After the Flying Saucers Came

Abstract After the Flying Saucers Came tells the story of the world's fascination with UFOs and the prospect that they were the work of visitors from outer space. While accounts of great wonders in the sky date back to antiquity, reports of UFOs took place against the unique backdrop of the Cold War and space age, giving rise to disputed government inquiries, breath-taking news stories, and single-minded sleuths. This book traces how a seemingly isolated incident in 1947 sparked an international drama involving shady figures, questionable evidence, suspicions of conspiracy, hoaxes, new religions, scandals, unsettling alien encounters, debunkers, and celebrities. It examines how descriptions, theories, and debates about unidentified flying objects and contact with aliens changed over time and how they appeared in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Russia. And it explores the impact UFOs have had and continue to have on our understanding of space, science, technology, politics, and ourselves up through the present day.