Unmask Alice

LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries

By: Rick Emerson

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud.

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: a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards.

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire.

Unmask Alice...where truth is stranger than nonfiction."

©2022 BenBella Books (P)2022 BenBella Books

I Couldn't Stop Listening

An unplanned read/listen

I was listening to a podcast between audio books and Go Ask Alice was the topic. I knew there was controversy about the author/editior but had no idea how deep it went.

I am not bothered by Go Ask Alice, I read it as a teen and I still think it is a good book despite contradictions.

I had no idea about the second book the author spends much time on. The story broke my heart. The devastation of a very real family was absolutely heart wrenching. Any good from the first book is completely wiped out by this story.

I found myself googling for more information and was disappointed. The story left me wanting to know more about the life of Sparks and where she was vs where she claimed to be.

I would have liked a reference list-probably because I'm persuing a real doctorate degree and have to refernce everything.

This is a powerful story.

Just as riveting as Alice

I loved this! I felt a lot like the readers Emerson mentions in his story when I read Alice as a teenager. I devoured that book in a night. I wondered after its legitimacy. I certainly could not have guessed the truth behind Alice. Bravo. great read.

I could keep reading/listening this forever

Juicy, insightful, funny, concerning, enlightening and so very well researched. I truly enjoyed this after going though several deep dives on the mysterious Go Ask Alice book I had read when it showed up mysteriously on my shelf as a preteen. Great work by the author on this one! Get on the movie!

I'm glad I listened!

the books this is about make me sick. I was a kid/teen in the 80's and I remember the panic and how crap like the Alice book made parents cops and idiotic Dr's put innocent people in jail for abuse. I remember how at school we were talked to about if our parents were hurting us to tell and being told regular punishments were more than just a spanking. it was a nightmare that people like the Sparks woman and many others helped to create because they wanted to feel important or just because they were stupid. I'm glad this book was openly honest about where the information came from that some was opinions other was information from friends and some,was from libraries and the internet. it was presented as a fact based book of a child's diary written by a so call PHD who was nothing of the sort. there's alot of information and it's not all blood and gore if that's what you are looking for. it's about how an author lied and manipulated the world with several books selling them as factual and everyone helped her do it. and it hurt alotta people. I won't say it didn't scare some kids away from drugs. but there could've been a more honest way to do so. I had a friend in Jr high die of an OD and I'm appalled by the Alice author for this.

I Highly Recommend This Book

I love books like this, where the author delves into what might seem like tangents or unrelated concepts, and shows how they are all connected.

The Imposter of the subtitle, Beatrice Sparks, was more than just an imposter; she was a pathological liar, a narcissist, and a very self-centered person who hurt a lot of people. Emerson looks at her background and, I think, tries to present her as fairly as possible. However, the pain she caused people is traumatic just to read about.

Besides Sparks, there is also: LSD, Mormons, schools for troubled teens, Satanic Panic, doomed/star-crossed teenage lovers, drug addiction, drug myths, Art Linkletter, Richard Nixon (and his racism and paranoia), Jefferson Airplane, Toni Morrison, teen suicide, Dungeons and Dragons, book bans, people who want books they have not read banned, and the ever popular "We Have to Save the Children!" (back then, it meant from drugs and pushers and "dirty" books).

This book provides not just a great understanding of the time period (late 1960s-1990s), but also shows how things happening today are so similar/connected to the events of 50 years ago.

The narration was great throughout. The pace of the book and the performance were both appealing--I never found myself bored or distracted.

This is the truth behind the lies.

As someone who lived through these times, I found this book both fascinating and informative. Go Ask Alice was actually required reading in the school I went to. I remember having some of the same questions and misgivings about it.

I always thought so.

I remember reading Go Ask Alice as a Jr/High school student. It was an intense read for a young student. That said I always wondered WHO spoke like this? She spoke like an adult trying to sound like a teen. Fast Forward to the age of the internet and I asked one of those Q &A sights if the author of Go Ask Alice had even been identified. That is when I learned just who Beatrice Sparks is/was. I guess I was still hoping for a “real” Alice. At last we have a book that puts all of that to rest. I had never read any of the other books that Beatrice Sparks had any hand in editing. (Though I had read some reviews from Jay’s Journal) It was well researched and I learned a lot, especially about the author of Jay’s Journal. At least he existed. He was a real person. Alice? She was a made up person who only existed in Sparks imagination.

Must Read

As a child of the 80s and 90s, my mom bought into all of this; hook,line and sinker. Just WOW.

Wow

Great read. High school in early 70s I remember so much of the stories. Crazy the lies we were told

wonderful narration

A story that shedight on the satanic panic of the early 80s with information I never knew.