Faux Real: Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes

"From formica, vinyl siding, and particle board to cubic zirconium, knockoff designer bags, and genetically altered food, inspired fakes of every description fly the polyester pennant of a brave new man-made world. Each represents an often passionate journey of scientific, technical, and entrepreneurial innovation. Faux Real explores this borderland of the almost-real, the ersatz, and the fake, illuminating a centuries-old culture war between the authentic and the imitative."--BOOK JACKET.