If you want to spark young people’s interest in history, teach them about the undocumented legends they won’t find in their traditional history books. This title offers readers a juicy retelling of what some people speculate is an alternate history of the Americas. From Vikings maps of America hundreds of years before Columbus to the discovery of a lost Christian colony in prehistoric Michigan, this book dares to uncover some of history’s most controversial legends.

In Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America, the author of The Atlantis Encyclopedia turns his sextant towards this hemisphere. Here is a collection of the most controversial articles selected from seventy issues of the infamous Ancient American magazine. They range from the discovery of Roman relics in Arizona and California's Chinese treasure, to Viking rune-stones in Minnesota and Oklahoma and the mysterious religions of ancient Americans.

This encyclopedia tells of the Americas before Columbus's landing.

Introduction -- Ancient Cape Cod -- Legendary miscreants -- The arctic explorer from Provincetown -- Fantastic creatures -- Murder most foul -- Gentle legends -- The disappearance of Billingsgate Island -- Village vignettes -- Unsolved mysteries -- Medical Maladies -- Haunted places -- Wampanoag tales -- Cape Cod oddities -- Ill-fated sea voyages -- Local legends -- Believe it or not -- Goblins and ghosts -- Inspirational legends -- The auctioneer and the air crash -- Hurricanes and other disasters -- UFO sightings: fact or fiction -- Cape eccentrics -- Legendary Hyannis Port.

"The New River winds its way through a mysterious and tumultuous history, from the whirlpools of a legendary birth to banks stained with the blood of a massacre. Long-lost tribes flourished on the bounty of fish from its crystal-clear water and game from its wooded shores, only to succumb to European weapons and disease ... South Florida's destiny was changed forever when inshore transportation evolved from foot and hoof to inland waterway and steel rails. Schemes to 'drain the Everglades' turned swamp to subdivisions with the New River at its core. Trace the storied arc of Fort Lauderdale's ancient waterway with author Donn R. Colee Jr."--Publisher marketing.

This marvelous collection brings together the great myths and legends of the United States--from the creation stories of the first inhabitants, to the tall tales of the Western frontier, to the legendary outlaws of the 1920s, and beyond. This thoroughly engaging anthology is sweeping in its scope, embracing Big Foot and Windigo, Hiawatha and Uncle Sam, Paul Revere and Billy the Kid, and even the Iroquois Flying Head and Elvis. In the book's section on dogmas and icons, for instance, Leeming and Page discuss the American melting pot, the notion of manifest destiny, and the imposing historical and literary figure of Henry Adams. And under Heroes and Heroines, they have assembled everyone from "Honest Abe" Lincoln and George "I Cannot Tell a Lie" Washington to Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Martin Luther King, Jr. For every myth or hero rendered here, the editors include an informative yet readable excerpt, often the definitive account of the story in question. Taken as a whole, Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America reveals how waves of immigrants, encountering this strange land for the first time, adapted their religions, beliefs, and folklore to help make sense of a new and astounding place. Covering Johnny Appleseed and Stagolee as well as Paul Bunyan and Moby Dick, this wonderful anthology illuminates our nation's myth-making, enriching our idea of what it means to be American.