2002 00 00 Utopian Studies - Vol 13 No 1 - Wilson

Magazine Overview

This document is a review of the book "UFOs and Popular Culture, An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Myth" by James R. Lewis, published in 2000 by ABC-CLIO. The review appears in the journal *Utopian Studies*, Volume 13, Number 1, published in 2002 by Penn State University Press. The review is authored and conducted by Mike Wilson. The review is presented as a book review, with the book's price listed as $75.00 and its length as xl + 393 pages.

Book Review: UFOs and Popular Culture, An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Myth

The review begins by noting the physical presentation of the book being reviewed, describing it as a "hodge-podge of print types, mixed highlighting and white print on black pages was truly disturbing." The reviewer, Calvin Redekop, humorously quotes Marshall McLuhan, suggesting "the medium destroying the message." He states that while the book might be useful for those aiming to become "new category of public visual intellectuals," he, as an "old-fashioned reviewer," would prefer a book that "deals with what the title promises but does not deliver."

Calvin Redekop's review then delves into the content of James R. Lewis's book. Redekop characterizes it as an encyclopedia with over 400 entries, but critically points out that it is not a "comprehensive encyclopedia about UFOs." Specific omissions highlighted include the Shag Harbour incident of 1967 and the Socorro, New Mexico, landing in 1964, both considered prominent in UFO lore. The reviewer anticipates that a primary complaint from readers will be the lack of "hard information about UFOs."

Redekop contrasts Lewis's work with Jerome Clark's two-volume *The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomena from the Beginning*, stating that Clark's work is far superior in providing substantive entries on UFOs. He notes that Clark himself contributed many entries to Lewis's encyclopedia.

The reviewer emphasizes that Lewis's book is intentionally not a traditional UFO encyclopedia, as indicated by its title: "UFOs and Popular Culture, An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Myth." The foreword by Thomas E. Bullard is titled "UFOs-Folklore of the Space Age," and the author's introduction focuses on UFOs in popular culture, particularly their religious or New Age aspects. Lewis himself explains his rationale for creating this encyclopedia by stating, "I concluded there really was room for a new, up-to-date treatment of the subject-one that would focus on so-called soft ufology, namely, UFO religions, folklore, mythology and the like... Although ufological purists may object, most readers will be pleased with the result of this approach."

Lewis, who has authored similar encyclopedias on new religions, cults, Wicca, and astrology, uses this book to connect his knowledge of those subjects to UFO phenomena. While other contributors provide entries directly about UFO phenomena, Lewis's own contributions tend to relate or compare non-UFO subjects to UFO phenomena. Examples of these tangential entries include near-death experiences, astral projection, Bigfoot, theosophy, pyramids, automatic writing, archetypes, channeling, and angels. Interestingly, the book's cover features a picture of Stonehenge, but there is no entry for Stonehenge within the book itself.

A significant portion of the book's material is dedicated to describing movies about UFOs or space adventures. The reviewer notes that out of 20 entries under the letter "T," twelve are movies. Lewis states in his introduction that "Because the human imagination's response to the UFO phenomenon is at least as important as the question of what UFOs 'really' are, extensive space has been devoted to examining how UFOs and aliens are represented in the medium of film." However, Redekop finds that most of these movie entries are merely short synopses of plots, citing "The Three Stooges in Orbit" as an example. He counts 53 such entries from "A" to "F" that summarize movie plots, arguing that these entries inflate the book's length without adding substantial value. He suggests that a better approach would have been to focus on a few important movies or have a single entry discussing common themes in UFO movies.

Redekop finds some entries, such as the one about narratives of colonial New England Puritans captured by Indians, to be a stretch for a UFO encyclopedia. Lewis suggests these narratives demonstrate an American proclivity for finding "hostage" tales exciting, thus making alien abduction tales almost inevitable. Redekop considers this an overstatement without evidence that other cultures lack similar literary interest.

The encyclopedia includes four appendixes. The latter two list UFO organizations, periodicals, and non-print resources. The first two appendixes are considered substantive. The first is a chronology of UFO phenomena beginning in 1837, which, despite being incomplete, offers interesting historical context. The second appendix contains documents from the Heaven's Gate cult, preceded by a discussion of the movement, which Lewis classifies as a New Age cult. Lewis notes the tendency of the New Age movement to portray ufonauts as spiritual beings and the acceptance of "walk-ins" (aliens inhabiting human bodies). He concludes that the anomalous component in Heaven's Gate was suicide, not UFOs.

The foreword and introduction of Lewis's book adopt a perspective that moves away from the immediacy of UFO incident facts, instead identifying underlying themes that connect UFO phenomena to religion, folklore, and art. The reviewer suggests that the book illustrates, in a non-linear way, how these diverse phenomena share common impulses. The question of whether UFO phenomena are real (hallucinations, psychic events, or physical events) is deemed less important in this book than the underlying ideas and archetypes that inform UFO events, stories, and films.

Redekop reiterates that calling the book an encyclopedia is a misnomer, likening it more to a "collage illustrating a broad thesis about the human imagination." He compares it to Alan Baker's *The Encyclopedia of Alien Encounters* (2000), noting that Baker's book contains more "hard" information. However, Redekop finds Lewis's introductory material to be more in-depth and better at establishing a folkloric or literary perspective for understanding UFO phenomena.

The review concludes by quoting Bullard from the foreword: "whether UFOs crumble into a collection of conventional occurrences or exist as an independent phenomenon, no one can hope to study UFOs without recognizing the role of human beliefs and concerns in UFO lore."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The primary theme explored in this review is the nature of UFOs and their place in popular culture and human imagination. The review highlights the distinction between traditional, fact-based ufology and what James R. Lewis terms "soft ufology," which encompasses UFO religions, folklore, and mythology. The editorial stance, as reflected in the review, is critical of encyclopedic works that lack comprehensive factual data but acknowledges the value of exploring the cultural and psychological dimensions of UFO phenomena. The review suggests that the human imagination plays a crucial role in how UFOs are perceived and interpreted, linking UFO lore to broader themes in religion, folklore, and art. The journal *Utopian Studies* appears to be interested in examining how societal beliefs and cultural narratives shape our understanding of phenomena, including those that are anomalous or unexplained.