Unmask Alice : LSD, satanic panic, and the imposter behind the world's most notorious diaries Cover Image

Book

Unmask Alice : LSD, satanic panic, and the imposter behind the world's most notorious diaries / Rick Emerson.

ISBN: 9781637740422
ISBN: 1637740425
Physical Description: xiv, 366 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: Dallas, Texas : BenBella Books, Inc. [2022]
Copyright: &copy;2022

Summary:

"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."-- Amazon.