Naomi Wolf acknowledges error in her book "Outrages"

Naomi Wolf is living every nonfiction author’s nightmare, currently.

Historian Matthew Sweet told her during a BBC interview late last week that her book Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love had misunderstood a legal term.

“Death recorded” did not in fact mean executed, but rather that a sentence was documented, but not carried out.

Sweet additionally pointed out that sodomy laws during the 19th century also applied to child abuse and not just homosexuality.

Wolf acknowledged the “death recorded” error and said she would correct it in future editions; Outrages comes out June 18, so some copies will still contain the problems.

Wolf, however, asserts that her book’s central argument — that an uptick in prosecuting gay men heavily influenced the lives of Victorian poets — remains valid.