UFOs 1947-1997 is the best UFO book. so far, of 1997. Hilary Evans and Dennis Stacy have collected mostly original papers from some of the world' s leading ufologists and put together a stimulating, intellectually nourishing volume. It advances a variety of views, reflecting the pluralism of ufology's current intellectual universe, but with one exception--an annoyingly polemical piece by two French skeptics seeking to debunk the famous Trans-en- provence CE2--views are put forth in refreshingly reasonable and courteous voices. Even Evans, doyen of the psychosocial school, is willing to acknowledge the presence of- "genuinely challenging UFO phenomena."
The book is divided into seven sections, all but one dedicated to each decade of the UFO controversy. In recent years a number of ufologists have turned to historical inquiry--we are living, in case you haven't noticed, in a golden age of UFO scholarship--and some of the results appear here, with splendid pieces on 1947 (Jan Aldrich), the ghost rockets (Anders Liljegren. the Florida scoutmaster case (Karl T. Pflock), the 1953 Australian wave; Bill Chalker), Donald Keyhoe's career (Michael D. Swords). the Warminster saga (John Rimmer). and much much more. James W. Moseley stops grinding axes for a moment and gives us an appealingly good-natured look at the saucer scene as he saw it in the early 1950s. I contribute a paper on the early history of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
Belgian ufologist Marc Hallet reminisces about "Adamski and His Believers," including (once) himself, and offers some intriguing insights as well as some startlingly obtuse observations. For example. there is this bizarre assertion: "the stories . . . Adamski told were far more believable than those being told today by the abductees." What? Hallet tries but finally fails to explain how an otherwise rational person could ever have believed Adamski's yarns.
My only real complaints about the book, however, concern its skimpy, useless index and its editors' less than entirely diligent proofreading. A flagrant example involves the title, different on the dust jacket and spine from the one on the title page (I've gone with the latter here). And why two subtitles?
Never mind. Buy this book at your earliest convenience and do your part to support responsible UFO literature.
-- Jerome Clark