Pranksters

From Benjamin

Franklin's newspaper hoax that faked the death of his rival to Abbie Hoffman’s

attempt to levitate the Pentagon, pranksters, hoaxers, and con artists have caused

confusion, disorder, and laughter in Western society for centuries. Profiling

the most notorious mischief makers from the 1600s to the present day, Pranksters

explores how “pranks” are part of a long tradition of speaking truth to power

and social critique.

Invoking such historical and contemporary figures as P.T. Barnum,

Jonathan Swift, WITCH, The Yes Men, and Stephen Colbert, Kembrew McLeod shows

how staged spectacles that balance the serious and humorous can spark important

public conversations. In some instances, tricksters have incited social change

(and unfortunate prank blowback) by manipulating various forms of media, from

newspapers to YouTube. For example, in the 1960s, self-proclaimed “professional

hoaxer” Alan Abel lampooned America’s hypocritical sexual mores by using

conservative rhetoric to fool the news media into covering a satirical organization

that advocated clothing naked animals. In the 1990s, Sub Pop Records

then-receptionist Megan Jasper satirized the commodification of alternative

music culture by pranking the New York

Times into reporting on her fake lexicon of “grunge speak.” Throughout this

book, McLeod shows how pranks interrupt the daily flow of approved information

and news, using humor to underscore larger, pointed truths.

Written in an accessible, story-driven style, Pranksters

reveals how mischief makers have left their shocking, entertaining, and

educational mark on modern political and social life.