The Famous Plagiarists Project Homepage: Ongoing Research in Plagiarology (please feel free to plagiarize or otherwise help yourself to this new term)

Welcome to the official website of the Famous Plagiarists research project and the official command-and-control station for the War on Plagiarism. Currently a "work-in-progress" to carry out strategic threat-level-analyses as part of the War on Plagiarism, the not-necessarily-final project results will be featured in the forthcoming book version of Famous Plagiarists (inquiries currently underway to obtain a publisher--any author profits to be used for ongoing research to profile and publicize famous cases of plagiarism).

About the Project: Cataloging the Top Offenders

Much has been written to pontificate on the evils of plagiarism. Any scholar with the usual gift for scholarly gab can philosophize eloquently on the subject, particularly when there seem to be so many unanswered questions about the nature of authorship, the cultural implications of textual “ownership”, and other such quibbles involving the minutiae and micro-dissection of the theories underpinning our understanding of what it actually means to 'plagiarize'.

“But where is a quick and easy guide for publicly naming and cataloging the top offenders?” I wondered just a short time before beginning this work on Famous Plagiarists. “Where could one find an easily-accessible list of plagiarists and the profiles of their crimes?” I realized then that no such resource had yet been published, and it also became apparent that it really wouldn’t be all that difficult of a project to put together given enough time for the detective work needed to collate the supporting documentation and to write up a profile for each ‘famous plagiarist’ deserving of recognition. That some of the more well-known characters profiled in this work were actually plagiarists came as quite a shock, even after years of studying the subject!

It just goes to show that even the best authors—including some of our most (in)famous writers, politicians, scientists, civil rights activists, science fiction authors, theologians, musicians, historians, and even international terrorists—are not above stealing the words and ideas of others. The author of a work on Famous Plagiarists has many accused plagiarists from which to choose: civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; science fiction author H.G. Wells; Jayson Blair; Jack Kelley; Jack London; Benjamin Franklin; Bruno Bettelheim; Mark Twain; Dan Brown; Edgar Allan Poe; Bruce Springsteen; T.S. Eliot; Doris Kearns Goodwin; Stephen Ambrose; Helen Keller; Iris Chang; Albert Einstein; international arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden; Madonna; Joseph Smith; Joe Biden; Ward Churchill; Al Gore . . . the list of “alleged” plagiarists goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and then on even quite a bit more !

For such a work as this it would be tempting to report these results under the guise of a pseudonym. One pseudonym I considered early on was Don T. Steale, but on second thought, I wondered, “Why should I be the one to hide behind a pseudonym for publicly naming plagiarists for what they are?” It seems quite clear that plagiarists are the ones with something to hide, namely their deceitful use of another’s hard work for their own selfish gain. I therefore decided against a pseudonym in favor of standing behind the research in this work using my own name, albeit with a very important disclaimer. Since this decision I’ve also come to wonder whether this choice might invite retaliation from the ranks of the accused. What kinds of slander, barbs, denials, legal threats, and propaganda would plagiarists, their lawyers, their agents and their followers direct my way? “I’ll take that chance,” I further resolved. The work must go on. Plagiarists must be confronted!

In this ongoing investigation of Famous Plagiarists as part of the broader War on Plagiarism, it may well be that deserving plagiarists have inadvertently been omitted. It might also be the case that newly discovered information reduces the culpability of a profiled plagiarist—or even exonerates him or her of the crime. In such cases, profiles will be modified accordingly. However, the chance of a person's being mistakenly included in this work remains a rather slim one. More likely than not, there are many more plagiarists out there who deserve to be included in these profiles, but their plagiarism has not yet come to light . . . it awaits the moment of discovery. In due course of time such discovery will be made. Plagiarists will be found out! New profiles in plagiarism will be created and made known to the public, mug shots and all.

The Mark of the Plagiarazzi

In Thomas Mallon’s widely read and influential book on plagiarism, Stolen Words, a call was made for a “mark” to be applied to plagiarists. Famous Plagiarists is somewhat of an answer to that call, a "mark" having been specially developed for this purpose--the mark of the Plagiarazzi--

"P" is for Plagiarist. "P" is for studies in plagiarology. "P" also represents Postructuralist Hypocrisy which hypocritically ignores the moral culpability involved in issues such as plagiarism involving very real and alive authors. Postructuralist absurdities such as the "Death of the Author" construct simply do not hold up to close analysis and criticism. If the Author is dead--murdered by French poststructuralists--does that mean that plagiarism is now acceptable? Can plagiarists freely help themselves to the texts which previously belonged to an author? I think not!

The fact is that the Author is not dead. He has made a “sly and spectral return” according to critics of Sean Burke’s well-received treatise on The Death and Return of the Author. This recognition of the Author’s return must spell the end of the love affair which American academia has had with the French poststructuralist views on authorship. It is time to recognize “Death of the Author” ideology for what it truly is: “the leading poststructuralists were cunning hypocrites whose tortured syntax and encrustations of jargon concealed the moral culpability of their and their parents’ generations in Nazi France" (Camille Paglia in “What I Hate About Foucault”). This project will explore the moral culpability of the French Poststructuralists who originated the absurd notion that the "Death of the Author" has occurred. It will also investigate the notion that authorship has somehow become passé, démodé--a particularly untenable line of thought which has had a "disastrous influence" (C. Paglia) on American scholarship. American scholars certainly cannot place all the blame with the French Postructuralists for what has been called the "The Cheating Crisis in America’s Schools” (Primetime Live. ABC News 20/20 report). Yet there does seem to be a connection between the moral ambiguity of French Postructuralism and the seeming moral nonchalance exhibited by many members of academia when it comes to plagiarism (just as many though who are very concerned about the plagiarism phenomenon--see the signatures on the Google plagiarism petition).

