After the Flying Saucers Came

Whether or not UFOs are celestial in nature, they are indisputably a powerful terrestrial force-and are also indisputably shaped by terrestrial forces. After the Flying Saucers Came is the most rigorous and compelling account of UFOs' hold on humans, featuring sources and voices left out of existing histories. This book is absolutely essential reading if you want to understand the most recent UFO flap in the United States: where it came from, where it's going, and why it matters. * Sarah Scoles, Author of They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers * Flying saucers first arrived in our skies more than seventy years ago but it astonishing that a mystery of this scale has received scant attention from historians-until now. Greg Eghigian is the first academic historian to write a social history of the impact of UFOs and the alien contact phenomenon that is both ambitious and worldwide in its scope. He examines the social impact the phenomenon has had not only on the people who see them but also the UFOlogists, believers, and skeptics who have shaped one of the most important and influential modern myths. * David Clarke, Author of How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth * The UFO experiencers, activists, and archives deserve far more professional attention than they have received, and historical attention that does not 'pick a side.' Eye rolls and arrogant smirks will no longer do, but beliefs are not to be so quickly believed either. Greg Eghigian is just such a careful and fair historian. We have a sure and steady hand here, guiding us around a planet of secrecy, revelation, deception, and Cold War history both within and beyond the 'spacemen with superpowers' who appear (and disappear) so early and often in these pages. * Jeffrey J. Kripal, Author of How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else * While astronomers remain justifiably skeptical that UFOs have anything to do with life elsewhere in the universe, there is no doubt they have a great deal to do with human beings, their dreams and their anxieties. Eghigian provides a keen scholar's eye on UFOs as a cultural phenomena. Through engaging prose and fine storytelling, After the Saucers Came offers an expert historian's guide to the definitely human narratives that make up UFOs. * Adam Frank, Author of The Little Book of Aliens *