Before and After Roswell

"The flying saucer has been the most vivid and persistent image in American life of the last half century. It has also generated more controversy and rancor than anything else that might be characterized as a fantasy. It is malleable, suiting a wide variety of beliefs and outlooks, touching nearly every public concern. It arrived as a mysterious threat from above, a metaphor for The Bomb. It transformed swiftly into a hope from above, promising to save us from ourselves. Renamed UFO, it became a symbol for those who distrusted the government. Along its way through the postwar skies, it acquired a cargo that included every species of hoax, craziness, lunacy, and even sexual fantasy, along with a fair amount of scientific and political baggage. The flying saucer myth says much about how Americans react to the unexpected.