Customer Reviews

Roswell : Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After plodding my way through this book, I came to one conclusion, Mr. Pflock has written the finest book on the events in and around Roswell, New Mexico during the early days of July, 1947. Don't let the term "plodding" distract or deter you, the book is pedantic as hell, and a good read nonetheless. This sort of treatment has been sorely lacking, and the recent spate of "pulp fiction" about Roswell hasn't helped anything.

Mr. Pflock includes photographs, documents, affidavits, everything the serious student of Roswell needs to make their own decision. Coming from the the "believer" side of the Extra-Terrestrial Hypothesis, Mr. Pflock has truly written a wonderful, exact, and incisive book.

Want to know what happened at Roswell? Buy it now. Don't be a cheapskate, buy a couple for yer friends. They make great Christmas gifts. Be a real doll and send one to Stanton Friedman, or Kevin Randle, they need this book. Oh, be extra generous and send one to Whitley Streiber and Art Bell, they REALLY need this book.

'Nuff said.

Perhaps after more than two decades of often bitter controversy, we can now finally put to rest a major myth of the Space Age. I'm referring, of course, to the alleged Roswell, New Mexico UFO "recovery" of early Summer 1947. For the most part (with some notable exceptions) we have been treated to far more heat than light on this badly mis-reported matter. Now comes along a most important book by veteran UFO researcher Karl T. Pflock that deals with virtually every facet of the Roswell story in a clear and perceptive manner. Based on his careful and in-depth investigation since 1992, there is no doubt in my mind that this is THE definitive work on the Roswell story. Entitled, "ROSWELL: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe", this book is an absolutely must read for anyone with a serious interest in finding out what really happened on the high desert of New Mexico at the very beginning of the modern UFO era. A testament to rational thought and critical-thinking, this book should find a prominent place on everyone's bookshelf. Pflock deserves the deep appreciation of all those who really care about inconvenient facts not getting in the way of getting at the truth.

Like JFK's death, a mini-industry has grown up around Roswell, New Mexico, and the claim that a spacecraft crashed there in July of 1947. In recent years there have even been network broadcasts of film footage purporting to show the autopsy of alien beings, together with countless books, TV series, museums, and annual UFO festivals in the desert; and a counter-industry, almost as large, has been devoted to debunking these myths. When biased and self-serving research came under attack, there were cries of conspiracy and cover-up, only deepening confusion and suspicion in the public mind.

Finally someone with a first-rate intellect and a genuinely open mind has tackled this issue, and after painstaking research has laid the demons to rest. Sifting through literally thousands of bits of information and conflicting claims, Pflock has organized them all into a well-researched, lucid, and compelling account of what happened that day in July, and in the over half-century since then. His narrative brings together traditional claims and counter-claims, official documentation, and original interviews with many of the people involved. It makes for fascinating and convincing reading.

Pflock comes to the subject with some impressive credentials, having been a a former intelligence officer with the CIA, and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence. Drawing heavily on his investigatory and analytical skills, he leads us through the labyrinth of conflicting facts, claims and theories that is Roswell to emerge on the other side with a clear and convincing account, well-documented and closely reasoned. This is not only a book for UFO fans and their critics; it is a model for anyone committed to careful reasoning, rigorous research, and lucid writing. I cannot recommend it too strongly!

In his Introduction, Jerry Pournelle calls this a "courageous" book. I found it sad.

Karl Pflock spent a considerable fraction of his years since retiring from government service and private industry investigating the Roswell "mystery." In the end, he comes to the conclusion that what Mack Brazel found on his ranch in 1947 was no more than what it looked like at first glance: some broken balsa wood sticks, fishing line, scraps of rubber and tinfoil.

Whether this trash was a weather balloon or the remains of a high-altitude spy device, one thing it certainly was not: the wreckage of an alien space vehicle or aircraft.

To get from there to here, though, he had to plow through every sort of bad evidence: Old folks' confused and faded memories. Embellishments from people trying to add color and importance to their uninteresting lives. Coverups of long-obsolete government secrets, running on bureaucratic inertia. Forgeries and tall tales produced for profit or for ideology. And more than one out-and-out con man.

It's about as depressing a list of petty human folly as anyone could wish to avoid. And it seems to have taken a toll on Pflock. He keeps his pen under tight control, but he doesn't mince words about his fellow "researchers." Nor does he spare Karl Pflock -- much. He admits that his objectivity, his agnosticism as to whether the "Roswell mystery" was real or not, was not all he thought it was.

It has to be a bitter thing to give up on a hoped-for revelation of the reality of UFOs, to find the evidence for a major, major UFO landing case crumbling in your hands, to find friends and colleagues in ufology revealed as self-blinded or dishonest.

