vindictive when they discovered they'd been so easily fooled. This might make a nice chapter, but Goodman dissects every bit of the story, drawing connections to Poe's Hans Pfaal story and the beginnings of science fiction, to Barnum's hoax with an African-American woman who was supposedly Washington's nursemaid, and to very detailed accounts about Locke's every interaction with other newspapers. It starts to read like a master's thesis padded out into a popular history. I kind of quit caring long before the book was over. Goodman has enough material here, but as a writer, he's repetitive, unable to separate interesting details from dull details, and unable to find his arguments.
April 7, 2014
Not quite as much fun as Goodman's Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World, but packed with New York Jacksonian-era trivia, journalist lore, a lovely perspective on P.T. Barnum, a rather glum and depressing perspective on Edgar Alan Poe, and a completely-out-of-left-field reference to Sojourner Truth and her former life as a religious cult seventh wife to a wack-a-doo, Matthias the Prophet. I looked it up, and the words tell the story, but I still have trouble matching the fanaticism with the abolitionist I learned about (a little) in school.
Sometimes Goodman overlaps his chronology to the point of confusion, and he really builds the climax to the publishing of the Moon Stories, maybe a bit more than it deserves, but his book is structured so that it has to be that way. Goodman is super-excited about the Moon Stories, but I was more fascinated by Barnum's early career, which Goodman doesn't even tout on the back of the book. The story of hoaxing as a theme of the times is convincing, though I've decided Poe is one of those authors I'd rather read than meet.
Sometimes Goodman overlaps his chronology to the point of confusion, and he really builds the climax to the publishing of the Moon Stories, maybe a bit more than it deserves, but his book is structured so that it has to be that way. Goodman is super-excited about the Moon Stories, but I was more fascinated by Barnum's early career, which Goodman doesn't even tout on the back of the book. The story of hoaxing as a theme of the times is convincing, though I've decided Poe is one of those authors I'd rather read than meet.
September 3, 2017
Extremely well-researched account of The New York Sun's infamous "Moon Hoax" of 1835. Goodman delves into the backgrounds of the hoax's author, English immigrant Richard Adams Locke, as well as other major associated personalities, including P.T. Barnum and Edgar Allen Poe. Deeply drawn portrait of New York City in the 1830s and the growth of popular newspapers. Very relevant for understanding the pre-history of "fake news" and the public's propensity to believe it.
September 2, 2016
I'm so sure I'm going to like the book that I'm gonna go ahead and give it five stars! Moon men and stuff like that? It's just gotta be great!
May 2, 2016
A fun read about 1830s New York and a little about Edgar Poe.
May 14, 2022
Goodman's book, which takes as its centerpiece the Moon Hoax serialized in the New York penny newspaper the Sun in 1835, also provides a rich context by recounting the lives of the author of the story, Richard Adams Locke, and some of the contemporaries, including PT Barnum and Edgar Allan Poe, with whom his moon Hoax intersected. It also serves as a history of newspapers in New York.
Before the advent of the penny paper, in the 1830s, newspapers were too expensive for the "common man". They were the province of the Upper Classes and concerned themselves with their financial interests, advertising such things as country estates and imported goods, and noting ship inventories and auction sales. The actual news was secondary, and mostly consisted of stories taken directly from other papers around the country and the world.
Benjamin Day, a printer, had the idea that he could make money with a Penny Paper that covered local issues--murders, fires, scandals--stories that would appeal to humanity's attraction to reading about other people's misery. And so it proved to be. And continues to be.
But the serialized story that really boosted the Sun's popularity, the one that came to be known as the Moon Hoax, was editor Richard Adams Locke's fictional satire on religious "theories" of astronomy--that God would have populated the Moon as a paradise untouched by human sin. No one was more surprised than he was when his inventive mixture of actual science and what he considered to be dogmatic nonsense was both believed and debated by not only the readers of the penny paper, but the scientific and literary classes of New York, and eventually, the world.
The political context of a country where the Moon Hoax was so readily accepted is a bit frightening, considering that it led to the Civil War, and it so often mirrors that of our present day divisions. Riots and protests about slavery, Catholics, Negroes, and Jews, immigrants and religious beliefs--and there was also a "Great Awakening" of conservative Christianity, increasingly intolerant of any contradiction to it's ever-narrowing Dogma, particularly in the area of scientific research. The gap between the wealthy and the poor, intensified by the crowded conditions of cities and the exploitation of labor, and the large numbers of people, especially children, who lived on the streets. Rampant drunkenness as a solution to misery.
