The Unidentified
Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained
(Sprache: Englisch)
America's favorite cultural historian and author of Ghostland takes a "thought-provoking and delicoiusly unsettling" (Publisher's Weekly) tour of the country's most persistent "unexplained" phenomena
In a world where rational, scientific...
In a world where rational, scientific...
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America's favorite cultural historian and author of Ghostland takes a "thought-provoking and delicoiusly unsettling" (Publisher's Weekly) tour of the country's most persistent "unexplained" phenomenaIn a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational--in fringe--is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures.
Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today's Illuminati is yesterday's Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America's wildest fringe beliefs--from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining "evidence" of the great Kentucky Meat Shower--investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable.
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[ 1 ] The Man Who Could Not Be Turned
Later, Ignatius Donnelly would recall those heady days of 1856. Standing on the broad porch of his new mansion that overlooked the Mississippi River, he wondered to himself, "Here I am, but twenty-six years old, and I have already acquired a large fortune. What shall I do to occupy myself the rest of my life?"
He didn't have to worry; within a year everything would have changed, and the path of his life would take him through some of the most bizarre twists possible. Born in Philadelphia to two successful Irish immigrant parents, Donnelly had established himself as a lawyer in Philadelphia. But after his marriage in 1856, he'd decided the world held bigger things for him, so he'd come to Minnesota. He was part of a generation of young men who saw the West as the promised land, a place of wild speculation, where their fortunes would be made and their characters forged. The spirit of the age was embodied in a quote often attributed to Horace Greeley (though he likely popularized it rather than coined it): "Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country." Donnelly took this to heart.
Donnelly, in concert with a few other investors, developed a bold plan to acquire a large parcel of undeveloped land just down the Mississippi River from Hastings, Minnesota. While Hastings was a thriving town, Donnelly was sure the site he'd chosen was better-a better steamship landing and a more entrancing view of the river-imagining it a future hub for the northern Mississippi. They'd bought the land for roughly six dollars a parcel, but were planning on selling those same parcels at one hundred to five hundred dollars each. The town was named for Donnelly's business partner, John Nininger, but it would be Donnelly who'd be the voice and the face of the project, and Donnelly who would in time earn the nickname the Sage of Nininger. He portrayed the West as a land of wealth and wonder, a place that "will yet
... mehr
play an important part in the great drama of human advancement." The West, he prophesized, would be the new Eden.
Such boosterism depended on the lie that the land was itself uninhabited, when in reality, of course, the indigenous peoples of North America were being pushed steadily westward. Manifest Destiny, as the policy came to be known, offered a mythological and seemingly predestined underpinning to a process of violent expropriation. Donnelly, like many, saw-and embraced-this, telling potential investors that the "embers of the Indian's fire will scarcely have disappeared from the heath where his wigwam stood, before the halls and palaces of the most elaborate social life will rise upon their site."
Initially things went well for Donnelly; plots sold, the money rolled in, and he put a down payment on a massive ferry that would serve Nininger and bring commerce to the town. But the tide quickly turned, and instead of a boomtown, Donnelly found ruin. In 1857 a panic swept the country's economy, constricting credit and drying up speculation. Nininger was just one of many casualties. He went bankrupt before the ferry could be delivered and defaulted on the balance.
Donnelly's dream of a utopia in the West had met with the harsh reality of capitalism. He entered politics, going on to serve as the lieutenant governor of Minnesota and later in the US House of Representatives, before getting pushed out of politics in the 1870s, leaving him to pursue another career. Ignatius Donnelly had been to the ends of the Earth, at least figuratively, and had met only financial ruin. Now he would re-create the history of a place that would never be touched by money, politics, or the imperfect hands of modern man: in 1882 he turned to publishing, producing an unexpected bestseller, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.
*
When Max Weber argued that the modern world was becoming "disenchanted," he didn't just mean that it ha
Such boosterism depended on the lie that the land was itself uninhabited, when in reality, of course, the indigenous peoples of North America were being pushed steadily westward. Manifest Destiny, as the policy came to be known, offered a mythological and seemingly predestined underpinning to a process of violent expropriation. Donnelly, like many, saw-and embraced-this, telling potential investors that the "embers of the Indian's fire will scarcely have disappeared from the heath where his wigwam stood, before the halls and palaces of the most elaborate social life will rise upon their site."
Initially things went well for Donnelly; plots sold, the money rolled in, and he put a down payment on a massive ferry that would serve Nininger and bring commerce to the town. But the tide quickly turned, and instead of a boomtown, Donnelly found ruin. In 1857 a panic swept the country's economy, constricting credit and drying up speculation. Nininger was just one of many casualties. He went bankrupt before the ferry could be delivered and defaulted on the balance.
Donnelly's dream of a utopia in the West had met with the harsh reality of capitalism. He entered politics, going on to serve as the lieutenant governor of Minnesota and later in the US House of Representatives, before getting pushed out of politics in the 1870s, leaving him to pursue another career. Ignatius Donnelly had been to the ends of the Earth, at least figuratively, and had met only financial ruin. Now he would re-create the history of a place that would never be touched by money, politics, or the imperfect hands of modern man: in 1882 he turned to publishing, producing an unexpected bestseller, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.
*
When Max Weber argued that the modern world was becoming "disenchanted," he didn't just mean that it ha
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Autoren-Porträt von Colin Dickey
Colin Dickey is a writer, speaker, and academic, and has made a career out of collecting unusual objects and hidden histories all over the country. He's a regular contributor to the LA Review of Books and Lapham's Quarterly, and is the co-editor of The Morbid Anatomy Anthology. He is also a member of the Order of the Good Death, a collective of artists, writers, and death industry professionals interested in improving the Western world's relationship with mortality. With a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Southern California, he is an associate professor of creative writing at National University.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Colin Dickey
- 2021, 320 Seiten, Maße: 13,9 x 21,3 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: PENGUIN BOOKS
- ISBN-10: 052555758X
- ISBN-13: 9780525557586
- Erscheinungsdatum: 04.08.2021
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Fascinating, troubling, compassionate and in the end deeply thoughtful Dickey s sense of history reminds us of the complex reasons our odder beliefs endure. NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWColin Dickey s examination of fringe beliefs is absolutely perfect for the current moment, as we watch a growing (and worrying) distrust in science In shrewd, accessible analysis and firsthand reporting, Dickey explores his own theories about theories. BUZZFEED
Any aficionado of the macabre would be remiss not to pick it up. TOR
Colin Dickey s new book about the rise of conspiracy theories and paranoid thought in American culture, could not come at a better time Brilliant. THE NEW REPUBLIC
A fascinating expedition through fringe belief and theory A thought-provoking and deliciously unsettling guide into the stranger corners of American culture. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred Review
Meticulously researched and written, this is the grown-up version of the mysteries of the
unknown books... Perfect for the skeptics and believers alike. BOOKLIST
Dickey succeeds in informing and entertaining his audience with his sense of wonder A fascinating blend of history and the strangeness of human nature. LIBRARY JOURNAL
An intriguing mix of myths and monsters. KIRKUS REVIEWS
[A] compelling historical and cultural analysis of human nature engaging and impressively researched. BOOKPAGE
There are moments while reading The Unidentified where can feel yourself becoming fundamentally smarter about the world than you were before. Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
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