Ufos and the National Security State by Richard M. Dolan (2002, Paperback, Revised)

The French historian Jules Michelet memorably remarked, “If I am a better historian than other men, it is because I have a larger table.” His point, of course, was that an ample spread of resources usually trumps hunches, guesses, and speculation—and he was right, generally speaking. One cannot, however, help suspecting that had Michelet lived to ponder Richard M. Dolan’s “UFOs and the National Security State,” he might have added that a historian’s table ought to be arranged so as to accommodate quality even more readily than quantity. Certainly, author Dolan has provided quantity—his historian’s table seems to have been stacked to capacity with UFO literature whether classic, recondite, middling or basically balmy. Dolan’s difficulty as a historian—which may also amount to his genius as a ufological purveyor of books—is his striking indifference to qualitative distinctions. You could argue that Dolan’s broadminded acceptance of everything from the Lorenzens to Timothy Good to Wilbert Smith to Berlitz and Moore is precisely the stuff of good descriptive history—except that Dolan’s “history” amounts to an argument, mainly that the government is probably covering up the truth about crashed saucers, dead aliens, silenced researchers, and the whole extraterrestrial enchilada.

Dolan is a man who writes “There is no question that [Donald] Keyhoe was the most important UFO researcher, ever” and doesn’t flinch. And as a true scion of Keyhoe, he cares not a whiff for the ultra-dimensional or Jungian thinkers of recent decades. Although he readily cites John Keel as his souce for Sid Padrick's close encounter with "Zeeno," Dolan insists that saucers are either secret weapons or interplanetary craft (odd in a book with a forward by Jacques Vallee). Withal, he writes a readable, lucid prose that would qualify as persuasive if we never checked the endnotes. Much of this volume is simply speculative, and all too much of it is documented through reliance on assorted ufologists, ranging from the reasonably serious to the notoriously bizarre. Sometimes, too, sources hardly seem to matter. The suicide of Defense Secretary James Forrestal, for instance, is accorded extraordinary attention and space, simply because “the UFO connection becomes intriguing.” What UFO connection? Well, Dolan insists, “we can infer that Forrestal…had an interest, even though the…official records and biographers of Forrestal are silent about UFOs.” Huh? Here Dolan might cite Keel or Steiger, for instance, but he doesn’t cite anyone at all. His similar suspicion that ex-Blue Book investigator Edward Ruppelt was forced to alter his views and may even have been terminated by the CIA reflects Donald Keyhoe’s writings on the matter, and liberally cites Keyhoe (among others). Dolan's critical analyses seem reserved for critical thinkers. Phil Klass is denounced, and even Jerry Clark is roughed up here and there whenever he evinces too much objectivity.

Look, all that said, Richard Dolan has produced a fascinating, well written book that is fun to read and virtually demands collecting. I read it with considerable pleasure once I got beyond my realization that a better title would have been, "Stuff that a Whole Bunch of Different Ufologists Can be Proven to have Theorized About." Besides, ufology needs someone to carry on in the tradition of Major Keyhoe and it might just as well be Mr. Dolan. He writes well enough and he has the passion. Maybe he just needs a smaller table.