Forbidden History edited by J. Douglas Kenyon © 2005

[admin]

Forbidden History  edited by J. Douglas Kenyon   © 2005  Bear and Company  ISBN  1-59413-045-3    322 pages  Paperback    $18.00 (U.S.)  $23.95 (Canada)

Forbidden History certainly makes a title which will grab your attention; much more so than Unconventional History which this certainly is.  This book was produced and edited by the Editor and Publisher of “Atlantis Rising” magazine, with the contributions of over a dozen other writers who have contributed to his magazine.  The forty-two articles are broken down into six rather broad categories:  “The Old Models Don’t Work:  Darwinism and Creationism Under Fire”; “Making the Case for Catastrophism:  Earth Changes, Sudden and Gradual”; “Exploring the Greater Antiquity of Civilization”: “Searching for the Fountainhead”; “Ancient High Tech”; and “New Models to Ponder”.

It is the contention of the editor that the reason this history is not being taught today is not a “conspiracy”, as attractive as that theory may be to some.  He feels, as do other contributors, that the establishment scientists have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and, because of that, they are unable to see evidence which contradict their own viewpoints.

Although there are sixteen contributors and they all share certain basic characteristics, there is no uniformity of opinion expressed here.  There is consistency, but by no means uniformity.  Some of the authors accept as fact items which others reject out of hand.  It is this very disagreement amongst them that makes this such an interesting book.  The authors provide some seasoning by virtue of their varying viewpoints, as opposed to the blandness associated with “orthodox” science books.

It would be easy to dismiss the writing contained within these coves as “crackpot” or “pseudo-science”.  But let us remember that not so long ago, in historical terms, Galileo’s ideas fell into that same category.  Even more recently, the idea that man could fly through the air in a powered vehicle shared the same stigma.  Let’s not be so quickly dismissive of ideas which appear to contradict accepted scientific theory.

There are nine articles in a row arguing the high technology of the ancient Egyptian civilization.  Considering that these nine articles are all written by a single individual (Christopher Dunn), who happens to own a machine tool company (and thus can be dismissed by professional archeologists), there is something to be said for his arguments.  He, like other authors in this book, works in fields outside of the specialized fields of archeology.  This offers a valuable perspective, since our society is, increasingly, becoming one of specialization.  It is very common for experts to know more and more about ever narrowing fields.  Thus, for example, there are archeologists who specialize in the study of 14^th Dynasty Egypt who wouldn’t recognize a Sumerian artifact if confronted with it.  This specialization prevents cross-fertilization even more than most people realize.

The conclusions reached by some of the authors may seem far-fetched to many readers.  The idea of E.T. contact and/or intervention in human affairs may seem the stuff of science fiction.  That does not preclude the possibility that some, or all, of these conclusions may contain some fragment of “truth”.  I questions some of the statements in this book (“Logic would dictate that there must be some type of connection among all the worlds in our galaxy…” seems an overstatement to me.), but I am willing to be open to the possibility that my perception of he universe may not be totally correct, and that others might have a better understanding of some fields than I have.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book.  Some of the information in it as already familiar to me from other reading I had done.  Much of it, however, came as an eye-opener.  Obviously, you should not accept everything these authors say without a certain degree of skepticism.  That also applies to the more orthodox explanations offered in rebuttal of these theories.  You will need to do some extra reading and thinking, but the material here will give you a good start on where to look for some of the answers.

 

 

[Author]

Posts