Erich von Däniken

[Sparks]

Bio of Erich Von Daniken, author of Chariots of the Gods

That book was first published in 1968. It was quickly translated also into Scandinavian languages, and became a best seller. Some 50 years ago, I was not so critical and sceptical as I later became. Still, I found serious flaws in that book based on my own knowledge and reasoning. So, from the early 1970s I became a debunker of Erich von Däniken, which caused a lot of anger among some of my gullible friends.

You have mentioned him in your quotes in this 2007 thread, and good thing with extensive quotes, since the original sites of publication have disappeared from the Internet:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1240.0 (Debunking Nuage Lies About Mayans)

Some background for those who would like to know more about this author of pseudoscience:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken. (My favorite article.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken (Criticism covers more than half the article.)
http://www.daniken.com — http://www.daniken.com/en/ (His hilarious homepage.)

Chariots of the Gods
Let me quote at length from Hyperallergic:

The article you refer to deserves to be read in full:

https://hyperallergic.com/470795/pseudoarchaeology-and-the-racism-behind-ancient-aliens/

[Sparks]

Happy to see Al Carroll's Däniken bio here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902206/bio

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken. (My favorite article.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken (Criticism covers more than half the article.)

The forum software did not understand the German 'Umlaut-A'. So I made links that will work:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken

[Sparks]

Happy to see Al Carroll's Däniken bio here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902206/bio

It has been posted here:
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5177.msg45882#msg45882
[NAFPS Reviews of Nuage Related Films]

Here is how it looks like at the IMDB site:

Mini Bio (1)
Erich Von Daniken is a writer, producer, and former hotel manager and convicted con artist. He was first convicted at age 19 for theft, then at age 29 for fraud and embezzlement. He was a hotel manager in Davos, Switzerland when he wrote Chariots of the Gods. At age 33 he was convicted again for fraud, embezzlement, and forgery, stealing $130,000. His second book Gods from Outer Space was written in prison.

Von Daniken's books were enormously popular, selling tens of millions of copies. Royalties from his books paid off his legal fees and fines. The reaction from academics was scathing. Carl Sagan wrote, "I know of no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of Von Daniken." Archaeologists and historians were equally critical, with some pointing to Von Daniken's racism for claims like "Was the black race a failure and did the extraterrestrials change the genetic code by gene surgery and then program a white or a yellow race?"

Von Daniken had a definite long term impact, seen in the influence on programs such as Ancient Aliens, for which he is a frequent. Ancient Aliens angered scholars enough that they put out a feature length documentary debunking it, Ancient Aliens Exposed. Von Daniken also designed Mystery Park, a theme park based on ancient alien themes that opened in Switzerland in 2003. It closed in 2006 due to low turnout and financial failure. It briefly reopened in 2010.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Al Carroll

[Sparks]

An article about von Dänikens first book:

https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/ancient/challenging-erich-von-daniken-on-the-bizarre-longevity-of-chariots-of-the-gods/

The article you refer to deserves to be read in full:

https://hyperallergic.com/470795/pseudoarchaeology-and-the-racism-behind-ancient-aliens/

Here are a couple of other articles in the same vein. Although von Däniken is mentioned, they are about the whole crazy racist landscape that is somehow involved in the Ancient Alien fairytales:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-idiocy-fabrications-and-lies-of-ancient-aliens-86294030/
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/01/02/close-encounters-racist-kind

I also recommend this video [Ancient Aliens Debunked - (full movie) HD - 3:10:43]:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