The Lifespan of a Fact

John D'Agata
808.02 Dag

A brilliant and eye-opening meditation on the relationship between “truth” and “accuracy” and a penetrating conversation about whether it is appropriate for a writer to substitute one for the other.—Publisher



"A fascinating work about the nature of truth and how it fits into nonfiction vs an essay. Written with text dialogue between author, fact checker, and editors surrounding the 'essay' in dispute."—Submitted by Matt! N., Community and Customer Engagement Assistant Manager


Bicentennial Staff Picks

  • The House at Pooh Corner


  • Foucault's Pendulum


  • The Woman in White


  • War and Peace


  • Gilead


  • Dietland


  • Fables. 8, Wolves


  • Ecology of a Cracker Childhood


  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said


  • Cry, Heart, But Never Break


  • The Blue Sword


  • Fog Island


  • Persepolis


  • Warrior of the Wild


  • Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World


  • The Shell Seekers


  • Watchmen


  • Illuminatus! Trilogy


  • Cinder


  • The Rest is Noise


  • His Majesty's Dragon


  • Matter : a Culture novel


  • Through a Life


  • Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems & Drawings of Shel Silverstein


  • Snotgirl Vol. 1


  • Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste


  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone


  • Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid


  • The Story of Ferdinand


  • Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker


  • To Kill A Mockingbird


  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking


  • Riddley Walker


  • My Name is Asher Lev


  • The Quilter's Apprentice


  • Growth of the Soil


  • The Room : A Novel


  • Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?


  • Tropic of Cancer


  • What is the What


  • Figuring


  • Strange Planet


  • X'ed Out


  • Their Eyes Were Watching God


  • Little Bear


  • A Little Princess


  • Catch 22


  • The Mistress of Spices


  • Taproot : a story about a gardener and a ghost


  • Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow


  • True Grit


  • Unterzakhn


  • The Diary of a Young Girl


  • The Go-Between


  • The Travelling Cat Chronicles


  • Big Sur


  • The Licanius Trilogy


  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


  • Star Wars : from a certain point of view : 40 stories celebrating 40 years of Star Wars


  • Mouse Guard: Fall 1152


  • Chloe's Vegan Desserts


  • Six Seasons


  • Know My Name: A Memoir


  • Oreo


  • Copper Beach


  • In Full Color


  • The Shipping News


  • Simulacra and Simulation


  • The Friend


  • Station Eleven


  • The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy


  • The Far Field


  • One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish


  • The Color Monster


  • East of Eden


  • My Brother's Husband, Vol. 1


  • A Study in Scarlet Women


  • Clear and Present Danger


  • The Raven Boys


  • The Music Lesson


  • The King's Stilts


  • Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction


  • Under the Volcano


  • The Ghost Clause


  • Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art


  • Dune


  • In the Dust of This Planet


  • Anne of Green Gables


  • Communing With The Divine: A Clairvoyant's Guide To Angels, Archangels and the Spiritual Hierarchy


  • Dawn


  • The Clan of the Cave Bear


  • The Life and Art of Felrath Hines : from dark to light


  • Wired


  • Oleanna


  • The Master and Margarita


  • A Clockwork Orange


  • The Jordan Rules


  • The Library


  • Once & Future, Volume 1


  • Cannery Row


  • The Stardust Road


  • Do Fish Sleep?


  • Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey


  • Raintree County


  • Dragon's Merry Christmas


  • The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms


  • Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks


  • Wild Beauty


  • Why You Like This Photo : the Science of Perception


  • Jane Eyre


  • The Luster of Lost Things


  • Robin


  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


  • Prelude to Bruise


  • The Never Game


  • Birdie and Me


  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine


  • Patriot Games


  • The Essential Tales of Chekhov


  • The Johnstown Flood


  • Rural Free


  • The Snowy Day


  • Wolf Hall


  • Daisy Jones & The Six


  • Castoff: The Strange Adventures of Petra De Winter and Bram


  • Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality


  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time


  • Suttree


  • Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters


  • Look Both Ways : a Tale Told in Ten Blocks


  • Braiding Sweetgrass


  • Giver of Stars


  • On A Sunbeam


  • Life


  • Travels With Charley


  • The Monkey's Raincoat


  • The Snow Child


  • The Road Less Traveled


  • The New Moosewood Cookbook


  • The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath


  • The Stand


  • Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero


  • The Woman in the Dunes


  • Nitro --The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapes of Ted Turner's WCW


  • VALIS


  • Stormy: A Story About Finding a Forever Home


  • The College of Beer : The Story of Nick's English Hut


  • The Lost Coast


  • Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale


  • Near to the Wild Heart


  • The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works


  • Dune Messiah


  • The Lost Words: A Spell Book


  • Ulysses


  • I Know This Much is True


  • The Index Card


  • The Time Traveler's Wife


  • Autobiography of an Execution


  • Parable of the Sower


  • The Last Wish


  • Me Talk Pretty One Day


  • Hawkeye omnibus


  • The Eye of Minds


  • The Chronicles of Amber


  • Siddhartha


  • Sunny


  • I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness


  • Slaughterhouse Five


  • The Wild Robot


  • The Pirate Coast


  • The Brothers Karamazov


  • Three Things About Elsie


  • Running with Sherman


  • Providence


  • The Girl From Rawblood


  • Spoon River Anthology


  • Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945


  • The Lifespan of a Fact


  • The Universe in a Nutshell


  • The Murderer's Ape


  • The Goldfinch


  • Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years


  • The Word Is Murder


  • The Silmarillion


  • The Charterhouse of Parma


  • The Lord of the Rings


  • Foundryside


  • Naked Lunch


  • Feeling Sorry for Celia


  • Four Novels of the 1940s & 50s


  • Pretty Deadly, Volume One: The Shrike


  • Dealing with Dragons


  • Dark of the Moon


  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City


  • My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book One


  • Hopscotch


  • Dangerous Laughter


  • The Little Prince


  • Dragon Bound


  • Lost Horizon