NEW YORK (AP) _ A new book by an American anthropologist claims key details of an autobiography written by Rigoberta Menchu, the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, are untrue, The New York Times reported today.

"I, Rigoberta Menchu," first published in 1983, describes the author's painful history growing up as an uneducated and oppressed member of the Quiche people in Guatemala.

Ms. Menchu became an internationally acclaimed spokeswoman for the rights of indigenous peoples, based largely on the best-selling account.

But anthropologist David Stoll concludes that Ms. Menchu's book "cannot be the eyewitness account it purports to be" because she repeatedly describes "experiences she never had herself."

Stoll's book, "Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans," is based on archival research and nearly a decade of interviews with more than 120 people, the newspaper said.

In September, Ms. Menchu refused to address Stoll's criticisms, dismissing them as part of a racist political agenda intended to gain publicity.

A reporter from the Times, using contacts provided by Stoll as well as others found independently, also conducted interviews in Guatemala that contradicted Ms. Menchu's account, the newspaper said.

Some of Ms. Menchu's relatives, neighbors, friends and former classmates said main episodes of her book had been fabricated or exaggerated.

A land dispute, central to the book, was a family quarrel, they said, not a fight against rich landowners of European descent. A younger brother who Ms. Menchu said starved to death never existed, they said. And Ms. Menchu, who claimed she never went to school, attended two private boarding schools on scholarships, they said.

Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, told the Times that he was aware of Stoll's work, but "there is no question of revoking the prize." He said the award was not based exclusively on the book.