Fringe history has long been a staple of the publishing industry. As one editor noted, “Bunk sells, debunking doesn’t.” In the realm of television, documentaries dealing with topics of fringe history, e.g., Ancient Aliens, get far more airtime than mainstream historical documentaries. Though it might not have been so in the past, current books and documentaries about fringe history exhibit high production values. It all looks pretty impressive and convincing to many members of the general public. The problem is that fringe history is ultimately based on flimsy to irrelevant to misinterpreted or misconstrued evidence. References to legitimate primary sources that support theories are vague to nonexistent. To demonstrate these contentions, Colavito gathered 148 documents commonly cited by fringe historians, annotated them, provided full bibliographic citations, and supplied a commentary of their context. Interested readers can study the origins of fringe theories and better judge their validity and plausibility. A fine piece of scholarly editing of historical documents and a welcome resource for studying and teaching critical thinking and the methodology of historical research.

--R. Fritze, Athens State University

Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries.

Murtada ibn al-‘Afif, also known as Murtadi, son of Gaphiphus (1154 or 1155-1237 CE), was an obscure Arabian writer who studied in Alexandria, Damascus, and Cairo. While he is credited with having written many books, no titles survive, not even the original title of his only complete work to survive to modern times, the book known variously as the Egyptian History or the Prodigies of Egypt, which reported traditional folklore associated with the pyramids, the Flood, and the wonders of Egypt. In French and English translations (the Arabic original was lost) the Prodigies of Egypt influenced the English Romantics, and it preserves some legends of Egypt not found in other sources. This edition reprints the 1672 translation of John Davies to bring this medieval treasury to modern readers in its classic and widely-cited English translation.