The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There
June 1, 2023
Author of the New York Times best-selling The Only Plane in the Sky, Graff moves from the Cold War to the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program to chronicle the U.S. government's hunt for life in space. Prepub Alert.
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Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 25, 2023
This probing report by journalist Graff (Watergate) delves into the “incidents, sightings, and reported encounters that changed” how people think about UFOs. According to Graff, the legend that the government covered up the crash of an alien spaceship in Roswell, N.Mex., in 1947 started after a colonel with a reputation for being a “loose cannon” prematurely declared to the press that a pile of debris found there was the remains of a “flying saucer.” A colorful cast of scientists, military officials, cranks, and true believers populate Graff’s narrative, including conspiracy theorist Milton William Cooper, who exaggerated his stint in the Navy to make believable his claims that the government was hiding evidence of UFOs, and astronomer Carl Sagan, whose advocacy helped turn the search for extraterrestrial life into a respectable scientific endeavor. Graff contends that though many examples of so-called alien spacecraft can be easily debunked (a flying saucer photographed by an occultist in 1950s was actually a sombrero tossed in the air), “there is almost certainly not one single answer to the mystery” of UFO sightings, which might be of “little-understood meteorological and atmospheric phenomena,” “military technologies,” or “a secret that will only emerge as our knowledge of astronomy and physics itself evolves.” The UFO history is loads of fun, and Graff’s agnosticism has the potential to appeal to skeptics and believers alike. It’s a fascinating dive down the rabbit hole.
October 1, 2023
A history of the decadeslong government involvement in reports of lights in the sky, odd flying shapes, and peculiar radar images. Veteran journalist Graff, author of Watergate, The Only Plane in the Sky, and Raven Rock, tracks the popular obsession with UFOs, but his real interest is the way that various agencies of the U.S. government, mainly connected to the Air Force, have responded to sightings and other pieces of evidence. He readily admits that many UFO claims can be debunked, but notes that the Air Force seems to have taken a lot of them seriously. Graff recounts reports of officers turning up to interview people who said they had seen a UFO, often with a view to persuading them that they were mistaken. They were usually unsuccessful, and their attempts often backfired, feeding a growing network of conspiracy theories. Graff keeps his tongue in his cheek when discussing the range of books and articles claiming that the truth was out there but hidden away, and he notes that connecting disparate dots doesn't necessarily add up to hard evidence. However, America in the 1970s, after Watergate and Vietnam, was fertile ground for conspiracy theories. There were even rumors that the government not only knew about UFOs, but also had alien ships in storage. Meanwhile, some respected scientists were taking the possibility of extraterrestrial life seriously, looking for radio signals and sending their own into space. Some exploratory spacecraft carried messages of friendship. Graff admires the open-mindedness and imagination of these researchers, although he concludes that their work has yet to produce substantial returns. He avoids taking a firm stand on the existence of UFOs but acknowledges that it is a big universe and there are plenty of inexplicable phenomena. An entertaining tour through the world of flying saucers, aliens, and weird science.
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Starred review from October 15, 2023
Have we been visited by extraterrestrials? Best-selling author, historian, and journalist Graff, who compiled the 9/11 oral history, The Only Plane in the Sky (2019), pulls together declassified documents, interviews, and archival research in this comprehensive review of the U.S. government's effort to identify UFOs and the scientific community's search for extraterrestrial life, from post-WWII through today. Far from an organized cover-up, Graff compellingly portrays a bewildered government's efforts to unearth the truth of flying saucer reports over decades, at times involving the Air Force, CIA, and FBI. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of Cold War-era anxiety, public interest soared, with 500 UFO sightings reported in one July, and technological advances opened a new frontier to extraterrestrial search. While many UFO incidents could be chalked up to existing aerial objects like weather balloons or astronomical and meteorological events, not all were easily explained. From the truth behind a veteran WWII pilot's fatal crash in Kentucky in 1948 to the secret U.S. effort to build a flying saucer, Jimmy Carter's and Ronald Reagan's UFO encounters, the origins of the "Men in Black," and the mystique of Area 51, Graff has crafted an intriguing and insightful history of our search for answers.
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January 12, 2024
Journalist, historian, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Graff's (Watergate: A New History) newest book furthers his reputation for crafting stories that are exceptionally well researched and incredibly entertaining. Drawing on declassified documents, archival research, and interviews with senior intelligence and military officials, Graff seamlessly intertwines two narratives: 1) the U.S. military's investigations, beginning in 1947, of sightings of unusual flying objects in Roswell, NM, and Mount Rainier, WA; and 2) the scientific community's ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), including projects such as the SETI Institute. This book also discusses hoaxers and secret military meetings. VERDICT This is not a dry retelling of the facts that many people think they already know about unidentified flying objects. Instead, it's a thrilling tale of ongoing discussions in and outside of the halls of government that's sure to leave readers feeling more curious than ever. The mysteries of the universe may never be known, but Graff's carefully crafted prose will intrigue readers and leave them asking if Earthlings are alone in the cosmos.--Jennifer Moore
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