Whose Words Are They, Anyway? (Palin Neighbor McGinniss a plagarist)

Entertainment Weekly ^ | Jul 30, 1993 | Tim Appelo

[tlb]

Joe McGinniss' alleged plagiarism -- The author's ''The Last Brother'' is stirring controversy for it's blend of fact and fiction as an unauthorized ''biography'' of Senator Edward Kennedy.

The first of the controversies swirling around the unauthorized ''biography'' concerns a weird disclaimer that appeared in a 123-page advance excerpt distributed at the American Booksellers Association meeting this May. ''Some thoughts and dialogue attributed to people in this narrative,'' the statement read, ''were created by the author.'' The disclaimer later was dropped, reportedly at McGinniss' insistence, but coming hard on the heels of the much-publicized lawsuit over quotes allegedly fabricated by The New Yorker's Janet Malcolm, it hit a very exposed nerve.

Legendary editor Roger W. Straus, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, says, ''Will the public accept it when an author says, 'I'm selling you this book as a bio, but I'm also telling you that I made up a lot of stuff myself' ? It's a helluva way to run a railroad.''

The second flap was ignited in the July 12 issue of New Yorkmagazine, in which journalist John Taylor examined The Last Brother's advance excerpt and found the ''overwhelming bulk of the material in the first 11 chapters'' to be right out of William Manchester's 1967 Kennedy classic, The Death of a President. ''I'm prepared to go to court,'' says Manchester, who himself counts ''over a hundred'' examples of direct copying from his book. ''I'm working on a biography of Winston Churchill, which is the most important book I shall write. I'm 71. I will never write such major work again. The last thing I want is to turn aside for something like this from which I can gain nothing. But it is a simple matter of right and wrong. ''

[tlb]

Before her own scandal, Doris Kearns Goodwin was one of the authors who called McGinnis out on his fraud. The writer at famousplagiarists.com could only defend McGinnis by noting he wasn't as bad as Doris.

Ethically challenged McGinniss survived the scandal but the record remains. Manufacturing material from whole cloth and stealing legitimate content from other authors.

[hennie pennie]

*ping*

[Cacique]

bump for later.

[VeniVidiVici]

I see the MSM is doing a wonderful job of exposing this fraud.

Oops! My mistake. It’s Entertainment Weekly!! I guess the CBSNBCABCCNN Fifth Column leaves the heavy lifting to Entertainment Weekly and the National Enquirer.

[FormerACLUmember]

I see the MSM is doing a wonderful job of exposing this fraud. Oops! My mistake. It’s Entertainment Weekly!! I guess the CBSNBCABCCNN Fifth Column leaves the heavy lifting to Entertainment Weekly and the National Enquirer.

The democrat party whore media is ignoring a complete charlatan/stalker/creep (one of their own) as they continue their systematic character assassination of Sarah Palin, who by the way is unfazed at these sub-human harassers.

[eyedigress]

If I had a neighbor near me that had a desire to spy on me, their night would be full of hell. Without my knowledge of course.

[bukkdems]

Sarah should mount some speakers pointed at his rental home and play Disney’s “It’s a Small World” 24/7.

[hennie pennie]

I am deeply concerned that the mainstream media is enabling Mr. Mcginniss, instead of reporting about his plagerism and his fabrication of events that never happened.