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

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

Written by:
Rick Emerson
Narrated by:
Gabra Zackman
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Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
5
Narrator
4
Release Date
July 2022
Duration
9 hours 50 minutes
Summary
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: 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.

 
Reviews
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Caytin

Sooooo good! I thought the perspective allowed you to see the impact the boom had which was fascinating

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Dani L.

Great book, well written and researched, although infuriating at times. It presents an unbelievable story of how one narcissistic author was able to tap into and weaponize the fears of parents everywhere. Even today her fake books are listed as biographical and are taken seriously by readers which is why this book is so important. without this book the fraud may have continued forever, scaring straight generations of kids and parents but thankfully the big lie was revealed and now Alden and her other victims can finally rest in peace. It is truly disgusting how she used a real teen's life and death for her own gain, spinning lies and presenting them as truth. It's crazy that so many people believed her and continue to believe her and don't see how she masterfully used the church of LDS and conservative religious culture to instill fear in readers who don't know how to think for themselves. Hopefully more people read this book and realize that the anonymous journals she published were falsified. She holds a lot of responsibility for stoking the fires of the satanic panic, a modern witch hunt that resulted in the deaths of many young people. I wish she could have been held accountable for what she did to Alden, it certainly seems criminal. it's too bad his family didn't get any money from her spitting on his grave and tarnishing his name. If you want to get really mad about the whole satanic panic and Nixon war on drugs eras and how religious fundamentalists terrorized a generation of young people, look no further than this book. It's a fascinating albeit maddening story of a literary fraud

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