From the strange-but-true files comes this story from writer and documentary filmmaker Ronson about the U.S. Army's "First Earth Battalion," a top-secret unit started in 1979 to develop and test new fighting techniques such as walking through walls, turning invisible, and killing goats by staring at them. While the Battalion never achieved success in these areas (that we know of), it still exists today, developing experimental new torture techniques (e.g., playing the Barney theme song to prisoners) for use in places such as Iraq.
Critic Reviews
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Michelle Kung
In addition to fingering government-sanctioned quackery, Ronson chillingly explains how such experiments have evolved into methods of psychological torture, used most recently on Iraqi detainees, leaving readers less amused than ill at ease.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Janet Maslin
At the start of the twisted treasure hunt that is The Men Who Stare at Goats, the journalist Jon Ronson appears to be looking for furtive, paranoid quacks who play mind games. He seems to have hit the mother lode.
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Favorable
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Village Voice Peter L'Official
Though his tone may irk, his instinct for finding serious characters who say silly things is singular and irresistible.
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Martin Levin
It's much to Ronson's credit that, though he lets the madness speak for itself, his deadpan style allows us to laugh and shudder simultaneously at this Catch-22 world. He knows when something is funny, when it's scary stupid, and when it's dark, even tragic.
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Favorable
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The Guardian Albert Scardino
Despite its black humour, this is a chilling story.
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Jai Singh
A hilarious and unsettling book.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Very funny, and packed with oddities. If Ronson doesn't manage to expose this official hall of mirrors entirely, he still makes an admirable effort, entertaining and alarming in equal parts. [15 Feb 2005, p.219]
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Mixed
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Library Journal Barbara Hoffert
From the author of the equally weird but scary "Them." [1 Dec 2004, p.92]
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Mixed
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The Independent Julie Wheelwright
Ronson's writing is highly entertaining, but the deadly implications of the subject beg for a deeper exploration.
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Unfavorable
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Houston Chronicle Eric Gerber
Skitters clumsily between genuine inquisitiveness and invented interpretations worthy of an X-Files episode. Intriguing? At times. Humorous? Occasionally. Informative? Not so much.
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Unfavorable
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Daily Telegraph Will Cohu
There are many weird and not so wonderful characters in his book who support the theory, but they are all liars or fantasists to some degree, and Ronson can never prove a link.
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