The way Geoffrey Giuliano tells it, John Lennon's true fantasy may well have been... snuggling up with Barbara Walters and watching 700 Club?!

Yup, the 46-year-old author has generated plenty of controversy with his new book on Lennon, which he claims is based partly on the Beatle's much-talked-about secret journals, and years of research and interviews.

The 270-page tome, titled Lennon in America, makes a host of new--and, by the way, very bizarre--claims about Lennon's private life from 1971 to 1980.

Among them: that Lennon had a sexual encounter with his mother when he was 15. That he had sexual fantasies about, um, Barbara Walters, and George and Patti Harrison, among others. That he was so concerned about his weight he became bulimic. And that Lennon briefly was a born-again Christian, who watched Pat Robertson's 700 Club, but also once converted to Islam. Giuliano also claims Lennon beat his wife, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean.

Those close to Lennon, however, say Giuliano's tale is mostly plain old, Beatle-exploiting fiction, just like Albert Goldman's infamous hatchet job, The Lives of John Lennon.

"Very little resembles material that appear in John Lennon's journals," says Elliot Mintz, Lennon's longtime representative and spokesman for Yoko Ono, who read Giuliano's book. "Some of the more sensational claims, to the best of my knowledge, just aren't true."

But the most interesting thing to Beatlemaniacs may be that many of the revelations purportedly came from Lennon's diaries in the first place.

Since Lennon's death, the journals had been closely guarded, and supposedly read only by assistants and lawyers. A former assistant began stealing copies shortly after Lennon's death, but he was later caught and pleaded guilty to grand larceny.

Giuliano, however, says he was given a photocopy of the writings in 1983--by Lennon's old drinking buddy Harry Nilsson. Nilsson died in 1994, but Giuliano claims Lennon passed copies to Nilsson and at least two other friends with the hopes of one day publishing them.

Meanwhile, Giuliano, who's written nearly a dozen books on the Beatles, stands by Lennon in America, claiming that the singer's true personality has been distorted by handlers since his death in 1980.

"I have the complete ability to prove that 100 percent of the book is accurate," he says. "It's absolutely imperative we seek to understand this artist on the deepest possible level. I don't need to lie, to distort, to spin. I'm a lone voice of truth in a world of public relations bullshit."

Cooper Square Press has printed 50,000 copies of the new book, which already has been released in some areas. Editorial director Michael Dorr says the book "has been strenuously vetted from the legal and content perspective."

As for the more salacious tales, Giuliano claims not everything came from Lennon's diaries. For instance, he says Lennon mentioned a sexual encounter with his mother during a 1979 taped interview, not in his writings.

Mintz would like to see some proof.

"If Giuliano is claiming that he interviewed John Lennon, then it would be very easy for him to present that tape, and I challenge him to produce it," Mintz says.

"Since John's death there has been a cottage industry in this kind of sensationalized material," he adds. "He's just another guy trying to make a buck off another book."

from New Lennon Book Hard to Imagine?
by Mark Armstrong @ eonline:
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,6344,00.html