History Decoded

June 10, 2013
Newcomers and longtime fans of Meltzer’s popular TV show, Decoded (whereon he and a trio of experts investigate the veracity of various myths and legends), will relish this print companion, comprising summaries of 10 of the most intriguing topics pursued on the show, including the fate of John Wilkes Booth, UFOs in Area 51, Leonardo Da Vinci’s apocalyptic predictions, the assassination of J.F.K., and more. Mirroring the series, each chapter begins with Meltzer (The Inner Circle) posing a provocative question (e.g., “What if I told you that Fort Knox is empty?”) before leading readers through his process of interviewing experts and analyzing ancient texts and other ephemera to determine the answer—if there is one. As viewers know, the majority of his inquiries don’t have a definitive conclusion, but half the fun is getting there. Meltzer peppers each section with fascinating asides (an independent panel determined that all the shots that killed Kennedy came from the rear rather than from multiple angles) and trivia (Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier three months after the Roswell incident, something scientists had previously thought impossible) that is sure to keep readers enthralled and conspiracy theorists encouraged to continue to dig for the truth.

October 15, 2013
From a prolific novelist and legal analyst, a bemused look at the hidden conspiracies threaded throughout American history--the companion volume to the History Channel show. With the assistance of Ferrell (Tougher Times: A Practical Guide for Getting Through Them, 2009, etc.), Meltzer (The Fifth Assassin, 2013, etc.) begins by asserting that, although conspiracy theory can provide a shaky lens for examining our times, "someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies." He thus advances an expansive acceptance regarding both controversial and obscure footnotes to various historical narratives, coupled with a keen sense of how a belief in conspiracies has become central to our political life. In discussing the role of the Freemasons in building the White House, plans for the Confederacy to rise again via hidden stashes of "rebel gold" or the possibility that D.B. Cooper was a disgruntled airline employee hiding in plain sight, Meltzer alludes to the kind of ramshackle yet potent cabals that animate pop-culture works like The Da Vinci Code or the National Treasure movies. (Yet the author often steps in to reject the wilder claims he encounters--e.g., that the good deeds of the Freemasons conceal "a secret core of leaders who control and guide the organization towards far darker goals.") Regarding presidential assassinations, Meltzer first grabs the reader's attention by asserting that without a DNA investigation, "we'll never know for sure whether John Wilkes Booth died in 1865." He regards the JFK assassination as so complex that he walks readers through 10 separate purported conspiracies within it. The prose is lively and casually amusing, peppered with asides regarding the sheer wackiness of these hidden tales (e.g., in his supposed quest for the Spear of Destiny, Hitler was "looking to steal a page from the super-villain playbook"), making these compact narratives seem breezily accessible but also less intellectually weighty. Slick and engaging but lightweight--a good impulse read for fans of secret histories.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2013
Meltzer, the popular author of such conspiracy-minded thrillers as The Tenth Justice (1997), has also been the host of Brad Meltzer's Decoded, a History Channel series about conspiracy theories and secret codes. Drawing from the series, this intriguing volume looks at the biggies, among them the mystery surrounding the death of John Wilkes Booth (Did Lincoln's murderer really die in the days after the assassination?); Area 51, the top-secret Nevada site often associated with UFOs (Does the American government have proof of extraterrestrial visitation?); and skyjacker D. B. Cooper (Has his real identity been uncovered?). Meltzer gains credibility by not being afraid to admit that definitive answers are elusive. This isn't one of those conspiracy books that pretends to look at all the evidence, all the while offering a conclusion based on its author's agenda. The goal here is to assess the evidence behind these historical mysteries, to separate (where possible) fact from speculation, and to see where we stand. We leave the book no more certain about the truth than when we started, but with a lot to think about.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)