Reader Reviews

 “The sheer detail of Hyde’s exegesis is impressive and reveals point by point, the contradictions, factual errors and shoddy work … Hyde’s methodical research reveals the sheer perfidious mendacity of the British establishment faced by a formidable enemy. Historians move slowly and it has taken them a generation to accept the diaries are forged.”

 “Anatomy of a lie is a forensic analysis that not only demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt how Casement’s so-called black diaries are forgeries but also undermines the credibility of virtually all the established literature on this topic. Before reading this book I believed I had an elementary grasp of Casement’s treason and the significance of the issues that flowed from it. Paul Hyde’s enlightening book has made me realize I couldn’t have been more wrong. [It] totally overturns all we thought we knew.”

 “It is an amazing book and long overdue.”

“It’s a fine piece of scholarship in a fine style. What impressed me was the detail, the overwhelming detail (from Casement’s time up to McCormack’s ‘examination’) that demolishes the legitimacy of the Black Diaries; it’s definitive, unanswerable. I really enjoyed the manner in which the book was written, the style and structure; it’s been a while since I’ve appreciated something like that in an academic work.”

“… you have made a strong case for an impartial committee of historians, legal experts and concerned citizens to look again in an open-minded way at the evidence you have produced. The apparent contradictions which you have identified in various official and semi-official documents seem glaring enough to warrant further investigation.” 

“I’ve just finished reading ANATOMY OF A LIE, a superbly argued demolition of the propaganda surrounding Casement and The Black Diaries. I marvel at the cosy compliance of so many academic historians, Irish as well as British, with the powers that be.”

“It’s very detailed scholarship – and I think you make a persuasive case for your argument – I was certainly persuaded.”

“In Anatomy Of A Lie Paul Hyde deals in detail with all the contradictory accounts of the provenance of the diaries, the motives behind their creation, and also sets out the methodology of how a variety of authors have sought to authenticate the diaries. The response of those in a position to attempt a rebuttal would be interesting. Hyde poses 22 reasonable questions (pp 17-19) that would need satisfactory answers, to allay suspicions that the diaries are forgeries and he establishes that no satisfactory answers have been provided to these questions. It is a must read for anyone interested in the subject or indeed on how a controversial historical issue should be approached.”

“From a legal point of view the forensic and yet simple analysis was compelling, going to the very core of the issue and laying the evidence clearly before the reader. The research was in my opinion excellent and arguments convincing. I was personally convinced that the author was an unknown person not Casement.”

“I am currently reading your ‘Anatomy of a Lie Decoding Casement’ and am just bewildered by how the wool has been pulled over the eyes of so many academics, historians, and the public about the Black Diaries. Myself included! Well done on such an eye-opening book.” 

“I enjoyed it … it is a very impressive piece of work.” 

“Painful and profound questions about the nature of the state’s self-appended ‘integrity’! Treason is a concept manipulated by the state to suit its own agenda. Most don’t even want to think about truth and the like; the poet-exile Heine said it about the colonial ‘United’ kingdom as long ago as 1850. A most laudable undertaking of Mr. Hyde, to question a colonial govt. Most thought-provoking project, thank you, one that fully deserves to be in libraries and bookshops.” 

“What a book! a ‘tour-de-force’ – an utterly convincing ‘game-changer’ at last. You haven’t held back on showing up previous ‘researchers’ for what they are – propagandists. Serve them right. A job thoroughly well done. Goodbye authenticity. You deserve a medal.” 

“Fascinating. … held me spellbound. Your critical analysis exceeds what I fancied was my own above average ability in that endeavor. I believe you have written a most objective and unbiased work that is impeccable in its forensic thesis.” 

“I was interested in Kossuth and Casement’s father so I find this about the Black Diaries. The story is fascinating and seems a cover up. They will not have real scientific tests as the Hitler diaries which are forgeries. Anatomy of a Lie convinces  the Black Diaries are not genuine.”  

“I have no difficulty with the substance of your argument. You have built a strong and detailed case.”

“The case you make is thoroughly convincing. By the end of the book it was clear to me that there’s now a need for a new telling of the last few years of Casement’s life, recast in the light of the findings of your book.” 

“It is fascinating and scholarly. I am convinced the black diaries were … a mix of original entries … and interpolations by British secret service.”

“Your book certainly gets into the complexity of how this story has been faked for so long. The distortions and lies are enough to convince anyone of forgery. The fact that there is no evidence for the actual existence of the diaries in that period is, in my opinion, sufficient proof. Who needs more?”

“For too many years, we have lived with the falsified diaries; the lies and deceit are now comprehensively dispelled.  At last we have clarity which shows how the story has been manipulated for decades in order to cover up the fact that there is no evidence for the diaries in 1916.  I think this book will end the controversy about the diaries.” 

“In this bracing attack on the alleged authenticity of the famous “Black Diaries”, Paul Hyde uses a rare but effective weapon to skewer opponents: logic. Anyone interested in the tragic heroism of Roger Casement, and the disgraceful traducing of his name, will be riveted. With a brisk and readable style, Hyde shines a harsh light on all the apologists for the authenticity of the diaries. I found Anatomy of a lie immensely readable, eye-opening, and like having a very well-informed interlocutor dismantle the previous received wisdom on these scurrilous confections, as Hyde depicts them.”

“Like most people I believed the diaries were genuine because that’s what I’d read over the years. But this book opened my eyes. The other stuff published on the Black Diaries can now go in the trashcan.” 

“… very convincing. Your clarity and logic are first rate. I have no doubt of the importance of what you’ve done. I find your reasoning and clarity immensely helpful. I wish this had been published a decade ago.”

“Yours is a sustained, first-rate effort to which I wish to do justice.”

“I spend my time writing about the dark deeds committed by Western governments in countries which regard them as their friends. I expose facts the mainstream media will not touch, not because they are not true, but because they are, and would lead a reporter down a very dangerous path if pursued.

Your analysis of the Black Diaries is entirely consistent with known government and semi-official practice of the material time (for example, the forgeries of the Zinoviev Letter and the Declaration of Patriarch Tikhon) and of today (check out the death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and the official conclusions of that investigation). They ring true as part of a pattern drawn from a standard playbook. The contrary conclusions do not have that same authenticity, in my view, as they are too reminiscent of false statements made on similar questions by the same governmental authorities.

I therefore feel that your analysis is credible, and that Roger Casement was an obvious victim of such behaviour as he had come to similar conclusions about the operations of the government he served.”