Hoax, The (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is a story which reads like the best thriller fiction and which contains the seeds of a dozen movie scripts. Mysterious meetings, false passports, a beautiful Danish baroness, Swiss bank accounts-Alfred Hitchcock would handle the whole thing perfectly." --The Tatler (England) "Fascinating!" --Time "Brilliant!" --Newsday "A Masterpiece!" --CBS-Radio "Spellbinding!" --Publishers Weekly "Sensational!" --New York Daily News --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description

Soon to be a major motion picture -- a no-holds-barred account of the most notorious literary hoax of the twentieth century, written by the perpetrator himself

Before Oprah and TheSmokingGun.com had ever heard of James Frey, there was Clifford Irving. In 1971, he burst onto the literary scene, claiming to have been granted the right to pen the authorized biography of the famously reclusive icon Howard Hughes. Forged documents seemed to bear out his claims, and McGraw-Hill awarded him a contract for the then-enormous sum of $750,000. When Hughes himself emerged from seclusion to denounce Irving as a charlatan, McGraw-Hill stood by their author. It wasn’t until Hughes filed suit, and Swiss bank officials got involved, that Irving finally confessed. The Hoax, first published in 1981, is Irving’s explosive account of his own misdeeds -- and the inspiration for a soon-to-be released movie starring Richard Gere.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Miramax (February 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401308546
• ISBN-13: 978-1401308544
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,085 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Whodunit From The One Who Did It, August 23, 2006

By	Mr. Richard D. Coreno "Mr. C" (Berea, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Hoax (Paperback)

I was a young person at the time of the world-wide controversy surrounding the publication of the Hughes "autobiography," and needless to say it was front-page news.

By this time Hughes had not been seen or heard from by the public for more than a decade and many people felt he was dead, perhaps in an accident around the time he "disappeared." And in the shroud of mystery emerges a book on his life that Hughes granted the author - Irving - unprecedented access through a series of interviews on his life.

Then came the debate on the validity of the book, which was only solved by the eccentric billionaire ending his silence - not in front of a camera, but through a long-distance phone call to a panel of journalists who knew Hughes from years past.

I purchased The Hoax as one who was absolutely fascinated in how Irving nearly pulled off the crime. And if it wasn't for the phone call by Hughes to state the book was a fraud it can be argued that the debate would have continued for years, but Irving's deception would have been successful. The reality was Irving believed Hughes was too ill to repudiate the book.

The Hoax remains one of the favorite books I ever read.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth is more Complex than Falsity, August 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hoax (Hardcover)

This book has the ring of truth to it, and that is unmistakeable. It's the story of a writer who hoodwinked the world by writing the hoax autobiography of billionaire Howard Hughes, and paid the price by going to prison. It reads like a novel, in the sense that it's thrilling, and you understand Clifford Irving to the bone. It's well-paced, filled with memorable characters and incidents, and if there were ever a book to nail down the sin of greed in both individuals and corporations, this is it. I loved it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible thrilling true tale, August 12, 2006

By	JVB (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hoax (Paperback)

I had avoided reading this book, although several friends recommended it. Finally I read it, because there's a movie coming out soon (Richard Gere plays Irving) based on the events. I discovered that it's an amazing story about a man who defied and bilked the literary establishment and the Howard Hughes hierarchy and at the same time -- this was in 1972 -- enraged Richard Nixon's White House and may indeed have been the prime reason that the Nixon gang broke into the Watergate (to find out if Irving had given the Democrats secret information about Hughes' "loans" to Nixon).

Yes, Irving was a rogue, but what a delightful and literate rogue. Moreover, the book is one of the best written first-person narratives I've ever read; it's wise and witty at the same time as it's a gripping tale. People wonder if Irving told the truth in the book. I believe it has an unmistakeable ring of truth. You can't fake that, ever.

Clifford Irving's many novels are next on my list.