Although the best-known media-fueled hoax of the early 20th century was the 1938 Orson Welles radio drama of a Martian invasion, the first incident was actually the London Riot hoax, which began with a realistic English radio play broadcast in 1926. In this work for general readers middle school and up, former broadcast journalist Bartholomew and Radford, editor of The Skeptical Inquirer, investigate the truth behind scares fueled either intentionally or accidentally by the media, from radio days to the organ theft scares and satanic panics of the present. The cases (most from the US) shed light on the nature of the media, which is ultimately a business aimed at selling a product. The book is illustrated with b&w photos. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)