The Fraud - Hardcover

Rakoff, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038550084X ISBN 13: 9780385500845

Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 2001

Synopsis

A New York City journalist applies his urbane, self-deprecating wit to expeditions as varied as the search for elves in Iceland, a foray into soap- opera acting, and contemplating the gin-soaked olive at the bottom of a martini glass. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

David Rakoff is a regular contributor to <i>Salon</i>,<i> Outside</i> magazine, and PRI's<i> This American Life,</i> and has written for the<i> New York Times Magazine</i>, <i>GQ</i>, <i>Esquire</i>, <i>Harper's Bazaar</i>, <i>New York Observer</i>, and many other publications. He lives in New York City.<br>

From the Inside Flap

You've heard him on <i>This American Life</i>! Now read his book!<br><br>Wherever he is, David Rakoff is a fish out of water. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, playing an evil modeling agent on a daytime soap opera, or learning primitive survival skills in the wilds of New Jersey, Rakoff doesn't belong. Nor does he try to. Still, he continually finds himself off in the far-flung hinterlands of our culture, notebook or microphone in hand, hoping to conjure that dyed-in-the-wool New York condescension.<br><br>And Rakoff tries to be nasty; heaven knows nothing succeeds like the cheap sneer, but he can't quite help noticing that these are actual human beings he's writing about. In his attempts not to pull any punches, the most damaging blows, more often than not, land squarely on his own jaw--hilariously satirizing the writer, not the subject.<br><br>And therein lies David Rakoff's genius and his burgeoning appeal. The wry and the heartfelt join in his prose to resurrect that most neglected of literary virtues: wit.<br><br>Read the blurbs again on the back. They signal the arrival of a brilliant new American essayist. (Okay, Canadian.)<br>

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 038550084X
• ISBN 13: 9780385500845
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 228