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Greatest Fake Non-fiction Novels (etc) of All Time Passed Off As Real

Mal12345

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Roots by Alex Haley.

Alex Haley doesn't know what his "roots" are, so he had to make it all up from some oral family traditions.
http://www.martinlutherking.org/roots.html
And a long-suppressed tape of the famous session in which Haley " found" Kunta Kinte through the recitation of an African "griot" proves that, as BBC producer James Kent noted, "the villagers [were] threatened by members of Haley's party.
These turn out to be senior government officials desperate to ensure that things go smoothly."​
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Go Ask Alice - A Real Diary by "Anonymous" (i.e., Beatrice Sparks).

http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/askalice.asp

After the success of Go Ask Alice, Beatrice Sparks just "happened" to come across six other 'diaries' that she was able to mass-produce in book form. Interesting...
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Everything written by Carlos Castaneda.
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Got any more that I'm not aware of? Researching this on Google doesn't count! I want to know about other fake non-fiction novels (etc) that were exposed as fraudulent after publication.
 

Mal12345

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I found a real diary online. It's called Bill Frug's Diary:

 

Such Irony

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Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
 
W

WhoCares

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The bible - a series of allegorical tales somehow get presented as fact. Reinvented by the Holy Roman Church as often as required. Well, something had to compete with pagan traditions and beliefs if the tribes of europe were to be enslaved I guess.
 

prplchknz

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The bible - a series of allegorical tales somehow get presented as fact. Reinvented by the Holy Roman Church as often as required. Well, something had to compete with pagan traditions and beliefs if the tribes of europe were to be enslaved I guess.

I think only the most hardcore brain washed christians believe everything in the bible is fact.

I don't think there's any fact to it. but that's just me
 
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