History leads to truth.
930798
Excellent synopsis of historical facts.  Especially compelling is that the disciples would not have died if they did not know the truth.
2366850
In an age when "Academics" with overwhelming motivation to hide the truth are seeking to make top dollar, historical accuracy can often be compromised for the sake of an acceptable story. "Acceptable History", as some call it, surely makes for a comfortable read if the reader is willing to accept conventional wisdom as fact; yet these stories often offer up a few pieces short of the whole puzzle.
There is irrefutable proof that the Imperial Treasure fleet was real, that it traveled around the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and that it was disassembled around the year 1421. These facts, in combination with what is proof of a Chinese presence in the Americans, lead to several fascinating revelations. This is not revisionist history, as those vested in the status quo would have us believe.  Menzies successfully discredits the claim that Columbus's "discovery" was original.  Menzies's book does everything but follow along with current trends of thinking.  BRAVO! To be sure, Eastern, rather than Western, discovery of the "new world" would have little effect on most things Americans have learned in high school about American history. Questioning, exciting, revealing, challenging!
Menzies tells a great historically accurate story! He was able to convince me of the soundness of his argument!
1252200
This History book was more than the just the usual facts of history....it is told in a story fashion that makes the reader want to continue to read the book.
4285895
This is a book you cant put down.  i loved following the history through the characters involved in this encompasing moment in history.  i found this period in time making me think of our current time.  Each person has to find truth for themselves.
3087709
Facts and the truth make for great reading on this subject.
3523568
So much of this rings true. Even if you don't agree with everything she says, there is compelling evidence for you to look at recent history differently and then watch how current world events play out.
4244826
Once again, Leland Gregory has changed the way I look at history, American history, this time.

We all grew up learning this in school that this book now debunks as legend or myth. Sometimes the truth just isn't as interesting, so someone says something a little beyond the truth and off the stories grow.

The vignettes can be read in short spurts or all at one time and they'll keep you pondering and maybe even laughing the entire time.

This book just proves that one should keep learning or relearning, in this case, all their lives as sometimes things aren't always as they seem or we were made to think they were.
3679225
Everyone should take part in experiencing the world from this point of view. History is very important.  We live in modern days, modern days demand evidence in truth and a depth of self- soul searching that conflicts. This conviction of conflict in self determines the definition of 'truth' to the best of our humanly ability. I find that this read demands us to search inside ourselves for this evidence. For we are created with intrrnal justice. What is problematic is that we all have a resonsibility to ourselves and others to calibrate our inner scales of justice. We know up from down and right from wrong.  We CHOOSE to ignore what is in our sights, that is not humanity. That is injustice. TLDR; Get this book. Read it cover to cover.
4583166
It is a fortunate fact of history that wrongful prejudice can scare bear the light of truthful inquiry.  Olson provides this truthful inquiry in his search for the origins and migrations of the human race from the African continent of 150,000 years ago to today.  For those who have or would claim a "superior race" they find quick and strong rebuke in the fact of a common racial human origin.  Today, there are some seven billion people on the planet.  Two thousand years ago, that figure was around 200 million.  One hundred thousand years ago, that figure was around 10,000.  Ten thousand humans lived in Africa 100,000 years ago.  We are therefore all litterally extended brothers and sisters.  This book is the story of our race told through the unbiased perspective of our mitochondrial DNA.  For those straining to recall high school science, our mitochondria are power plants of our cells.  In evolutionary prehistory, they merged with regular cells before humans even existed.  Because of the nature in how they are passed on, their DNA can be uniquely examined with an eye toward reviewing our maternal history.  In this way, the story of our mothers becomes the story of us, taking us all back to same stooped endangered group of humans living in prehistoric Africa.  This book is an excellent book to be read in conjunction with other historical studies, anthropological studies or studies on human development.  Olson's accessible writing style makes his points easy to grasp and his obvious enthusiasm contagiously makes you want to read on and better understand.
2645716
History can often be told in a way that causes pages to be turn in anticipation.  This is one of those books,
3937861
If you want to know the truth just follow this author.  Research is deep and personal and gives deep credibility to the book.  If you like history and want the truth you should read it.
2503175
This is a story that needed to be written and  should be read and shared. History that cannot be forgotten.
810338
A credible job of imaging some of the details of personal lives during truly historic times.
960801
The author puts truth and fiction side by side in an historical tale that is more nonfiction than fiction. Engaging and very real.
3272332
Finally, a book that makes American history interesting, only because it tells the truth!  Some conservatives may criticize this book only because it dispels the false and harmful notion that this country was built primarily on the effort and intelligence of white men with honorable intentions. The book doesn't have any political agenda except to tell the truth. The author gives a realistic portrait, based on primary sources, of what has really happened in our country, the motives of the main players, and how those past events affect the way we live and view our country now.  And plus the accounts in the book are riveting, sometimes heartbreaking, and give insight as to how historians actually study and draw conclusions about history.  This book is definitely an exciting read that has kept me up at night trying to fend off sleep, itching the next day to tell my friends of what I've learned.
702716
A well told story.  The  detail and historic background add an extra dimension.
76705
Denise Spellberg's Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders" presents the fact and reality based on fairness. We can't deny our history - doing so will only weaken our foundation of the present.