Area 51

An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

By: Annie Jacobsen

Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen

Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

This "compellingly hard-hitting" best seller from a Pulitzer Prize finalist gives listeners 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 s75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the US 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 19 men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to 55 additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, 32 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.

©2011 Annie Jacobson (P)2011 Hachette

Area 51 Murky

This is the kind of detailed story that's almost impossible to make sense of in audio (as opposed to visual) format. By one hour into it, we've heard a minimum of 100 nouns: name after name of people, projects, geographic locations, publications, etc., etc., etc. Imagine how many names you'll hear by the end of the book! It's really not possible to visualize and keep distinct those multiple identities for the purpose of making sense in wider context. When you're reading, you can refer back to previous pages when contextual questions arise, but that's not feasible in the audio format. If you hope to come to any conclusion about this controversial topic, my recommendation would be to purchase the hard copy, instead. Otherwise, it's pretty much a jumble.

A bad book with an embedded good book

What disappointed you about Area 51?

The ridiculous Roswell/Stalin/Nazi/hovering disk theory that bookends this book is beyond belief. I understand that the author wanted to appeal to the Art Bell crowd, but she went way beyond what is needed.She also feels the need to paint the U.S. government in general and the Atomic Energy Commission in particular as evil incarnate, which gets very tiresome. The author stretches the umbrella of 'Area 51' to encompasses all sorts of defense related programs that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Groom Lake facility. The author does a pretty good job of recounting the stories of the U-2, A-11, and a bit about the the SR-71 and F-117. Most of of what is discussed in this book has been covered elsewhere, but Ms Jacobsen did interview some of the key players in these programs.She does include some distracting howlers mentioned by other reviewers, such as general officers with 'stars on their chests'.

Has Area 51 turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I find the history of the Cold War to be interesting, as I had a bit part in it.

What three words best describe Annie Jacobsen’s performance?

average

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Area 51?

Everything about Roswell, everything about Bob Lazr, everything about 'The Engineer'.

Any additional comments?

I did not find Ms Jacobsen's reading of her book to be as off-putting as some of the other reviewers, but a professional reader would have done a better job. To give just one example, I got confused when she started about Nassau's space program until I realized she was really just mispronouncing 'NASA'

Things dont add up

Ok , Annie, please tell us in a sequel, just how it was that the Russians were
able to transport the Roswell craft close enough to the USA for the landing.
The biggest aircraft the Russians had at the time was a reverse engineered copy
of the Boeing B29, which would have had to make an impossible trip from eastern
Siberia.
Also, if the Russians went to all that trouble, and as secretive and paranoid as they
were, would they be so incompetent as to leave Russian cryillic lettering on components?
The Horten flying wing is not the mystery she claims. In the early 50's, a former
German pilot was winning glider contests all over the US in a restored Horten
flying wing.

Fascinating Book in Many Respects

I’m not a conspiracy kind of person. I don’t have suspicion that the government is up to no good. Most of these parts of the book were lost on me, but it was fun to hear the conversation. This is a really fascinating book in many respects. This is a great history of technology and how the U.S. government employed resources at its disposal to develop and deploy that technology. It is also a truly frightening look at what we were or are capable of doing to ourselves, our environment and our enemies. It is sad to think of the damage we humans have done to this earth while we explored better ways to destroy ourselves. I fear that while America and the Soviet Union may have learned our lessons that the newcomers to the nuclear race have not learned to fear the technology.

Former Black ops and spent time there

Although its not what the world wants to hear. Facts are facts. of course there are always big fish stories. its a very good history. I was there in the 80's and all the UFO hype is such a joke. and its cool my stuff is in this book makes me bias,,, I earned it! No I was not interviewed I would not be interviewed but the book is great. one review says about many things not being so like rank on chest,,, unless you were there you would not know the rank on a flight suite then was on a tear off patch on your chest so satellites could not pick up who's who on shoulder rank. so to that guy do your homework before you give it a bad review

Read This Book and WAKE UP! For National Security!

Would you listen to Area 51 again? Why?

Yes, because there is so much information in this book that needs further processing in my mind. The first time I read it, I was shell-shocked and didn't get close to absorbing what needs to be really assimilated.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Area 51?

One of the most memorable moments was when the author mentions that seventy thousand nuclear bombs have been produced by our country alone.

What does Annie Jacobsen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She reads the book with the passion that an author should when they read their own work. It is obvious from the start that this narrator/author really wants to convey her message in a real personal way so that the reader "gets it."

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Because of the subject matter, it was amazing that the author was able to inject some humor, here and there. But, for the most part, I would have to honestly say, that the book made me very angry and extremely sad.

Any additional comments?

People will read this for many different reasons. I believe that it should be read in the interest of national security and to what lengths our government (and others) will go to in the name of secrecy, security, "a need to know" and global superiority. I believe that the author's research must have been exhaustive. To think that the information provided in this book is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, is astounding.

Fantastic read, well done

A great book and really well read, I would love to see more buy this author. Annie, you can read my audiobooks anytime :-)

Clandestine operations brought to light

This book is excellent. It is highly informative on some of the inner workings of Area 51. The narration is wonderful.

slightly dry and needed more on the last chapters.

Great research just wanted more on the last chapters. Great voice.Reads very well. Great Author.

hope it is not true

We have countless military heroes working in secret to keep America free. The atomic bomb tests in high elevation were misguided. Scientists played with powerful forces like children. I found the last chapter deeply disturbing and I hope that information is not true. However if the last chapter is not true then much of the information in the other chapters becomes suspect. What is real and what is just a gorilla mask? Area 51 is well worth the read.