Conspiracy of Silence

This book does nothing to settle any question about UFO's. It does make a good case for a government and Air Force, cover up of information about UFO investigations. It doesn't prove what the reason for a cover up is. It states opinions about these things but is inconclusive. The author is a dedicated UFO investigator. As such, he is involved in the controversy among "Members of the UFO Community" or "Ufologists". That controversy is the main thing that keeps the UFO thesis in the public eye. Oddly, the Ufologists all agree on a final theme: "UFO's are extraterrestrial space ships and the government doesn't want us to know that". The arguments are about which method should be used to reach that conclusion. There is another side to the argument too. There are UFO "Debunkers" who say that all UFO's are the figments of feeble minds. So, there are debates among Ufologists and debates between Ufologists and Debunkers. The flap goes on and on, with no end in sight and no end possible unless these people should quit their bickering and try to be objective about their subject. I think that if the UFO question could be settled conclusively, all these people would be greatly disappointed that their turmoil could no longer be carried on.This book mostly states a case for the government cover up as its title claims. It is true to that theme. It does jump right into both the above arguments, albeit obliquely. It does nothing to really settle any question. It's mostly just more grist for the mill. The author has made a good job of covering the idea that the Air Force has been underhanded about information concerning this subject. He does state his cases more than once though. He will make points that he has already thoroughly covered a few or many pages earlier. The book is more repetitive than most I have read. Overall the book is pretty readable. In my opinion, it has the best coverage of the Roswell incident of any treatise I've seen. For people who like to keep up with the UFO controversy, this is probably a must.

Any work by Kevin Randle is an important and worthwhile read. I like and respect him highly because his main focus is the truth about the UFO phenomenon, and he is not afraid to make unpopular stands or go against the views of his fellow researchers. With a background in two branches of the armed services, including intelligence work, Randle is uniquely qualified to study the government's involvement in UFO activity. He is a meticulous researcher, always determined to get answers from others in a manner which cannot be questioned by critics. Conspiracy of Silence does not include any newly discovered bombshells, but it does give an excellent overview of the government's supposed role in UFO research and offers reasonable speculation as to the motives of our defense forces and intelligence communities in covering up the truth about extraterrestrials. He does discuss new information about the Roswell incident, showing himself more than willing to entertain any new facts and to amend his own theories in light of new, credible information. He always tries to provide the highly important provenance for information he has learned or received--he wants others to be able to do the research themselves and make their own judgments on that basis. He does not expect his readers to take everything he says as the truth.The most compelling part of the book deals with the internal squabblings among researchers in the UFO community, arguing that such internal discord only serves to cripple or restrain our professed goal of learning the truth. When researchers are castigating each other as liars and cheats, the result is the discredit of Ufology among the masses; thus, Ufologists are debunking themselves. Part of this message is obviously inspired by the attacks heaped upon Randle himself in recent years. To a degree, he ends up criticizing his critics in the UFO community, the very thing he warns against doing, but I feel his words are valid and effective because he is merely answering those critics and goes to great pains to back up and verify everything he is saying in his responses. Differences of opinion must be espoused and debated objectively in order for us to penetrate the conspiracy of silence Randle describes in this book. He is doing that, and in so doing making the field stronger and more credible.I have two criticisms of the work. For one, I feel as if Randle relies too heavily on Edward J. Ruppelt as a source for his early post-war discussion of the government's involvement in UFOs. Secondly, Randle's style of writing can be somewhat annoying in that he continually seems to repeat himself. He can say something clearly in two pages and then spend ten pages saying the same thing again and again. I also felt his footnotes were a hindrance. Although he does provide a large, helpful bibliography of sources, his footnotes are rather sparse and often do not refer to a source at all. On a couple of occasions, he would employ a footnote to

to those who are well read in the field of ufo's, randle presents very little you haven't read elsewhere- the fact that he has come from the military community should raise interest in his personal reflections,though.

I knew the government was a little crooked...but when I read this....well...lets just say I dont trust the government anymore. Its a very great book, and fills you in on some information that you might have missed.