Fake News Nation
The Long History of Lies and Misinterpretations in America
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- $41.99
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- $41.99
Publisher Description
Fake News Nation tells the story of how false information has flooded American public life for over 230 years. The authors show how lies, misrepresentations, and rumors have drawn America into wars, covered up assassinations, influenced national elections, and impacted contentious policy issues such as the effects of smoking and climate change.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cortada, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota, and Asprey, an information science professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, illuminate fake facts and falsehoods throughout American history in this informative survey. The authors discuss falsehoods in advertising, most specifically, in medicine, and list patent medicines (those not backed by scientific research) that claimed cures for tuberculosis ("Piso's Cure for Consumption") and diabetes ("Kaadt's cures") and were advertised in newspapers throughout the 19th century. They also explore how misinformation shaped political events, such as the freewheeling presidential election in 1828 of Andrew Jackson, who was accused in the press of "wife-stealing," and they devote time to the many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln ("Confederate public officials arranged the assassination") and John F. Kennedy (perpetrated by, depending on who one is listening to, the Russians, FBI, CIA, Castro, the Mob, or Vice President Lyndon Johnson). The authors conclude that "Americans have always lived in a parallel information-rich universe." This fascinating narrative of lies, half-truths, and fabricated theories serves as a timely history.
