‘Fiction’ warning slapped on anti-China book by Trump adviser Peter Navarro, as ‘Death by China’ source revealed to be author’s pseudonym
- Publisher issues alert after fake quote controversy engulfs president’s ‘China muse’
- Book came under renewed scrutiny following report that one of its sources does not exist
A key source quoted frequently by US President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser and anti-China author Peter Navarro has been outed as a fake and reprints of his book Death by China will contain a publisher’s warning that it contains a fictional character.
The book, which accuses China of currency manipulation, deliberately harming Americans with dangerous consumer goods and a laundry list of other accusations came under renewed scrutiny this week following a report that one of its sources does not exist.
All reprints of Navarro’s supposedly non-fiction Death by China will “alert” readers that the Harvard-educated economist Ron Vara quoted within its pages is faked, according to Pearson, which owns the book’s publisher, Prentice Hall.
The move follows a report by The Chronicle Review citing Death by China’s co-author Greg Autry, that Vara was actually Navarro’s “alter ego” and a fictionalised “everyman character”.
“Pearson has strict editorial standards that apply to all of its publishing businesses and authors,” Scott Overland, Pearson’s director of media relations, said in an emailed response to the South China Morning Post.