A thoughtful and absorbing analysis of more than 30 of the most intriguing artifacts, occurrences, and myths of the prehistoric, ancient, and medieval worlds, by freelancer James and archaeologist Thorpe (King Alfred’s College, UK). Conundrums like the mythical lost continent of Atlantis, the legend of King Arthur, the Easter Island statues, and the curse of Tutankhamen have been overworked in recent years by cultists and speculative writers, who have often, without the benefit of critical scholarship and analysis, propounded outlandish and even bizarre theories. Too often, debunkers have responded simply by dismissing such theories rather than by inquiring more closely into the mysteries themselves. Marshaling the most current evidence in each case, the authors here endeavor “to chart a middle course between the uncritical enthusiasts and the professional skeptics.” James and Thorpe explore lost civilizations and the catastrophes that destroyed them, astronomical phenomena, architectural wonders, ancient reworkings of the landscape, voyages and discoveries, ancient myths and legends, hoaxes, and supernatural occurrences. Some myths, like that of the lost continent of Atlantis or that of the Christian African king “Prester John,” turn out to have been precisely that—either gross embellishments of real events or total fabrications. Others, like the Star of Bethlehem (the authors conclude that the Star may have actually been Halley’s comet in 12—11 B.C.), King Arthur (possibly a historical Dark Ages warlord named Riothamus), and Robin Hood (among other theories, a servant of Edward II), appear to have some arguable historical basis. Among other enigmas, the authors plumb Stonehenge (a neolithic sun temple, not built by the Druids), the legend of Dracula, a lost Roman army that may have found its way to China, a Viking rune-stone in Minnesota (a likely hoax), and an ancient visit by a Welsh prince to America (just possibly true) An engrossing journey through the riddles of the distant past. (Book-of-the-Month Club selection, Quality Paperback Book Club selection.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-345-40195-6
Page Count: 704
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
An extraordinary true tale of torment, retribution, and loyalty that's irresistibly readable in spite of its intrusively melodramatic prose. Starting out with calculated, movie-ready anecdotes about his boyhood gang, Carcaterra's memoir takes a hairpin turn into horror and then changes tack once more to relate grippingly what must be one of the most outrageous confidence schemes ever perpetrated. Growing up in New York's Hell's Kitchen in the 1960s, former New York Daily News reporter Carcaterra (A Safe Place, 1993) had three close friends with whom he played stickball, bedeviled nuns, and ran errands for the neighborhood Mob boss. All this is recalled through a dripping mist of nostalgia; the streetcorner banter is as stilted and coy as a late Bowery Boys film. But a third of the way in, the story suddenly takes off: In 1967 the four friends seriously injured a man when they more or less unintentionally rolled a hot-dog cart down the steps of a subway entrance. The boys, aged 11 to 14, were packed off to an upstate New York reformatory so brutal it makes Sing Sing sound like Sunnybrook Farm. The guards continually raped and beat them, at one point tossing all of them into solitary confinement, where rats gnawed at their wounds and the menu consisted of oatmeal soaked in urine. Two of Carcaterra's friends were dehumanized by their year upstate, eventually becoming prominent gangsters. In 1980, they happened upon the former guard who had been their principal torturer and shot him dead. The book's stunning denouement concerns the successful plot devised by the author and his third friend, now a Manhattan assistant DA, to free the two killers and to exact revenge against the remaining ex-guards who had scarred their lives so irrevocably. Carcaterra has run a moral and emotional gauntlet, and the resulting book, despite its flaws, is disturbing and hard to forget. (Film rights to Propaganda; author tour)
Pub Date: July 10, 1995
ISBN: 0-345-39606-5
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The memoir of George Dawson, who learned to read when he was 98, places his life in the context of the entire 20th century in this inspiring, yet ultimately blighted, biography. Dawson begins his story with an emotional bang: his account of witnessing the lynching of a young African-American man falsely accused of rape. America’s racial caste system and his illiteracy emerge as the two biggest obstacles in Dawson’s life, but a full view of the man overcoming the obstacles remains oddly hidden. Travels to Ohio, Canada, and Mexico reveal little beyond Dawson’s restlessness, since nothing much happens to him during these wanderings. Similarly, the diverse activities he finds himself engaging in—bootlegging in St. Louis, breaking horses, attending cockfights—never really advance the reader’s understanding of the man. He calls himself a “ladies’ man” and hints at a score of exciting stories, but then describes only his decorous marriage. Despite the personal nature of this memoir, Dawson remains a strangely aloof figure, never quite inviting the reader to enter his world. In contrast to Dawson’s diffidence, however, Glaubman’s overbearing presence, as he repeatedly parades himself out to converse with Dawson, stifles any momentum the memoir might develop. Almost every chapter begins with Glaubman presenting Dawson with a newspaper clipping or historical fact and asking him to comment on it, despite the fact that Dawson often does not remember or never knew about the event in question. Exasperated readers may wonder whether Dawson’s life and his accomplishments, his passion for learning despite daunting obstacles, is the tale at hand, or whether the real issue is his recollections of Archduke Ferdinand. Dawson’s achievements are impressive and potentially exalting, but the gee-whiz nature of the tale degrades it to the status of yet another bowl of chicken soup for the soul, with a narrative frame as clunky as an old bone.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-50396-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
