Unraveling Piltdown

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Author :
Publisher : Random House (NY)
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis Unraveling Piltdown by : John Evangelist Walsh

Download or read book Unraveling Piltdown written by John Evangelist Walsh and published by Random House (NY). This book was released on 1996 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1913 amateur fossil hunter and archaeologist Charles Dawson found in a gravel pit the cranium and jaw of an entirely new species of humanoid, which became known as Piltdown man, which caused headlines worldwide as the missing link between man and ape. In 1952, it was exposed as a hoax. With eight pages of photos, this book is a wonderful detective story, and the first examination the convincingly fingers the perpetrator.

Unraveling Piltdown

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780517267677
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (676 download)

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Book Synopsis Unraveling Piltdown by : John Walsh

Download or read book Unraveling Piltdown written by John Walsh and published by . This book was released on 1998-07-28 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Piltdown Forgery

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191505064
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis The Piltdown Forgery by : J. S. Weiner

Download or read book The Piltdown Forgery written by J. S. Weiner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-11-20 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 21 November 1953, one of the most fascinating puzzles in science was finally solved. Three scientists—Joseph Weiner, Kenneth Oakley, and Wilfrid Le Gros Clark—described their investigations into the important fossilized human remains found at Piltdown in Sussex in the early 1900s. Their conclusion was stunning: the remains, and the accompanying materials that supposedly verified them as ancient fossils, had all been faked. The discovery of Piltdown Man had been announced to the world in 1912 by an amateur fossil hunter, Charles Dawson, and the Keeper of Geology at the Natural History Museum in London, Arthur Smith Woodward, who had found fragments of a thickset skull and an ape-like lower jaw, along with other bones and stone tools. These fragments pointed to a species of early human who had lived in England a million years ago-a 'missing link' between apes and modern man. But, as Weiner and his colleagues were to reveal in 1953, the skull was a recent one, and the jaw had belonged to an orang-utan. These and many other 'finds' from Piltdown had been deliberately stained and tampered with to make them appear ancient, and the scientific establishment had been well and truly fooled. Widely praised from its first publication in 1955, The Piltdown Forgery remains the classic account of this story and its many players. In this fiftieth anniversary edition, Professor Chris Stringer, Head of Human Origins at the Natural History Museum in London, provides an introduction to this famous story, and an afterword containing the latest detective-work. Ever-increasing technological powers may one day reveal who did what, and why, but until then this remains an engrossing tale of mixed motives, captivating trickery, and competing egos: a tale fit to rival the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (himself a player in this saga) at his best.

Hoax

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813141605
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Hoax by : Edward Steers

Download or read book Hoax written by Edward Steers and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “lively yet thoroughly researched” look at persistent myths and stubborn scams, and how historians try to combat them (The Courier-Journal). Did a collector with a knack for making sensational discoveries really find the first document ever printed in America? Did Hitler actually pen a revealing set of diaries? Has Jesus’ burial cloth survived the ages? Can the shocking true account of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination be found in lost pages from his murderer’s diary? Napoleon famously observed that “history is a set of lies agreed upon,” and Edward Steers Jr. investigates six of the most amazing frauds ever to gain wide acceptance in this engrossing book. Hoax examines the legitimacy of the Shroud of Turin, perhaps the most hotly debated relic in all of Christianity, and the fossils purported to confirm humanity’s “missing link,” the Piltdown Man. Steers also discusses two remarkable forgeries, the Hitler diaries and the “Oath of a Freeman,” and famous conspiracy theories alleging that Franklin D. Roosevelt had prior knowledge of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor and that the details of Lincoln’s assassination are recorded in missing pages from John Wilkes Booth’s journal. The controversies that Steers presents show that there are two major factors involved in the success of a hoax or forgery—greed and the desire to believe. Though all of the counterfeits and conspiracies featured in Hoax have been scientifically debunked, some remain fixed in many people’s minds as truth. As Steers points out, the success of these frauds highlights a disturbing fact: If true history fails to entertain the public, it is likely to be ignored or forgotten.

