The Lie About the Truck: Survivor, Reality TV, and the Endless Gaze

(Hardback)

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The author of the acclaimed Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) brings her singular sensibility, her genius for language, her love of our deeply imperfect world (Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women) to this insightful exploration of reality TV and the shifting definitions of truth in America.

What is the truth

In a world of fake news and rampant conspiracy theories, the nature of truth has increasingly blurry borders. In this clever and timely cultural commentary, award-winning author Sallie Tisdale tackles this issue by framing it in a familiar wayreality TV, particularly the long-running CBS show Survivor.

With humor and in-depth superfan analysis, Tisdale explores the distinction between suspended disbelief and true authenticity both in how we watch shows like Survivor, and in how we perceive the world around us. With her bold and wise, galvanizing and grounding (Chloe Caldwell, author of Ill Tell You in Person) writing, Tisdale has created an unputdownable, thoroughly entertaining, and groundbreaking book that we will be talking about for years to come.

Reviews

An extensive study ofSurvivorthat argues that reality television as a whole is both a performed realityby the stars of the showand a perceived reality by its avid audience As a breezy roundup of Survivors melodrama, the book succeeds Light and diverting.--Library Journal
A fascinating exploration of the enduring attraction and success of the greatest social experiment on television What her sharp observations reveal is that parsing truth from perception is a fools errand This fascinating study will be like candy for fans of the show and pop culture enthusiasts alike.--Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Sallie Tisdale is the author of several books, includingAdvice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love them),Violation,Talk Dirty to Me,Stepping Westward, andWomen of the Way. She has received a Pushcart Prize, an NEA Fellowship, the James D. Phelan Literary Award, and was selected for the Shoenfeldt Distinguished Visiting Writer Series. Her work has appeared inHarpers,The New Yorker,The Threepenny Review,The Antioch Review,Conjunctions, andTricycle. In addition to her award-winning writing career, Tisdale has been a nurse for many years, including a decade in palliative care. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at SallieTisdale.com.