Sprague De Camp Nonfiction

 

L. Sprague de Camp is mainly known as a writer of fiction – especially science fiction and fantasy. Much of it is still in print, and more can be found in used bookstores on on Ebay. I have found that he also wrote some interesting and worthwhile nonfiction, sometimes in collaboration with his wife Catherine.

Lost Continents is a history of the Atlantis and related myths from the time of Plato to the 1950s, a survey of literature on the subject, and an amusing treatment of various crackpots and their theories of lost continents and of various cultists who included tales of lost continents in their doctrines. It covers its subjects thoroughly.

The Heroic Age of American Invention is a history of American inventors and inventions in the 19^th Century. De Camp was an expert on patents and patent law, and there is a little too much inside baseball on patent fights and litigation, but the stories are fascinating and informative.

The title of The Ancient Engineers is misleading. The book actually covers remarkable feats of engineering and design in various cultures from the building of the pyramids to the Renaissance.

Citadels of Mystery has another fairly misleading title. In considering several remarkable structures built in places around the world in pre-industrial times, it refutes a number of fantastic theories and clears up some mysteries about their origins. It treats the cultures that built them fairly and objectively, rejecting spurious 19^th Century racial theories while also avoiding sappy romanticizing of the sort popular in our time.

De Camp was a fair and thoughtful historian here, and a good writer. That is a fine combination, and these four books are worth reading.