Review of Graham Hancock's "Quest for the Lost Civilization"

This is a review of Graham Hancock's video "Quest for the Lost Civilization."

Recently, I have become fascinated with alternative interpretations of history, especially when it comes to Egypt. I got into it while working on my 2nd novel, GrailChase! Book 2: The Finding Within, and found there is some amazing stuff being done. This isn't the 1st time I have danced with alternative versions of history - back in the early 1990s, I got into Riane Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade, as well as into Zacharia Sitchen's 12th Planet books. And of course, the penultimate alternative history, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, by Baigen, Leigh & Lincoln, upon which my GrailChase! series of novels is predicated.

The history we are taught in schools and history books never made a lot of sense to me, especially all the ancient stuff. But then, I came to it as a philosopher & metaphysician, not as a historian. The so-called 'experts' in history all seemed to have this stench of ethnocentrism and portrayed the ancients as stupid, vain and whimsical. I just never could buy into the idea that something as truly awesome as the pyramids was built as a tomb to aggrandize a spoilt pharaoh's ego.

I had not been reading in alternative history since about 1991. But as the seasons of the soul roll around in an eternal cycle, eventually, my interests came back to the field of alternative history. And I have been utterly delighted to see what blossoming is now occurring in the field. Chief amongst the Beloved Revisionists is the intrepid Brit, Graham Hancock. His existence renews my faith in a providential Universe. Finally, someone talking about ancient history in a way that makes sense!

Primarily a journalist (although he is now getting into fiction, based on all his massive research :-D), Graham Hancock is the real life Indiana Jones! He takes the research of cutting edge thinkers in the field, such as John Anthony West and Robert Bauval, and distills their massive research into digestible bites, as well as exploring his own thesis with intelligence and wit.

Graham Hancock's alternative history books are mega-bestsellers all over the world. I can't believe I didn't know about him until recently. He began as the African correspondent for the Economist magazine in the '80s, but, during a solid career as a respectable mainstream journalist, his trajectory got diverted into historical weirdness when he met an Ethiopean priest who told Hancock that he had the Ark of the Covenant back in his church. From there, Hancock began asking questions and investigating the answers he got.

The result: a theory that 'humanity is a species with amnesia.' Graham Hancock posits that there was a pre-historical civilization that was the antecedent of ancient Egypt, Cambodia, Easter Island and Central American cultures. He hypothesizes that this ancient civilization, which can be called "Atlantis" for convenience's sake, is what accounts for the similarities in the remains of those cultures. This video chronicles his travels around the world to verify this theory.

The quality of this video is excellent. I believe it was a miniseries on the BBC or something like that. It is 2 1/2 hours long, but takes you on a whirlwind tour of ancient cultures, and presents a pretty viable theory (IMHO). Here and there, he can get a bit carried away and over-enthusiastic, but generally, his arguments are cogent and well-researched. If you are not familiar with Graham Hancock, this video is a great introduction. I highly recommend it!

Check out the video here.

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