Genuine Fakes

From fake fur and fake diamonds to art forgeries and staged nature documentaries, history is full of things that are considered fake. However, the concept of a fake is not as clear-cut as we might believe. We come into contact with 'genuine fakes' every day without even realising it, and the social history, scientific background, and cultural context of these genuinely fake objects have played significant roles in helping to develop and spread very real knowledge about the world and have done so in curious and unexpected ways.

In this thought-provoking and surprising book, historian Lydia Pyne will look at nine things that fall into the realm of 'genuine fakes', including art forgeries, fake fossils, nature documentaries and synthetic flavours. Using research from historical archives, interviews with a variety of experts - from flavour scientists at the Jelly Belly Bean company to the memorial diamond start-up company offering a service of turning the cremated ashes of loved ones into diamonds - as well as her own experiences to put together each unique story, Genuine Fakes will make readers think about all the genuinely fake things that they engage with every day. Amid worries of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts', the question of authenticity and how it shapes our view of the world has taken on particular urgency in this century, and this book will encourage readers to take a more open-minded view of fakes. Should we be outraged that some of those famous scenes in Blue Planet were filmed in a lab? Why is the British Museum currently exhibiting a known fake? Would you be upset if you were proposed to with a lab-grown diamond? Fakes such as this can represent an ethical choice on the part of the consumer, demonstrating that not all fakes are necessarily bad. These are just some of the issues that Lydia will cover across the chapters.

This book will show readers that authenticity is a continuum, one that's told story after story. Genuine Fakes is a collection of stories about how science and society come together to create genuinely fake things, and the knowledge that is created because of them.