Area 51 An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

by Jacobsen, Annie

• ISBN13: 9780316202305
• ISBN10: 0316202304
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-01
• Publisher: Back Bay Books

Summary

Area 51 It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government - but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades. Myths and hypotheses about Area 51 have long abounded, thanks to the intense secrecy enveloping it. Some claim it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems, and nuclear facilities. Others believe that the lunar landing itself was filmed there. The prevalence of these rumors stems from the fact that no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside the base. Until now. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to nineteen men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to fifty-five additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, thirty-two of whom lived and worked there for extended periods. In Area 51, Jacobsen shows us what has really gone on in the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear weapons to building super-secret, supersonic jets to pursuing the War on Terror. This is the first book based on interviews with eye witnesses to Area 51 history, which makes it the seminal work on the subject. Filled with formerly classified information that has never been accurately decoded for the public, Area 51 weaves the mysterious activities of the top-secret base into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.

Author Biography

Annie Jacobsen is a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Secret City	p. xv
The Riddle of Area 51	p. 3
Imagine a War of the Worlds	p. 19
The Secret Base	p. 45
The Seeds of a Conspiracy	p. 63
The Need-to-Know	p. 77
Atomic Accidents	p. 100
From Ghost Town to Boomtown	p. 124
Cat and Mouse Becomes Downfall	p. 139
The Base Builds Back Up	p. 162
Wizards of Science, Technology, and Diplomacy	p. 176
What Airplane?	p. 186
Covering Up the Cover-Up	p. 204
Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous Requires Drones	p. 214
Drama in the Desert	p. 229
The Ultimate BoysÆ Club	p. 248
Operation Black Shield and the Secret History of the USS Pueblo	p. 265
The MiGs of Area 51	p. 280
Meltdown	p. 296
The Lunar-Landing Conspiracy and Other Legends of Area 51	p. 317
From Camera Bays to Weapons Bays, the Air Force Takes Control	p. 333
Revelation	p. 350
Epilogue	p. 375
Acknowledgments	p. 385
Notes	p. 391
Author Interviews and Bibliography	p. 477
Index	p. 507
Reading Group Guide	p. 525
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