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

Today's post is on Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson. It is 349 pages long and is published by BenBella books. The cover is white with a photo on the top left ripped in half. The intended reader is someone who is interested in modern history, frauds, and true crime. There is some foul language, discussion of sex, and discussion of violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- 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.

Review- This book is about the truth behind the most famous dairies in current print. Emerson starts at the very beginning of Beatrice Sparks life and why she would want to be famous. Then he jumps to the original people that Sparks based her work on and the lives that were lost. Using first hand resources, interviews, newspaper, and other documents, Emerson takes the reader through a very twisted story. Sparks took real diaries from trouble teens and she made her stories and money. Sparks did not care about the real teens, their families, or what would happen to them after she wrote her books. Emerson does not hold back his personal dislike of Sparks but it is easy to understand why he feels that way. A very interesting and quick if you have read the book Go Ask Alice. 

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.