At least the newspaper stories contained a rich vocabulary that even the uneducated seemed to understand and not consider to be "elitist", which is more than can be said for the news today.
The Moon Hoax was also part of the beginning of a new kind of fiction that blended science and the speculative into fantastical stories--what we now call science fiction. And although no Man-Bats have yet been discovered on the Moon, some of the stories that followed have turned to to be more prescient that we may have desired.
We still fall prey to far to many hoaxes and outright lies. It's small comfort to know we've learned nothing in that regard in the last 200 years.
Before the advent of the penny paper, in the 1830s, newspapers were too expensive for the "common man". They were the province of the Upper Classes and concerned themselves with their financial interests, advertising such things as country estates and imported goods, and noting ship inventories and auction sales. The actual news was secondary, and mostly consisted of stories taken directly from other papers around the country and the world.
Benjamin Day, a printer, had the idea that he could make money with a Penny Paper that covered local issues--murders, fires, scandals--stories that would appeal to humanity's attraction to reading about other people's misery. And so it proved to be. And continues to be.
But the serialized story that really boosted the Sun's popularity, the one that came to be known as the Moon Hoax, was editor Richard Adams Locke's fictional satire on religious "theories" of astronomy--that God would have populated the Moon as a paradise untouched by human sin. No one was more surprised than he was when his inventive mixture of actual science and what he considered to be dogmatic nonsense was both believed and debated by not only the readers of the penny paper, but the scientific and literary classes of New York, and eventually, the world.
The political context of a country where the Moon Hoax was so readily accepted is a bit frightening, considering that it led to the Civil War, and it so often mirrors that of our present day divisions. Riots and protests about slavery, Catholics, Negroes, and Jews, immigrants and religious beliefs--and there was also a "Great Awakening" of conservative Christianity, increasingly intolerant of any contradiction to it's ever-narrowing Dogma, particularly in the area of scientific research. The gap between the wealthy and the poor, intensified by the crowded conditions of cities and the exploitation of labor, and the large numbers of people, especially children, who lived on the streets. Rampant drunkenness as a solution to misery.
At least the newspaper stories contained a rich vocabulary that even the uneducated seemed to understand and not consider to be "elitist", which is more than can be said for the news today.
The Moon Hoax was also part of the beginning of a new kind of fiction that blended science and the speculative into fantastical stories--what we now call science fiction. And although no Man-Bats have yet been discovered on the Moon, some of the stories that followed have turned to to be more prescient that we may have desired.
We still fall prey to far to many hoaxes and outright lies. It's small comfort to know we've learned nothing in that regard in the last 200 years.
October 12, 2017
There are a few things that are really outstanding in this book.
The first is the loving level of research that must have gone into this. You really get the sense that Goodman cares about his main subject, Richard Adams Locke, and the setting, 19th century New York. The scenes are painted with gorgeous detail, and unashamedly populated with interesting, sometimes gruesome little tidbits about what it really meant to live in New York at that time, for the rich and the poor alike.
The second is the sociopolitical lens that Goodman views it through. I picked this up expecting a romp through a hoax - and I got that. But as well as that, I got a serious look, among things: a serious look at the arguments floating around New York surrounding abolition of slavery; discussion of the boundaries of religious and scientific freedom; a clear-eyed description of Republicanism in Britain. In some texts this would be an inconvenience, but here it really serves to colour the context of the world they were in, and the natures of the people involved.
The third is the clever use of quotes. It's not all that easy to balance direct and indirect quotation well, but Goodman uses just enough direct quotes to illuminate and amuse, but not so many that the slightly archaic language becomes a barrier to enjoyment.
If I were to be critical (and I shall), I'd say that the points in the 'narrative' that should be climactic never quite reach that point. Goodman is so clearly fascinated by ALL of the things that he's writing about that the tipping point into climax never really happens, so it doesn't get completely resolved for the reader, and you sort of drift into a somewhat unhappy ending. The degree of artistic licence does also feel a little suspect at time - in trying to make the people involved seem as large as life, Goodman adopts some novelistic descriptive techniques, and when you're reading a non-fiction book they sometimes stick out awkwardly as clearly being derived from the author's imagination rather than his research.
A really enjoyable book though, definitely worth a read.
The first is the loving level of research that must have gone into this. You really get the sense that Goodman cares about his main subject, Richard Adams Locke, and the setting, 19th century New York. The scenes are painted with gorgeous detail, and unashamedly populated with interesting, sometimes gruesome little tidbits about what it really meant to live in New York at that time, for the rich and the poor alike.
