Frontier Fake News
Nevada's Sagebrush Humorists and Hoaxsters
Published on 7. March 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-1-64779-086-8 (ISBN)
Description
When readers see the names Mark Twain or Dan De Quille, fake news may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But these legendary journalists were some of the original fake news writers in Nevada's early years. Frontier Fake News puts a spotlight on the hoaxes, feuds, pranks, outright lies, and other literary devices utilized by a number of the Silver State's frontier newsmen during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.
While Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), who got his start at Virginia City's Territorial Enterprise, and Dan De Quille (William Wright), who some felt was a better writer than Twain, are the best known members of the Sagebrush School of Writers, author Richard Moreno includes others such as Fred Hart, who reported on the activities of a fake social club for Austin's Reese River Reveille, and William Forbes, who enjoyed sprinkling clever puns with political undertones in his news columns. Moreno traces the beginnings of genuine fake news from founding father Benjamin Franklin's reporting to the fake news articles of New York and Baltimore papers in the early 1800s. But these examples are only a prelude to the amazing accounts of petrified men, freeze-inducing solar armor, blood-curdling massacres, and other nonsense stories that appeared in Nevada's frontier newspapers and beyond.
While Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), who got his start at Virginia City's Territorial Enterprise, and Dan De Quille (William Wright), who some felt was a better writer than Twain, are the best known members of the Sagebrush School of Writers, author Richard Moreno includes others such as Fred Hart, who reported on the activities of a fake social club for Austin's Reese River Reveille, and William Forbes, who enjoyed sprinkling clever puns with political undertones in his news columns. Moreno traces the beginnings of genuine fake news from founding father Benjamin Franklin's reporting to the fake news articles of New York and Baltimore papers in the early 1800s. But these examples are only a prelude to the amazing accounts of petrified men, freeze-inducing solar armor, blood-curdling massacres, and other nonsense stories that appeared in Nevada's frontier newspapers and beyond.
Reviews / Votes
"Rich Moreno's inviting, graceful writing combined with an intriguing topic, central to the western experience, is a welcome addition to regional literature. Frontier Fake News is a delightful book."-Ronald M. James, Nevada state historic preservation officer (retired), author of The Roar and the Silence: A History of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode"Moreno is one of the leading, most experienced writers on Nevada history and he did a masterful job of telling the story of these gifted, quirky writers . . . weaving together their writings, the analysis of scholars, and his own interpretation, to present them in full, living color, warts and all. I loved this book!"-Martin Griffith, Associated Press journalist, 1985-2015
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Reno
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
21 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
310 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64779-086-8 (9781647790868)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2023
University of Nevada Press
€26.99
Available for download
Person
Richard Moreno is the former publisher of Nevada Magazine and author of fourteen books, including Roadside History of Nevada, A Short History of Carson City, and A Short History of Reno. For more than three decades, he has written a weekly history/travel column that appears in the Lahontan Valley News and the Nevada Appeal. In 2007, Moreno was awarded the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award.
Content
Cover Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter Introduction: In on the Joke
Chapter 1. A Peculiar Relationship with the Truth
Man-Bats on the Moon
Edgar Allan Poe's Flight of Fancy
A Hoax to Disprove a Hoax
"A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death"
Meanwhile, out West
A Sidebar-Twentieth-Century Scientific Hoaxes
Chapter 2. The Sagebrush School
An Exclusive Club
Bret Harte's West
The Devil's Typographer
Renaissance Men
Chapter 3. The Humorist
How It All Began
Trading a Pickax for a Pen
News Is Serious Business-or Not
"Mark One, Mark Twain"
Foils and Feuds
Pushing the Limits
Going Too Far
Chapter 4. The Master
Joining the Team
The "Quaints"
Big Bonanza
Chapter 5. The Liar
The Real Lyin' Jim
Truth Be Damned
Chapter 6. The Scribe
A Social Club Is Born
Moving On
The Story of the Wabuska Mangler
An Appealing Opportunity
Writing About "Sumpthin" Peculiar
Making History
Chapter 8. The Diarist
The April Fools' Day "Sell"
The Pranksters
>From Good Times to Bad
Chapter 9. The Vagabond
Birth of Semblins
The Wandering Years
That "Major" Title
The Time Two Women Fell in Love
"A Few 'Sticksful' of Fiction"
Coming into His Own
Politics Comes Calling
A Good Man
Rollin M. Daggett
The Enterprise Goes Dark
Chapter 12. The Descendants
"Luscious Lucius" and Charles Clegg
The Enterprise Is Reborn
"The Wild and Wooly School"
The Bob Richards Era
Chapter 13. The Wine of Life
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter Introduction: In on the Joke
Chapter 1. A Peculiar Relationship with the Truth
Man-Bats on the Moon
Edgar Allan Poe's Flight of Fancy
A Hoax to Disprove a Hoax
"A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death"
Meanwhile, out West
A Sidebar-Twentieth-Century Scientific Hoaxes
Chapter 2. The Sagebrush School
An Exclusive Club
Bret Harte's West
The Devil's Typographer
Renaissance Men
Chapter 3. The Humorist
How It All Began
Trading a Pickax for a Pen
News Is Serious Business-or Not
"Mark One, Mark Twain"
Foils and Feuds
Pushing the Limits
Going Too Far
Chapter 4. The Master
Joining the Team
The "Quaints"
Big Bonanza
Chapter 5. The Liar
The Real Lyin' Jim
Truth Be Damned
Chapter 6. The Scribe
A Social Club Is Born
Moving On
The Story of the Wabuska Mangler
An Appealing Opportunity
Writing About "Sumpthin" Peculiar
Making History
Chapter 8. The Diarist
The April Fools' Day "Sell"
The Pranksters
>From Good Times to Bad
Chapter 9. The Vagabond
Birth of Semblins
The Wandering Years
That "Major" Title
The Time Two Women Fell in Love
"A Few 'Sticksful' of Fiction"
Coming into His Own
Politics Comes Calling
A Good Man
Rollin M. Daggett
The Enterprise Goes Dark
Chapter 12. The Descendants
"Luscious Lucius" and Charles Clegg
The Enterprise Is Reborn
"The Wild and Wooly School"
The Bob Richards Era
Chapter 13. The Wine of Life
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author