The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

On Beyond Plagiarism

Here is an entry in the category of why my husband is better than your husband. Since the minute he read the review of Love and Consequences, the book by a white girl (Margaret Jones) raised in South Central by a black foster mother, "Big Mom," David has insisted it must be made up. I meanwhile insisted that he was just being cynical, world-weary, crass. I have lately been spending lots of time in  poor, run-down apartment complexes and was affected by the idea of a gang-banger who could live to write about it. So much so that a couple of days ago I bought the book. You know where this is headed. I was literally just settling in tonight to crack open the book when I hear David running triumphantly up the stairs. Indeed, he was right. The New York Times reports that the entire thing is made up. Every bit of it. Apparently her sister called the publisher when she read about the book and saw a photo of the author, whose real name is Margaret Seltzer. The chick grew up in the San Fernando Valley, with her own family. She went to a private Episcopal school. In the Times story, she still seems, queerly, to defend herself, insisting she was giving a voice to the voiceless. The voiceless? Has she not seen American Gangster, or listened to any rap music? "Maybe, it was an ego thing," she tells the Times. Yeah, maybe.