The second is the sociopolitical lens that Goodman views it through. I picked this up expecting a romp through a hoax - and I got that. But as well as that, I got a serious look, among things: a serious look at the arguments floating around New York surrounding abolition of slavery; discussion of the boundaries of religious and scientific freedom; a clear-eyed description of Republicanism in Britain. In some texts this would be an inconvenience, but here it really serves to colour the context of the world they were in, and the natures of the people involved.
The third is the clever use of quotes. It's not all that easy to balance direct and indirect quotation well, but Goodman uses just enough direct quotes to illuminate and amuse, but not so many that the slightly archaic language becomes a barrier to enjoyment.
If I were to be critical (and I shall), I'd say that the points in the 'narrative' that should be climactic never quite reach that point. Goodman is so clearly fascinated by ALL of the things that he's writing about that the tipping point into climax never really happens, so it doesn't get completely resolved for the reader, and you sort of drift into a somewhat unhappy ending. The degree of artistic licence does also feel a little suspect at time - in trying to make the people involved seem as large as life, Goodman adopts some novelistic descriptive techniques, and when you're reading a non-fiction book they sometimes stick out awkwardly as clearly being derived from the author's imagination rather than his research.
A really enjoyable book though, definitely worth a read.
March 1, 2019
The U.S. wasn’t yet a nation of newspaper readers, and the newspapers that did exist didn’t cater to the ordinary citizen. That all changed with the New York Sun and its tantalizing story about a moon teeming with life – a fake story, designed to grab circulation.
The Sun opened up shop as a penny paper, cheaper than the usual six-cent broadsheets, and looked to make a splash. That it did with a series of stories in 1835 purporting to share details of new scientific discoveries of life on the moon – including unicorns, bipedal beavers and man-bats. In reality, writer Richard Adams Locke crafted the fake story and changed the face of journalism.
The book involves some publishers of the day and even wraps in two unexpected figures: Edgar Allan Poe and P.T. Barnum.
What follows is a rollicking tour through the writing and literature of the day, and the exploits of Poe, Barnum and the writers.
The “Moon Hoax of 1835” caught the imagination of the public, and was a success on many levels, even when the hoax was found out. Poe was at once jealous of and impressed with the story – he had written a moon story months before and thought Locke stole parts of it. Barnum, soon to be a noted hoaxer himself, learned a few lessons.
A couple of complaints – the book didn’t proceed linearly, so the jumps back and forth were confusing at times. Also, the author of this book allowed himself to take more than a few swipes at religion in general and Christianity in particular. It seemed like an odd addition to the story, until you come upon the author’s own, new conclusion:
The “Moon Hoax” was actually a Moon Satire, he says. It was intended as a critique of religious faith and thought. How he arrived at this is murky, and Locke never seemed to have said that himself. But this conclusion doesn’t hold if he doesn’t attack religion in the first place, so that explains it.
I don’t know if I buy the conclusion, but this otherwise is a good book, a celebration of maybe one of the first “fake news” successes, showing just how far some media will go to line their pockets.
See more of my reviews at Ralphsbooks.
The Sun opened up shop as a penny paper, cheaper than the usual six-cent broadsheets, and looked to make a splash. That it did with a series of stories in 1835 purporting to share details of new scientific discoveries of life on the moon – including unicorns, bipedal beavers and man-bats. In reality, writer Richard Adams Locke crafted the fake story and changed the face of journalism.
The book involves some publishers of the day and even wraps in two unexpected figures: Edgar Allan Poe and P.T. Barnum.
What follows is a rollicking tour through the writing and literature of the day, and the exploits of Poe, Barnum and the writers.
The “Moon Hoax of 1835” caught the imagination of the public, and was a success on many levels, even when the hoax was found out. Poe was at once jealous of and impressed with the story – he had written a moon story months before and thought Locke stole parts of it. Barnum, soon to be a noted hoaxer himself, learned a few lessons.
A couple of complaints – the book didn’t proceed linearly, so the jumps back and forth were confusing at times. Also, the author of this book allowed himself to take more than a few swipes at religion in general and Christianity in particular. It seemed like an odd addition to the story, until you come upon the author’s own, new conclusion:
The “Moon Hoax” was actually a Moon Satire, he says. It was intended as a critique of religious faith and thought. How he arrived at this is murky, and Locke never seemed to have said that himself. But this conclusion doesn’t hold if he doesn’t attack religion in the first place, so that explains it.
I don’t know if I buy the conclusion, but this otherwise is a good book, a celebration of maybe one of the first “fake news” successes, showing just how far some media will go to line their pockets.
See more of my reviews at Ralphsbooks.
