“James Frey’s Morning After,” by Evgenia Peretz (June 2008)
What’s it like to write a mega-selling memoir, then become a household word for “liar”? Was James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces an ex-junkie’s con job, part of a proud literary tradition, or just the standard hype of an increasingly embattled publishing industry? In his first U.S. interview since Oprah nailed him, in 2006, Frey tells his version of the story, including how his new novel, his family, and the late Norman Mailer helped him survive the resulting maelstrom, sober all the way.
“Ruthless with Scissors,” by Buzz Bissinger (January 2007)
Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs’s memoir of a shattered childhood, spent more than two years on the New York Times best-seller list, spawned a Hollywood movie, and earned him literary stardom. It also drew a lawsuit from the Turcotte family, with whom he had lived, and who challenged the truth of his brutal, shocking portrait of them.
“The Boy Who Cried Author,” by Bruce Handy (Web exclusive, April 2006)
The literary parlor game of “Who Is J. T. LeRoy?” got its final answer in February 2006: The mysterious boy novelist with the horrifying tales of childhood abuse was the invention of a 40-year-old San Francisco woman. But the story behind this literary hoax is even more outrageous than the fictions.
“Jeff Gannon’s Public Blogging,” by David Margolick and Richard Gooding (June 2005)
It sounded like conspiracy: a former male escort who was going by a fake name and had somehow obtained White House press passes on a regular basis was covering briefings for an obscure right-wing news outfit. Suddenly, the blogosphere latched onto “Gannongate.” But what was the real story?
“Scandal of Record,” by Seth Mnookin (December 2004)
Stunned and furious, the New York Times staffers assigned to look into Jayson Blair’s phantom reporting learned their colleague was guilty of massive journalistic fraud. In an excerpt from his book Hard News: The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media, Seth Mnookin tracks the team’s investigation—and growing realization that their bosses had been part of the problem.
“Shattered Glass,” by Buzz Bissinger (September 1998)
At 25, Stephen Glass was the most sought-after young reporter in the nation’s capital, producing knockout articles for magazines ranging from The New Republic to Rolling Stone. Trouble was, he made things up—sources, quotes, whole stories—in a breathtaking web of deception that emerged as the most sustained fraud in modern journalism.
