One of history's true mysteries examined
589206
What happened to Richard III's nephews? Josephine Tey takes a look at the tales of Richard, his nephews, and what happened at the Tower of London. Starting with the Richard of Shakespeare and Thomas More, Tey, (through her bed-ridden detective Grant) dissects the stories of Richard III and finds a few problems with the Richard III most people are familiar with. Whether this revisionist view of Richard stands up to scrutiny is up to those with more background in this area than me, but I thoroughly enjoyed Tey's portrayal of the search for truth in the face of legend.
4477902
Bravo and applause for Pope Joan; a novel steeped in the mysteries of the church and its attempt to annul from existence the heroine who would leave the struggles of a tormented male dominated home life to obtain an  education via the only means accessible - the Church. Not only does the  heroine hide her feminine birthright through the uniform of the church, but  cloaks herself so successfully in that garb as to obtain the highest  position in the church - Pope!  Pope Joan delivers a sequence of events  too true to be fictional. It is a novel of deep dark history; fascinating  reading and a compelling story.  Pope Joan is cataloged "Historical  Fiction."  I leave it to the reader to eliminate the word  "fiction".
4359018
A mystery of the ancient and  dark historical occult  prevailing during a academic study'. Hair raising conclusion.
1388686
Barber and Pykitt have a new guess as to who the historical Arthur was.  Well, actually, it's not a new guess.  For a long time, it was assumed that Athrwys ap Meurig *was* Arthur, but that idea fell out of favor due to dating problems.  Here, Barber and Pykitt resurrect the Athrwys theory, explaining the confusion that led to some historians' belief that Athrwys lived a century too late.  They add in a new revelation: according to this book, Arthur was also St Armel, whom the Bretons revere just as much as they do Arthur, not realizing they're the same guy!  (This isn't a spoiler.  These assertions are made in the first chapter; the rest of the book is devoted to proof and to investigating other pieces of the legend, like the location of Avalon, and the identity of some of the Knights of Camelot.)
It's a fascinating theory; unfortunately, the writing runs a little dry at times, becoming an interminable list of "begats".  This kind of tangible proof is necessary when setting forth theories, I know.  It's just that it doesn't always make for easy reading.  This is a scholarly book more than it is an entertaining one; read it when you're in a "brainy mood."
In the end, Barber and Pykitt may be right about the original personage of Arthur.  However, the legendary Arthur is a composite figure and can't be reduced to one historical man; he is an amalgam of several historical kings and a couple of pagan Welsh gods.  The fact that some of the major events of "Arthur's" life are explained here as historical events does nothing to diminish the legendary king's mystique.
32980
For anyone who wants to know the truth of what really has happened in that part of the world for centuries, this is the book that will tell it. Very insightful.
4123098
While this work does not provide absolute or concrete evidence, it does contain enough documented information that a very small leap of faith in the thought process of the Andean populations present in pre-Columbian SA will convince you of the truth of Mr. Sullivan's meritous effort.
Numerous reviews refer to this as an alternate history work, however off hand there is nothing I remember about it necessarily contradicting accepted history. Mr. Sullivan provides diagrams and star charts (which I later verified w/my own software) to solidify his claims. His years of research paid off with a in my opinion a viable answer to one of history's most difficult-to-answer questions. A definate must buy if you are interested in archaeoastronomy or just an extremely interesting read.
880940
If you are interested in conspiracy and want to know what the church has been covering up for hundreds of years and how the original concept behind Christianity has been co-opted, you'll want to read this book.

Lawrence Goudge has done all of us history buffs a huge favor by doing such an excellent job of research and reconstructing a history that has been lost, stolen, and strayed!  By digging into its most obscure corners, he's discovered a fascinating and hidden history.

His book covers two millennia and stretches from India to the New World so while the research is prodigious, the result is extremely readable.  Highly recommended.

Cathleen Fillmore
2518364
The Woman With the Alabaster Jar was recommended by so many people, it was the first book I'd intended to read on the controversial subject of Mary Magdalen's relationship to Jesus. It didn't turn out to be the first, but it would've been a great place to start. It's not a book about gnosticism specifically, but a collection of facts and theory regarding the relationship of Mary Magdalen and Jesus, or Miriam of Bethany and Yeshua, as they're often named in the book.

