Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight for UFO Science

While I was in Laughlin at the 15th Annual International UFO Congress Conference and Film Festival, I was lucky enough to snag a copy of Ann Druffel's biography of Dr. James McDonald, Firestorm: Dr. James E. MacDonald's Fight for UFO Science, from one of the boom dealers in the vendors room. Stan Friedman highly recommended the book to me some time ago, and Dr. McDonald has always been someone whose work I greatly respected, so it was about time I finally picked it up.

Having read most of it while in Laughlin, and now having polished it off upon my return, all that I can say is this - kudos to Ann Druffel, a woman who, when I last heard of her (the 2001 MUFON Symposium), was flogging a book she had written about how to prevent alien abductions. Needless to say, I was not impressed at the time. But Firestorm is different - a wonderful book, full of rich detail, that is a must-read for anyone who is even remotely interested in the serious scientific study of the UFO phenomenon.

Yes, I find some of the stuff in the book dealing with what Stan calls "The Cosmic Watergate" a bit much, especially when it comes to Druffel's treatment of MJ-12. On the other hand, her treatment of McDonald's tragic suicide, while mentioning the conspiracy theories, is more measured than Richard Dolan's a-historical version in UFOs and the National Security State, Volume I. Ultimately (and correctly, based on the evidence), Druffel accepts the conclusion that McDonald killed himself. But it's worth wading through these bits to get the details on McDonald's work, and his relationships with people like J. Allen Hynek, Carl Sagan, Phil Klass, Robert Wood, Edward Condon, and Jacques Vallee. Druffel had access to a wealth of primary sources, including McDonald's journals, and it shows.

The highest praise for the book comes from people who knew McDonald, like Vallee (who wrote the foreward, which is wonderful), Dick Hall, and Stan Friedman, who considers McDonald the greatest ufologist ever. This speaks volumes of the overall quality of the book.

As Dick Hall says, McDonald was in many ways a ufological "knight in shining armour". Like all knights (Lancelot pops to mind), McDonald was flawed, ultimately with fatal consequences. But he was a true hero - a man of courage and insight in a world where those can be rare qualities. He is a giant, not just of ufology, but of 20th century science.

Firestorm is a fitting portrait of the man, and his work.

Paul Kimball