The Giant and How He Humbugged America

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Author :
Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0545537754
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis The Giant and How He Humbugged America by : Jim Murphy

Download or read book The Giant and How He Humbugged America written by Jim Murphy and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a 10-foot tall purported "petrified man" is unearthed from a backyard in upstate New York in 1869, the discovery immediately turns into a spectacle of epic proportions. News of the giant spreads like wildfire, and well over a thousand people come to view him in the first five days alone!Everyone has their own idea of his true origin: Is he an ancient member of the local Onandaga Indian tribe? Is he a biblical giant like Goliath? Soon the interests of world-renowned scientists and people from around the globe are piqued as arguments flare over who he is, where he came from, and if he is real--or just a hoax. In a riveting account of how the Cardiff Giant mystery snowballed into one of America’s biggest money-making spectacles--and scams--Jim Murphy masterfully explores the power of 19th-century media and the unexpected ripple effect that a single corrupt mastermind can produce when given a stage.

The Return of Nature

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Publisher : Monthly Review Press
ISBN 13 : 1583679286
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (836 download)

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Book Synopsis The Return of Nature by : John Bellamy Foster

Download or read book The Return of Nature written by John Bellamy Foster and published by Monthly Review Press. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, 2020 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize A fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology Twenty years ago, John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature introduced a new understanding of Karl Marx’s revolutionary ecological materialism. More than simply a study of Marx, it commenced an intellectual and social history, encompassing thinkers from Epicurus to Darwin, who developed materialist and ecological ideas. Now, with The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology, Foster continues this narrative. In so doing, he uncovers a long history of the efforts to unite questions of social justice and environmental sustainability, and helps us comprehend and counter today’s unprecedented planetary emergencies. The Return of Nature begins with the deaths of Darwin (1882) and Marx (1883) and moves on until the rise of the ecological age in the 1960s and 1970s. Foster explores how socialist analysts and materialist scientists of various stamps, first in Britain, then the United States, from William Morris and Frederick Engels, to Joseph Needham, Rachel Carson, and Stephen J. Gould, sought to develop a dialectical naturalism, rooted in a critique of capitalism. In the process, he delivers a far-reaching and fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology. Ultimately, what this book asks for is nothing short of revolution: a long, ecological revolution, aimed at making peace with the planet while meeting collective human needs.

Hoax Springs Eternal

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107071682
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Hoax Springs Eternal by : Peter Hancock

Download or read book Hoax Springs Eternal written by Peter Hancock and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-22 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines and extrapolates from famous historical case studies to illustrate principles of cognitive deception and how to avoid being deceived.

Creation Rediscovered

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Publisher : TAN Books
ISBN 13 : 1505102367
Total Pages : 531 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Creation Rediscovered by : Gerard J. Keane

Download or read book Creation Rediscovered written by Gerard J. Keane and published by TAN Books. This book was released on 1998-10 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author covers the basic question, the two basic Evolution theories, the concept of "Special Creation," the discoveries of science, the fossil record, genetics, entropy, the age of the universe, pointers to a Creator, and a number of other questions. Not enough can be said for the importance of this book to get the fundamentals right regarding our Origins, in order that the rest of our thought and all our actions are based upon the truth.

Teilhard's Mass

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Publisher : Paulist Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809143283
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis Teilhard's Mass by : Thomas Mulvihill King

Download or read book Teilhard's Mass written by Thomas Mulvihill King and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays by Teilhard de Chardin on the text of "the Mass of the World" from his work The Divine Milieu.

Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 031337919X
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (133 download)

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Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology by : Kenneth L. Feder

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology written by Kenneth L. Feder and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-10-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a fascinating, encyclopedic antidote for the mysticism and pseudoscience surrounding well-known or highly publicized archaeological and anthropological "discoveries." Archaeology attempts to answer the question "where do we come from?" in the broadest sense possible; as a result, it is a highly interesting topic for all mankind. When did human beings first walk the earth? How did civilization develop? What compelled our human ancestors to build things like the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, or Monk's Mound? This book presents the widely unknown scientific facts behind the most popular and enthralling "mysteries" of our world from an expert archaeological perspective—and lays out the information and research in a manner that is approachable, engaging, and entertaining for any reader. Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum contains detailed and highly descriptive definitions for—and explanations of—terms related to extraordinary claims about human antiquity and its study. Some of the terms in this extensive list of topics relate to archaeological hoaxes. Many of the entries relate to dubious interpretations of the human past; some of the terms relate to far-fetched arguments that actually have produced evidence in support of their veracity.

The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300117608
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled by : Peter Jeffery

Download or read book The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled written by Peter Jeffery and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1958, Bible scholar Morton Smith announced the discovery of a sensational manuscript-a second-century letter written by St. Clement of Alexandria, who quotes an unknown, longer version of the Gospel of Mark. When Smith published the letter in 1973, he set off a firestorm of controversy that has raged ever since. Is the text authentic, or a hoax? Is Smith’s interpretation correct? Did Jesus really practice magic, or homosexuality? And if the letter is a forgery . . . why? Through close examination of the "discovered” manuscript’s text, Peter Jeffery unravels the answers to the mystery and tells the tragic tale of an estranged Episcopalian priest who forged an ancient gospel and fooled many of the best biblical scholars of his time. Jeffery shows convincingly that Smith’s Secret Gospel is steeped in anachronisms and that its construction was influenced by Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, twentieth-century misunderstandings of early Christian liturgy, and Smith’s personal struggles with Christian sexual morality.

Seven Skeletons

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698409426
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (984 download)

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Book Synopsis Seven Skeletons by : Lydia Pyne

Download or read book Seven Skeletons written by Lydia Pyne and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-08-16 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An irresistible journey of discovery, science, history, and myth making, told through the lives and afterlives of seven famous human ancestors Over the last century, the search for human ancestors has spanned four continents and resulted in the discovery of hundreds of fossils. While most of these discoveries live quietly in museum collections, there are a few that have become world-renowned celebrity personas—ambassadors of science that speak to public audiences. In Seven Skeletons, historian of science Lydia Pyne explores how seven such famous fossils of our ancestors have the social cachet they enjoy today. Drawing from archives, museums, and interviews, Pyne builds a cultural history for each celebrity fossil—from its discovery to its afterlife in museum exhibits to its legacy in popular culture. These seven include the three-foot tall “hobbit” from Flores, the Neanderthal of La Chapelle, the Taung Child, the Piltdown Man hoax, Peking Man, Australopithecus sediba, and Lucy—each embraced and celebrated by generations, and vivid examples of how discoveries of how our ancestors have been received, remembered, and immortalized. With wit and insight, Pyne brings to life each fossil, and how it is described, put on display, and shared among scientific communities and the broader public. This fascinating, endlessly entertaining book puts the impact of paleoanthropology into new context, a reminder of how our past as a species continues to affect, in astounding ways, our present culture and imagination.

The End of Darwinism

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Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1462815448
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (628 download)

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Book Synopsis The End of Darwinism by : Eugene G. Windchy