Margaret Starbird began her research of this subject in the hopes of debunking Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, having read it from the perspective of a devout Catholic. Somewhere in the course of her research, she found herself supporting many of their claims. Her journey explored the life of one of the most enigmatic women the world has known, or at least thought we knew.

The Woman With the Alabaster Jar begins with a prologue, a fictionalized account of Mary Magdalen's flight to Egypt with Joseph of Arimathea, the subsequent birth of a daughter, Sarah, and finally a voyage across the Mediterranean into southern France. This account is based on theory only, and Starbird concedes throughout this book that her conclusions can't be proven. But she adroitly connects numerous historical threads and "fossil" information in a credible speculation about how the early days of Christianity, and particularly the life of Mary Magdalen, may have played out after the execution of Jesus.

The theories raised here may be difficult for anyone steeped in the canonical gospels, or who is a devoted follower of established Christianity. They'll be seen as disturbing, or as nonsense, or again as heresy. But to those who have had doubts or have left Christianity because there were certain precepts they found themselves unable to believe, or for those who have always seen Jesus as a great teacher, but human, this book opens up a new way of considering his life and teachings.

The information is presented in a way that makes for fast and easy reading, in contrast with more scholarly treatises on religious history. It's a human story, told in human terms, giving the lay person access to a gathering of information difficult to come by elsewhere in as palatable a form. Complete footnotes are provided at the back of the book, where they don't intrude on its reading ease. The color plates are magnificent. As a student of Tarot, I welcomed the images from the so-called Charles VI Tarot (more correctly known as the Estensi or Gringonneur Tarot) and the theory of its possible origins as a way of teaching the Grail heresy in secret.

I found one weakness in the book, in what I perceived as redundancy, and perhaps too much effort to put things in layman's terms. It's possible the author underestimated the level of understanding of her readers. On the other hand, what I perceived as repetition may have derived from the number of times the themes actually repeat through history, adding possible weight to their veracity.

The information is presented respectfully, even lovingly. The author is clearly a devout person, who has great regard for people of all beliefs. She exhibits sensitivity for her subject matter and its possible impact on others' faith. Her theories and the evidence supporting them, though revolutionary in nature, are at the same time gently offered.
1180517
A Harvard history professor's research into secret sects symbols funnels into a personal quest for the Holy Grail.
There are enough twists and turns to make this book difficult to put down.  But there are too many coincidences for my taste to rate five stars.
2292911
For those who really like true mysteries, this is a must read, the most interesting aspect of the book is the time frame, the creatures that are explained within would defy imagination today and could not have been made up over 100 years ago.
3725266
History's Mysteries: People, Places, and Oddities Lost in the Sands of Time
By Brian Haughton
ISBN-13: 978-1-60163-107-7 (New Page Books, 2010)

Will Durant, one of our greatest historians, once wrote that at best, history is nothing more than guesswork and bias. This is why it's so important to take advantage of recent archaeological finds and technology to clear up some of the mystery. For this reason Brian Haughton set aside any preconceived notions of history and sought out recent information that traditional archaeologists seem to ignore. For far too long our rigid and deeply entrenched organizations have held the reins that have kept us in the dark. This book sheds new light on humanity's oldest questions.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide magazine
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/To-Believe-Or-Not-To-Believe-The-Social-and-Neurological-Consequences-of-Belief-Systems/dp/1441587276/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">To Believe Or Not To Believe: The Social and Neurological Consequences of Belief Systems</a>
1446272
This book is a "find" (I found it serendipitously in an off-price book store, which of course vastly increased my enjoyment of it). It is very scholarly - the author is a Professor of religion at Wofford College SC, and Academic Director of the Sepphoris Acropolis Excavations - and its five chapters are all fairly self-contained, so you can read some, then put it down for a while.

