Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries by Joe Nickell

Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries by Joe Nickell

What constitutes historical truth is often subject to change. Through ingenious detection, the accepted wisdom of one generation may become the discredited legend of another -- or vice versa. In this wide- ranging study of historical investigation, former detective Joe Nickell allows the reader to look over his shoulder as he demonstrates the use of varied techniques in solving some of the world's most perplexing mysteries.

All the major categories of historical mystery are here -- ancient riddles, biographical enigmas, hidden identity, fakelore, questioned artifacts, suspect documents, lost texts, obscured sources, and scientific challenges. Each is then illustrated by a complete case from the author's own files.

Nickell's investigation of the giant Nazca drawings in Peru, for example -- thought by some to provide proof of ancient extraterrestrial visitations -- uses innovative techniques to reveal a very different origin. Other cases concern the 1913 disappearance of writer and journalist Ambrose Bierce, the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, the truth about the identity of John Demjanjuk (Ivan the Terrible to Polish death camp victims), the fate of a lost colonial American text, the authenticity of Abraham Lincoln's celebrated Bixby letter, and the apparent real-life model for a mysterious character in a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

In reaching his solutions, Nickell demonstrates a wide variety of investigative techniques -- chemical and instrumental analyses, physical experimentation, a psychological autopsy, forensic identification, archival research, linguistic analysis, folklore study, and many others. His highly readable book will intrigue the scholar and the history buff no less than the mystery lover.

Joe Nickell (Amherst, NY) has been called the modern Sherlock Holmes and the real-life Scully (from the X-Files). He has been on the trail of man-beasts and other mysterious creatures and phenomena for four decades. Since 1995 he has been the world's only fulltime, professional, science-based paranormal investigator. His careful, often innovative investigations have won him international respect in a field charged with controversy. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently Real or Fake? Studies in Authentication and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation. See www.joenickell.com for more.
John F. Fischer is a forensic analyst with a Florida crime laboratory, an experienced crime-scene investigator, and an author.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780813117669
ISBN 10	0813117666
Title	Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries
Author	Joe Nickell
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	The University Press of Kentucky
Year published	1991-11-01
Number of pages	180
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.