Charles R. Pellegrino

Charles R. Pellegrino (born 1953) is an American writer, the author of several books related to science and archaeology, including Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, Ghosts of the Titanic, Unearthing Atlantis, and Ghosts of Vesuvius. Pellegrino falsely claimed to have earned a PhD, and errors in his book The Last Train from Hiroshima (2010) prompted its publisher to withdraw it within a few months of publication.

Early life
During the mid-1970s, Pellegrino earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Long Island University.

Pellegrino claimed to have received a PhD in 1982 from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand; the university denied that claim. Pellegrino responded that the university had "stripped him of his Ph.D. because of a disagreement over evolutionary theory". The New Zealand Herald reported that Pellegrino claimed his credentials had been restored by 1997. The university investigated the matter, and in 2010, The New York Times reported that the university had never awarded him a PhD.

The Last Train from Hiroshima
In January 2010, Henry Holt published Pellegrino's The Last Train from Hiroshima, a look at the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima from the vantage of survivors.

The New York Times initially praised the book as "sober and authoritative" and as a "firm and compelling synthesis of earlier memoirs and archival material". Nevertheless, a month later, the newspaper disputed claims made in Pellegrino's book regarding an accident with the atom bomb that resulted in the death of an American and the weakening of the weapon. Pellegrino conceded that he was misled and said that other editions of the book would be rewritten.

In early March 2010, the publisher announced that it would no longer print or ship the book. A revised edition, To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima, was released in August 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield.

Nonfiction

 * Time Gate: Hurtling Backward Through History (1983)
 * Darwin's Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1983)
 * Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon (with Joshua Stoff, 1985)
 * Interstellar Travel and Communication (with James Powell, Isaac Asimov, et al., 1986)
 * Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Hidden Epidemic (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1988)
 * Her Name, Titanic: Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship (1988)
 * Unearthing Atlantis: An Archaeological Odyssey (1991)
 * Return to Sodom and Gomorrah: Bible Stories from Archaeologists (1994)
 * Ghosts of the Titanic (2000)
 * Ghosts of Vesuvius: A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections (2004)
 * The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (with Simcha Jacobovici, 2007)
 * The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back Henry Holt, (2010)
 * "Farewell, Titanic: Her Final Legacy," (Foreword by Tom Dettweiler), John Wiley & Sons, N.J. (2012).
 * "The Californian Incident", Shoebox/Kindle, Canada (2013).
 * "StarTram: The New Race for Space". (with James Powell, George Maise) Shoebox/Kindle, Canada (2013).
 * To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima (2015)

Fiction

 * The Fallen Sky (1982)
 * Flying to Valhalla (1993)
 * The Killing Star (with George Zebrowski, 1995)
 * Dust (1998)
 * Dyson Sphere (with George Zebrowski, 1999)

Filmography

 * Lost Civilizations: Aegean – Legacy of Atlantis – Time-Life / NBC (1995).
 * Re-released on October 1, 2002, as part of a 4-DVD set entitled Time Life's Lost Civilizations


 * Ghosts of the Abyss with James Cameron (2003)
 * Naked Science: Atlantis – National Geographic Channel (2004)
 * Aliens of the Deep with James Cameron (2005)
 * The Naked Archaeologist: Joshua – History Channel. Hosted by Simcha Jacobovici (2006)
 * American Vesuvius – History Channel (2006)
 * Secrets of the Bible – National Geographic Channel (2006)
 * The Exodus Decoded – History Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron (2006)
 * The Lost Tomb of Jesus – Discovery Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici (2007)
 * Three Ground Zeros, a Thousand Paper Cranes (2008)
 * A Jewish Home in Pompeii (History Channel, 2009)
 * The Last Train from Hiroshima (Japan TV, 2009)
 * Pellegrino and the Hiroshima Controversy in America (Japan TV, Hidetaka/Nakamura, 2010)
 * The Legacy of Tsutomu Yamaguchi (Japan TV, Hidetaka/Nakamura, 2011)
 * Twice Bombed, Twice Survived, Part 2 (Japan TV, Hidetaka/Nakamura, 2012)