Four stories of comedy, deception, and revenge (including one previously unpublished) showcases heroes who suffer from willful self-deceit. These not-so-innocents proceed from self-deception to deceiving others, who do not take it lightly. The novella "Dictation" imagines a fateful meeting between the secretaries to Henry James and Joseph Conrad at the peak of their fame. Timid Miss Hallowes, who types for Conrad, comes under the influence of James's...

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 whome he pretended...

The bestselling author of "Zero" shows how mathematical misinformation pervades and shapes our daily lives

"Creationists who dismiss Darwin's theory of evolution. Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. Climate change deniers who dismiss the warming planet as a hoax. These are just some of the groups that, despite robust scientific evidence, embrace pseudoscientific beliefs and practices. Why do they believe bunk? And how does their ignorance threaten us all? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this...

A sharp-witted knockdown of America's love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism, existential clarity and courage

An exploration of the complex impact dishonesty has on our lives and everyday society.

Dramatization of Shakespeare's tragedy, in which Iago plots to ruin Othello by planting the seeds of doubt in his mind regarding Desdemona's fidelity

Mailroom clerk Norville Barnes is a rube, a schmo, a grade-A ding-dong – just what Hudsucker Industries wants in a president! With him at the top, the stock will hit bottom… and the fat cats on the board can take over. But Norville (Tim Robbins) has his own spiffy little plan. And if a snoopy reporter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) doesn’t put the kibosh on the Hudsucker flimflam and finagling big cheese Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) doesn’t...

Aly fails to foresee the dangers that await as she uses her magic to safeguard Dova and her younger siblings, despite knowing that her thirteen-year-old charge might be queen of the Copper Isles when the colonial rulers are defeated.