Project Mindshift: The Re-Education of the American Public Concerning Extraterrestrial Life 1947-1997

The possibility that ""our world has been and is now being visited by advanced intelligent entities from elsewhere, and this reality has been known to a limited number of people within the U.S. government since at least 1947"" is advanced not as an established conclusion but as a supposition to examine by journeyman writer Mannion. His very X-Files-esque mindshift hypothesis is that quasi-governmental activity, aimed at preparing humanity for the seemingly new perceptions of reality that alien contact would engender, takes place constantly--via news cover-ups in concert with leakages through other less threatening channels, which Mannion proceeds to examine chapter by chapter. One is devoted to the countless fiction and nonfiction books and articles already published on UFOs, along with interviews with some of their authors. Another, ""Mindshift in the Movies,"" examines the seeming cultural impact of everything from A Trip to the Moon (1902) to '50s B-movies, to Starman and Contact, albeit briefly. Others look at ads and the Internet, while a final chapter notes converging ideas from ufology and hard science. While the mindshift conceit is an intriguing means of looking at the media's impact on perceptions of UFOs, this treatment lacks the sort of savvy cultural critique necessary for appeal beyond the already curious. (Sept.)