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Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist
Since the 1950s, men and women around the world have claimed to have had contact with human-like visitors from space. This book explores how the "contactee" subculture has critiqued political, social and cultural trends in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Not merely quaint relics of the 1950s Atomic Age, contactees have continued their messages of transformation into the 21st century. Regardless of whether these alleged contacts took the form of physical meetings or channeled paranormal psychic communications, or whether they actually happened at all, contactees have provided a consistently relevant source of commentary on this world and beyond.
Conspiracy Theories
Narratives based on conspiratorial and paranoid thinking have become increasingly prominent throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. From the prosaic to the outlandish, conspiracy theories involve aliens and Nazis, underground bases and mind control technology. They range from sinister tales of malevolent reptilian beings infiltrating our government to fears of the New World Order rounding up patriotic Americans and putting them into internment camps. These stories and their underlying concerns have a long history in the U.S. and have often been bolstered by revelations of real conspiracies and cover-ups by private and public entities. This book examines conspiracy theories and the narratives constructed by those who believe and propagate them, providing a unique view of U.S. history and highlighting fears both founded and unfounded.
The Paranormal and the Paranoid
Toward the end of the twentieth century, science fiction television took a dark turn. Series like The X-Files, Millennium, and Dark Skies wove menacing technologies, paranormal forces, and shadowy government agencies into complex tales of corruption and cover-ups. Mind control, alien abductions, secret government laboratories, and implacable “men in black” moved from the fringes to the mainstream of American culture, making weekly appearances in living rooms everywhere. Other series that played on fears of new technologies—such as virtual reality—set the stage for unfamiliar kinds of exploitation, while Dark Angel offered glimpses of a near-future wasteland devastated by a technologi...
The Chaos Conundrum
In "The Chaos Conundrum," historian Aaron John Gulyas examines how the paranormal has intersected and influenced our culture in myriad ways, from the conspiracy beliefs of William Cooper and Exopolitics to the challenge that the stories of Gray Barker presented to our concept of self and time. He looks at the maelstrom of personalities, agendas, impressions, data, confusion, and contradictions that can be found in the world of the weird, and demonstrates how they have become an integral part of our lives, whether in the form of flying saucers, hauntings, religious revelations, psychic abilities, or dozens of other guises. Gulyas delves into the stories of the people who have attempted to create order out of the chaos. Along the way he recounts his own journey from enthusiastic believer in the "shadow government" and their underground bases to jaded academic skeptic, and then finally to someone who thinks there might just be something to the paranormal after all... but not what we have been led to expect or believe!
American Cosmic
More than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions. Over the course of a six-year ethnographic study, D.W. Pasulka interviewed successful and influential scientists, professionals, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe in extraterrestrial intelligence, thereby disproving the common misconception that only fringe members of society believe in UFOs. She argues that widespread belief in aliens is due to a number of factors including their ubiquity in modern media like The X-Files, which can influence memory, and the believability lent to that media by the search for planets that might support life. American Cosmic explores the intriguing question of how people interpret unexplainable experiences, and argues that the media is replacing religion as a cultural authority that offers believers answers about non-human intelligent life.
In Fandom's Shadow
Doctor Who has been a global phenomenon for half a century. In this brief, personal account historian and author Aaron John Gulyas explores his own fandom in the context of Doctor Who's growth and development from its initial end in 1989 to its resurgence in 2005 and through today. Embracing the various avenues the Doctor Who story took, from the 1996 television movie to the New Adventures series of novels, In Fandom's Shadow examines the role that fandom-writ-large played in shaping one particular fan's Doctor Who life.
Posthuman Blues
"You there. Reading this. You don't have to you know. But I have succumbed to the narcotic tentacles of blogging and will be posting a daily mishmash of uncategorical mental rubbish to appease my strange and obscure urges to populate the info-sphere with my creative spoor." So begins this first volume of Posthuman Blues, the edited version of the popular weblog maintained by author Mac Tonnies from 2003 until his tragic death in 2009. Tonnies' blog was a pastiche of his original fiction, reflections on his day-to-day life, trenchant observations of current events, and thoughts on an eclectic range of material that he culled from the Internet. The result was a remarkably broad portrait of a t...
The Chaos Conundrum
In "The Chaos Conundrum," historian Aaron John Gulyas examines how the paranormal has intersected and influenced our culture in myriad ways, from the conspiracy beliefs of William Cooper and Exopolitics to the challenge that the stories of Gray Barker presented to our concept of self and time. He looks at the maelstrom of personalities, agendas, impressions, data, confusion, and contradictions that can be found in the world of the weird, and demonstrates how they have become an integral part of our lives, whether in the form of flying saucers, hauntings, religious revelations, psychic abilities, or dozens of other guises. Gulyas delves into the stories of the people who have attempted to create order out of the chaos. Along the way he recounts his own journey from enthusiastic believer in the "shadow government" and their underground bases to jaded academic skeptic, and then finally to someone who thinks there might just be something to the paranormal after all... but not what we have been led to expect or believe!
The Cryptoterrestrials
What if the "aliens" are not from other planets? In THE CRYPTOTERRESTRIALS, Mac Tonnies proposes that at least some accounts of alien visitation can be attributed to a humanoid species indigenous to the Earth, a sister race that has adapted to our numerical superiority by developing a surprisingly robust technology. At the same time, this groundbreaking work attempts to reconcile the mythological and contemporary accounts of "little people" into a coherent picture. "For too long, we've called them 'aliens, ' assuming that we represent our planet's best and brightest," writes Tonnies. "Maybe that's exactly what they want us to think."
Conspiracy and Triumph
Conspiracies have always been part of American culture, but with the rise of social media has come an increase in belief in nontraditional explanations of events. This book highlights a subset of conspiratorial beliefs that grew in popularity in the early 21st century. These beliefs and the growing cynicism of the media have left conspiracy theorists with deep distrust of those in authority. A number of theories that have arisen over the years are explored. From QAnon beliefs regarding the United States government to UFO reports and other hidden agendas, it is clear that we continue to challenge old ways of thinking.
