In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror. Ronson's highly acclaimed bestseller, THEM: ADVENTURES WITH EXTREMISTS, examined the paranoia at the fringes of Bill Clinton's America. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS reveals extraordinary - and very nutty - national secrets at the core of George W Bush's War on Terror. With first-hand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades, and sees how it is alive today within US Homeland Security and post-war Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners-of-war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command centre at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the US Military associated with the mysterious mass-suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS answers these, and many more, questions.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"Few more earnest investigative journalists would have had the brilliant bloody-mindedness to get what he has got and hardly any would have the wit to present it with as much clarity." (The Observer)
"Simultaneously frightening and hilarious." (The Times)
"A jaw-dropper of a non-fiction story. It moves with wry, precise agility." (The New York Times)
"A hilarious and unsettling book." (The Boston Globe)
"Ronson sets his book up beautifully. It moves with wry precise agility from crackpot to crackpot in its search for the essence of this early New Age creativity." (The New York Times)
"Supposedly the military has soldiers who can stare at animals and kill them, holograms that scare people to death, psychic spies, and plans for chameleon camouflage suits. In 1979 they were called the First Earth Battalion, and now we learn that they're back to help fight the war on terrorism. Narrator Sean Mangan takes a tongue-in-cheek attitude, making the voices of the characters sound like they're nuttier than Mrs. Fields' cookies. He leaves listeners wondering whether to laugh or lament. His voice has a slight whispery cast, and he extends the last word of every sentence, as if to point out the periods." (AudioFile Magazine)
Book Description:
The Sunday Times number-one bestseller that inspired the major motion picture.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPicador
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 0330375474
- ISBN 13 9780330375474
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages240
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Rating