Most will have heard of Dr James Barry, the renowned 19th-century British army medical officer, who upon his death, was revealed to be a woman. But have you heard of Ferdinand Waldo Demara? The "Great Imposter" was, in his various guises, a high school dropout and army deserter who operated as a respected professor of physics, a surgeon, a priest, a schoolteacher and prison psychiatrist, serving with distinction in each post. Or Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, one of the most popular and successful advocates of Native-American rights early in the last century, who was born black and poor in North Carolina. Burton has compiled an immensely readable and engaging survey of "lives lived as lies". Finely researched and cleverly told, Burton's insightful analysis raises questions about the imposter in all of us. Not to be missed.
The Grass is Greener, Our Love Affair with the Lawn, by Tom Fort