INVENTED KNOWLEDGE: FALSE HISTORY, FAKE SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-RELIGIONS

Book ID/图书代码： 14932910B43533

English Summary/英文概要： Were the Chinese the first to discover America in 1421? Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene have children together? Did extraterrestrials visit the earth during prehistory and teach humans how to build pyramids and stone structures? These are only a few of the controversial and intriguing questions that Ronald H. Fritze investigates in Invented Knowledge.

This incredible exploration of the murky world of pseudo-history reveals the proven fact, the informed speculation, and the pure fiction behind lost continents, ancient super-civilizations, and conspiratorial cover-ups—as well as the revisionist historical foundations behind religions such as the Nation of Islam and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. Drawing on the best scholarship available, Fritze shows that in spite of strong, mainstream historical evidence to the contrary, many of these ideas have proved durable and gained widespread acceptance. As the examples in Invented Knowledge reveal, pseudo-historians capitalize on and exploit anomalies in evidence to support their claims, rather than examining the preponderance of research as a whole.

From Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to 10,000 B.C., the sensationalist topics of pseudo-history captivate audiences and permeate popular culture. Invented Knowledge offers many entertaining and enthralling examples of spurious narratives, artificial chronologies, and ersatz theories in a book guaranteed to intrigue, open eyes, and spark conversation among readers—skeptics and believers alike.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 是中國人在1421年首次發現美洲大陸的嗎？耶穌和抹大拉的瑪利亞育有孩子嗎？外星人曾在史前時期訪問過地球並教會地球人建造金字塔和認識岩石構造的方法嗎？作者羅奈爾得在本書中提出了眾多頗具爭議而又令人渴望的歷史疑問，而這些問題只不過是其中的幾個而已。
本書對黑暗的偽歷史世界進行了大膽的探索，從而揭示了得到驗證的事實，為人所知的推測，脫離實際的純小說，古老的超級文明，不懷好意的掩飾以及持修正歷史主義觀點的宗教組織，譬如伊斯蘭民族組織和摩門教會。
作者借鑒當前最具權威的學術研究成果，告訴讀者們不考慮那些與主流歷史觀相悖的論點有多麼強大，許多主流觀點都被證明是長期可靠的，並且得到了廣泛的認可。作者通過事例說明，偽歷史學家通常用一些異常現象支撐自己的主張，但是從來不從整體上評估研究的優勢所在。
從印第安那鐘斯和水晶頭骨王國到西元前10,000年，虛構歷史中那些聳人聽聞的主題一直深深吸引著讀者，充斥在通俗文化之中。本書給出了眾多富有趣味和扣人心弦的例子，例如虛構的敘述，偽造的編年史，為吸引讀者眼球的虛假理論以及人為的讀者討論。（from XMM）

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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.

’Lincoln rewritten: Fellow citizens, we cannot escape pseudohistory. In heroic resistance, Fritze dives into the Augean stables of popular pseudoscholarship on pseudotopics such as Atlantis, aliens who built the pyramids, ancient catastrophes caused by near-misses with Venus, or the Israelite origin of Britons . . . in his tireless analysis of the bloodlines of some of modernity’s most successful claptrap - from Immanuel Velikovsky to Erich von Däniken to Heaven’s Gate - Fritze does vindicate his claim that Pseudohistory has its historiography and its genealogy of ideas. Nonsense now has its Nietzsche.’---The Guardian

’[Fritze] is a careful scholar with a gift for summarizing theories, however crackpot. He takes a historian’s delight in uncovering connections between the various pseudo-histories he describes.’---Times Literary Supplement

’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

About the Author/作者介绍： 1951年，Ronald H. Fritze出生於印第安那州的韋恩堡。少年時期，羅奈爾得就對歷史十分鍾情，並像其他小男孩一樣特別喜歡閱讀內戰時期的歷史故事。1974年，他從伊利諾斯州堪科迪亞學院取得歷史學學士學位。隨後，在多位教授的鼓勵之下，羅納多又進行研究生學習。儘管羅納多最初對中世紀感興趣，可是在Rudi Heinze的建議下，他選擇學習都鐸王朝時期的英國歷史。目前，作者是阿拉巴馬州雅典周立大學擔任歷史學教授以及人文科學院院長。

Ron Fritze was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1951. He developed an interest in history early in life and like many little boys that interest focused on the Civil War. He earned his BA at Concordia College in River Forest, Illinois in 1974. Majoring in history, he was encouraged by his professors, particularly his advisor Rudolph Heinze, to go to graduate school. Although initially interested in the medieval era, Rudi Heinze converted him to studying Tudor England. Ronald H. Fritze is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Athens State University, Alabama.

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