Area 51

An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

By: Annie Jacobsen

Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen

This bestseller from a Pulitzer Prize finalist gives readers the complete untold story of the top-secret military base for the first time.

"Compellingly hard-hitting." —New York Times

It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. 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 nineteen men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to fifty-five additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, thirty-two 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.

Worth hearing...but not believing

She writes that the aliens in the Roswell crash were really children surgically altered by Nazi Dr. Joseph Mengele to have big heads, huge eyes and supplied to Joseph Stalin - who had them packed into an electromagnetically-levitating disc hovering saucer that somehow made it all the way through U.S. airspace in 1947.

Otherwise, a well-researched book on the history of the brave spy plane pilots of the U-2 and SR-71 and the incredibly talented engineers who made Area 51 our most valuable military site. It just goes off the skids with that conclusion late in the book.

Buy the Audible book to hear a well-written account with excellent context on the times that necessitated the creation of an isolated place where advanced spy planes could be test-flown. The author narrates and does a good job. I just wish she hadn't gone off the deep end with the Mengele/Stalin flying saucer story.

Myriad of topics!

Loved the diversity of topics and perspectives. There were certainly some things I knew of already, but lots of new and weird.

Area 51 still a mystery

The book seems to have good historical information original leader ship and development of area 51 and the test pilots that were there but it really doesn’t reveal much more than suspicions and allegations as far as I can tail

It’s definitely a great book

Well if you are trying to make some personal change not even just for riches this is an excellent place to start lots of great info

Great listen

A narrative interwoven with interviews and facts this book remains enrapturing up until the end. Just don't get your hopes up for a tell-all reveal.