The reins slip in a place or two, and Pflock rails against both UFO-believers and UFO-skeptics. It's hard to see where skeptics have sinned nearly as much as believers in the Roswell case. Then you realize this is Pflock's way of pronouncing a pox on both their houses -- on the whole amateurish, incestuous, tiny world of ufology.

This won't be the last book on Roswell. It may be the last of any importance, though.

And it may well be Karl Pflock's last book on UFOs.

For over 50 years the debate has raged as to what exactly happened in early July of 1947 in the New Mexico desert near Roswell Army Air Field. If you look around you will find literally dozens of books, articles, documentaries and movies that deal with the alleged "Flying Saucer" crash and the subsequent Army cover-up that followed.
The author is a veteran "Ufologist" who makes it his business to study these strange happenings and his position as a believer does not deter him from (finally) making an objective study of what went on and why. So much of this book is about how we as people can be blinded by what we want to believe despite obvious evidence to the contrary. The author readily admits his own guilt in this as well so he is not some smug "told ya so" type with an axe to grind.
The author takes the reader step by step through the "facts" surrounding the events at Roswell that year and systematically shows how he followed up on even the most remote detail to prove or disprove its veracity. What he discovers is so absurdly simple that it really drives home the point concerning the "power to believe" and how quickly we accept what we are told when we just want to believe.
I think everyone should read this book regardless of whether they are interested in UFOs or not since it is a powerful statement of the absurdity of how we generally believe what we believe. His findings as to what happened are not new to the debate so if you are a rabid follower of the "Roswell Incident" from either camp (believers & non-believers) you will find no revelations here, but his methods and his focus are what impressed me. I found his thought process and his methods very refreshing as well as inarguably effective in running down important framing facts that address the key points of the issue.
If you take the message of the book to heart and truly challenge what you believe in an truly objective, fact-based manner you cannot really argue with his conclusions. If you know nothing about the "Roswell Incident" start with this book. If nothing else it will keep you grounded while you explore the maelstrom of "evidence" that's out there.

ROSWELL, by Karl T. Pflock brings a comprehensive analysis to the 1947 ROSWELL INCIDENT MYSTERY. It is well written and readable, a difficult book to put down once you've started. The book is everything you ever wanted to know about the Roswell Incident,but were afraid to find out. Pflock's book on Roswell answers all the former unknowns with factual evidence. The inside bookcover maps give additional quality to the book.

This is a great book....solid information backed up by intense, verifiable research. Before this book, I was a Roswell believer, who genuinely believed a saucer probably crashed in New mexico in 1947. Upon reading Mr. Pflock's book, I just couldn't endorse that view any longer. Very convincing. Unlike most books about Roswell, this one gives you enough information on the author's research and where the facts led him to allow you to verify the statements within for yourself. No more nebulous informants and shady research. Pay special attention to the parts relating to the amount of individuals who actually came forward with pro-alien stories to relate......the number, when looked at honestly, is nothing near the amount touted by other, pro-saucer crash researchers. For those who approach the whole Roswell story with an open mind, and is willing to go where the facts lead, this is a great book........and for those who feel any anti-roswell information is just disinformation being spread by cia agents and the "government", they prescribe medication for those such as yourselves.

Pflock's "Roswell" is probably one of the most important contributions to ufology in the last ten years. Pflock's thorough exploration of the events of July, 1947 are revealing, insightful, and--best of all--credible. "Roswell" is healthy skepticism with muscle and intellect, and a positively delicious read for truth-seekers disillusioned by Kal Korff's whiny, unconvincing tome on the subject.

Like Pflock, I've long been a Roswell agnostic. The evidence assembled here has, I'm afraid, pushed me into the skeptics' corner for good. Maybe I'm wrong--and, to be sure, there's always that slightly disturbing wish that I am--and new evidence will surface that makes the extraterrestrial crash hypothesis more attractive. In the meantime, Pflock's work is very likely to remain the definitive resource on the subject.

There's only one catch: to appreciate "Roswell," it's best to be versed in dissenting opinions. I highly recommend Kevin Randle's fascinating "The Roswell Encyclopedia" and Stanton Friedman's "TOP SECRET/MAJIC" as cogent arguments from the "believers'" perspective.

Karl Pflock believed that UFOs are real; that some were intelligently controlled vehicles from another planet. His focus in Roswell provides a different look at the phenomena associated with Roswell, New Mexico, than one might anticipate from his prior beliefs, outlining a different theory about Roswell and charting his journey from hopeful agnostic to Roswell skeptic. A 'must' for any UFO buff.

I encourage you to purchase a copy of Karl Pflock's book, Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe. As someone who assisted Karl in his research into the Roswell case and helped coordinate a congressional inquiry into same, I can attest to Karl's thorough research and sound conclusions. The book SHOULD be the final word about the Roswell case. And although it may not represent THE Truth, it certainly is A truth about the UFO phenomenon, whatever it may be.