All the components of a nineteenth century mystery novel are contained in the Davenport Conspiracy Revisited -- an elusive race of mysterious "Mound Builders", clergymen with flawed characters, pranksters who overestimated their ability to take a joke, a
stubborn lawyer, a near deathbed confession -- the only difference is that this is no novel, it actually happened. In this book, McKusick chronicles the circumstances surrounding the discovery by nineteenth century antiquarians of alleged "Mound Builder" artifacts in burial mounds in the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois. The discovery caused considerable debate in the scientific community at the time, and has even recently resurfaced in popular literature concerning early European "invasions" of Americas.