Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

"Award-winning poet and critic Kevin Young traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon--the legacy of P.T. Barnum's 'humbug' culminating with the currency of Donald J. Trump's 'fake news'. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, with 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...

The story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out.

The Discover Cryptids film crew travel to South Carolina to investigate reports of a Swamp lizard man, which they are convinced is a hoax, just like all the other monsters--but Gabe is not so sure.

In this stunning true crime thriller of Facebook, catfishing, and jealousy, a double-murder begins with the click of a button. When Bill Payne and Billie Jean Hayworth began their romance, they unknowingly set in motion a diabolical plot that would end with them murdered in their own home, Hayworth holding their mercifully unharmed infant.

Shares profiles and anecdotes about some of the world's most infamous humbugs, from P. T. Barnum to Victor Lustig, detailing their innumerable deceptions and the successes they enjoyed while tricking the public.

"Engaging images accompany information about crop circles. The combination of high-interest subject matter and light text is intended for students in grades 3 through 7"--Provided by publisher.

The McNeil family has always been professional hoaxers -- tricking bystanders into believing they're seeing legendary creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Unlike the rest of his family, twelve-year-old Grayson hates hoaxing and wants nothing to do with the business -- even when the McNeils land a huge job and must pull off four sea monster hoaxes in a week. But when things go disastrously wrong and Dad and Gramps go missing, Grayson and...

Biggie Smalls was right. Things done changed. But that doesn't mean Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph's music lie forgotten under his bed after he is murdered—not when his rhymes could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a party, not after years of having each other's backs. With the help of Steph's younger sister, Jasmine, who is eager to see justice for her brother, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph's...

How have the media, government, technology, and history deceived us? Have fake and real become indistinguishable? Were we ever unburdened of disinformation, or is deception bound to the human experience? Are we being manipulated right now, or worse yet, are we deceiving ourselves? These are the provocative questions within The Encyclopedia of Misinformation, a compendium of deception and delusion throughout history. In a frolicking series of vignettes,...

Wild, heart-wrenching, and unexpectedly funny, Nowhere Girl is an inspiring coming-of-age memoir about running for freedom against the odds. To the young Cheryl Diamond, life felt like one big adventure, whether she was hurtling down the Himalayas in a rickety car or mingling with underworld fixers. Her family appeared to be an unbreakable gang of five. One day they were in Australia, the next South Africa, the pattern repeating as they crossed continents,...