The XX Factor : Margaret Seltzer

Lies, Damn Lies, and Memoirs

Melinda Henneberger — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:17:00 GMT

I'm having a hard time summoning a lot of outrage over the story of Herman Rosenblat, the Holocaust survivor who reimagined his stay in a subcamp of Buchenwald. In his (now canceled) and unfortunately subtitled memoir, Angel at the Fence: The True Story...(read more)

Margaret Seltzer and Vanishing Odds

Emily Bazelon — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:10:00 GMT

A guest post from David Plotz, who writes: That was a great post, Melonyce . It got me thinking about why my immediate reaction was so skeptical, based on what little I knew about the book. Was it just some reflexive racism of the sort you describe—no...(read more)

The Color of Hopelessness

Melonyce McAfee — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Guess I’m a rube, too, Hanna . When David started the e-mail thread at Slate calling BS on Seltzer’s “memoir,” I had the sneaking suspicion that folks were quick to denounce the book’s veracity out of the notion that a white girl couldn’t possibly be...(read more)

On Beyond Plagiarism

Hanna Rosin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:41:00 GMT

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...(read more)