Asa Earl Carter

Writer / Fraud

Asa Carter was a speechwriter for Alabama politician George Wallace in the 1960s, but gained more fame in the '70s and '80s as novelist Forrest Carter, whose book "The Education of Little Tree" was a bestseller. The book purported to be an autobiographical account of growing up in Tennessee with Cherokee grandparents. First published in 1976 (and re-issued in 1986), it was considered by many to be an instant classic of Native American literature. After Carter died (from injuries he got in a 1979 fistfight), it was revealed that he was, in fact, Asa Earl Carter, a former radio announcer and Ku Klux Klan member, and that his "autobiography" was a work of fiction.

Extra credit: Carter also wrote Gone To Texas (1973), which became the Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).