# The great literary hoax **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046 "2015-08-17T04:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/1 "2015-08-17T04:31:44Z")
Until I saw a CSPAN program this weekend, I’d never heard of one of the most successful literary hoaxes in history – the publishing of _The Report From Iron Mountain_, and it seems interesting enough to share. The Report was supposedly a US government sponsored study written at the end of WWII, and the subject was how to return to a peacetime economy from a wartime one. The conclusion was that it couldn’t be done without a total collapse of the economy, and so the country would be better off continuing as if it were at war. The book is about the supposed report, written by a team of analysts hired to assess the report. The brilliant thing IMO is that when the publisher hired the writer for the hoax book, he told them they had it backward. What he should start with is by writing the hoax report, and then let the outcome determine much of the content of the book. The other brilliant thing is that while the report itself was totally bogus, it was thoroughly footnoted with _real_ citations. The footnotes might or might not support the arguments or claims in the book as the author claimed, but they could be backtracked and found, giving the report a greater air of legitimacy. To this day it’s still cited by people with some kind of axe to grind. And there was legal fallout as well. Another publisher decided to independently publish the report, which they cribbed right out of the book. They thought they were reprinting a US government document, and there were no concerns about copyright or royalties or permissions. That was the nature of the hoax. In reality they ultimately learned they had re-published a work of fiction. They ended up have to settle with an unspecified payout to the hoaxter. Anyway, that was my interesting learning of the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/2 "2015-08-20T03:28:28Z")
Interesting! I’d never heard of it either. And I’ve read up on a lot of hoaxes. (Didn’t want you to think that no one felt this thread was worth it…) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/3 "2015-08-20T03:49:04Z")
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before. The story [here in the wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Report_from_Iron_Mountain)is fascinating. E.L. Doctorow was the editor that gave it the go ahead. U.S. News and World Report claimed to have confirmation that it was real. John Kenneth Galbraith had an odd part in the after effects also. The best part is that people still believe it was real and think the hoax story is part of the cover-up. Is this a great country or what? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/4 "2015-08-20T13:32:02Z")
I forgot to mention that when it was published, it made the NYT Best Seller list. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/5 "2015-08-20T13:39:47Z")
> [@digs](#): > > … (Didn’t want you to think that no one felt this thread was worth it…) Thanks, but I’m used to it. I figure about a third of my OPs end up dying without any replies. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/6 "2015-08-20T14:58:58Z")
I think the _[Donation of Constantine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_of_Constantine)_ was the greatest literary hoax in history. It had a much bigger and longer impact than the _Report From Iron Mountain_ (or the _[Protocols of the Elders of Zion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion)_, another contender). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/7 "2015-08-20T15:00:27Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Thanks, but I’m used to it. I figure about a third of my OPs end up dying without any replies. 😕 Wait, who are you again? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-literary-hoax/728046/8 "2015-08-20T17:36:22Z")
Here’s a nice list of other similar interesting research topics: [The woo boat - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=765072)