Editing The Flying Saucers Are Real

{{short description|Book by Donald Keyhoe}}
{{Infobox book 
| name          = The Flying Saucers Are Real
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = Keyhoe - The Flying Saucers Are Real, cover.jpg
| image_size    = 
| caption       = Front cover
| author        = [[Donald Keyhoe]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = 
| language      = English
| series        = 
| subject       = 
| genre         = 
| publisher     = [[Gold Medal Books]]
| release_date  = 1950<br />December 4, 2006 (Reprint)
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = [[Hardcover]]
| pages         = 180 
| isbn          = 978-1-59605-877-4
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = [[Flying Saucers from Outer Space]] (1953)
}}
'''''The Flying Saucers Are Real''''', by [[Donald Keyhoe]], was a book that investigated reports of [[UFO]]s by [[United States Air Force]] fighters, personnel, and other aircraft, between 1947 and 1950.<ref name="Jacobs">{{Cite book|author=Jacobs, David|date=2008|chapter=Flying Saucers from Outer Space – The inspiration behind ''[[Earth vs. The Flying Saucers]]''|editor=Wilson, S. Michael|title=Monster Rally: mutants, monsters, madness|publisher=Idea Men Production|location=West Orange, New Jersey|pages=11–16, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tkqW7YxEH1oC&pg=PA12 page 12]|isbn=978-1-4392-1519-7}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
It was printed in paperback by [[Gold Medal Books]], in 1950, and sold for $0.25. In December 1949, prior to the publishing of the book, Keyhoe published an article by the same name in [[True (magazine)|''True'' magazine]], with similar material.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lGyPpnFpg7UC The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: The Original 1956 Edition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727101628/http://books.google.com/books?id=lGyPpnFpg7UC |date=2014-07-27 }}, [[Edward J. Ruppelt]].</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2du2fVYT8ewC Hostile Aliens, Hollywood and Today's News: 1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727101632/http://books.google.com/books?id=2du2fVYT8ewC |date=2014-07-27 }}, Melvin E. Matthews</ref> The book was a huge success and popularized many ideas in [[ufology]] that are still widely believed today. According to [[Edward J. Ruppelt]], the article was "one of the most widely read and widely discussed magazine articles in history".<ref>''The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects'', pp. 92-93, Doubleday, 1956.</ref>

''The Flying Saucers Are Real'' is short&nbsp;— only 175 pages. Keyhoe contended that the Air Force was investigating these cases, with a policy of concealing their existence from the public until 1949. He stated that this policy was then replaced by one of cautious, progressive revelation.

Keyhoe further stated that Earth had been visited by extraterrestrials for two centuries, with the frequency of these visits increasing sharply after the first atomic weapon test in 1945.  Citing anecdotal evidence, he intimated the Air Force may have attained and adapted some aspect of the alien technology, its method of propulsion and perhaps its source of power.  He believed the Air Force or the United States federal government would eventually reveal these technologies to the public when the [[Soviet Union]] was no longer a threat.

==Reception==
"Keyhoe's book ''Flying Saucers Are Real'' ... was the first influential attempt to promote the idea of "flying saucers" as alien spacecraft."<ref>{{Cite book|author=Rothstein, Mikael|chapter=The Rise and Decline of the First-Generation UFO Contactees: A Cognitive Approach |editor=Lewis, James R.|date=2003|title=Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|location=Amherst, New York|pages=63–76, page 66|isbn=978-1-57392-964-6}}</ref> A loose parody of Keyhoe's book and of reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions is ''The Flying Saucers Are Very Very Real'' (2016).

== See also ==
*[[Close encounter]]
*[[Circular wing]]
*''[[Flying Saucers from Outer Space]]'' (also by Keyhoe)
*[[UFO conspiracy theory]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/fsar/index.htm Full text] at [http://www.sacred-texts.com sacred-texts.com]
*[http://www.hallrichard.com/keyhoe.htm Donald E. Keyhoe Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907025855/http://www.hallrichard.com/keyhoe.htm |date=2009-09-07 }}
* {{gutenberg author| id=1891| name=Donald Keyhoe}}
* {{librivox book | title=The Flying Saucers Are Real| author=Keyhoe}}

{{UFOs}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Saucers Are Real}}
[[Category:1950 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Alleged UFO-related aviation incidents]]
[[Category:Books about extraterrestrial life]]
[[Category:Gold Medal Books books]]
[[Category:Flying saucers]]
[[Category:UFO-related literature]]

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