Annie Jacobsen

Harvard Book Store welcomes New York Times–bestselling author ANNIE JACOBSEN—author of Area 51, Operation Paperclip, and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon’s Brain—for a discussion of her latest book, Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.

About Phenomena

This is a book about a team of scientists and psychics with top secret clearances.

For more than forty years, the U.S. government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the Navy, Air Force, and Army-and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Now, for the first time, New York Times–bestselling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs, using never before seen declassified documents as well as exclusive interviews with, and unprecedented access to, more than fifty of the individuals involved. Speaking on the record, many for the first time, are former CIA and Defense Department scientists, analysts, and program managers, as well as the government psychics themselves.

Who did the U.S. government hire for these top secret programs, and how do they explain their military and intelligence work? How do scientists approach such enigmatic subject matter? What interested the government in these supposed powers and does the research continue? Phenomena is a riveting investigation into how far governments will go in the name of national security.

Praise

"With Phenomena, Annie Jacobsen has once again produced an utterly absorbing and brilliantly reported chronicle that truly breaks new ground. This is a boundary-breaking story of mental phenomena-extra sensory perception techniques-that is truly a pleasure to read. A mind-bending triumph!" —Alex Kershaw, bestselling author of The Liberator and Avenue of Spies

"In her latest eye-opening work of investigative journalism, Jacobsen digs deeply into the rich vein of information gleaned from declassified U.S. government documents that catapulted her previous books, Area 51 and The Pentagon's Brain, to best seller status. . . . Jacobsen offers a smorgasbord of captivating and often-surprising facts unearthed from more than four decades of secret investigations . . . A fascinating peek at a little-seen side of national security." —Carl Hays, Booklist