Area 51

An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

De: Annie Jacobsen

Narrado por: Annie Jacobsen

This "compellingly hard-hitting" bestseller from a Pulitzer Prize finalist gives readers the complete untold story of the top-secret military base for the first time (New York Times).

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.

I wanna believe...

A better title for this book would be: "Ox Cart Spy Plane Revealed". Contrary to what Jacobsen's book title says, this book in no way unequivocably explains the Roswell Incident or other conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51. She might try at times but, for me, she doesn't come close to changing my mind or beliefs about UFOs or ETs. Having said that, the book was interesting to me and I learned a lot. However, I am not a person who regularly reads about U.S. military or political history. The book is primarily about the covert CIA project of developing a spy plane after WWII through the Vietnam War. Further horrifying facts are revealed about hydrogen, atom and thermonuclear bomb testing by the U.S. military. Her writing style leaves a lot to be desired. At times it feels as though she's writing to an audience in the 8th grade and she sometimes belabors a point to ensure the reader gets it. I was also not impressed with her narration. If you are a U.S. history aficionado or enjoy reading about U.S. military history, I recommend you stay away from this book. You probably are familiar with the facts she discusses here. If you are reading it out of curiosity about the Roswell Incident then stay away because she hardly mentions it and when she does her explanations are insulting even to a non-believer. It is a good book for the unintiated in U.S. military history from the second half of the 20th century. Do not let the sensational title fool you. Even Jacobsen states that there are hundreds of thousands of pages still classified about Area 51.

Deceptively good

I was skeptical about the book to start, thinking it was going to be full of conspiracy theories and alien insanity, but instead it was a well written, well thought out narrative that clearly resulted from much research and editing. Highly recommended

Enjoyed every minute!

The book seems to be very well written and documented. I still take it with a grain of salt, however. The narrator/author did a very nice job of narrating, not monotone or boring. I will definitely read again.

Fantastic, but totally believable. Great book!

I have told myself that I am not going to review books anymore until I have finished reading them, but here again, I just can't hold back. What a great story. Okay, I grabbed the book because it was about "Area 51"...expecting more crazy stuff about aliens, UFOs and the like. Hello?

To my surprise and DELIGHT, it presents a much more plausible scenario of exactly what is Area 51's purpose. My interests definitely do not include war stories, airplane statistics, or politics, international affairs, etc., all of which take up 90% of this narrative, but I was never bored or put off by the author. Instead, I was thoroughly caught up in the natural unfolding of the story. Ms. Jacobsen delivers a well-researched timeline of the events that have occurred there over the past 60 years. It just makes a lot of sense, what else can I say?

One last thing -- Ms. Jacobsen is reading her own work, and she does it very well. I am always glad when the author does the narration because that person is most familiar with the subject, and the nuances and expressions, pauses, etc. are so natural. I can also sympathize with those folks who have found flaws in her pronounciation of some place names. I, myself, did not realize that she mispronounced anything, so it didn't affect me.

I am having a great time with this book, even though it is not what I expected. Of course, I have not gotten to the epilogue, which I gather from reading other reviews, will be eye-popping. I do recommend this book, no matter what your interests are. Your time will definitely not be wasted, no matter what your tastes in reading material.

Extremely interesting history of Area 51

Now I know what really happened in 1947 at Roswell. The story in the book makes much more sense than all the previous ones that I've heard over the past many years.
This book's historical account of Area 51 & it's surrounding properties barely scratches the surface of all the highly classified projects both past & currently being researched within that complex. So many people who were involved have already carried these secrets to their graves.