Synopses & Reviews
In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known accepted military practice and indeed, the laws of physics they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.
Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror.
With firsthand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades and shows how they are alive today within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in postwar Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners of war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 debleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces Command Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the U.S. military associated with the mysterious mass suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? The Men Who Stare at Goats answers these and many more questions.
Review
"A hilarious and unsettling book....Ronson comes off as an unusual cross between Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh." The Boston Globe
Review
"Ronson sets his book up beautifully. It moves with wry precise agility from crackpot to crackpot in its search for the essence of this early New Age creativity...." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Review
"Jon Ronson...skitters clumsily between genuine inquisitiveness and invented interpretations worthy of an X-Files episode. Intriguing? At times. Humorous? Occasionally. Informative? Not so much..." Houston Chronicle
Review
"A work that combines investigative reporting, slapstick encounters with fringe people and not-so-funny events ripped from recent headlines to push a provocative thesis..." San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
"Very funny and packed with oddities....Entertaining and alarming in equal parts." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
From the bestselling author of Them: Adventures with Extremists, the "hilarious and unsettling" (The Boston Globe) true story about what happened when a small group of men--highly placed within the US military, government, and intelligence services--began believing in very strange things.
In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known accepted military practice--and indeed, the laws of physics--they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.
Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror.
With firsthand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades and shows how they are alive today within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in postwar Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners of war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 debleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces Command Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the U.S. military associated with the mysterious mass suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? The Men Who Stare at Goats answers these and many more questions.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of Them comes a truly disturbing, often hilarious look at the U.S. military's long flirtation with the paranormal and the psy-op soldiers who are still fighting the battle.
About the Author
Jon Ronson is a documentary filmmaker and the author of Them: Adventures with Extremists. He lives in London.
Table of Contents
1. The General
2. Goat Lab
3. The First Earth Battalion
4. Into the Heart of the Goat
5. Homeland Security
6. Privatization
7. The Purple Dinosaur
8. The Predator
9. The Dark Side
10. A Think Tank
11. A Haunted Hotel
12. The Frequencies
13. Some Illustrations
14. The 1953 House
15. Harold's Club or Bust!
16. The Exit
Acknowledgments and Bibliography