The first chapter provides convincing answers to two interesting questions: why did Palestinian Jews start to use ossuaries for secondary burial only in the 1st century BCE, and why are cooking pots often found in burial caves from this period ? His answer to the first question is that the ossuary was the product of the impact of the Hellenistic emphasis on individual identity - in death as well as in life - on Jewish traditional practice of secondary burial. For centuries the Israelite secondary burial practice was reflected in the term "to be gathered to one's fathers", that is to have one's bones collected and placed in a communal repositary with those of other family members'. As Hellenistic values gradually permeated into Jewish rituals, the loss of individuality inherent in the ancient practice was solved by preserving the individual's corporeal remains intact in an ossuary. As for the cooking pots, they were apparently left behind following the widespread folk practice - officially strongly condemned by the religious authorities - of "sharing" a meal, and therefore communing with the dead. The fact that the pots were abandoned at the tombs reflects the ambivalence of the practice; contact with the dead imparted a ritual impurity - to people and objects; hence its official banning , so for those for whom the call of their departed was strong enough to overcome this taboo, the cooking pots and utensils they had brought with them were irretrievably infected by their contact with the dead, and therefore had to be abandoned.

The second chapter introduced me to "Q" - a collection of words spoken by the historical Jesus  - written down in three phases between ca. CE 50 - 75 and subsequently used by both the Gospels of Matthew & Luke. These are part of a non-canonical tradition known as the Gospel of Thomas, of which fragments in Greek had been preserved, and banned as heretical by the early church authorities. In 1945 a Coptic translation of the full text was found preserved in a jar in in Egypt. The author uses several extracts from Q to deduce what were the underlying values, relating to death and burial, of members of the early Jesus movement. He concludes that these early Judeo-Christians shared with other Palestinian Jews of the 1st century CE the identical burial and mourning practices.

The author's broader purpose is to show when and how Christian practice diverged from the Jewish one, and when in effect the two religions ceased to be just variations on a theme. He develops this in the latter two chapters, outlining the change in the early Byzantine period - 3rd and 4th centuries CE - when the the norms regulating contact between the living and the dead were redrawn by the early Christian church, effectively creating a cult of the dead (who were - like their Saviour - not permanently dead) and bringing the dead - often literally, as in the placing of reliquaries in church - into the center of religious life and worship.

In the course of developing his arguments, the author provides a comprehensive review of death and burial in 1st century Palestine, and gives detailed descriptions of first century Jewish tombs. This alone makes this short book a very worthwhile read.
4037409
Douglas Horne has spent as much time unearthing the true facts of the JFK assassination as the Government has spent obscuring them. This is a masterful piece of work.

To sum it up as briefly as possible (it doesn't really begin to, but at least it's a start:

The medical evidence is the most crucial "witness" to the murder of our 35th President.

This book summarizes that evidence thoroughly and "in the light of day."

It's conclusions are dramatic and historically compelling:

1. The fact of "multiple casket entries" to Bethesda is verified;

2. Surgical alteration of the President's wounds PRIOR to autopsy is verifed;

3. Multiple witnesses, who were medically and otherwise credible, confirmed that they clearly saw an entry wound in the FRONT of President Kennedy's head, in his upper right forehead at the hairline.

There is much, much more. But the above 3 points themselves are incredibly compelling evidence.

So thank you for slaving-away many a night on this work, Mr. Horne. Many an open-minded citizen, both now and in the future, will thank you sincerely for it.
604913
This is a book that everyone should read if they want to understand what really happened to the church through the centuaries. This book gives a true picture of history few know about. It is well written and documented. A fascinating read that enlightens and causes the reader to do some serious thinking about history and how we relate to it.
738363
This is a wonderful genre bending book...part mystery, part history. Written by Scotswoman Elizabeth MacIntosh, who wrote under the pen name Josephine Tey, it was first published in 1951. It is tragic that the author died in 1952 and was never to know the pleasure that this book would bring to generations of readers and that the Mystery Writers of America would ultimately rank it fourth among the one hundred best mysteries ever written.

