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Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries

  • Book
  • Jul 5, 2022
  • #PsychoactiveDrugs
Rick Emerson
@RickEmerson
(Author)
www.goodreads.com
Hardcover
4.5/5 389 ratings
Hardcover Kindle Audiobook
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4.03/5 2.5k ratings
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Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud. In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage s... Show More

Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud.

In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous.

But Alice was only the beginning.

In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis—adolescent suicide—to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities.

In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards.

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire.

Unmask Alice . . . where truth is stranger than nonfiction.

(From Goodreads)

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Number of Pages: 349

ISBN: 1637740425

ISBN-13: 9781637740422

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jar jar binky @caseyaonso · Feb 9, 2023
  • Answered to Any recommendations for cool nonfiction books?
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if you've read the go ask alice series "unmask alice" might be a good one too, it's about how the author of the original was actually a con artist and made up/twisted real stories to generate hysteria its honestly wild
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  • Izzzyzzz
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    Any recommendations for cool nonfiction books?
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