Book excerpt: We have entered a ‘post-truth era’, in which, Daniel J. Boorstin notes, ‘believability’ has become an acceptable substitute for ‘truth’, and ‘manifold deceptions of our culture’ are difficult to separate from ‘its few enduring truths’. In this era, communities and individuals may feel routinely duped, cheated or betrayed. Though truth may be considered intrinsically valuable, deception may sometimes be useful or necessary. Sometimes there is pleasure in the spectacle of deception. The essays in this volume address a variety of areas, coming from different disciplines and methodological approaches: what unites them is the notion of deception. Deception is not just one thing: it can be used for personal liberation and expression; it can be use as a tool of state oppression and sometimes it is purely entertainment. We encounter deception every day of our lives: these essays explore some the ways in which we do.