Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

The Battle over America's Origin Story

Legends, Amateurs, and Professional Historiographers

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Brian Regal

    1. Kean University, Union, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Examines the many myths and legends about who ‘really’ discovered America

  • Connects the history of American origins to contemporary political debates

  • Makes use of archival sources to examine the relationship between professional scholars and amateur investigators

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Waiting for Columbus

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 1-7

  3. “Unforeseen and Unforeseeable”

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 9-30

  4. The Legend of Christopher Columbus

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 31-52

  5. The Mound Builders

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 53-75

  6. Saints Preserve Us

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 77-101

  7. The Viking Theory

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 103-139

  8. The Lost City of New England

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 141-166

  9. The Asia and Africa Theories

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 167-195

  10. Stone Temple Pilots

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 197-232

  11. The Video Theorists

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 233-259

  12. Nellie Horsford’s Last Stand

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 261-282

  13. Conclusion

    • Brian Regal
    Pages 283-286

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 287-325
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book examines the legends of who ‘really’ discovered America. It argues that histories of America's origins were always based less on empirical evidence and more on social, political, and cultural wish fulfillment. Influenced by a complex interplay of Nativist hatred of immigrants and Aboriginal people, as well as distrust of academic scholarship, these legends ebbed and flowed with changing conditions in wider American society. The book focuses on the actions of a collection of quirky, obsessed amateur investigators who spent their lives trying to prove their various theories by promoting Welsh princes, Vikings, Chinese admirals, Neo-lithic Europeans, African explorers, and others who they say arrived centuries before Columbus. These myths acted as mitigating agencies for those who embraced them. 


Along with recent scholarship, this book makes extensive use of archival materials—some of which have never been employed before. It covers the period from the sixteenth century to the present. It brings together separate historiographic ideas to create a unified history rather than focusing on one particular legend as most books on the subject do. It shows how questions of who discovered America helped create the field of historical scholarship in this country. This book does not attempt to prove who discovered America, rather it tells the story of those who think they did.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kean University, Union, USA

    Brian Regal

About the author

​Brian Regal is Associate Professor of history at Kean University, USA.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Battle over America's Origin Story

  • Book Subtitle: Legends, Amateurs, and Professional Historiographers

  • Authors: Brian Regal

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99538-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-99537-9Published: 07 May 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-99540-9Published: 08 May 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-99538-6Published: 06 May 2022

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 325

  • Topics: History of the Americas, Historiography and Method, History, general, Cultural History

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation