Immanuel Velikovsky

From Lament for a Generation, Ralph de Toledano 1960

. . . I was only partly prepared for that drive to utter conformity exhibited in the early 1950s by the liberal [?] fraternity in its treatment of Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, a scholar with a distinguished academic background who had helped found Jerusalem University. Velikovsky had devoted ten years to the study of archeology, anthropology, astronomy, and the folklore and sacred writings of the ancient world. His book, Worlds In Collision, was a reexamination of Biblical history in the light of certain intriguing hypotheses, and it was hailed by such men as Gordon Atwater, curator of the Hayden Planetarium, and Dr. Horace Kallen of the New School for Social Research ^[*] as a challenging work deserving of serious attention by the scientific world. It also climbed to the top of the best-seller list.

[*] Apart from the topic tackled here, one may be cautious about that outfit.(WPT).

But Dr. Velikovsky had questioned some of the assumption of the astronomers and the anthropologists—and he had also contended that many of the Biblical �myths� were based on historical fact. The academic community, which calls loudly for �free inquiry� and the �competition of ideas,� moved decisively. Dr. Harlow Shapley organized an ad hoc committee of professor-censors which delivered an ultimatum to Macmillan, which had published the Velikovsky book. Worlds In Collision was to be dropped from the Macmillan list, further books by Velikovsky were not to be published. If this ultimatum were ignored, Macmillan textbooks—which made up a substantial part of the firm�s sales— would be banned from the universities. Macmillan turned over its contract with Velikovsky to Doubleday, which publishes no textbooks, fired the editor who had handled the manuscript (he had worked there for twenty years), and sat back. But when Newsweek, in a carefully documented story by Harold Lavine, published an account of this attempt at suppression, no murmur was heard from the liberal [?] press. The American Association of University Professors, so zealous in its defense of the right [?] of Communists to teach [!], made no protest—nor did it censure Dr. Shapley and his colleagues. . . .

New York : Farrar, Straus and Cuday 1960, pp. 148-9.

From The Art of Awareness, J. Samuel Bois 1966

If a theory is diametrically opposed to what is generally accepted . . , it may be so disturbing to the official scientific community that some of its most respected representatives may forget their dignity and behave like the religious zealots . . . An outstanding example of this type of aberration is the case of a book, Worlds in Collision by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky . . . For four years prior to its publication the author had begged astronomers to conduct some experiments to check on his theories, but none took him seriously. . . .

Eventually the book came out, was enthusiastically received by some science writers and reviewers, and remained on the best-seller list for twenty weeks. Nevertheless, a scientist who said that the new theory deserved a hearing lost his position, and an official with twenty-five years of service in a publishing firm suffered the same fate. Every weapon was brought into play against the book and its author : denunciations ex cathedra, arguments ad hominem, tricks of logic and evidence, denial of rewards, suppression, stony silence, etc. Even today — although the information sent back to earth by Mariner II has increased the probability that Velikovsky�s theories might be valid, at least in part — the book is still treated as science fiction . . . Shades of Galileo!²⁰

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      ²⁰ For the story of this incident, the reader may consult �The Sociology of Science� in the monthly periodical Current (February, 1964), or the sources mentioned in Current S: Harper�s (August, 1963) and the American Behavioral Scientist (September, 1963).

Dubuque, Iowa : Wm. C. Brown 1966, p. 209.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Mankind in amnesia / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1982. Description xiii, 225 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0283988444 Language English Note Includes index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Mankind in amnesia / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher New York : Doubleday, 1982. Description xiii, 225 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0385033931 : Language English Note Includes index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Ramses II and his time / Immanuel Velikovsky Publisher Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1978 Description xii, 270 p., [14] leaves of plates : ill., maps (on lining papers) ; 22 cm Series His Ages in chaos[v. 3] Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Peoples of the sea / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1977. Description xviii, 261 p., [8] leaves of plates : ill., maps (on lining papers) ; 22 cm. Series His Ages in chaos ISBN 0385033893 Language English Note Includes bibliographical references.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Worlds in collision / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher New York : Pocket Books, 1977, c1950. Description 400 p. ; 18 cm. ISBN 067181091X (pbk.) : Language English Note "A Kangaroo Book." Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Peoples of the sea : the concluding volume of the Ages in Chaos series / Immanuel Velikovsky Publisher Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday, 1977 Description xviii, 261 p., [8] leaves of plates : ill. ; 22 cm Language English Note Includes index Note Includes bibliographical references

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Earth in upheaval / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher New York : Dell, 1968, c1955. Description 288 p. ; 18 cm. Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Worlds in collision / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher New York : Dell, 1967, c1950 (1971 printing) Description 400 p. ; 18 cm. Language English Note Cover illustration by Dall. "Eighth printing, February 1971." "9702." Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Uniform Title [ Oedipus and Akhnaton. German] Title Oedipus und Echnaton. Mythos und Geschichte. (Ins Deutsche �bertragen von Ilse und Albert Fuhr. Publisher Z�rich), Europa-Verlag, (1966). Description 248 p. 4 p. of plates. 21 cm. Language German Note Includes bibliographical references.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Oedipus and Akhnaton: myth and history. Publisher Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1960. Description 208 p. illus. 24 cm.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Earth in upheaval. Publisher Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1955. Description 314 p. 22 cm. Language English Subject Geology. Paleontology.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Ages in chaos / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday, 1952- Description 5 v. : ill. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0385033893 Language English Note Bibliographical footnotes. Contents v. 1. From the Exodus to King Akhnaton.--[v. 2]. The dark ages of Greece.--[v. 3]. The Assyrian conquest.--[v. 4]. Ramses II and his time.--v. [5] Peoples of the sea.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title From the Exodus to King Akhnaton / Immanuel Velikovsky. Publisher Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1952. Description xxiv, 350 p., [6] leaves of plates : ill., maps (on lining papers) ; 22 cm. Series His Ages in chaos,v. 1 ISBN 0385048971 Language English Note Includes bibliographical footnotes and index.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Worlds in collision. Publisher New York, Macmillan, 1950. Description xiii, 401 p. 22 cm. Language English Note Bibliographical footnotes.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Worlds in collision. Publisher London, Gollancz, 1950. Description 384 p. 22 cm. Language English Note Bibliographical footnotes.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1895- Title Theses for the reconstruction of ancient history, from the end of the Middle kingdom in Egypt to the advent of Alexander the Great, by Immanuel Velikovsky Publisher [New York-Jerusalem], 1945 Description 26 p. 26 cm Series Scripta academica Hierosolymitana. Simon Velikovsky foundation. Scientific report III Language English