The Search for Atlantis explores many...theories, perhaps too many. Mr. Kershaw’s journey through the list of Atlantis seekers feels at times like a forced march, and even he seems to grow weary ... Mr. Kershaw would have been well advised to omit some of his minor figures and expand on the more interesting or influential ones ... one feels the dead hand of the scholarly reference work ... Other Atlanteans, by contrast, deserve a more probing discussion than Mr. Kershaw gives them ... The tortured moves that Mr. Kershaw documents, by which the Atlantis myth has been recast as fact and willfully misread, remind us of how vital such distinctions are for a society striving to stay free.
Kershaw...ranges widely and deeply to create a comprehensive overview of the origins, meaning, and legacy of Atlantis, described by Plato in two dialogues ... In addition to presenting assorted bizarre theories, Kershaw explores Greek and Egyptian mythology, Homeric works, and mid-fifth-century Athenian culture ... A treasure trove of information for readers seduced by the drowned land.
Kershaw sets up his history of the tale thoroughly, devoting several chapters to other mythical and semimythical geography, Plato’s historical context, and Plato’s life before giving readers his own translations of Plato’s relevant writings and sharing diagrams he’s made based on Plato’s intricate descriptions of the pseudoisland ... This rigorous work won’t dissuade true believers, but readers interested in the classics will find this satisfying.