Download or read book The End of Darwinism written by Eugene G. Windchy and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-05-12 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both the Nazis and the Communists seized upon survival of the fittest theory in order to justify their wars and genocides. Was the science as bad as the morality? the End of Darwinism reports that the history of Darwinism is full of deception, error, and politics: A series of famous biologists have appeared to support Darwin's explanation for biological change while not actually believing in it. Even Thomas Huxley, "Darwin's bulldog," privately rejected Darwin's principles of gradual transformation and survival of the fittest. But Huxley needed the money he could make writing on a controversial topic, and he had a grudge against the church. Huxley boasted that, against the church, evolution was his "Whitworth gun," an advanced firearm of the time. Textbooks have been infested with phony examples of natural selection. Most popular has been Darwin's explanation for the height of the giraffe. This is an absurd mistake stemming from the English scientist's ignorance of giraffes and their feeding habits. Nevertheless, it has been published for nearly 140 years--so desperate are the Darwinists for evidence. Another textbook falsehood more than a hundred years old is the claim of gills on the human embryo. Few biologists have the nerve to go against the science establishment by criticizing Darwinism in public. However, Lynn Margulis, the world's leading authority on microbial evolution, notes the lack of evidence and calls Darwinism a "religious sect." Ever since Charles Darwin was alive, mathematicians have criticized his theory as nonsensical. In 1966 a big international conference pitted mathematicians against leading evolutionary biologists. In 1980 a conference of 160 biologist decided that Darwinism does not explain major evolutionary events, but in order to thwart the creationists, the biologists organized an amazingly effective cover-up.

When Good Thinking Goes Bad

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Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 1615921796
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (159 download)

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Book Synopsis When Good Thinking Goes Bad by : Todd C. Riniolo

Download or read book When Good Thinking Goes Bad written by Todd C. Riniolo and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Todd Riniolo has written the perfect primer on critical thinking, not just for critical thinkers but for everyone. Not only should this book be the primary text of critical thinking courses throughout the land, but the chapters on how to think critically about political, economic, and social issues should be required reading for all members of Congress, along with the White House staff and the President himself. Riniolo has cracked open our skulls and revealed that what lies inside is a mass of irrational goo that must be reshaped through vigilance and education. This book is where it begins.-MICHAEL SHERMER, Publisher of Skeptic magazine; Monthly columnist for Scientific American; Author of Why People Believe Weird Things and Why Darwin MattersIn 1975, the Environmental Fund sponsored a full-page advertisement in leading newspapers, which predicted that the world as we know it will likely be ruined before the year 2,000, due to the assumed inability of world food production to keep pace with the increase in population. The statement was endorsed by some of the finest thinkers of the time-scientists, scholars, and other professionals who had spent their careers applying the principles of critical thinking to their chosen disciplines. Nonetheless, in this instance, they all failed to use the same rigor in assessing the probability of looming disaster and badly miscalculated.This is just one example of how even the best thinkers can sometimes go astray, and it illustrates how easily unconscious biases can undermine the critical thinking process. In this insightful analysis of the mental pitfalls that trip up even elite critical thinkers, psychologist Todd C. Riniolo makes a compelling case that under certain circumstances everyone is vulnerable to accepting erroneous beliefs.Riniolo begins by reviewing the hallmarks of critical thinking related to the evaluation of claims, such as the use of the double-blind procedure and the law of parsimony. He then provides an evolutionary framework and empirical supporting evidence from cognitive psychology to explain why being inconsistent in the use of critical thinking is part of our evolutionary heritage. Each of us possesses cognitive biases that make us prone to maintaining our current beliefs (both true and false). He concludes by focusing on a wide range of claims-environmental, political, economic, multicultural-to illustrate how in certain contexts we all are tempted to abandon critical thinking.Thoroughly researched yet written in a lively, witty style, this unique approach to critical thinking will interest students, teachers, and anyone who wishes to become a better thinker.Todd C. Riniolo (Grand Island, NY) is an associate professor of psychology at Medaille College. He has written many peer-reviewed articles in the psychological literature.

