The book just isn't about lost cities but also generally weird stuff throughout Central and North America. There is evidence of Asian contact with Central American cultures, pterodactyls in Arizona, Vikings in Oklahoma, Irish monks running all over the place, and those are the more believable stories. Atlantis or a gold city always seems to be around the corner, Jesus may have visited the New World, a master race is controlling the world from underground, the Egyptians had a colony in the Grand Canyon, and of course the government is covering all this up.

The book does have its problems. The editing is horrible. The narrative that strings the author's travels together is wooden and painful to read. Each chapter stands by itself, but this means that some background material is repeated, often word for word. Overall these are minor issues.

The book doesn't provide any answers but it does make a choice perfectly clear. You can either accept the traditional view that people wandered across a land bridge in Siberia to colonize the Americas and stayed relatively isolated and unadvanced until Europeans showed up in 1492 and wiped them out. Or you can read this book and see if there is evidence out there that suggests otherwise.

21 of 23 found the following review helpful:


A very reavealing book on unknown sites in North America  Mar 24, 1999
This was the first Childress book that I had ever read. It was very informative as to what is actually found in North and Central America. Being somewhat of a history and achaeology buff, my eyes were opened wide as to what can be found in our own backyards. The fact that the author includes his own everyday experiences while travelling makes the book more pleasant. I would reccomend this book to anyone thinking of driving across North America.

16 of 17 found the following review helpful:


Interesting book, regardless of factual errors.  Jun 28, 2000 By Yuli Martov
David H. Childress's Lost City series has been one of the most interesting collection of books I have read in a long time, however, I really don't know how accurate many of his theories are. Even many minor statements he makes, such as "Native Americans can not grow facial hair" are fallacies, I know an abundance of Native Americans, and they're facial hair rivals that of Che and Fidel. So when a guy gets facts as simple as these garbled, how much credibility can he possibly have when he starts rambling on about "Smithsoniangate", and "living dinosaurs".

I find these possibilites as intriuguing as the next guy, but exactly where is his proof. He cites some archival information from an Arizona newspaper as proof that in the Grand Canyon in the early 1900's researchers found a cave full of Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Egyptian artifacts, and the Smithsonian museum came in and barricaded the area to this day(sort of like Raiders of the Lost Ark). And he uses oral history as proof that there are living Pteradactyls in the forests of Arizona. Perhaps Childress is correct in these assertions, and the US gov't is suppressing evidence of his relatively outlandish claims, then again, perhaps he's just trying to exploit the gullibility of the American public. But judging from his appearances on various talk shows, my guess is that he honestly believes that the gov't is suppressing information on the esoteric subjects he discusses in his books, of course this doesn't neccessarily mean that he's correct in these claims. I suppose that Childress's writings are extremely interesting, whether they are complete fabrications or are truisms. Reading this book certainly won't make you a better person, but it will force you to question what the author is claiming(that the US gov't is involved in clandestine activities of a paranormal nature, and that there are living prehistoric creatures), and will almost definitely force you to ponder what the US gov't plans to accomplish by suppressing ancient history(from my perspective they recieve no incentive by suppressing info that would link the Egyptians with North America). If you have a relatively large amount of time on your hands, I would definitely recommend this book, it makes you question the "accepted" history of the North American continent, but it also frustrates the reader with the lack of viable evidence to support his outrageous suggestions.

15 of 18 found the following review helpful:


who's the archeologist?  Feb 18, 2000 By Plaku "plaku"
The book makes a great read, same as DHC's other books of the "Lost Cities" series. Very entertaining, thought provoking, and well written. One thing though: I don't get why the author keeps calling himself "a rogue archeologist": someone has to explain to him what archeologists do. DHC is no archeologist, whatever he might think; he's a traveler, a gossip gatherer, and a free spirit, but all this has little to do with archeology. I enjoyed his open-mindedness, and the relativism with which he judges most of the theories and hypotheses considered. Going through his whole opus, I can't help noticing that this writer is a really great guy, and that his travel companions and friends must have been lucky to have met him, but archeologist? Please, give me a break. And use some proofreader, for the next edition.

9 of 10 found the following review helpful:


A Travelogue of Archaeology  Jan 26, 2003 By Patroo "patroo"
Much of this book is pleasant escape reading, and some of the things discussed are intriguing, such as tunnel systems associated with some ruins. The book was spoiled for me, however, when I came to chapters dealing with things I knew of firsthand. One major Northwest petroglyph site is placed in the wrong state. There are just enough wrongo facts to make me wonder how many others masquerade as reality in the text. I will reread the book in the future and enjoy the mysteries of past cultures south of the border, while keeping a salt block handy for the rest of it. His books certainly hold true to the basic instructions for finding lost cities - ask the locals. Few lost cities are truly lost to those who live in the area. They're just forgotten. Enjoy this as a tale told by a traveler, and a collection of some of the more interesting legends of American mystery archaeology. I don't really think there are Egyptian treasures in the Grand Canyon, but I would be delighted if they were real. The same holds true for the treasure-laden tunnels of Death Valley...

See all 28 customer reviews on Amazon.com