All that George Bush had to do was plant a weapon of mass destruction on Saddam Hussein in his little cave. He didn't bother. From the start of the Iraqi affair the Bush Administration's mendacities have been negligently slapped together because their artificers knew that they had a public which will believe any preposterous confabulation tossed in its direction.

As it turned out "old Europe" didn't buy it, nor did old Asia or old Africa or old South America or old anywhere. Only in new America did the masses and the elites swallow more White House whoppers than they serve at Burger King.

Hoax explains that Americans have their own reality at variance with the rest of the world's. Having perfected the domed stadium, Americans have erected a transcontinental astrodome, their own private biosphere, under which they breathe their own air and cultivate life forms unknown anywhere else on the planet. Like Russian nesting dolls, Americans live in a succession of diminishing bubbles. They shop in bubbled malls, they live in gated communities, and they move from place to place breathing their own, private air in the bubble-mobiles known as SUVs.

Hoax tells the story of how Americas lost their pioneer independence to become bobbleheads in Bubbleland and found a new world to conquor in the far off Middle East.

"In the spate of post-Iraq War books, Von Hoffman's tirade is a smart, elegant standout....The author's informed, unblinking critique of America may not be palatable to the blindly patriotic, but it will resonate for those who question many of the Bush administration's decisions." Publishers Weekly

"Occasionally the author hits a target....But the delivery, a careless sermon to the choir, will not convince those most in need of convincing. A shame: von Hoffman's done much better." Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling author and celebrated columnist reveals how the American people have been gulled into cheering for a gigantic hoax by the Bush administration.

How is it that the majority of Americans believed the fabrications of the Bush administration in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq when people in other countries, even those who enlisted in "the coalition of the willing," didn't buy them? Something has happened here and nowhere else, argues provocateur and gadfly Nicholas von Hoffman. It is something that impels vast numbers of Americans to believe the unbelievable when served up by its war-loving government. Best-selling author von Hoffman reveals how the American people have been gulled into cheering for a gigantic hoax by the Bush administration. "It happened because America has manufactured its own reality. A dome has slipped over the country, turning the nation into a unique biosphere which causes Americans to see, hear, and interpret every event and each happenstance as no other people do. Poisoned by recycled, unrefreshed air, Americans think differently." Hoax is both an impassioned exploration of American propaganda and public opinion, and an urgent dissection of our culture and way of life.

Best-selling author von Hoffman reveals how the American people have been gulled into cheering for a gigantic hoax by the Bush administration, and therefore, supporting the invasion of Iraq.

Nicholas von Hoffman was a columnist at the Washington Post and now writes a column for the New York Observer. He is the author of the bestselling Citizen Cohn. Nicholas von Hoffman lives in New York City.

1. The Big Lie 1
2. Desert Mirage 11
3. The American Biosphere 17
4. That City on That Hill 23
5. Flag Waving 33
6. Democracies Are Always in the Right 45
7. America Will Never Be the First to Use the Bomb 49
8. A Pax Americana on Us All 61
9. Hitler 69
10. Conversation Stiflers 73
11. Tassels on the Fringe 79
12. They Lie... Sometimes 89
13. War Whores 99
14. Missionaries 109
15. Why Do They Hate Us? 123
16. Unconditional Surrender 129
17. Self Portrait 135
18. Terrorism 141
19. Conspiracy 151
20. Les Arabes 153
21. Mooslims 161
22. Hoax 175