Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for Bunk by Kevin Young - Available

Bunk

by Kevin Young
Mirron Willis
Audiobook
Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum professed was a newly discovered missing link in evolution. 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. In this brilliant and timely work, Young asks what it means to live in a post-factual world of "truthiness" where everything is up for interpretation and everyone is subject to a pervasive cynicism that damages our ideas of reality, fact, and art.
Expand title description text
Publisher: HighBridge Edition: Unabridged
Awards:

OverDrive Listen audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781681687117
  • File size: 587723 KB
  • Release date: November 14, 2017
  • Duration: 20:24:25

MP3 audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781681687117
  • File size: 587776 KB
  • Release date: November 14, 2017
  • Duration: 20:33:22
  • Number of parts: 21
Loading
Loading

Formats

OverDrive Listen audiobook
MP3 audiobook

subjects

Language Arts Literary Criticism True Crime Nonfiction

Languages

English

Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum professed was a newly discovered missing link in evolution. 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. In this brilliant and timely work, Young asks what it means to live in a post-factual world of "truthiness" where everything is up for interpretation and everyone is subject to a pervasive cynicism that damages our ideas of reality, fact, and art.
Expand title description text
Language Arts Literary Criticism True Crime Nonfiction
  • Details

    Publisher:
    HighBridge
    Edition:
    Unabridged

    Awards:

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    ISBN: 9781681687117
    File size: 587723 KB
    Release date: November 14, 2017
    Duration: 20:24:25

    MP3 audiobook
    ISBN: 9781681687117
    File size: 587776 KB
    Release date: November 14, 2017
    Duration: 20:33:22
    Number of parts: 21

  • Creators
  • Formats
    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook
  • Languages
    English
  • Reviews
    Loading
    Loading
Naperville Public Library Ecard Registration