This magnificent Aegean Eden surrounded a capital of fabulous stone buildings, a busy, bustling heaven on earth. And then, the Cataclysm. Panic spread across the island as Atlantis's volcano shook off its long dormancy. The mountain erupted, and the island was overwhelmed, engulfed. The sea smoothed over, and the continent and its occupants were gone forever. Or were they? Enter Robert Sullivan, who first rose to international prominence with his breakthrough research on Santa Claus. In Atlantis Rising, Sullivan reveals evidence even more startling than that contained in his myth-shattering Flight of the Reindeer: The True Story of Santa Claus and His Christmas Mission. Set upon his Atlantean quest by Amos S. Eno, executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and lured further and further on by the mysterious oceanographer who calls himself "Atwater," Sullivan is able to separate historical truth from mere legend, fact from fiction, science from silliness. Delving into the historical record, then into secret files that have long been under lock and key at the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, he discovers rare transcripts, documents, maps and, incredibly, photographs. They are all here in Atlantis Rising, along with dozens of paintings by the renowned natural-history artist Glenn Wolff. It adds up to an astonishing tale and a powerful moral. Atlantis lives. From The Critics Science Book & Fiction Atlantis Rising is a strange and most unusual book of fiction that attempts to blend a somewhat rambling and exceedingly wide range of ancient and modern history with scientific fact concerning geology, oceanography, and evolution around the legendary Atlantis story. Merging quotations with photographs of well-known living scientists and their oceanographic and paleontologic studies in real time and at real places lends an aura of authenticity to some modern scuba divers' surrealistic tales of encounters and actual communication (via Morse code!) with living Atlanteans. These are found to be a new species that rapidly evolved, or rather "devolved," from human survivors of the volcanic explosion of Santorini into manateelike headlight-bearing humanoid forms. Further "verification" of the worldwide existence of Atlanteans is provided by unpublicized sightings by submarine commanders and by the help that Atlanteans gave to perhaps hundreds of passengers on the Titanic, who "miraculously" survived. The reluctance of people to embrace such a wild idea results in essentially an official cover-up.

There are even tie-ins with modern problems of oceanic pollution, global warming, and El Niño. It is all there, in a beautifully made and illustrated book that gives the impression of being a true documentary. Atlantis Rising is fascinating reading! Recommended, Grades 7-12, General Audience. REVIEWER: Edwin Roedder (Harvard University) Island Magazine The (dare one say it?) myth of the lost isle of Atlantis usually receives serious, even reverent handling in print, and the reader of Robert Sullivan's Atlantis Rising is at first likely to think that this "true story of a submerged land, yesterday and today" is another such piece of moonshine. All the trappings are here - the eminent authorities, the lavish slightly off-the-point illustrations, the carefully footnoted "evidence." A suspicion slowly forms, however, that Sullivan's straight face conceals a mocking grin. Aficionados of Atlantis will probably be outraged by Sullivan's literary lèse-majesté, but the ordinary reader may well find it sidesplitting.

 Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group 0684855240 / 9780684855240
Hardcover As New Condition As New Book Jacket New York 

Price: 27.23 USD