TEXT AND CONTEXT

Jason Colavito (editor). Foundations of Atlantis, Ancient Astronauts and Other Alternative Pasts: 148 Documents Cited by Writers of Fringe History, Translated with Annotations. McFarland, 2015.

‘Alt Archaeology‘, or Alternative Archaeology, has been in vogue at least since at least the seventies, even before the publication of the infamous Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken.

🔽

ATLANTIS AND THE CYCLES OF TIME

Joscelyn Godwin. Atlantis and the Cycles of Time. Inner Traditions, 2010.

With its Harry Potter-like title and cover showing celestial spheres and sunken classical columns I first thought this was yet another book on the secrets of lost civilizations and the revelation that we're probably all doomed - either to extinction or a boring-sounding Utopia - some time in the near future. 

🔻🔻🔻

HIDDEN REALMS

Jerome Clark. Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds. Visible Ink, 2010.

In compiling his various encyclopaedias Jerome Clark must have read more UFO and UFO-related books and magazines, and other general weirdness, than anyone on Earth, with the possible exception of Hilary Evans. This latest book is further evidence of that achievement.

🔻

FALSE HISTORY, FAKE SCIENCE

Ronald D Fritze. Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books, 2009.

This book, by a history professor at the Athens State University in Alabama, examines a range of fringe ideas in history and archaeology, set out in a series of broad themes; Atlantis; early Old World discoveries of America; the racist cosmologies of Identity Christians and the Nation of Islam; the fantasies of Eric Daniken and their ilk, and the disputes around claims that classic Greece was greatly inspired by Middle Eastern, and in particular, Egyptian culture.
🔽