Thanks to the concerted efforts of Russian troll farms, extremist TV pundits, and self-fashioned Internet "prophets," Americans have found themselves unable to distinguish fact from fiction-and that's the way would-be authoritarian leaders want it.

As America grapples with the Big Lie and the future of democracy hangs in the balance, A Firehose of Falsehood takes us through history to showcase how dictators and kings have used different methods of disinformation to disenfranchise the public and consolidate power. Using examples from as far back as 522 BCE, Teri Kanefeld and Pat Dorian lushly illustrate how tenuous humanity's relationship with the truth has always been-and then show us how we can beat back the lies.