Wednesday, May 18, 2005





Film-maker and alarmingly level-headed UFO blogger Paul Kimball has posted an essay questioning the historical accuracy of Richard Dolan's "UFOs and the National Security State." The low-down: Dolan's a smart, likeable guy, but his book (the first volume in an exhaustive two-part study) gravitates toward unproveable and/or unwarranted conspiracy theories. Specifically, Kimball focuses on Dolan's treatment of the deaths of two prominent UFO researchers and finds it sensationalistic and academically unbecoming.

I agree -- to a point. "UFOs and the National Security State" is one of the best chronological overviews of the subject ever written. It's true, incidentally, that Dolan waxes conspiratorial; some of the deductive leaps in his book exceed the available data. Nevertheless, Dolan is honest and articulate enough to let the reader know when he indulges in speculation -- something too many writers about Weird Things are unable and/or unwilling to do. So I was able to read "Security State" without too many misgivings. For a book couched in a stew of Cold War paranoia, Dolan does a good job of avoiding most of the typical pitfalls; the conspiratorial allusions are forgivable, if imaginative -- not major impediments. Ufology is a field so rich with strangeness and tangled insider politics that there's little or no need to invent fantastic scenarios, and I think Dolan's book reflects his fundamental understanding of this.

That said, Kimball has sounded an astute word of caution for the uninitiated.

3 comments:

Zorgrot said...

Earthman Tonnies:

He might be level-headed when it comes to Earthman Dolan, but he's definitely not when it comes to Earthwoman Erin Gray. I think he actually worships the ground she walks on!

The behaviour of you Earthpeople continues to amuse...

Z.

Paul Kimball said...

Mac:

You should check out, if you have not, Dolan's subsequent writings on aspects of the UFO phenomenon, which can be found at his website, www.keyholepublishing.com, particularly "UFO secrecy and the death of the American republic," which is conspiracy theory on a grand scale (see also his review of the ABC News special "Seeing is Believing" - sheesh...).

Balanced? Objective? I think not.

Paul

Mac said...

Hi Paul,

I've read Dolan's subsequent UFO articles and (gulp!) like them. Conspiracy-oriented? Yes! But, in my opinion, plausibly so in some respects.