New Book
“Absolutely perfect for the current moment.” –Buzzfeed. America’s favorite cultural historian and author of Ghostland takes a tour of the country’s most persistent “unexplained” phenomena. In 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.
About the Author:
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 the author of multiple books, including Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, and is a regular contributor to the LA Review of Books and Lapham’s Quarterly, and is the co-editor of The Morbid Anatomy Anthology. With a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Southern California, he is a professor at National University.
The Unidentified by Colin Dickey, read by Will Damron
The Unidentified by Colin Dickey Reviews:
“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
“Colin 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
Own this book? See if Mybookcart is buying The Unidentified by Colin Dickey. Sell your book for cash.
