The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military-Occult Complex (Paperback)

~ (Author) "One of the darkly fascinating aspects of man's history on Earth has been his progress, in method and magnitude, in the development of ever more..." (more)
Key Phrases: psychic soldier, intelligence collection tool, analytic overlay, World War, United States, Mel Riley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As far back as ancient Egypt, when King Nectanebus used magic and wax figurines to control the outcome of an upcoming battle, military leaders and heads of state have used virtually every magic trick in the occult book to influence the course of international relations. Bizarre as it may seem to those impatient with such things, the practice continues to the present day, with even the Pentagon and the CIA trying a hand at metaphysical warfare. In this work spanning 5,000 years, Mandelbaum--a former U.S. intelligence agent who claims to be a psychic--recounts the means by which various nations have pressed the supernatural world into military service. Some sections, such as that on the mystic Rasputin, mostly recount what has already been told many times over. Elsewhere, the material intrigues, if only by showing the extent to which government agencies have placed their faith in psychic phenomena. In one episode, Mandelbaum recounts that in the 1970s a U.S. government-employed psychic warned that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger would be attacked by Libyan assassins in Saudi Arabia, and that Kissinger's wife, Nancy, would be killed. The warning came while Kissinger was actually en route to Riyadh; the psychic was part of the secret Project Bluebird, which sought to read the mind of Libya's Moammar Khadafy. In response to the psychic's prediction, U.S. authorities had Kissinger whisked away immediately upon landing. Mandelbaum's forthright belief in the occult ("The Force does exist--within us") will raise eyebrows and even a few guffaws among skeptics, but his material is both informative and entertaining, and will find a readership among military history buffs and believers in the paranormal. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

A former intelligence professional sheds new light on the obscure intersection of the military and the paranormal—the military-occult complex—and reveals the incredible story of psychic abilities turned into a weapon of war by the world’s soldiers and spies.

In the annals of military and espionage history, many strange tales have been told, but none can match the saga of psychic espionage-the history of the military-occult complex. With the flavor of fiction, yet with its foundation in fact, The Psychic Battlefield is the complete history of the use of man’s extrasensory powers in search of the information needed to win wars—hot and cold.

The Psychic Battlefield spans the five-thousand-year history of ESPionage, from the attempted overthrow of the Pharaoh Rameses by magic to the CIA’s use of military-trained psychics during the Cold War. It is a story as true as it is incredible.

The cast of characters includes such noteworthy names as sorcerer-poet Aleister Crowley, author Ian Fleming, spoon-bending General Stubblebine, and psychic warrior David Morehouse. In addition, the book features an exclusive interview with top psychic spy Joseph McMoneagle.

Most remarkable of all is Mandelbaum’s fascinating expose of the paranormal research and remote-viewing experiments conducted by the CIA, as well as the real effectiveness of the government’s Stargate program.

Attorney, psychic, former intelligence professional, and dark-side investigative reporter, W. Adam Mandelbaum clearly demonstrates that the final frontier of future wars and spies is the mind. Stay tuned.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312288727
• ISBN-13: 978-0312288723
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #529,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable history of psychic warfare., February 16, 2000

By	Joseph W. McMoneagle (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military-Occult Complex (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a very enjoyable and eminently easy book to read about the history of PSI and its use in warfare, this is an excellent book. There is a lot of material here. Some of it has been around for a long time, but not so much of it has been collected and stashed in one place, which makes this a great book for the home library. Of particular interest is both the intense interest in, and use of psychics throughout history, by governments as well as individuals. It would seem through evidence, that while "psychic functioning" has sometimes been heavily relied upon and sometimes ridiculed, it has always been with us, and for a very long time. A nice compendium of information.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hemispherically Split, August 22, 2002

By	Brad Smith (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military-Occult Complex (Hardcover)

If I could give separate ratings to the parts of a book, I could.

This book is about the interaction between military needs and paranormal ability, and purports to be a history thereof, reaching back to biblical days all the way to the present-day.

On the whole, I've read worse (see my review of Psychic Warrior...interestingly, Mandelbaum goes into a few extra details about David Morehouse that I found illuminating). This book really hits its stride right after World War 2, when the U.S. government starts its secret research on ESP for military uses, concentrating on the use of clairvoyance (which the military calls "remote viewing"). He comes to some very interesting conclusions, particularly about current government research and use of remote viewing (summary: Yep.).

Unfortunately, the first half of the book is, as far as I can tell, a complete and utter waste of tree pulp. I never get the impression that he's done any serious research on any of the pre-gunpowder era uses of magic or ESP. To be fair, there's very little evidence one way or another, but he treats anything and everything as hearsay, and notes that it couldn't possibly work.

My other concern is that Mandelbaum is, to be blunt, a very snide and sardonic writer. He constantly interjects comments in parentheses (like some hack writer), and belittles almost everything and everyone he writes about. In some cases, like Morehouse's, it's deserved. In most, I see no reason at all for it. His disparagement of anything he has not seen work, or what trusted friends tell him will not work, is disheartening. Finally, he really seems to enjoy showing off his personal beliefs and vocabulary, in a manner that makes me really, really not like him.

In short, this is okay, if only for the part about modern-day remote viewing. I'd flip through it a bit in the bookstore before buying it, though.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of info, but significant drawbacks, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military-Occult Complex (Hardcover)

Wow -- it's impressive that Joseph McMoneagle gives this book 5 stars. Author Mandelbaum has done a lot of research, and presents use of the paranormal by the military in ages past well, with some good discussion of the ethics of using psi, the validity of psi and remote viewing, and some useful comments on how the implications of remote viewing affect our world view. But in my opinion the drawbacks of this book severely limit it.
For instance, Mandelbaum lists as "not fact" the story by David Morehouse that Morehouse's army helmet was hit by a machinegun round. Why is it not fact? Because one scientist says that head trauma can't awaken psychic experience. And because McMoneagle had a Near Death Experience (awakening McMoneagle's psychic ability), that means Morehouse couldn't have very separately suffered head trauma. Not only are there a number of people who report that head trauma awakened their psychic talent, but one could also find a number of scientists who would say McMoneagle's NDE couldn't have any relationship to psychic ability. Why the double standard? Does Mandelbaum really confuse McMoneagle's NDE (without head trauma) with Morehouse's head trauma (without NDE)? How illogical to claim that one man's NDE disproves another man's head injury! Morehouse was actually struck by a bullet; by including such pointless attacks, Mandelbaum makes us wonder what other stuff Mandelbaum made up.
Mandelbaum also criticizes Morehouse because Morehouse couldn't remote-view the location of a stolen manuscript. Yet McMoneagle, in McMoneagle's own book, says that "Remote viewing is _not_ good for locating [lost] things" (emphasis in original). There's little dispute McMoneagle is the best; yet Mandelbaum criticizes Morehouse for not doing something McMoneagle says can't be done.
Mandelbaum's chapter 24 contains repeated sophomoric insults to Ronald and Nancy Reagan. What does that have to do with the book topic? Where was the editor?
Some editing out of personal animosity and illogic, and the removal of cutesy and sophomoric comments, would greatly improve this book. For the person interested in remote viewing, I'd recommend, instead, Jim Schnabel's _Remote Viewers_ and Joseph McMoneagle's _Mind Trek_.