Sandra Miesel, Carl E. Olson
Either “The DaVinci Code” is bunk not worth debunking, or it’s misleading people and needs correction. I tried reading “Code” but it didn’t grab me. It’s pulp - cheap pulp - and I can hardly believe anyone bothered to finish it, much less that it became a best seller. So I didn’t think there was need for book to set the historical record straight. Then a family member quoted an anti-Catholic “fact” from the novel and I realized that even people like me who don’t care about “Code” one way or another should be ready to counter its arguments.
“The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code” is a good tool to dismantle the misconceptions of the novel’s gullible readers. Miesal and Olson quote extensively from the novel, so their readers don’t have to have read Brown’s bilge to follow their arguments. They back up their arguments with numerous footnoted facts on art and Church history.
This isn’t a terribly enjoyable read - it’s dry and a bit too long - but it is a good antidote to Brown.