PARALLELS: Mesoamerican and Ancient Middle Eastern Traditions

 PARALLELS: Mesoamerican and Ancient Middle Eastern Traditions, by Diane E. Wirth, Stonecliff Publishing, 2003.  For a signed copy by author, send a check to Diane E. Wirth, 1625 S. Agate Circle, St. George, UT 84790, for $15.00. This price includes shipping and handling. It can also be ordered through Deseret for $17.95, or through Amazon.com or BarnsandNoble.com.
    PARALLELS brings out in the open the long debated subject of isolationism (Bering Strait theory) and diffusionism (theory of trans-oceanic voyages) with regard to an influence from the ancient Middle East on the Western Hemisphere. This book makes a unique contribution to the field of art, mythology, and cultural traditions, and is authenticated by reliable professionals in their respective fields. Those familiar with the Book of Mormon will recognize many similarities between the cultures mentioned in PARALLELS.

Included within the 211 pages, are 824 endnotes, 290 illustrations, 9 tables, and 517 sources in the Bibliography (extremely well documented). The book is a large paperback (8 _ x 11).

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Comments on PARALLELS by non-LDS University Professors
   “This thought provoking book very carefully documents many parallels, some quite detailed, between cultural traditions of ancient Mesoamerica and the ancient Middle East, providing excellent discussion of the similarities in cultural forms and their meanings that link the two regions. These parallels are fascinating in and of themselves, but the current academic establishment tends to ignore them on the poorly tested assumption that there is no historical relationship between these areas, and that the many parallels can therefore be of no consequence or interest; neither worthy of documentation nor of explanation.
    Breaking with this orthodox view, the author carefully constructs a case in which the detailed cultural parallels on both sides of the ocean are not only of interest and require explanation. She suggests that in fact they constitute evidence of a historical relationship between the cultures involved, proposing that long ago transoceanic voyages made from the Middle East to the western hemisphere.” Dr. Brian M. Stross, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
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   “In Parallels: Mesoamerican and Ancient Middle Eastern Traditions, Diane E. Wirth presents a stunning analysis of the many detailed similarities found among Middle Eastern (for instance, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Hebrew) and Mesoamerican (for instance, as found in the Popol Vuh) myths and traditions. Similarity after similarity, detail after detail, of stories and rituals from both sides of the Atlantic line up. The parallels, as referred to in the title of the book, are made obvious by the author. It is too much for all of this to be dismissed as merely coincidence and independent invention. Neither the scholarly community nor the general public should ignore the evidence for pre-Columbian transatlantic contacts any longer. With this important book, Diane E. Wirth is helping to rewrite not only the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but the history of the ancient Middle East as well.” Dr. Robert M. Schoch, Boston University, author of Voices of the Rocks and Voyages of the Pyramid Builders