The Queen of Sheba has no clothes.

David Brooks (sometimes known by his more formal title, the Queen of Sheba) appears to have something of a truth problem.

akirlu sent me a pointer to an article from Philadelphia Magazine titled, "Boo-Boos In Paradise". The author, Sasha Issenberg, apparently decided to do some fact checking throughout Brooks' oeuvre -- Bobos In Paradise (natch), Brooks' article on Red and Blue America from the Atlantic, and Brooks' article on Patio Man from the Weekly Standard.

Turns out most of the charming, quaint, piercing examples Brooks brings to his prose are... well, made up.

Issenberg decided to call Brooks, "to see if I was misreading his work." Issenberg laid out the numerous examples of where Brooks gets things flat out wrong.

Brooks' reaction?

"He accused me of being "too pedantic," of "taking all of this too literally," of "taking a joke and distorting it." "That's totally unethical," he said."

So... I guess we can look forward to Brooks insisting to his publishers, book sellers, or both, that they file him in either Humor or Fiction. Rather than Non-Fiction, which is where he's traditionally been filed.

I wouldn't hold my breath, though.