How do you trap someone in a lie? For centuries, all manner of
truth-seekers have used the lie detector. In this eye-opening book,
Geoffrey C. Bunn unpacks the history of this device and explores the
interesting and often surprising connection between technology and
popular culture.
Lie detectors and other truth-telling machines are deeply embedded in
everyday American life. Well-known brands such as Isuzu, Pepsi Cola, and
Snapple have advertised their products with the help of the "truth
machine," and the device has also appeared in countless movies and
television shows. The Charles Lindbergh "crime of the century" in 1935
first brought lie detectors to the public's attention. Since then, they
have factored into the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment
controversy, the Oklahoma City and Atlanta Olympics bombings, and one of
the most infamous criminal cases in modern memory: the O. J. Simpson
murder trial. The use of the lie detector in these instances brings up
many intriguing questions that Bunn addresses: How did the lie detector
become so important? Who uses it? How reliable are its results? Bunn
reveals just how difficult it is to answer this last question. A lie
detector expert concluded that O. J. Simpson was "one hundred percent
lying" in a video recording in which he proclaimed his innocence; a
tabloid newspaper subjected the same recording to a second round of
evaluation, which determined Simpson to be "absolutely truthful."
Bunn finds fascinating the lie detector's ability to straddle the realms
of serious science and sheer fantasy. He examines how the machine
emerged as a technology of truth, transporting readers back to the
obscure origins of criminology itself, ultimately concluding that the
lie detector owes as much to popular culture as it does to factual
science.
