Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight for UFO Science - Softcover

Druffel, Ms. Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0926524585 ISBN 13: 9780926524583

Publisher: Wild Flower Press, 2003

Synopsis

Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight for UFO Science is the fascinating chronicle of an intellectual giant and fearless fighter who nearly accomplished what no one has yet done:examine the strange phenomena of UFOs (UAPs) through the uncompromising eyes of the scientific community. Firestorm is far more than a biography of a scientist. It delves deeply into the behind-the-scenes manipulations, politics, coverups and intrigues encountered by McDonald and other researchers who have sought to get the topic studied in an open manner by the appropriate authorities. Druffel's personal access to the McDonald private archives allowed her to authoritatively document the real history of the early days of what is now known as the "Great UFO Cover-Up." Ann Druffel, 1926-2020, was considered one of the most competent and authoritative experts ever to write on this explosive subject, just now being given proper attention.

About this title

About the Author

Ann Druffel began investigating UFO reports in the Southern California area in April 1957 with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), which was directed by the UFO research pioneer Major Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC (Ret.). She became acquainted with Dr. James E. McDonald through his contacts with the Los Angeles NICAP Subcommittee from 1966 to 1971. After NICAP's demise in 1970, she joined the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and the then newly-formed Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS.)

She has researched over 2,000 Los Angeles Basin reports, including alleged landings, UPO photo cases, close encounters with physical effects on witnesses and terrain, alleged "abduction" reports and other UFO-related phenomena. In her experience, about 2-3% of reports contain data of possible scientific value. A prolific writer, Druffel has contributed over 180 articles on various aspects of the UFO question to numerous UFO journals and newsstand magazines.

Frequently speaking on UFOs before civic and educational groups, she is noted for lively slide presentations and Q&A sessions and has presented many papers at UFO symposia/conferences. Since 1965 she has been a spokesperson on various aspects of UFOs for TV, radio and press as well as consultant/ researcher/ filmwriter on numerous UFO documentaries. She wrote the classic book TUJUNGA CANYON CONTACTS with parapsychologist D. Scott Rogo and contributed to other major literary works such as the UFO ENCYCLOPEDIA and the anthology UFO ABDUCTIONS. Her most recent UFO-related book is HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST ALIEN ABDUCTIONS, published by Three Rivers Press/Random House in August 1998, which presents data derived from the more than 70 "resisters" who have been able to fend off "abduction" scenarios.

Her ten years' academic and professional experience in sociology and child/family social case work provided her skills in interviewing, value-judging and report- writing. Later, she went on to become a free-lance research known for her objective and skeptical approach toward UFO sightings and abduction reports. She also has explored more unusual aspects of UFOs, such as the "straightline mystery" that suggests that UFOs manifest in certain patterns over earth terrain, and she also studies reports of recurrent "carrier craft" over the San Pedro Channel in California.

Beginning in 1965, she coordinated and directed SKYNET, a filter center and tracking-system for public UFO reports in the Los Angeles Basin area. Although set up as a tracking system to receive reports in real-time, SKYNET proved invaluable in revealing numerous conventional objects often mistaken for UFOs. SKYNET was an adjunct at first to NICAP in the Southern California area and later to MUFON and CUFOS.

Among classic cases she researched are the 1967 Yorba Linda photo case, the 1978 Bailey "entity" photos, the Tujunga Canyon "contacts" occurring between 195~1975 and more recently a re-evaluation of the 1965 Heflin photo case. She tends to favor the paraphysical hypothesis to explain UFO abduction scenarios but feels that the extraterrestrial hypothesis in not illogical when applied to physical UFOs seen from a distance, which exhibit an apparent surveillance mode. Like many other researchers, she reasons that multi-sources are probably involved in the complex "UFO Phenomenon." Long experience enables her to look at present-day problems in UFO research from an historical as well as a contemporary viewpoint.

Besides UFO work, Druffel free-lances in various aspects of psychic research. From 1986 to 1991 she worked as research assistant/consultant and, later, researcher with the Mobius Society, the Los Angeles-based parapsychology lab. She has written numerous articles on disparate psychic phenomena for newsstand magazines and authored books with famed psychic Arrnand Marcotte.

Ann Druffel lives in Pasadena, California with husband Charles in a wooded glen. Their five daughters are grown and live their

From the Inside Flap

I am grateful to Ann Druffel, a careful and knowledgeable researcher, for her marvelous reconstruction of the world of Jim McDonald, his epic fights with the skeptics, his repeated efforts to bring his data before the Air Force, NASA and his complacent colleagues .
From the Foreword by Dr. Jacques Vallée

Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald s Fight for UFO Science is the fascinating chronicle of an intellectual giant and fearless fighter who nearly accomplished what no one has yet done: examine the strange phenomena of UFOs through the uncompromising eyes of the scientific community. Firestorm is far more than a biography of a scientist. It delves deeply into the behind-the-scenes manipulations, politics and intrigues encountered by McDonald and other researchers who have long sought to get the topic studied in an open manner by the appropriate authorities. Druffel s personal access to the McDonald private archives allowed her to authoritatively document the real history of the early days of what is now known as the the "Great UFO Cover-Up." After privately studying UFOs for eight years, McDonald went public in 1966, hoping to convince his colleagues that the subject deserved to be investigated openly by government and science. During his subsequent research he became the chief scientific spokesman on the subject. Above all, he was a compassionate man with human failings, caught in the middle of mystery and deception. His tragic death traces in part to his frustrated search for the truth.

Ann Druffel has been investigating UFO reports for 43 years. She served with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), through which she became acquainted with Dr. James E. McDonald. She has contributed over 180 articles to prominent UFO journals and newsstand magazines and is a frequent public speaker and media spokeswoman. She coauthored the classic book Tujunga Canyon Contacts and contributed to UFO Encyclopedia and The Anthology of UFO Abductions. Random House published her How to Defend Yourself Against Alien Abductions in 1998. Druffel lives in Pasadena, California, and continues to write and speak widely on the topic.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wild Flower Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0926524585
• ISBN 13: 9780926524583
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 624