A bold inquiry into ethics & philosophy. In lucid & engaging prose, Jeremy Campbell shows that, throughout history, the devices of falsehood -- whether simple exaggeration, pretense, or barefaced lies -- have always been hard to resist & easy to employ. Campbell argues that deception can no longer be seen as an artificial, deviant, or even dispensable feature of life; instead, it is a natural, inevitable, & relentlessly necessary part of our world. In its vast cope & fluid integration of a multitude of disciplines & ideas, this volume is a daring inquiry into the nature of deception & its place in our cultural heritage. Unsettling & highly original, it promises to provoke renewed interest & debate about truth & ethics.