Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base is a book by American journalist Annie Jacobsen about the secret United States military base Area 51.
 | |
| Author | Annie Jacobsen |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | 2011 (Little Brown) |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-19385-6 |
Content
editThe book, based on interviews with scientists and engineers who worked in Area 51, addresses the Roswell UFO incident[1][2] and dismisses the alien story.
Instead, it suggests that Josef Mengele was recruited by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to produce "grotesque, child-size aviators" to be remotely piloted and landed in America to cause hysteria in the likeness of Orson Welles' 1938 radio drama War of the Worlds, but that the aircraft crashed and the incident was hushed up by the Americans. Jacobsen writes that the bodies found at the crash site were children. Grotesquely but similarly deformed, aged around 12, each under five feet tall, with large heads and abnormally shaped oversize eyes. "They were neither aliens nor consenting airmen, but human guinea pigs", she claims.[3] Jacobson also interviews Richard Mingus who outlines an incident whereby Area 6 was attacked at gunpoint during the preparation of a nuclear test detonation.
Reception
editReviews
edit[They] were not aliens. Nor were they consenting
airmen. They were human guinea pigs.
— Annie Jacobsen, author of Area 51
The book received mixed reviews. The Los Angeles Times called it "highly readable" and "deeply researched ... a dream for aviation and military buffs."[4] Time magazine wrote that "Area 51 suffers one flaw", referring to the Roswell craft that Jacobsen reports was a Soviet hoax.[5] The Daily Beast called it an "explosive new book".[6] The New York Times wrote: "Although this connect-the-dots U.F.O. thesis is only a hasty-sounding addendum to an otherwise straightforward investigative book about aviation and military history, it makes an indelible impression. Area 51 is liable to become best known for sci-fi provocation." The Times noted that "the book is noteworthy for its author's dogged devotion to her research."[7]
Other reviews have been less positive. Space historian Dwayne Day, for instance, called Area 51 a "poorly-sourced, error-filled book" in which the author makes an argument that "defies common sense" and is reliant on one anonymous source.[8] Jeffrey T. Richelson and Robert S. Norris, critiquing Jacobsen's factual errors on the blog Washington Decoded, stated that "[t]here are so many mistakes that it is hard to know where to begin ... Area 51 is a case study of how not to research and write about top-secret activities."[9] Historian Richard Rhodes, writing in The Washington Post, also criticized the book's sensationalistic reporting of "old news" and its "error-ridden" reporting. He wrote: "All of [her main source's] claims appear in one or another of the various publicly available Roswell/UFO/Area 51 books and documents churned out by believers, charlatans and scholars over the past 60 years. In attributing the stories she reports to an unnamed engineer and Manhattan Project veteran while seemingly failing to conduct even minimal research into the man's sources, Jacobsen shows herself at a minimum extraordinarily gullible or journalistically incompetent."[10] The book was sharply criticized for extensive errors in an essay by Robert Norris and Jeffrey Richelson, senior fellows at the Federation of American Scientists and the National Security Archive respectively.[11]
Interviews
editIn a 2024 interview by Lex Fridman, Jacobsen revealed the source of the Roswell UFO incident explained as a Soviet hoax to be Alfred O'Donnell, who worked for EG&G at Area 51 in the early 1950s.[12]
Bibliography
edit- Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. Little, Brown. 17 May 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-19385-6.
References
edit- ^ Harding, Thomas (May 13, 2011). "Roswell 'was Soviet plot to create US panic'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (May 15, 2011). "A Military Post's Secrets: Espionage, Not Aliens". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
- ^ Thomas Harding. "Roswell 'was Soviet plot to create US panic'", The Daily Telegraph, 13 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "May 30: Los Angeles Times Book Review: "Highly readable…deeply researched…chilling depictions…a dream for aviation and military buffs." -". area51thebook.com. 27 August 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Thompson, Mark (2011-05-18). "Area 51, Revisited". Time. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ Annie Jacobsen. "The Truth About Area 51 Revealed in Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ "A Military Post's Secrets: Espionage, Not Aliens". The New York Times. May 15, 2011. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ Dwayne A. Day (2011-05-31). "Roswell that ends well". The Space Review. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ "Dreamland Fantasies". Washington Decoded. 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ Rhodes, Richard (2011-06-03). "Annie Jacobsen's "Area 51," the U.S. top secret military base". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- ^ Norris, Robert S.; Richelson, Jeffrey T. (July 11, 2011). "Dreamland Fantasies". Washington Decoded. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- ^ "Annie Jacobsen: Nuclear War, CIA, KGB, Aliens, Area 51, Roswell & Secrecy | Lex Fridman Podcast #420" (at 2h27m15s), The Lex Fridman Podcast, 22 March 2024.