Acclaimed Memoir On Race And Gangs A Fake

Author's Sister Blows Whistle On Phony Story; Writer Admits Fabricated Tale Of Violent Past

(CBS/AP)  A memoir by a white woman who claimed she was raised in poverty by a black foster mother and sold drugs for a gang in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood has turned out to be pure fiction, a newspaper report confirms.

The author admitted the fabrication in an emotional interview with The New York Times, published Tuesday.

In "Love and Consequences," published last week by Penguin Group USA imprint Riverhead Books, author Margaret B. Jones writes about growing up as a half-white, half-Native American girl in South-Central Los Angeles in the foster home of Big Mom. One of her foster brothers, she writes, was gunned down by Crips gang members outside their home.

Jones also writes of carrying illegal guns and selling drugs for the Bloods gang.

Jones's story came apart after her older sister, Cyndi Hoffman, saw an article in The New York Times about the author and contacted Riverhead, the Times says. Hoffman questioned the publisher's fact-checking and said the fabrication should and could have been prevented, the Times reported on its Web site Monday.

Margaret B. Jones is a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer, who is white and grew up in a well-off area of San Fernando Valley in California with her biological family, the Times says. She attended a private Episcopal day school and never lived with a foster family or sold drugs for a gang.

“For whatever reason, I was really torn and I thought it was my opportunity to put a voice to people who people don’t listen to," Seltzer told the Times. "I was in a position where at one point people said you should speak for us because nobody else is going to let us in to talk. Maybe it’s an ego thing - I don’t know. I just felt that there was good that I could do and there was no other way that someone would listen to it."

The publisher has recalled all copies of the book and has canceled Jones's book tour, which was to begin on Monday.

Jones, who lives in Eugene, Oregon, also lied about having graduated from the University of Oregon.

Jones, 33, admitted to the Times that her memoir was fully fabricated. Many of the experiences recounted in the book, she told the newspaper, were based on the experiences of friends she had met while doing anti-gang outreach in Los Angeles.

"For whatever reason, I was really torn, and I thought it was my opportunity to put a voice to people who people don't listen to," she told the paper.

An editor at Riverhead, in an interview with the Times, described the discovery as "upsetting" and as a "huge personal and professional betrayal." The editor, Sarah McGrath, said she had numerous conversations with the writer about telling the truth.

"I've been talking to her on the phone and getting e-mails from her for three years, and her story never has changed," McGrath told the Times. "All the details have been the same. There never have been any cracks."

"She seems to be very, very naïve," McGrath said. "There was a way to do this book honestly and have it be just as compelling."

The "Love and Consequences" scandal follows last week's discovery that the Holocaust memoir "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," by Misha Defonseca, was a fake. Two years ago, James Frey, the author of an Oprah Book Club selected memoir, "A Million Little Pieces," admitted he had made up or exaggerated details about his drug addiction and recovery.

[keithle1]

Drug use is less of an issue than dealing drugs. How long ago did he use drugs? 20 years ago? More? Was it just experimentation?

The big question is: did he sell heroin or cocaine? If you can prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt, Obama would have BIG problems.

[my2centss]

Everyone is upset by some book. Yet when Obama was asked about his drug use he denied it. That is until it was found that he wrote in his own book about his drug problems. No one cares about that. I guess thats because he is a lawyer and politician, not a writer.

[andor3]

" [she] cared nothing of those gangs she infiltrated, but to exploit their experience for her own capital gain.."

hehehe... gangs are set up to exploit people for capital gain, and do it criminally. And she did not "infiltrate gangs," read the article. But you are just doing the same thing--blurring the line between truth and fiction.

[rushlimpdrug]

If it''s in a book it''s gotta be true.
I think they''re lying that it was made up.
Besides, how can you believe a penguin can publish?

[andor3]

does not matter. just because it did not happen does not mean it is not true, and anyone who lives in modern society knows that. non-fiction books are never all true and fiction books are never all false, it is just a label that helps people in choosing reading--same as a title or book jacket.

So what is the fuss about? If it convinced people when they did not know if the events happened, then it was well-written.

[candy-apple]

but to exploit their experience for her own capital gain..
Posted by kailumego1 at 02:59 PM : Mar 04, 2008

This is done everyday in music, movies and books. Granted, she should have sold it as a work of fiction. Personally, I don''t see a problem with exploiting thugs and criminals.

[nolalou]

What I don''t get is if she wanted to write this story, why not just sell it a a novel, instead of pretending it was a true story! After all, there are lots of well written and moving novels , that can have the same impact as a non-fiction biography.

[cbsblogger]

We are in the age of "Photoshopping" where what you think to be true....whether it be resumes, your 401K statement, your brokerage statement, the inflation index, the real earnings of fortune 100 companies, is all really nothing more than a fantasy driven by greed.

[bobnjersey]

[Maybe it%u2019s an ego thing - I don%u2019t know. I just felt that there was good that I could do and there was no other way that someone would listen to it." ]

well ... if ego comes in green paper w/ the dimensions of 6in x 2.5in and pictures of dead presidents on the face ... that''s what it was.

[kailumego1]

Capitalism at its egocentric greed, purely self-aggrandized reasons to exploit the confidentiality of gangs in order to make a "fast buck", and gain national attention.

This putridteneous filth cared nothing of those gangs she infiltrated, but to exploit their experience for her own capital gain..

Money, money, and more money!

[deemsnyd]

The worst failure of modern conservative IMHO was Reagan opening the asylum and letting you tin-foil hat people out onto the street.

Posted by jumkey at 12:24 PM : Mar 04, 2008

Huh?

[deemsnyd]

Couldn''t she have sold the exact same book as fiction and gotten her point accross?

[nlm2383]

The sister should have tried getting some money out of her before ratting her out...

[rushlimpdrug]

So who are the two females on the cover?

Don''t tell me they are really men posing as females.

[wandawoman20]

VancouverBoo you are an illiterate nutjob. "Blackie" I got your Blackie...you ignorant ***. Come out from behind the PC you idiot and let''s see how many times you get to use that word "Blackie" in the public forum. After that first time...your *** will be PUSHING UP DAISIES!!!!! Can you spell ignorant...probably not....

[jumkey]

"Who cares? The NYT (et al) publish ''''fake'''' news EVERY DAY! They manipulate public opinion, try and influence the outcome of elections, etc. In other words, they do everything except report the news - factually."

Oh please what laughable BS. You don''t like what the stories they print so it''s all "fake". Classic conservative nonsense. A "fair and balanced" liar.

The truth and facts mean nothing to you (we''ve all read your crazy racist rants) so you have no credibility whatsoever.

You''re just a nut muttering to yourself on a street corner. You probably never even read the NY Times - you just believe what you''re told. Even if you did read it I''m sure you wouldn''t understand it.

The worst failure of modern conservative IMHO was Reagan opening the asylum and letting you tin-foil hat people out onto the street.

[infidel_us]

Who cares? The NYT (et al) publish ''fake'' news EVERY DAY! They manipulate public opinion, try and influence the outcome of elections, etc. In other words, they do everything except report the news - factually.

[gunnerv1]

Just another Pseudo-Liberal who has no inkling of what she''s talking about and at the same time discredits any real people who are trying to better themselves.

[irisheyes555]

Some people will do anything for a buck, huh?

[olebd]

If these writers sign some sort of contract agreement, there should be a clause in there to hold them accountable for what they write if their writing is originally intended to be non-fiction. If what they write is proven to be ficticious, they should be liable to lose everything under the agreement.