J. V. Luce (1920–2011)

A dry read, but Luce argues fairly conclusively that Thera (presently known as Santorini), an island in the Aegean Sea, was Plato's Atlantis. About 3,600 years ago, a volcanic eruption more powerful than that of Krakatoa devastated the island, which was an outpost of Minoan civilization; eventually, the entire civilization was destroyed as a result of this cataclysm. On mainland Greece, the memory of the Theran tragedy had been lost by the time Plato's ancestor, Solon, heard a garbled account of it from a group of Egyptian priests. When the story finally reached Plato himself, he added further distortions and embellishments to create the fabulous legend of the sunken continent as we know it today.

The book is a little dull, as I've mentioned, but scientifically and historically quite sound. If you have even a passing interest in Atlantis, you should read it: you'll get a pretty good handle on the subject and learn something about volcanology in the process.… (more)

This is a fun book if you're interested in the Trojan War and Homer. He tries to place the events of the Iliad and Odyssey in the real geography of the surroundings of Troy and Ithaca. Some of his suggestions may stretch a little, but many seem entirely likely--or as likely as we're going to get at this point. Some of his discussions, such as the shoreline of Troy's ancient bay that has now been silted in, are accurate but now a little dated since this issue has continued to be researched and some of his suggestions are no longer entirely accepted, but his overall description continues to be valid. His photographs are great--the next best thing to being there. If you're interested in Troy and Homer go to www.judithstarkston.com… (more)