Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-Religions

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this enlightened diatribe, author and historian Fritze (New Worlds: The Great Voyages of Discovery 1400-1600) takes a hard look at pseudohistory, myths passed off as historical fact by those who "confuse the distinction between possibility and probability," either through ignorance or design (usually the latter). He begins by showing how the story of Atlantis evolved from reasonable hypothesis (accepted by Newton, among others) to disproved scholarship to Theosophist cosmology to occupy a central spot among "occult and spiritualist groups." Other claims that come under the microscope: conflicting theories on the settlement of "ancient America"; claims and abuses regarding the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, including the cult of the British Israelites; and the doctrines of the Nation of Islam, dismissed as fraudulent by "most practicing Muslims," including Malcolm X. He also profiles notable pseudohistorian careers (including Immanuel Velikovsky and Charles H. Hapgood), and concludes with the ongoing controversy surrounding Cornell professor Martin Bernal's contention (in 1987's Black Athena) that Bronze Age Greek culture "arose as a result of colonization by Egyptians and Phoenicians." Fritz incorporates a wealth of background information and insider baseball while buttressing his own provocative contentions, making this a hearty treat for history buffs.
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Review
"Known knowns, unknown knowns and nonsense: what better time than the post-Bush era to shine a light on the murky world of the unabashedly made-up? Ronald H. Fritze brings a seriously large torch on his journey through spurious narrative, conspiracy theories and bestselling twaddle in a veritable encyclopaedia of folly, Invented Knowledge. Read it and giggle. Or weep."-Times Higher Education (Times Higher Education )

"In this enlightened diatribe, author and historian Fritze takes a hard look at pseudohistory, myths passed off as historical fact by those who ''confuse the distinction between possibility and probability,'' either through ignorance or design (usually the latter). . . . Fritz incorporates a wealth of background information and insider baseball while buttressing his own provocative contentions, making this a hearty treat for history buffs."-Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly )

"In Invented Knowledge, Ronald Fritze makes a level-headed and well-researched investigation into pseudo-knowledge, revealing the tricks used by purveyors of false and sensational ideas. He also shows how attempts to debunk the myths can add fuel to the fire." - New Scientist (New Scientist )

"In this new age of intellectual chaos, it looks like being a splendid self-regarding spring for hype-resistant readers. They can relish the prospect of hooting from the sofa as lean and hungry sceptics hunt down the peddlers of pseudo-history or pseudo-science and sink rhetorical incisors into the flabby flesh of their prey. . . . Invented Knowledge goes in for a more forensic dissection of modern myths about the past. Fritze . . . selects a few choice myths and fads from the fringes of scholarship. He inspects enduring canards, from the Atlantis tales that took hold after the American Civil War, through the centuries-long quest for the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel, up to today''s taste for Chinese eunuch admirals whose fleet toured the entire globe in 1421, or the black-African ancient Egyptians whose profound wisdom gave Greece all its glory." - The Independent (The Independent )

"In his tireless analysis of the bloodlines of some of modernity''s most successful claptrap--from Immanuel Velikovsky to Erich von D�niken to Heaven''s Gate--Fritze does vindicate his claim that ''Pseudohistory has its historiography and its genealogy of ideas.'' Nonsense now has its Nietzsche."--Steven Poole, The Guardian (UK) (The Guardian )

http://www.amazon.com/Invented-Knowledge-History-Science-Pseudo-Religion...