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

I wanna believe...

A better title for this book would be: "Ox Cart Spy Plane Revealed". Contrary to what Jacobsen's book title says, this book in no way unequivocably explains the Roswell Incident or other conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51. She might try at times but, for me, she doesn't come close to changing my mind or beliefs about UFOs or ETs. Having said that, the book was interesting to me and I learned a lot. However, I am not a person who regularly reads about U.S. military or political history. The book is primarily about the covert CIA project of developing a spy plane after WWII through the Vietnam War. Further horrifying facts are revealed about hydrogen, atom and thermonuclear bomb testing by the U.S. military. Her writing style leaves a lot to be desired. At times it feels as though she's writing to an audience in the 8th grade and she sometimes belabors a point to ensure the reader gets it. I was also not impressed with her narration. If you are a U.S. history aficionado or enjoy reading about U.S. military history, I recommend you stay away from this book. You probably are familiar with the facts she discusses here. If you are reading it out of curiosity about the Roswell Incident then stay away because she hardly mentions it and when she does her explanations are insulting even to a non-believer. It is a good book for the unintiated in U.S. military history from the second half of the 20th century. Do not let the sensational title fool you. Even Jacobsen states that there are hundreds of thousands of pages still classified about Area 51.

Deceptively good

I was skeptical about the book to start, thinking it was going to be full of conspiracy theories and alien insanity, but instead it was a well written, well thought out narrative that clearly resulted from much research and editing. Highly recommended

Enjoyed every minute!

The book seems to be very well written and documented. I still take it with a grain of salt, however. The narrator/author did a very nice job of narrating, not monotone or boring. I will definitely read again.

Fantastic, but totally believable. Great book!

I have told myself that I am not going to review books anymore until I have finished reading them, but here again, I just can't hold back. What a great story. Okay, I grabbed the book because it was about "Area 51"...expecting more crazy stuff about aliens, UFOs and the like. Hello?

To my surprise and DELIGHT, it presents a much more plausible scenario of exactly what is Area 51's purpose. My interests definitely do not include war stories, airplane statistics, or politics, international affairs, etc., all of which take up 90% of this narrative, but I was never bored or put off by the author. Instead, I was thoroughly caught up in the natural unfolding of the story. Ms. Jacobsen delivers a well-researched timeline of the events that have occurred there over the past 60 years. It just makes a lot of sense, what else can I say?

One last thing -- Ms. Jacobsen is reading her own work, and she does it very well. I am always glad when the author does the narration because that person is most familiar with the subject, and the nuances and expressions, pauses, etc. are so natural. I can also sympathize with those folks who have found flaws in her pronounciation of some place names. I, myself, did not realize that she mispronounced anything, so it didn't affect me.

I am having a great time with this book, even though it is not what I expected. Of course, I have not gotten to the epilogue, which I gather from reading other reviews, will be eye-popping. I do recommend this book, no matter what your interests are. Your time will definitely not be wasted, no matter what your tastes in reading material.

Extremely interesting history of Area 51

Now I know what really happened in 1947 at Roswell. The story in the book makes much more sense than all the previous ones that I've heard over the past many years.
This book's historical account of Area 51 & it's surrounding properties barely scratches the surface of all the highly classified projects both past & currently being researched within that complex. So many people who were involved have already carried these secrets to their graves.

Not bad but needs more editing

The book is interesting but is disorganized and has many mistakes. The timeline is all over the place and gets confusing. She said Mohamed Atta was killed in a 2002 Predator drone strike in Yemen in 2002. Mohamed Atta was killed on 9/11/2001 flying a plane into the world trade center. She also referred to him as Al Qaeda's number 3 in charge which he was not. I think she meant that Abu Ali al-Harithi was killed in Yemen by the Predator drone in 2002. Anyway, it is a compelling book but more editing is needed to correct mistakes. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read. Not sure I believe the Roswell story either.

Now where are those aliens?

A good listen, high lighting the devious ways the US Government use to play their "war games". I was hoping for more on UFO's and Aliens, but this really only seems to be a myth. Pitty.

Cutting Edge Military History

This is a fascinating history of our military flight technology. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to be intrigued with the story of how 'need to know' and 'black ops' came into being.

Fantastic. Excellent listen

I don’t normally leave reviews, but this book was fascinating!

Highly recommend

I wouldn’t hesitate to get this book!

Annie Jacobsen is a National Treasure

If you have ever wondered about what YOUR government has been doing under the blanket of National Security,
You Must Listen To This Book!
Ms Jacobsen is a born story teller with a readers voice that is just captivating.