Shadow Pasts: History's Mysteries

William D Rubinstein

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'Professor Rubinstein has done amateur historians a service in this book by bringing the work they do to a wider reading public.' Paul Begg author of "Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History" (2005) and "Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea "(2007).

Was President Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald alone, or as part of a conspiracy? Who was 'Jack the Ripper'? Did William Shakespeare actually write the works attributed to him? What was the reason for Rudolph Hess' mission to Britain and who knew about it? Who actually built the Pyramids and why? What really happened to the Princes in the Tower? Did Jesus Christ marry and survive the Crucifixion?

"Discover the secrets behind history's greatest mysteries..."""

Explores the obsession of amateur historians and their conspiracy theories about some of history's most fascinating and enduring mysteries.

• Explores the 'Modus Operandi' of the amateur historians including their societies, conferences and leading personalities

• Gives access to a world of passion, obsession and intrigue as fascinating as their objects of fixation

• Mysteries/theories examined include, the assassination of JFK, identity of Jack The Ripper, Shakespeare authorship, Richard III & the princes in the Tower, Jesus surviving crucifixion, escape of Rudolph Hess, the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.

For many intelligent people, the stuff of history does not consist of the kind of dry-as-dust investigations of diplomatic, economic, or political history that most university historians research and write about, but the famous topics of " history' s mysteries" - who was Jack the Ripper? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy? Did Richard III murder the Princes in the Tower? What are the mysteries of the ancient Pyramids?

Not only have a great many books and articles been written on these and similar topics by so-called " amateur historians, " but they have generated societies, conferences, newsletters, and television programmes. Many people who are not academic historians take a keen interest in these topics, and have in some cases made themselves real experts on them, with interesting theories of their own.

Despite all of this, however, these topics are virtually ignored by academic historians and can be treatedwith contempt. In "Shadow Pasts," William D. Rubinstein a well-known and widely published history professor, examines seven of the most famous and interesting topics which have been discussed, debated, examined, and written about by " amateur historians. Each of these mysteries and the theories surrounding them are examined in detail, with Professor Rubinstein presenting his own original and sometimes surprising conclusions about what really happened.

Bill Rubinstein is a Professor at Aberystwyth. He is well known as a controversial author in historical circles. His best selling books include "The Truth Will Out," which presents a new candidate for The Shakespeare Authorship Debate and "The Myth of Rescue" which refuted the idea that more Jews could have been saved by the Allies from the Holocaust.