August 26, 2023
In 1830s' New York, one of the first popular newspapers published a purportedly true story about the discovery of life - in the person of man-bats - on the moon, and Goodman uses this odd little moment as a springboard to write about a wide variety of cultural and historical subjects: New York and newspapers; slavery and theology; the history of ideas about life on other planets; hoaxes and humbugs; and a variety of figures from the period, including Poe, Barnum, a range of newspapermen of the time and, especially, Richard Locke, the author of the moon hoax. Goodman's 'make the past come alive' writing can get a little purple, he seems to buy into Locke's late-in-life rationale for the hoax a bit easily, and sometimes - for me - the book could be a bit of a slog, but Goodman covers so much ground that he unearths a lot of small moments of great interest.
June 29, 2022
This was really interesting, but not quite what I thought it would be. The title is accurate--it bounces among hoaxers and showmen (including PT Barnum), dueling journalists launching the first penny newspapers in New York City, and The Moon Series published by The Sun, a hoax science story purporting to talk about discoveries on the moon including life in the form of Lunar Man-Bats. It's a history of New York City, the news business, the fight for abolition, the "humbug" culture and the beginnings of showmanship, and even Edgar Allan Poe. The problem is that with ALLLLLLL of that happening, it bounces around so much that it's hard to figure out who is doing what when, and how they all fit together.
January 10, 2025
Goodman is a brilliant writer, I felt transported to 19th Century New Year, bathed in the steam of printing presses and mad rush of the newly established popular press to win the hearts, and sway the minds of the world.
Goodman weaves so many tangled threads of the story together with a deft touch - brilliant paced, funny and I learned so much about not just the Moon Hoax, but about our constant battle against misinformation. This is not just a great history book, it's a parable for the 'post-truth' age we all live in.
Goodman weaves so many tangled threads of the story together with a deft touch - brilliant paced, funny and I learned so much about not just the Moon Hoax, but about our constant battle against misinformation. This is not just a great history book, it's a parable for the 'post-truth' age we all live in.
July 6, 2020
So many wonderful things in this book. Maybe too many. Goodman meandered a bit, grabbed tidbits of history that contributed to newspapers, certainly gave me lots to think about, but it was difficult to keep his thread in mind. He did, however, give me a few more topics I want to read about. After I posted this I found an article in the New Yorker by Kevin Young, from Oct, 2017, "Moon Shot: Race, a Hoax, and the Birth of Fake News." A must read!
September 10, 2025
Make misinformation fun again!
All jokes aside, this book was so interesting. The format presented overlapping stories that were entertaining to read, and it informed me on the nature of writing and spectacle in the 1800s. It does a good job of contextualizing a lot of the reasoning behind belief systems instead of simply pulling a “oh people were stupid back then”. Overall engaging and informative.
All jokes aside, this book was so interesting. The format presented overlapping stories that were entertaining to read, and it informed me on the nature of writing and spectacle in the 1800s. It does a good job of contextualizing a lot of the reasoning behind belief systems instead of simply pulling a “oh people were stupid back then”. Overall engaging and informative.
August 24, 2019
I was interested in learning about this aspect New York City history during the 1830s. My family members who love the musical Newsies should read at least the beginning of this book. It describes how the penny newspapers came into being and the hard working boys who sold these papers. Maybe should be 3.5 stars, but I felt like some parts went on too long.
March 24, 2021
An interesting exploration of the origins of the popular press and journalism in America, especially NYC. Little known facts about the early journalists and publishers of the penny press. If you enjoy nonfiction, American history in the early 1800s, and well crafted writing, a great book. I listened to it on audio, very well done--a strong reader.
January 6, 2025
I found this while I was not able to a physical book with all the entries for the Great 1835 Moon Humbug (and the parody done of it). This is a great book that covers various historical elements--and honestly adds meta-narrative elements to star of the show Moon Batmen
I love the aesthetic of the world given in the humbug side of things, mixed with the actual real historic world present
I love the aesthetic of the world given in the humbug side of things, mixed with the actual real historic world present
May 22, 2019
This is simply an extraordinary book for anyone who loves 19th Century American history and culture. Plus it’s a fast paced, well written account of a little known great hoax that captivated the public. Naturally PT Barnum figures prominently in the book.
September 11, 2017
Started interesting with lots of fun history bits, but sort of drags on towards the end and I gave up finishing it.
May 24, 2020
Great book on NYC. Read it!
December 10, 2020
A fun read for a rainy day
January 1, 2021
I really enjoyed learning about how something so small such as a newspaper article, became such a big thing. It really reflects in the world today. Interesting read.
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