Buzz
Plagiarism, the act of claiming someone else's words or ideas as your own or neglecting to credit their contributions, has been a persistent issue since the dawn of writing. The earliest recorded instance of plagiarism dates back to the poet Martial in the first century AD. Martial was outraged that fellow poets were using his verses without consent and addressed a suspected plagiarist with these words:
If you wish them to be known as mine, I’ll gladly send you the poems at no cost. But if you desire them to be yours, purchase this one, so they no longer belong to me.
Despite advancements in plagiarism detection, writers, journalists, and even political candidates continue to attempt passing off others' work as their own. Here are ten individuals who were caught in the act.
10. The Romance Novelist
Cristiane Serruya, once a celebrated romance novelist, faced allegations in 2019 of plagiarizing not just one but numerous other authors. Reports claimed she replicated entire passages verbatim from their works.
Courtney Milan was the first to uncover the plagiarism, identifying her own writing in Serruya’s books and sharing her findings on her blog. This revelation sparked a wave of outrage, with other authors discovering their words in Serruya’s novels and taking to social media to expose the theft. The scandal escalated as readers and writers alike scrutinized her books for further instances of copied content.
Before her writing career, Cristiane Serruya had a successful two-decade-long legal career in Brazil. She transitioned to writing, citing her passion for the craft. In under seven years, she published an astonishing 30 novels—a feat that would typically be commendable.
Despite overwhelming evidence of plagiarism, the affected authors faced significant challenges in pursuing legal action due to the complexities and costs of suing someone in a different country.
9. The Chick Lit Author
At just 18 years old in 2006, Kaavya Viswanathan released her first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, an impressive feat for a Harvard undergraduate. The story revolved around a determined young girl striving to gain admission to Harvard, with the book’s tagline asking, “How far would you go for that one thing you’ve always wanted?”
The answer became apparent shortly after the book soared up the bestseller lists, alongside a similar work by Megan McCafferty. This led to inevitable comparisons, which revealed that Viswanathan had copied significant portions of McCafferty’s novel. Investigators at The New York Times identified at least 29 passages that were nearly identical.
Faced with accusations, Kaavya Viswanathan confessed to “unintentional plagiarism.” Her book, which had secured a $500,000 advance, was promptly pulled from publication. Despite the scandal, Viswanathan rebounded quickly, transitioning to a new career in law.
8. The Classicist
Plagiarism is far from a modern phenomenon, but in 1747, William Lauder introduced a unique twist to it that remains unparalleled to this day.
A classical scholar at Edinburgh University, Lauder was reportedly frustrated by his lack of acclaim. Determined to elevate his status, he devised a clever scheme to challenge the legacy of John Milton, the renowned author of Paradise Lost.
Lauder authored a series of essays claiming that the great epic poem was riddled with plagiarized content, filled with borrowed passages. He believed these articles would cement his reputation as a scholar. To support his claims, he inserted lines from Paradise Lost into Latin translations of older texts, hoping to deceive readers into thinking Milton had stolen them.
In his attempt to expose Milton as a plagiarist, Lauder ironically plagiarized Milton’s work, attributing it to earlier authors. However, he failed to account for the fact that the original texts lacked these added lines, and his deceit was quickly uncovered. Forced to confess and apologize, Lauder later dismissed the entire episode as a joke.
This incident did little to advance his academic career, ultimately forcing him to leave academia and take up a new life as a shopkeeper in the West Indies.
7. The Historian
Stephen Ambrose, a renowned historian and bestselling author, faced scrutiny when another historian identified passages from his own work in Ambrose’s book about a World War II bomber pilot. While Ambrose had cited the other writer in his footnotes, he neglected to use quotation marks, making the text appear as his own. Initially dismissed as an oversight, Ambrose apologized, and the matter seemed resolved.
However, this prompted Forbes magazine to investigate further. They uncovered additional instances of unattributed passages from various authors in the same book, as well as similar patterns in his earlier works. When confronted, Ambrose offered a less remorseful explanation, stating, “If I am writing a passage and it includes a story I want to tell, and part of it comes from others’ writing, I simply type it up and include it in a footnote.”
Following the historian’s passing in 2002, accusations surfaced that his acclaimed biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower relied on fabricated interviews and fictionalized encounters. Ambrose claimed to have spent “hundreds of hours” with the former president, even stating he worked in Eisenhower’s office twice a week. However, evidence indicates their meetings totaled no more than five hours, and on several occasions when Ambrose claimed they were together, Eisenhower was elsewhere.
Oh dear.
6. The Doctoral Candidate
Martin Luther King Jr. was undeniably a remarkable figure, but his academic integrity has been questioned. In 1990, it was revealed that significant portions of his doctoral thesis, “A Comparison of the Conception of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman,” were plagiarized. The historian overseeing King’s extensive archives reluctantly confirmed that researchers had identified uncredited ideas, sentences, and entire passages borrowed from other sources.
Typically, when a thesis is found to be plagiarized, the university in question removes it from their library. However, due to the unique circumstances surrounding Dr. King’s legacy, his thesis remains accessible at Boston University. Despite a panel of academics convening to address the issue, they decided against revoking his doctorate.
Dr. King has also been accused of borrowing heavily from another political writer, Archibald Carey Jr., in his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Certain passages bear striking resemblances. Regardless of who said it first, Martin Luther King delivered it with unparalleled impact, inspiring an entire generation.
5. The Conservationist
Jane Goodall, a renowned primatologist, had authored several books on apes before venturing into botany with a book in the early 2010s. A The Washington Post reviewer identified familiar content, and further investigation revealed at least 12 sections copied directly from websites, including Wikipedia.
