The American Heritage® Dictionary : Fourth Edition. 2000. defines the term
Potemkin village as: NOUN: Something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance:
In 1787, when Catherine the Great visited the Ukraine and the Crimea, Prince Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin , a Russian army officer, statesman, and her lover, decided to put up elaborate cardboard houses apparently full of splendor in the villages Catherine was shown. While this setup depicted an illusion of prosperity, the real condition of the village was hidden behind this facade.
Tonight, travels in a Potemkin nation . Some of the sights on our tour: deadly zombie shoppers, the prospects for suburbia when the oil runs out, and uncovering the truth about 911, and ending with another reading from "Disciplined Minds"
