American Cosmic

This is UFO investigation the way a professor of religious studies tackles it.

Diane Pasulka starts off considering why the levels of belief in intelligent extraterrestrial life amongst Americans roughly match the levels of belief in God. She then completes a study to find out why this is, and what – exactly – drives people, including some of the most successful and intelligent Americans she can find, to this belief.

To her credit she finds answers and covers the whole complex topic in a clear and readable book. Some of the most important contributions to understanding the UFO subject have… show more.

This book is particularly timely, for two reasons.

First Pasulka is a scholar of religion, and she is interested in how—in a time when science has become the most powerful explanatory mechanism for our modern world, in a time when traditional religious institutions appear in decline in the modern West—UFOs have become the focal point for what might be called religious belief, practice, and even power.

Pasulka is interested in people like Strieber and Vallee, passionate students of UFOs who are convinced these things have left marks on their lives and who pursue them with all the fervor of a… show more.