The spinster & the prophet

By A. B. McKillop

Subjects: Literary forgeries and mystifications, World history, Wells, h. g. (herbert george), 1866-1946, New York Times reviewed, Historiography, Plagiarism, Impostors and imposture, History, Wells, H. G. 1866-1946

Description: "Did H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, plagiarize the book that made his fortune?" "Published in 1920 at the peak of his career, the Outline of History was a sweeping chronicle of the world. A departure for Wells, who was best known for his autobiographical fiction and futuristic fantasy, The Outline became his bestselling book ever.". "Two years earlier, Florence Deeks, a "spinster" and amateur student of history, sent a similar work to Wells's North American publisher. Deeks intended to set the record straight by writing the first feminist history of the world. Her finished manuscript, which the publisher kept for eight months and returned in a dogeared condition, was ultimately rejected and never published.". "Upon publication of Wells's massive opus (1,324 pages), which he completed in a miraculous eighteen months, Deeks discovered similarities between the two texts. The books had matching structures, scopes, and even contained identical factual errors and omissions." "H.G. Wells, a known philanderer, usually had his way with women - not so with Florence Deeks. In 1925 Deeks launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Wells, claiming that in an act of "literary piracy," he had plagiarized her manuscript.". "From accounts of their contrasting lives, personal memoirs, and the courtroom transcript - where Deeks fought her case of plagiarism - McKillop weaves the story like a legal thriller. The Spinster and the Prophet is not only about a citizen's day in court, but about who is entitled to write history and who is not."--BOOK JACKET.