As someone who this book was targeted at (I grew up in the seventies and graduated high school in 1981) I was part of the generation Go Ask Alice was targeted at. All of the girls in my school had either this book or Flowers in the Attic in their purses. Even by the late seventies there were rumblings that the “diary” was fictitious, although they were often shouted down by educators and religious leaders. It also brought in a deluge of good to horrible made for TV movies like Go Ask Alice, Sarah T, and The Boy Who Drank Too Much that we were stuck watching for health class. And it never stopped anyone I knew from drinking or doing drugs…

Had to read Go Ask Alice in 7th grade. Even then I was skeptical about it.  Lo and behold.... 😆. And the details behind Jay's Journal and how she handled that we're absolutely despicable.

I ran into Unmask Alice while browsing in King's Books in Tacoma. What a gem. I read it all the way home on the bus.
I was especially impressed that he mentioned the notorious Wenatchee case here in my state of Washington. As a boomer, I was also subjected to some of what passed for drug education in the 60s and early 70s. It didn't seem to occur to anybody to present something that was actually science-based.
I realize that some people had issues with Emerson's approach to citations. Others disliked his writing style, which sometimes sounds like a radio DJ, because that's what he is. The chapter titles are song titles.
In general, though, I think it's very important that generations not old enough to remember the Satanic Panic learn about it, and understand how easy it is for something like that to happen. Since a lot of our leaders are also conspiracy-minded, we can't always rely on them to use critical thinking.

I was in high school in the early 70s. I'm convinced that the reason so much of what passed for drug education in that era was so substandard was that these communities, especially the small rural ones in the heartland, didn't know what hit them. The mostly WWII generation teachers, parents and law enforcement hadn't seen anything like this before. Even doctors might not have known as much as they ought to have. This is why parents did things like put their teenagers in adult mental institutions.
I found this out when I volunteered for a crisis center in a small city in the Rocky Mountain west in the late 70s. By this time, people were better-inforned, but when the crisis center had been founded in the late 60s, even law enforcement was largely clueless, and they needed all the help they could get. The crisis center's own drug education material was very good, I thought--science-based, no preaching, condescension, scare stories or urban legends, just facts.

Such an eloquent review! Which is rather hard when you are so excited about the subject. My mom had me read Go Ask Alice as a teen and said her high school had made it a required read at the time for her; so it was really interesting that you spoke about how banned it was. It is also interesting, and maybe they have but I just haven’t read the book, they made no mention of the other “journals” she was a part of. Iirc there are 7 in total and Dr. Sparks’ self appointed and ever changing credentials eventually seem to settle on a PhD.

West Memphis 3 was the 90's. Great vid though.

I definitely want to read this.  I read go ask Alice in middle school, Jay's journal and it happened to Nancy in high school.  I always had questions about them and the other books by Beatrice sparks and this might clear some of it up. This was a great review.

I need to read that book " chaos"

Read Poisoner in Chief by Stephen Kinzer

I loved Go Ask Alice. The title is brilliant, and as an adolescent, it made me want to do MORE drugs, which I did. For many years.

I did a review of this book too, and I've done so many blog posts and videos ripping apart "Dr." Sparks's propagandistic garbage.  Right now I'm working on a series about everything wrong with It Happened to Nancy, which I was fooled by as a teenager.  I hate that fraud so much!  It's so obvious she was the true author of all of these books, since the writing style is exactly the same, and her characters all sound like conservative Mormons instead of modern teens.  Even the supposedly Catholic Nancy's diary is full of Mormon language!

Thanks for the video ❤ I lived through most of this , you got it right.

Great review! My copy came today.

Well, I'm currently listening to the Audible of Unmask Alice. Haven't checked when the audiobook was released, but not only is there one, but I'm pretty sure I picked it up as an Audible Daily Deal for like 3 - 5 dollars. I picked it up either as a Daily Deal or it was on sale. I also really liked O'Neal's Chaos (also have the audiobook). I do like a book where you can kind of go down rabbit holes on the Internet. This book does not disappoint. On one hand, it all makes me kind of mad that "moral" people lie so much. But on the other hand, I have to admit to getting a good laugh at reading the reviews of Jay's Journal on Amazon and seeing the people that believed it be totally true versus the people who called it out for being a fraud. That religious people lie a lot is one thing, but it is a little unnerving how much of the press took Sparks' books at face value. It's not that I'm so naive about the press, of course I know they lie from time to time. One might think that the New York Times would put a little more thought into things, though. Anything to make a buck. And with that, if I had to summarize all of this in one sentence, it would be:  moral people lie for money.

80's child here. I grew up surrounded by people who warned me about satanism. you can bet Jay's Journal was on everyone's lips.  Funny thing, some people were afraid to read it in case they suddenly got possessed by evil spirits.

I felt so sorry for Alice

Patches! I love listening to you articulate your thoughts. I’ve found so many macabre/morbid books because of you and the book club!
🤍

One other thing. I didn't watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer during its initial run, but I have watched the series a couple of times in the last couple of years. It is almost like they used Jay's Journal as a script (minus the drugs). Almost every time I watch an episode, I find myself amazed that the show ever got made, especially given its target audience. I can't help but think that the writers involved weren't lampooning some of the Satanic Panic.

There is in fact a West German Book called "The Children of the Zoo Station" by Christiane F. that has a similar story than go ask Alice .... except Christiane is real - maybe Americans should read that instead.
It is also interesting how differently West Germany reacted as there was barely a moral panic but people focused on terrorism instead - as the Story happened around the German autumn.

I really enjoy Jay's Journal...
But reading it I was able to identify the lies.
Mainly,IF...IF ANYONE feels they are possessed ' or surrounded by negative energy,buy White Sage and burn it...and order the energy OUT of your space.
Just like blocking people  you can block energy.
If you feel heavy negative energy ,burn White Sage,Pray and block.
It can't hurt you if you don't allow it to.