Throughout history, forgers have attempted to fabricate documents to manipulate the historical record. The book explores the most egregious cases--their intent, effectiveness, exposure and significance--from the Donation of Constantine to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the Hitler Diaries. Ironically, forgeries have helped advance the discipline of history. Case studies trace how scholars worked to reveal the truth behind bogus manuscripts while developing new tools and standards for accuracy and authenticity. In the age of "fake news" and digital editing software, the spectacular history of fraud in print has never been more relevant.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Forgeries in Antiquity
2. Pious Fraud: On Christian Pseudo-Epigraphy
3. The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals: The Perpetual Puzzle
4. To Dare to Speak Out: Lorenzo Valla and the Donation of Constantine
5. Tuscan Pride: Viterbo, Volterra and the Etruscan Scarith
6. The Forged Past: Romantic Imagination and Nationalism
7. Charles Bertram: The Forger of Roman Britain
8. The Wagenfeld Case
9. The Case of Constantine Simonides
10. Nationalist Myths: Herder's Influence
11. The Fame of the Nation: Hanka's Czech Forgeries
12. British Forgeries: Parnell and Piggott
13. Peter the Great's Fourteen Points: Russia's Master Plan
14. Forged Autographs: The Duped Mathematician
15. Patriotic Fraud: The "Faux Henry" of the Dreyfus Case
16. Fabricating Hatred: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
17. Chinese Mirrors: The Mannix and Backhouse Forgeries
18. Fanning the Red Scare: The Zinoviev Letter
19. Washington's Regrets: American Forgeries
20. Fabricated Frontier History: The Horn Papers
21. The FBI "Suicide Letter" to Martin Luther King, Jr.
22. Cold War Campaigns: Soviet Disinformation Forgeries
23. Texfake: Forged Documents from the Alamo Period
24. Master Forger, Duped Historian: The Hitler Diaries
25. Rathergate: The Killian Documents
26. Letter from the Desert: The "Gay Jesus" Gospel
27. Invented Fragments: The Fake Holocaust Survivor
28. Forging with Photopolymer Plates: Galileo's Starry Messenger
Conclusion: How Forged Documents Benefit History
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
Height:254
Width:178
Spine:12
Weight:177.00