A Riposte to "The Death of the Author"

In this riposte to "Death of the Author" ideology, the moral culpability of plagiarists will be profiled in full public view. As Mallon wrote, “The sanction most feasible and most just is the ironic one: publication. Get the word out on the persistent offender” (p. 237). This is exactly what Famous Plagiarists will do—get the word out on plagiarists. It will publicize the fact that plagiarism remains a dishonorable, lowly, deceitful, and deplorable act of common thievery and deliberate mis-representation. It doesn’t matter that countless cheatsites on the Web these days collaborate with and cater to the baser instincts of cheats and plagiarists. Plagiarism is still very much a wrong thing to do whatever the temptations and current circumstances.

People knew plagiarism was wrong several thousand years ago back in the days of the Roman Empire. It was then that the Latin word plagiarius —from which we get our modern day English word plagiarism—seems to have first been used to refer to the pilfering of another author’s words and ideas. The Roman poet Martial accused another poet named Fidentinus of kidnapping his slaves. Not his literal slaves, but the words which were the poetic servants of his imagination. As is so often the case with plagiarists, it was evident to onlookers that Fidentinus was unskillfully parroting the words of a better poet. Fidentinus was a plagiarius who had kidnapped someone else’s very words and ideas. And like many modern plagiarists, he had great difficulty in disguising for very long the fact of this kidnapping.

This “kidnapping” imagery associated with plagiarism seems to surface regularly with many modern cases of plagiarism (including the "kidnapping" of robots too!--see the case involving the famous robot Boilerplate). Taking something which belongs to somebody else is almost universally recognized as being a socially unacceptable form of behavior. And the “stealing” or “kidnapping” of an actual person is a much more serious crime than the theft of a material object. Taking the crime of kidnapping a step further, poststructuralists have been implicated in the (attempted) murder of the Author. Forcible abductions and murder ! These are the textual crimes against the Author associated with plagiarists and their collaborators.

Taking the thoughts and writings of someone else and pretending them to be your own—it doesn’t require too much common sense or scholarly analysis to see why this shouldn’t be done.

I invite readers to study these profiles in plagiarism and arrive at conclusions of their own. The Return of the Author is underway . . .

Coming soon--indexed links to more profile overviews (as these are completed) for famous cases of plagiarism in the categories listed to the left at top of page.

Founding Editor of the new scholarly journal

Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification

Dr. J.P. Lesko, Plagiarologist
(please feel free to plagiarize or otherwise help yourself to this new term)

Saginaw Valley State University
Department of English
7400 Bay Road
University Center, MI 48710
USA

***Suggestions, comments, and criticisms of this work in progress are welcome. Please direct any correspondence to the email address above. The research in plagiarology reported on this website represents the individual work of John P. Lesko and readers are reminded that all of the famous plagiarists featured in this webspace remain “alleged plagiarists”, the documented allegations having been made by others in the professional literature and/or popular media. Although Dr. Lesko is a professor at Saginaw Valley State University, the Famous Plagiarists Research Project represents the individual research of John P. Lesko, plagiarologist, and SVSU accepts no responsibility for the content of these pages. Comments or questions should be directed to Dr. Lesko***

About the Researcher: How the Interest in Plagiarology Began

For over a decade now, since 1993 to be precise, Dr. John P. Lesko has been researching the issues surrounding The Dynamics of Derivative Writing. This interest began with a small project for a graduate level course at Bowling Green State University. His interest in plagiarism led Dr. Lesko to formulate a research project at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he completed his PhD in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics on a full scholarship (Overseas Research Studentship and a University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Studentship). His thesis on The Dynamics of Derivative Writing was accepted by the University of Edinburgh in 2000 after years of extensive research involving interviews, questionnaires, and case study analyses. Dr. Lesko's post-doctoral Famous Plagiarists Research Project was conceived as a way of publicly databasing plagiaristic offenses across disciplines/fields of study as just one component of the broader War on Plagiarism. This project is designed to educate, to critique, and to inform. And it is also designed to further explore issues such as academic integrity, originality, authorship, collaboration, and related topics through making details available on cases of plagiarism involving famous people (inclusive of national, international, and local fame) across disciplines of inquiry and genres of communication.

The Plagiarazzi Files: A Famous Plagiarists Database

(hardcopy version in process of being transferred to online accessible database of Famous Plagiarists--check index for updated list of plagiarist profiles)

Report cases of plagiarism (please provide documentation/citation of allegations) to . . .

email:

Thank you for visiting!

Ask Lesko . . .

Just in case you were wondering. Yes, I am related to Matthew Lesko ! A very, very, very, VERY distant relation, kind of like a long lost cousin or something like that. I wouldn't trust this guy with your $$$ though! And don't stay at his website too long or you're likely to pick up spyware on your computer. Besides that, Lesko is a plagiarist! (click here to read his profile).

Free Money ! ! !

The best things in life are FREE !
(like the info at FamousPlagiarists.com !)

www.lesko.com

(Pay no attention to my crazy cousin . . . he's really gone off his rocker this time. Come on, Matt! Why haven't you offered to share any of the dough with me and the rest of the family?)

Ask Lesko . . . Ask Matthew Lesko about $$$ (at your own risk!)

Ask Dr. Lesko about plagiarism!

Search WWW Search famousplagiarists.com

back to top

Disclaimer: All of the famous plagiarists featured in this webspace remain “alleged plagiarists”, the documented allegations having been made by others in the professional literature and/or the popular media. Further details relating to these allegations will be forthcoming in the book edition of Famous Plagiarists. Although Dr. Lesko is a professor at Saginaw Valley State University, the Famous Plagiarists Research Project represents the individual research of John P. Lesko, plagiarologist, and SVSU accepts no responsibility for the content of these pages. Comments or questions should be directed to