A Frozen Field of Dreams, Science, Strategy, and the Antarctic in Norway, Sweden, and the British Empire, 1912-1952

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Author :
Publisher : Stanford University
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 423 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis A Frozen Field of Dreams, Science, Strategy, and the Antarctic in Norway, Sweden, and the British Empire, 1912-1952 by : Peder William Chellew Roberts

Download or read book A Frozen Field of Dreams, Science, Strategy, and the Antarctic in Norway, Sweden, and the British Empire, 1912-1952 written by Peder William Chellew Roberts and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2010 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dissertation examines how actors in Norway, Sweden, and the British Empire conceived the Antarctic as a space for science during the years 1912 to 1952. Instead of tracing a narrative of enlightenment, how science became the dominant form of activity in the Antarctic, I examine a series of episodes with particular attention to why particular kinds of science held sway within specific political, cultural, and economic contexts. Concerned more with how Antarctic science was planned and justified than how it was executed in the field, the project draws upon recent scholarship in geography and geopolitics, as well as the history of exploration. The six case studies involve an aborted Anglo-Swedish Antarctic expedition in 1912; Britain's interwar Antarctic whaling research program; debates among whaling magnates and their associates over the relationship between Antarctic science and whaling in interwar Norway; the culture of polar exploration that emerged at Cambridge (and to some extent Oxford) between the world wars; the approach to polar exploration and quantitative glaciology pioneered by the Swedish geographer Hans Ahlmann; and the complicated history of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1949-52). I conclude with an epilogue arguing that the rise of international science in the Antarctic during the 1950s reflected the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War, rather than the triumph of science over politics.

Emily Dickinson in Love

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Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 0813553377
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (135 download)

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Book Synopsis Emily Dickinson in Love by : John Evangelist Walsh

Download or read book Emily Dickinson in Love written by John Evangelist Walsh and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the award-winning author of Poe the Detective: The Curious Circumstances Behind "The Mystery of Marie Roget" comes a compelling argument for the identity of Emily Dickinson’s true love Proud of my broken heart Since thou didst break it, Proud of the pain I Did not feel till thee . . . Those words were written by Emily Dickinson to a married man. Who was he? For a century or more the identity of Emily Dickinson’s mysterious “Master” has been eagerly sought, especially since three letters from her to him were found and published in 1955. In Emily Dickinson in Love, John Evangelist Walsh provides the first book-length treatment of this fascinating subject, offering a solution based wholly on documented facts and the poet’s own writings. Crafting the affair as a love story of rare appeal, and writing with exquisite attention to detail, in Part I Walsh reveals and meticulously proves the Master to be Otis Lord, a friend of the poet’s father and a man of some reputation in law and politics. Part II portrays the full dimensions of their thirty-year romance, most of it clandestine, including a series of secret meetings in Boston. After uncovering and confirming the Master’s identity, Walsh fits that information into known events of Emily’s life to make sense of facts long known but little understood—Emily’s decision to dress always in white, for instance, or her extreme withdrawal from a normal existence when she had previously been an active, outgoing friend to many men and women. In a lengthy section of Notes and Sources, Walsh presents his proofs in abundant detail, demonstrating that the evidence favors one man so irresistibly that there is left no room for doubt. Each reader will decide if he has truly succeeded in making the case for Otis Lord.

Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 052093878X
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions by : Frank L. Holt

Download or read book Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions written by Frank L. Holt and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-11-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To all those who witnessed his extraordinary conquests, from Albania to India, Alexander the Great appeared invincible. How Alexander himself promoted this appearance—how he abetted the belief that he enjoyed divine favor and commanded even the forces of nature against his enemies—is the subject of Frank L. Holt's absorbing book. Solid evidence for the "supernaturalized" Alexander lies in a rare series of medallions that depict the triumphant young king at war against the elephants, archers, and chariots of Rajah Porus of India at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. Recovered from Afghanistan and Iraq in sensational and sometimes perilous circumstances, these ancient artifacts have long animated the modern historical debate about Alexander. Holt's book, the first devoted to the mystery of these ancient medallions, takes us into the history of their discovery and interpretation, into the knowable facts of their manufacture and meaning, and, ultimately, into the king's own psyche and his frightening theology of war. The result is a valuable analysis of Alexander history and myth, a vivid account of numismatics, and a spellbinding look into the age-old mechanics of megalomania.