Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs.

Description

Seeking the truth about UFOs in America, Mark Pilkington and John Lundberg uncover a 60 year-old story stranger than any conspiracy thriller. Through the fascinating account of their quest Mark Pilkington reveals the long history of UFOria and its parallels in little known tales from the murky worlds of espionage, psychological warfare and advanced military technology. Along the way he discovers that the truth about flying saucers is stranger and more complex than either the ufologists or debunkers would have us believe. As he crossed the US meeting intelligence agents, disinformation specialists and UFO hunters Pilkington was confronted with a dizzying array of ever more outrageous claims and counter claims. As a result he began to suspect that, instead of covering up stories of crashed flying saucers, alien contacts and secret underground bases, the US intelligence agencies had actually been promoting them all along. Meanwhile he has to deal with his own uncertainties, the suspicions of the UFO community and a partner who is starting to believe that conspiracy theorists might be right after all. With a fresh, funny and objective approach, Pilkington is the ideal guide to steer us through these strange territories, where nothing is quite as it seems and reality is just a matter of managing perceptions.

Mark Pilkington is a writer, editor and filmmaker. He has written a weekly weird science column, Far Out, for the Guardian's Life supplement and has been a contributing editor to Fortean Times magazine. He has also written for, among others, The Times, the Wire, Arthur, Plan B and has contributed to fiction and non-fiction anthologies. He also edits Strange Attractor Journal, which was described in the Independent on Sunday as 'a unique and necessary collection of eccentric scholarship, weird journalism and obsessive research'.

Totally absorbing - I couldn't put it down. Full of fascinating stuff I'd never heard before and beautifully written into the bargain, it reads like a thriller, or maybe a really good ghost story. I'll be recommending it to everyone I know. An incredible, complex, fascinating story... I loved it. - Jon Ronson, author of 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' and 'Them' Pilkington leads us into a hall of mirrors where the shadowy intelligence officers may be the deluded fantasists, and the craziest ufologists may be the ones guarding the biggest secrets. As the rug of reality is pulled repeatedly from under our feet, one thing becomes clear: the standard narrative, in which governments and the military are concealing the existence of extraterrestrials, is the opposite of the truth. Mirage Men turns the baffling world of UFOs and their investigators into a master key for decoding the twentieth century's dreams and nightmares. Written in a lively, "Can you believe this stuff actually happened?" style, the book is an absolute must-read for believers and skeptics alike. - Booklist A good read - Total Sci-Fi Informative as well as hugely entertaining - The Times Fascinating - Choice Great credit to Pilkington - Daily Mail