In honor of Personal History month, we took a look at some famous memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, works of historical fiction and hoaxes. Hard to believe it, but not all diaries and journals are authentic and not all historical figures were real people. Many talented authors have inserted fictional characters into specific historical events or social circumstances to tell a story or build support for a societal problem. This is information they share with their readers in the introduction or the afterward, but what about those unscrupulous individuals who try to pass their work off as actual historical documents? Test your knowledge of these books and identify each title as an Actual Account (A), Fictional Account (F) or a Hoax (H).
____The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
____ Nella Last’s War: The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49
____ Journals: Captain Scott’s Last Expedition
____ Go Ask Alice
____ The Diary of a Young Girl
____ The Lacuna
____ Dear Dumb Diary
____ The Diary of Samuel Pepys
____ Hitler Diaries
____ Conversations with Myself
____ Diary
____The Diary of Lena Mukhina
____ A Journal of the Plague Year
____ The Color Purple
____ The Diary of Jack the Ripper
____ My Life in France
____ Diary of a Madman
____ The Missing Secret Diary of Admiral Byrd
____ Lucky Man
____ Night