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This book examines the legends of who ‘really’ discovered America. It argues that histories of America's origins were always based less on empirical evidence and more on social, political, and cultural wish fulfillment. Influenced by a complex interplay of Nativist hatred of immigrants and Aboriginal people, as well as distrust of academic scholarship, these legends ebbed and flowed with changing conditions in wider American society. The book focuses on the actions of a collection of quirky, obsessed amateur investigators who spent their lives trying to prove their various theories by promoting Welsh princes, Vikings, Chinese admirals, Neo-lithic Europeans, African explorers, and others ...
The first academic study of this subject is an entertaining look at the search for Sasquatch which considers not just the nature of monsters and monster hunting in the late 20th century, but the more important relationship between the professional scientists and amateur naturalists who hunt them—and their place in the history of science.
More than just a collection of factual entries, this rich resource explores the difference between scientific and pseudoscientific pursuits in a way that spurs readers to ask questions and formulate answers. What makes science science? How do we tell which assertions, beliefs, and methods are scientifically sound, and which are not? Brian Regal's authoritative, entertaining new reference, Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia gets at the heart of these questions by helping readers understand how the scientific method works, how to critically analyze all kinds of "evidence," and how to sort through long-running myths and current pseudoscience controversies. Ranging from the dawn of history t...
A fascinating and wide-ranging look at the controversies surrounding the search for the origins of the human species. Written for those new to the subject, Human Evolution: A Guide to the Debates presents the remarkable history of our understanding of human origins as it developed from the 1800s to the present. Most works on this topic focus narrowly on one individual, theory, or debate. In contrast, Human Evolution draws from a wide range of sources to offer a fully rounded portrait of the entire field. The chapters of the book follow a basic chronological order covering the issues, personalities, and discoveries that are central to the questions and controversies surrounding human evolution. The coverage draws from a wide range of associated topics and examines not only controversies of a religious nature but also those that have little to do with religion, allowing readers to weigh the information, come to their own conclusions, and even begin their own debates.
The paranormal has long been a hotly contested topic, especially in academia. Most people are entertained by the paranormal or casually read a few books they come across on the topic, perhaps assuming that these topics are nothing more than campfire fodder. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being entertained by the paranormal, but how many people know that there is a long history of academic, scientific, and credible research into topics such as extrasensory perception, hauntings, poltergeists, cryptozoological sightings, near-death experiences, and more? In Researching the Paranormal, Courtney M. Block provides an overview of paranormal research and introduces readers to an assortment...
A provocative look at the mystery surrounding the Jersey Devil, a beast born of colonial times that haunts the corners of the Pine Barrens—and the American imagination—to this day. Legend has it that in 1735, a witch named Mother Leeds gave birth to a horrifying monster—a deformed flying horse with glowing red eyes—that flew up the chimney of her New Jersey home and disappeared into the Pine Barrens. Ever since, this nightmarish beast has haunted those woods, presaging catastrophe and frightening innocent passersby—or so the story goes. In The Secret History of the Jersey Devil, Brian Regal and Frank J. Esposito examine the genesis of this popular myth, which is one of the oldest m...
Offers a set of clear, understandable explanations for the evidence for evolution and why that evidence is so important for the understanding of the origins of life.
Regal is book six of the World of Godsland fantasy series and is the much anticipated conclusion of the Balance of Power trilogy. Going in search of solace and something to give his life meaning, Sinjin Volker finds wonders he would never have imagined and dangers from his deepest fears. Armed with only artifacts he's powerless to use, Sinjin must change the world by first changing himself.
The discovery in the 1920s of a huge cache of fossils in the Gobi Desert fuelled a mania for dinosaurs that continues to the present. But the original goal of the expedition was to search for the origins of man. Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), director of the American Museum of Natural History, stood at the forefront of the debate over human evolution and the expedition aimed to prove his theory of human origins. Osborn rejected the idea of primate ancestry and constructed a non-Darwinian theory that the evolution of man was the long adventurous story of individuals and groups exerting personal will-power and inborn characteristics to achieve both biological and spiritual success. It is ...
This book is designed as a source and reference for people interested in the history and fossil record of North American tertiary mammals. Each chapter covers a different family or order, and includes information on anatomical features, systematics, the distribution of the genera and species at different fossil localities, and a discussion of their paleobiology. Many of these groups have never been covered in this fashion before.