UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe - Hardcover

Belzer, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345429176 ISBN 13: 9780345429179

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1999

Synopsis

"I'm not asking you to believe every conspiracy theory you'll find in this book. . . . I didn't write this book to give you all the answers. The Warren Commission did that, and the answers were all wrong. I wrote this book to inspire you to do what the powers that be wish you wouldn't:  to question authority . . . and to keep an eye out for Elvis."
--Richard Belzer                                                                        [p. 4]

Is it just a coincidence that Richard Belzer plays a detective on the hit NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street? Maybe. But the fact is, when he's not busting criminals on TV, the acid-tongued, legendary search-and-destroy comic known affectionately as "The Belz" is doing real-life detective work: searching out evidence, sifting through long-buried facts, and destroying popular misconceptions involving everything from the JFK assassination ("There's only one living member of the Warren Commission, and that's Gerald Ford. He's also the dumbest member of the Warren Commission. Coincidence?") and the existence of UFOs to secret germ warfare and those ominous visits (long before the movie) from men in black.

In UFOs, JFK, and Elvis, the distinguished statesman of stand-up comedy tackles some of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups this side of Roswell. Just what is it that they don't want you to know about the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John Lennon? Alien abductions and the "face" on Mars? The downing of TWA Flight 800? The ancient order of the Freemasons and evidence of extraterrestrial experimentation?

Finally, one lone "nut" exposes the conspiracy to keep conspiracies a dirty little secret, standing up to the shadowy forces that would have us believe that Oswald acted alone, those lights in the sky are weather balloons, and fluoridated water is good for you (yeah, right). "Some of the smartest people I know . . . find it easier--and certainly more comforting--to believe that America is the only country on earth with no conspiracies at all." Just remember: do not ask on whom The Belz has told--he's told on them.

About this title

Review:

Best known as Detective John Munch on the hit TV series Homicide, Richard Belzer is also an accomplished standup comedian with a knack for political commentary in the tradition of Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory. In UFOs, JFK, and Elvis, he applies his analytic powers to two of the most controversial topics of the late 20th century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the alleged U.S. government cover-up of the existence of alien life. (The reference in the title is the book's only substantial Elvis sighting.)

Belzer sensibly avoids pretending to have the answers, opting instead to focus on the questions themselves. Why does the Zapruder film fail to synchronize with other footage of the Kennedy shooting? What's the real background on Lee Harvey Oswald--and who really posed for that famous backyard photo? Did NASA regularly suppress UFO sightings by Apollo and Gemini astronauts? And how about that giant face on the surface of Mars? While Belzer's sarcastic, antiauthoritarian tone may not convince you that aliens walk among us, it's rather difficult by book's end to fully dismiss his belief that "history is just a collection of accepted lies" told to keep the masses in line. --Ron Hogan

From the Back Cover:

In UFOs, JFK, and Elvis, the distinguished statesman of stand-up comedy tackles some of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups this side of Roswell. Just what is it that they don't want you to know about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Area 51, and what the American astronauts really found on the moon? The unexplained crash at Roswell and the mysterious "face" on Mars? The link between the Nazis and the U.S. space program? Evidence of extraterrestrial experimentation?

Finally, one lone "nut" exposes the conspiracy to keep conspiracies a dirty little secret, standing up to the shadowy forces that would have us believe that Oswald acted alone, those lights in the sky are weather balloons, and fluoridated water is good for you (yeah, right). "Some of the smartest people I know . . . find it easier -- and certainly more comforting -- to believe that America is the only country on earth with no conspiracies at all." Just remember: do not ask on whom The Belz has told -- he's told on them.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0345429176
• ISBN 13: 9780345429179
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240