14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Contactees" Defines this Strangest of American Sub-Cultures, December 21, 2009
This review is from: Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction (Paperback)
"I AM DIANE... I COME FROM VENUS."
Thus were the words of "Diane," a eight-foot tall alien being "Standing like a sylph-like goddess" after manifesting before Dana Howard, a woman famous for her communications with what she believed to be alien visitors from Venus in the 1950s. Howard's claims certainly represent a fringe element in the history of Ufology, some spectral aspect that can be attributed to the extraterrestrial mystery. As obscure as her story remains in the present day, there is one collaborative aspect to all this that cannot be ignored: she was not alone.
With his book Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction, Nick Redfern has placed himself at the pinnacle of what may be the strangest aspect of modern Ufology. Indeed, many like Howard-famous and flamboyant individuals throughout history-have claimed to possess knowledge of beings from other worlds; although the greatest concentration of contact with "aliens" maintains an epicenter that comprises the last sixty years. This historic period is the focus of Redfern's book, which the author presents for us in the most well-researched and informative presentation available.
The contactee element is so strange, and in many ways distinguishable from all other aspects of the UFO experience. For instance, many contactees claim to have met and interacted with extraterrestrial intelligences without falling victim to popular (and often sensationalized) abduction reports that have become so common. Take George Adamski, "The Ultimate Contactee" (to whom Redfern devotes an entire chapter in his book). Adamski, if his claims of travel to distant planets like Venus are to be believed, seemed to have been a willing recipient. "Someone take me down the road quick," Redfern writes, quoting the famous contactee. "That ship has come looking for me and I don't want to keep them waiting!"
Or consider the backwoods exploits of Ralph Lael, who upon entering caves in the Black Mountains of Western North Carolina began a strange series of communications with aliens from the planet Peewam (fortune smiled upon Lael in the truest sense, as his alien captors closely resembled scantily clad ladies in bikinis).
In addition to providing brilliant, informative first-hand research, Contactees also highlights the work of a variety of other individuals who have staked claims in the field of Ufology and alien encounters. Greg Bishop, Timothy Green Beckley, Joshua P. Warren, Jim Mosley, Regan Lee, are all interviewed within its pages, providing what may be the most diverse argument pertaining to human-alien interaction throughout the ages that has ever been produced. Perhaps, though sadly, one of the book's brightest points of interest involves the discussion of cryptoterrestrials, a sort of last will and testament given by the late (and sorely missed) researcher Mac Tonnies. The inclusion of Tonnies' futuristic interpretations provide icing on the cake to what otherwise would still be by far the best--albeit the strangest--book on UFO contactees to-date.
Indeed, Contactees outlines a peculiar subculture that remains present in the fringes of Americana, and though well known to some, it has received its best treatment thanks to the efforts of Redfern. With the information provided in this book, one may even begin to interpret the manner and appearances of UFO craft throughout the decades... perhaps the next move of the trans-generational "Space Brothers" lies within its very words.
-Micah A. Hanks is a freelance writer and editor of The Gralien Report.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Contact this!, January 23, 2010
This review is from: Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction (Paperback)
The contactee movement has been something I have shied away from over the years. I have always thought that the folks involved were simply attention seekers trying to sell the masses on their own political agendas and money making schemes. Though there were some clear examples of this sort, the book provided a lot of insight into the phenomenon itself as well as some very interesting details about some of the better known cases like George Adamski and the Heaven's Gate Cult. The book covered some very intriguing concepts including CIA MK Ultra drug testing on unknowing soldiers to potential anomalous beings interacting with people in crop circles and mountain tops. What was truly amazing for me was the level of government monitoring that has been going on over the past 50 or so years in the UFO field as a whole. Not only were contactees monitored out of fears that they were communists, but regular UFO groups have been infiltrated by agents, tasked with keeping tabs on their agendas. This is truly a must read, especially for someone like myself, who has been involved with the UFO phenomenon for some time but has never really ventured into the contactee territory before.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT actually about "alien-human interaction"!, August 31, 2010
I rarely write reviews for items I purchase from Amazon, but I need to make an exception here in order to warn potential readers. I went into this book thinking (from the title and product description) that this is a book about the "history of alien-human interaction". What I found was a book by an author who doesn't actually believe that the "contactee phenomenon" represents extraterrestrial encounters.
The book is far from a "history" as well. The author has hand-picked some of the more notoriously ridiculous reports, while glossing-over many more believable, well-documented extraterrestrial encounters. The reason becomes evident towards the end of the book; the thesis of this book is that the "contactee phenomenon" can be attributed to terrestrial energy sources that intelligently (or possibly unintelligently) interact with the human brain.
It's not that the idea of this is particularly unbelievable or offensive to those of us who believe in the extraterrestrial hypothesis, but the book is marketed and presented in a way that leads potential readers to believe that they are purchasing a comprehensive look at "alien-human interaction". That is most definitely NOT what this book is. It's an alternative look at the contactee phenomenon, from an author who doesn't believe in "aliens" by their popular definition.
Be warned; this book is critical to the point of disbelieving (one could argue that it is even ridiculing at times) the extraterrestrial hypothesis, and does not represent a comprehensive history of "alien-human interaction" in any way, shape, or form.
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