"Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," Annie Jacobsen

In "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," Annie Jacobsen attempts to peel back the layers of secrecy surrounding one of the most enigmatic locations in American military history. The result is a book that is equal parts intriguing and frustrating, a work that raises as many questions as it purports to answer.

Jacobsen, a contributing editor at Los Angeles Times Magazine, has clearly done her homework. The book is dense with interviews, declassified documents, and painstaking research. Yet, in her zeal to uncover the truth, Jacobsen occasionally veers into territory that feels more at home in a supermarket tabloid than a serious work of investigative journalism.

The narrative arc of "Area 51" is ambitious, spanning from the Manhattan Project to contemporary drone warfare. Jacobsen's prose is crisp and engaging, particularly when she's describing the nuts and bolts of Cold War-era aircraft development or the day-to-day lives of the base's secretive workforce. These sections shine with authenticity and offer genuinely fascinating glimpses into a hidden world.

However, the book takes a sharp turn into the realm of the sensational with Jacobsen's treatment of the Roswell incident. Her claim that the infamous UFO crash was actually a Soviet plot involving genetically altered children piloting a craft based on Nazi designs strains credulity. While Jacobsen asserts that this information comes from a single anonymous source, the lack of corroboration and the outlandish nature of the claim undermine the credibility she works so hard to establish elsewhere in the book.

This is not to say that "Area 51" is without merit. Jacobsen's exploration of the U-2 spy plane program and the development of stealth technology is thoroughly researched and compellingly presented. Her portrayal of the human cost of secrecy - the toll taken on the families of Area 51 workers and the health consequences for those exposed to toxic materials - is both poignant and infuriating.

Yet, for all its strengths, "Area 51" suffers from a kind of narrative schizophrenia. Jacobsen seems unable to decide whether she's writing a sober history of military aviation or a sensationalist exposé of government conspiracies. This tension pervades the book, leaving the reader unsure of how much to trust Jacobsen's more outlandish claims.

In the end, "Area 51" is a flawed but fascinating work. It offers tantalizing glimpses into a world shrouded in secrecy, but its occasional forays into unsubstantiated speculation detract from its overall impact. Readers with an interest in Cold War history or military technology will find much to appreciate here, but they would be wise to approach Jacobsen's more extraordinary claims with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Like the desert landscape it describes, "Area 51" is a book of mirages. Some of its revelations are undoubtedly real and valuable, while others shimmer enticingly before evaporating under closer scrutiny. It's a book that promises more than it delivers, but in doing so, it reminds us of the enduring power of secrets and the lengths to which we'll go to uncover them.