Go Ask Alice
The 1971 book marketed as a real teenager's drug diary, credited to Anonymous. It is now documented as the work of Beatrice Sparks.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- 1971
- Form
- Novels
- Authorship
- Revealed: Beatrice Sparks
- Attribution source
- Wikidata P50 (Q2533572); Wikipedia note
- How it came out
- authorship documented through copyright records and reporting
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Undetermined
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
Go Ask Alice was published in 1971 as the authentic diary of a fifteen year old girl destroyed by drugs, credited to Anonymous, and it became one of the best selling paperbacks of its era and a fixture of banned-book lists. The anonymity was presented as protecting a dead girl's family. The documented record tells a different story: copyright registration and subsequent reporting establish Beatrice Sparks, a Mormon youth counselor, as its author, and the book as constructed rather than found. Sparks produced further 'anonymous diaries' on the same model. The case is anonymity as marketing, and its unraveling is part of publishing history.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Go Ask Alice?
Go Ask Alice was published anonymously and is documented as the work of Beatrice Sparks. (authorship documented through copyright records and reporting). Source: Wikidata P50 (Q2533572); Wikipedia note.
Can I read Go Ask Alice for free?
No. Go Ask Alice is under copyright, so this site links to buy and borrow options instead of reproducing the text.
When was Go Ask Alice published?
Go Ask Alice was published in 1971 without an author’s name.
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