In "Black Athena Writes Back" Martin Bernal responds to the passionate debates set off by the 1987 publication of his book "Black Athena." Producing a shock wave of reaction from scholars, "Black Athena" argued that the development of Greek civilization was heavily influenced by Afroasiatic civilizations. Moreover, Bernal asserted that this knowledge had been deliberately obscured by the rampant racism of nineteenth-century Europeans who could not abide the notion that Greek society--for centuries recognized as the originating culture of Europe--had its origins in Africa and Southwest...