The title of the book is derived from a historical source, as it is attributable to Sir Francis Bacon, "For truth is rightly named after the daughter of time, and not of authority." The book itself is not a traditional mystery but rather an application of deductive reasoning to an actual historical event. The event in question is the murder of the princes in the tower, sons of King Edward IV, allegedly by their uncle, Richard III, who eventually usurped the English throne after the death of his brother. It has been widely held that Richard III did, indeed, murder the two young princes, his nephews, in order to secure his claim to the throne.

The reader is introduced to Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, who is hospitalized and recovering from injuries sustained in the line of duty. While convalescing, he becomes intrigued by a picture of a portrait of Richard III, a likeness with which he is unfamiliar. Grant is puzzled that someone with such a sensitive face could have been such a monster as to murder his two nephews in cold blood. So, our intrepid Inspector decides that he will reconsider the evidence upon which such a dastardly assumption has been based. With the help of an American researcher doing the necessary legwork, Grant compiles enough archival historical fact that incrementally helps him formulate a new theory as to who actually may have murdered the princes in the tower.

This analysis and reformulation is done as though it were being argued to a jury. Indeed, so persuasive is Inspector Grant through the application of some insightful deductive reasoning and clever dialogue that the reader comes away thinking that Grant has solved one of the most intriguing historical mysteries of all time. This is certainly an unusual book conceptually but one that succeeds brilliantly. It should appeal to those readers who enjoy having a mystery unraveled, as well as to those who harbor a love of English history. Bravo!
2308501
Saylor's recreation of a Rome nearly 300 years before the birth of Christ is a treat to the historical lover's eyes. Soaring marble columns, white togas, and references to famous ancients such as Cicero adorn every page. What may not be so appealing in this mystery is the muck of Roman streets, various unclothed Romans engaging in numerous sexual acts, and a several page historical dissertation about the dictator Sulla which has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. Certain revelations meant to be dismaying are predictable and the detective spends as much time moping around as he does trying to solve the mystery. History purists will also be disappointed that much of the dialogue (excluding exclamations of "by Hercules!) could have been lifted from any of the many crime shows that dot the TV arena.
604749
In this book, James Hoffmeier brings to bear his double expertise in both Egyptology and Biblical scholarship to examine the latest evidence in support of the historicity of the Biblical Exodus.
There has been a recent movement questioning the authenticity of the Old Testament, particularly the older portions, with the extreme group of "Low Chronologists" insisting that all of the books were written much later than previously believed. Some have even referred to the whole Joseph story in Genesis as a "novella", claiming that it was a charming fiction created only a few centuries BCE. Their principal evidence for this claim has been the supposed lack of evidence for the presence of the early Israelites in Egypt, or for their flight from there, as described in the book of Exodus.
Dr. Hoffmeier has examined the evidence in Egypt, especially along the chain of lakes through Suez that are presently joined by the Suez canal. He discusses the "store cities" of Pithom and [Pi-]Ramesses, on which the Bible claims the Israelites labored, and finds that the ruins of such cities have now been identified in the area of the northwest Nile delta known as Goshen, where the Israelites were said to have lived. He traces the route out of Egypt they followed, as described in Exodus, and finds that it makes sense as a route that would have been taken by a group of people who were fleeing Pharaoh's soldiers. They would have avoided the main highway to the north, just as the Bible says they did. Hoffmeier tentatively identifies most of the landmarks mentioned in the Bible, and adds in the latest satellite data and Israeli land surveys that have shown the remains of an old Pharaonic canal that dates back to around 2000 BC. He also points out that the notion of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is a mistake, based on a mistranslation of the name of the body of water in question. The Hebrew text calls it the "yam suph", which is correctly translated as "Sea of Reeds", not "Red Sea". And indeed, the waters around the edges of Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes are thickly grown with reeds and would fit the description of a "Sea of Reeds" quite well.
This is a fascinating book full of the latest and most accurate data bearing on the authenticity of the Exodus. While he has found no flaming inscription saying "Moses was here", Dr. Hoffmeier has certainly verified many of the details described in the book of Exodus, quite contrary to the claims of the Low Chronologists.