The issue wasn’t just the absence of proper citations. Many of the sources used were of questionable quality, including one that seemed to be lifted directly from the promotional material of a website selling organic tea.
Goodall attributed the oversight to her “disorganized note-taking habits,” stating, “I suppose I’m not systematic enough.” She acknowledged failing to properly credit her sources and vowed to rectify the errors in the book’s second edition. She also pledged to post a clarification on her blog, though it appears this explanation never materialized.
Perhaps she’s still verifying her sources.
4. The Kid
Can plagiarism ever be justified? Perhaps, in rare cases. Helen Keller, blind and deaf at just 11 years old, penned a story titled “The Frost King,” which was published in a school magazine and later in a journal for educators of the deaf-blind.
Soon after, it was revealed that her story bore a striking resemblance to an earlier work, The Frost Fairies. Keller, who later became a celebrated writer, recounted the incident in her autobiography. She claimed no memory of reading Frost Fairies and never owned the book, but after consulting friends and family, she concluded she might have encountered it during a visit to a friend’s home.
A school “court” was convened to investigate, and after extensive questioning, the jurors were evenly divided on whether she had deliberately plagiarized or experienced “cryptomnesia,” where memories are mistaken for original ideas. The deciding vote favored her, and she was “cleared.” The ordeal deeply affected the young author, leading her to abandon fiction writing due to the challenge of separating her own thoughts from remembered ones.
In 1903, Mark Twain wrote to Helen Keller, commending her work and defending her against plagiarism accusations. He remarked, “As if there’s much in any human expression, spoken or written, except plagiarism!” He argued that art inherently involves borrowing and admitted to unintentionally copying others’ words himself, as he believed the “group of dull, old pirates” who judged her had likely done the same, hypocritically chastising a “kitten” they accused of stealing a “chop.”
Well said, Mr. Twain.
3. The Folklorist
Alex Haley, the celebrated author of the widely acclaimed Roots, gained global recognition for his groundbreaking work on slavery. Released in 1976, Roots became an instant bestseller, inspired a highly popular TV miniseries, and even earned a Pulitzer Prize.
Doubts were raised about the historical accuracy of the book, which claimed to trace the journey of Haley’s ancestor from the Gambia to America as a slave. Haley conceded that certain sections were fictionalized but insisted he had not intentionally included factual inaccuracies. He described the book as “a symbolic representation of a people’s history.”
Haley had previously faced a plagiarism lawsuit, which he won, brought by a respected author who alleged he had copied significant portions of her work. The judge ruled that the similarities were “minor and inconsequential.” However, shortly after the first case concluded, Haley was sued again, this time by Harold Courlander, author of The African, a fictional work, given Courlander’s background as a white writer.
At the trial’s outset, the judge suggested Haley settle, which was hardly a promising sign. Despite this, Haley’s defense team pressed on. During his testimony, Haley firmly denied borrowing any plot or characters from Courlander’s book, asserting that Roots was “the story of [his] own maternal family” spanning seven generations—a claim that seemed definitive.
He also claimed he had never encountered Courlander’s book until after Roots was published. However, he admitted that three brief passages from Courlander’s work had somehow appeared in his book. When pressed for an explanation, Haley speculated that “someone must have provided them to [him]” during his research, possibly one of the student volunteers assisting him.
After six weeks, Haley heeded the judge’s advice and settled the lawsuit with Harold Courlander for an undisclosed sum.
Unfortunately for Haley, the lawsuit was only the start of his problems. It prompted researchers to scrutinize “the story of his maternal family,” revealing scant evidence to support much of his narrative. They concluded it was “highly improbable” that he had accurately identified the village where his ancestor Kunta Kinte was born. By presenting the work as historical fact rather than fiction, Haley’s reputation suffered irreparable damage.
2. The Journalist
Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, authored Merchants of Truth, a book critiquing the “state of modern media” and lamenting the decline in journalistic standards. One might assume she would be immune to plagiarism accusations.
Turns out, that wasn’t the case.
In 2019, allegations surfaced that the book contained at least six instances of unattributed material from other writers, as well as quotes implying interviews with individuals she had never spoken to. Abramson denied plagiarizing but stated she “took the allegations seriously.” Her publishers defended the book as “meticulously sourced” but added they were prepared to collaborate with her on any necessary revisions.
A clear vote of confidence.
Abramson, who taught journalism at Harvard, attributed the mistakes to her disorganized note-taking, explaining that her notes didn’t “align properly.” She eventually admitted to some lapses in attribution but insisted they were minor and unintentional—errors that even a Harvard journalism lecturer might make.
1. The Young Pretender
At just 17, Helene Hegemann released her first novel, captivating the German literary scene. The book earned award nominations and critical acclaim for its raw authenticity. Hegemann became a media sensation, appearing on talk shows and in numerous magazines, enjoying widespread acclaim.
However, a blogger soon highlighted striking similarities to another novel. Further investigation revealed additional borrowed content from various authors. There were even rumors that her father had written the book, which she vehemently denied.
Rather than apologizing, Hegemann stood her ground, stating, “Originality doesn’t truly exist; what matters is authenticity.” Her argument held some weight, as one of the contested passages was taken from an author who had borrowed it from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who, in turn, admitted to taking it from Jean-Luc Godard. (The true origin of Godard’s inspiration remains a mystery.)
Hegemann’s publishers dismissed the accusations of plagiarism, labeling it as “intertextuality.” Apparently, that makes it acceptable.
