Staff Picks

The Fabulist is a witty, fictional version of the public scandal of journalist Stephen Glass, written by the real-life former journalist Stephen Glass who achieved notoriety in 1998 when he was caught fabricating stories that appeared in The New Republic, Rolling Stone and other magazines.  

Glass’s fall from grace and the elaborate techniques he used to perpetrate the hoax on editors, coworkers and readers are fascinating and often hilarious.  Why he did it and what degree of remorse he feels for his deceptions remains debatable. (The California Supreme Court debated just that earlier this year when they denied his admission to the bar.)

But ethics aside, Stephen Glass has penned an insightful and entertaining novel about ego, hubris, the ramifications of lost trust and the public outcry for retribution.   If only Glass had started out writing legitimate fiction in the first place.

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist