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Mark Arsenault has covered national politics, gambling, and worked on Spotlight Team investigations as a staff reporter for the Boston Globe, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing. This is his first nonfiction book.
World War I German skulduggery combined with the biography of a flamboyant newspaper editor who trumpeted it. John Rathom (1868-1923) became famous, but Arsenault's research reveals him as a fraud. Rathom was quickly forgotten, but Arsenault does readers a favor by reviving his memory. * Kirkus Reviews * In this superb debut, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Arsenault tells the stranger-than-fiction story of the efforts of John Rathom (1868-1923), the Australian-born editor of the Providence Journal, to shift American attitudes toward involvement in WWI. His eye-opening account, which also covers a Navy scandal that could have derailed FDR's political career, is a valuable look at both the ethics of journalism that prioritizes the ends over the means and century-old antecedents for foreign propaganda disseminated as part of a sophisticated scheme. Enthralling. * Publishers Weekly (starred) * In his first nonfiction book, Boston Globe reporter Arsenault not only resurrects Rathom and uncovers the surprising secret of his true background but also provides a complete sense of the world in which Rathom lived. Well researched and clearly written, this book provides insights into journalism and parts of American history that still resonate. * Booklist * Mark Arsenault has crafted a most unusual war story-a fast-moving tale populated by spies, fakers, double-dealers, maneuvering diplomats and vengeful political figures. At the heart of this twisty saga of Great Powers politics sits John R. Rathom, a U.S. newspaper editor with a false identity who tossed journalistic ethics to the wind in his zeal to push the country into World War I against Germany. Arsenault employs meticulous research and a breezy story-telling style to lay bare the scope of Rathom's brazenly deceptive campaign-and he offers a vivid look at the propaganda war that raged long before American troops would tread the battlefields of Europe. The Imposter's War adds to the wider narrative about World War I a character of intrigue and towering ambition not soon to be forgotten. -- Ken Ellingwood, author of First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery In The Imposter's War, Mark Arsenault weaves a spellbinding tale of intrigue, espionage and the spies, propagandists and conmen who helped propel a reluctant United States into World War I. At the center was an unlikely figure, John Rathom, a flamboyant newspaperman in Providence, Rhode Island whose life was a lie. Arsenault does an amazing job excavating the shocking truth about the Australian's origins and bringing to life a turbulent America in the early 20th Century. A historic page-turner! -- Mike Stanton, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of The Prince of Providence and Unbeaten
