Earlier this year Annie Jacobsen's book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base drew groans from skeptics and believers alike who derided her claim that the infamous 1947 Roswell crash was really a spy plane sent by Joseph Stalin?, piloted by “alien-like children” created by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele? intended to create a mass panic about an alien invasion.

The story was based entirely on one anonymous source without a shred of supporting evidence, which is not unheard of among UFO reports. UFO enthusiasts who prefer some documentation with their speculation might prefer journalist Leslie Kean's recent book UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.

Kean's book topped the New York Times? bestseller list—an unusual achievement for a nonfiction book about extraterrestrials. Part of the reason the book has done so well, Kean told Discovery News, is that “I'm trying to be very straightforward as a journalist, laying out what we know based on the official records. Also, many of the chapters were written by other people [including generals and former Arizona governor Fife Symington?], and [former White House chief of staff] John Podesta wrote the foreword....They're not just taking my word for it, the reader gets to actually read what these authorities have to say in their own words.”

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