Fact or Fiction: Lies & Exaggerations in Books

When I attended school & college, I learned that when writing, "facts" were substantiated with real proof and "fiction" was hearsay or made up. It seems authors and editors are having a hard time recognizing the difference, and the public is being misled. Remember James Frey and Oprah? (go to http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html if you've forgotten). Or the woman claiming to be a holocaust victim who lived with wolves? (see it at http://forums.buddytv.com/lost-off-topic/65709-author-lies-about-being-holocaust-survivor-living-wolves.html) So here comes a "non-fiction" (defined at http://www.allwords.com/word-non-fiction.html, among other places on the web) book that, due to bulk ordering, will automatically be placed on the NYTimes #1 bestseller list. Ok, you didn't know that the bestseller list is based on the number of books ordered, not the number of books sold to consumers? Yet, even before it hits the stacks, it's already been vetted to be inaccurate (http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/search_results?qstring=corsi). On top of that, the author contradicts his own book. I'm referring to Jerome Corsi, also infamous for his attacks on Kerry in '04. In his own words, “‘The goal is to defeat Obama,’ Mr. Corsi said in a telephone interview. ‘I don’t want Obama to be in office.’” I hope Borders & B&N place the book firmly in the Fiction Section and consumers, instead of buying the book, read what they need in their in-store cafes. It apparently isn't worth the paper it's written on.