CONTACTEES: A History of Alien-Human Interaction: Desmond Leslie: A New Book

Monday, October 18, 2010

Desmond Leslie: A New Book

For anyone interested in the Contactee movement in general, and the saga of George Adamski in particular, there's a new book that you'll definitely want to get hold of. The author is Robert O'Byrne, and its title is Desmond Leslie 1921 -2001: The Biography of an Irish Gentleman.

Leslie was, of course, the co-author with George Adamski on his famous (or perhaps infamous!) book, Flying Saucers Have Landed.

Here's the blurb for the book, which looks to be massively entertaining and informative:

"When a guidebook to Ireland described his family as being 'mildly eccentric', Desmond Leslie took offence and wrote to the publishers informing them that, on the contrary, the Leslies were very eccentric. Throughout his life, he maintained a reputation for unconventionality - hardly surprising when one of his godparents was a noted Satanist who kept a pet parrot in his trousers.

"Desmond Leslie more than matched this behaviour: one of the most popular items on YouTube is a BBC broadcast showing him punching the critic Bernard Levin on live television more than forty years ago. Thanks to his 1953 bestseller "The Flying Saucers Have Landed", co-written with George Adamski, Desmond Leslie remains a cult figure among UFOlogists.

"After serving as a Spitfire pilot during the Second World War, he settled in London and embarked on a career as a writer, producing a string of innovative and critically acclaimed novels, one of which anticipated George Orwell's 1984 by a year.

"At the same time, he worked as a film producer and screenwriter and composed music for film and television in the second half of the 1950s. In 1963 he returned to Ireland to live at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, and for the rest of his life devoted himself to protecting the family estate, today one of Ireland's finest country-house hotels.

"Son of writer Sir Shane Leslie and brother of historian Anita Leslie, Desmond Leslie has never before been the subject of a biography, which includes personal recollections by family members and by the well-known writer Herbie Brennan. In portraying the Anglo-Irish during the second half of the twentieth century, as they struggled to find a new role in a rapidly changing world, Robert O'Byrne offers a wholly engaging case study of his propulsive and charismatic subject.

"Robert O'Byrne, journalist and art historian, is author of The Irish Georgian Society: A Celebration (2008), Dublin's Gaiety Theatre (2007), Mind Your Manners (2004), Living in Dublin (2003) and Hugh Lane 1875-1915 (2000)."

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COMMENTS ON CONTACTEES

"Nick Redfern, the Brit with a knack for ferreting out all the dope on outrageous subjects, presents a revealing look at alien contact." Best-selling author of Alien Agenda, Jim Marrs.

"Nick Redfern, author of a wide variety of UFO books from the serious to the popular, has taken the bull by the horns and produced the, so far, definitive book on the subject." Andy Roberts, author of Albion Dreaming.

"...The disturbing fact, according to Redfern, is that a common thread tends to lead to the same, surprising conclusion in the bulk of cases. We are not alone, he posits, but the "others" are not necessarily from Venus or the Pleiades. Where they do originate, and what it is that they want, I will leave to Redfern's eloquent explanation." Linda Godfrey, author of Hunting the American Werewolf and The Beast of Bray Road.

"...Contactees outlines a peculiar subculture that remains present in the fringes of Americana, and though well known to some, it has received its best treatment thanks to the efforts of Redfern." Micah Hanks, The Gralien Report.

"...A book that I couldn’t set aside. Nick Redfern provides relevant information and pertinent minutiae about those now considered to be part of the UFO fringe." Adrian Wells, The UFO Iconoclasts.

'In this newly published work, Redfern gets down into the trenches to examine the band of eerily human-looking blond-haired visitors who early on expressed their concern about our warlike ways..." Timothy Green Beckley, Bizarre Bazaar.

"...what we really like is that many theories are thrown forward but without dogmatic adherence to any particular one. The ET hypothesis is made to sound unlikely, and we strongly agree that it is unlikely. The solution to the mystery is far more complex than that." Jim Moseley, Saucer Smear.

"...Redfern has given this subject a very good treatment and that Contactees is well worth reading." Robin Anderson-Forbes, My Strange Blog.

"Reading these tales, there are a number of reasonable possibilities. They are all clearly the work of the human imagination (or perhaps lack of same), and the only question that remains is whether they came from the spontaneous imagination of dreams, hypnogogic and other visionary experiences; or from the crafted imagination, and in the latter case whether the contactees wanted a powerful imperative for their own religious and political views, or were in it mainly for the money." Peter Rogerson, Magonia.