Some people think interest in UFOs, aliens and abductions date back to prehistory (there’s a UFO in the Bayeux Tapestry). The modern craze started with a sighting by an amateur light plane pilot in Washington state in 1947.

After that, America – and soon the world – had an entirely new terminology for a whole new area of interest, and it’s the history of that interest Eghigian is most concerned with in this book. UFO clubs, research groups and publications sprang up all over the world, all connected by shared passion for the topic and a thirst for more fantastical tales to support their worldview.

Some sections are fairly dry, looking only at how many magazines or networks existed in various parts of the world and how many members they had. But it’s when the book explores how we’ve both shaped and been shaped by UFO lore that it comes to life.

In many cases, the style of sightings, visitations and abductions have mirrored concerns in society at the time. Then there’s the politics, infighting, petty jealousies, slanging matches in the media and enquiries among researchers, academics and witnesses. It’s a roughly chronological account of UFO sightings in history, and like all the best stories it’s about people – characters, our foibles, our prejudices, our beliefs and how they enmesh and sometimes collide.

Reviewed by Drew Turney

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’m a historian of the human sciences and medicine as well as modern Europe. I am particularly interested in how societies use science, technology, and medicine to define and treat people and behaviors deemed to be troubling, bizarre, or outright dangerous. My research has therefore focused on such things as disability, delinquency, criminality, mental illness, and security.

More recently, my attention has shifted to studying the modern history of supernatural and paranormal phenomena. My latest book is a history of reports of UFOs and claims of alien contact throughout the world. I am presently working on two new book projects: the first is a broad overview of the history of madness from the ancient world to the present; the second is a study of the alien abduction phenomenon in the late-20th century.