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The Guy Who Lied For A Living

The handsome chief of the Canadian Cherokee had it all: good looks, a great story, and lots of money.  Oh, and one other thing: his story was a complete fabrication. 

"Chief White Elk" was really Edgar Laplante, a grifter and vaudeville performer who upped his game by pretending to be someone and something he wasn't.  And people in the celebrity-obsessed culture of the 1910s and 20s bought it. 

The building and busting of Laplante's myth is told in the book King Con: The Bizarre Adventures of the Jazz Age's Greatest Imposter.  Author Paul Willetts pieced the story together; he is our guest, by phone from the UK. 
 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.