Against the Odds
Major Donald E. Keyhoe and His Battle to End UFO Secrecy: A Biography

by Linda C. Powell

Trade Paperback, 486 Pages, 7 Illustrations

$24.95, ISBN: 978-1-949501-32-2

Genre(s): UFOs

One man is largely responsible for the twin pillars of current UFO belief:
that UFOs represent extraterrestrial technology
and that the government is hiding this truth from us.

His name is Donald E. Keyhoe. He was a 51-year-old retired Marine Major when his own investigation of a famous 1948 flying saucer case led him to believe that the US Air Force and the CIA knew the Earth was under surveillance by beings from other worlds and were keeping it secret from the public. For the next 21 years, he devoted himself, at great personal cost, to exposing the official cover-up of what he believed was an alien visitation.

Thanks to his highly-placed contacts in the military and secret informants in the Pentagon, Keyhoe became the first major figure to truly challenge the official view that UFO reports belonged in the domain of “kooks and fuzzy thinkers.” He eventually led what became the world's most powerful civilian UFO organization, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). In this, the first biography of Donald Keyhoe, his public and private life before and during his time as the world’s best-known UFO advocate is revealed.

About the Author:

LINDA C. POWELL is an English writer with a decades-long interest in mid-20th century America. Since 2015 she has been a news editor for The Anomalist. She lives near England's east coast and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

We have updated the cover of the book.

Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1: Roots
Chapter 2: Service
Chapter 3: Changes
Chapter 4: Home and Away
Chapter 5: Flying with Lindbergh
Chapter 6: Moving On
Chapter 7: From Pulp to Propaganda
Chapter 8: The Shape of Things to Come
Chapter 9: Lift-off
Chapter 10: Friends, Flaps, and Flimflam
Chapter 11: Lifting the Lid
Chapter 12: Elation and Deflation
Chapter 13: A Friend Among Foes
Chapter 14: A is for Adamski
Chapter 15: APRO Accord
Chapter 16: Biters Bit
Chapter 17: The Merry Widows
Chapter 18: Ruppelt’s Ruminations
Chapter 19: Strange Bedfellows
Chapter 20: The Grandiose Plan
Chapter 21: The Iceberg
Chapter 22: NICAP
Chapter 23: The “Real” NICAP
Chapter 24: A Motley Crew
Chapter 25: Strong-Armed by Armstrong
Chapter 26: Annus Horribilis
Chapter 27: Cleaning House
Chapter 28: Ruppelt’s Reversal
Chapter 29: The Feud
Chapter 30: Et Tu, Ruppelt?
Chapter 31: Tacker’s Tack
Chapter 32: Forwards and Backwards
Chapter 33: Staggering On
Chapter 34: A Gas Explosion
Chapter 35: Keel and Jacks
Chapter 36: Condon’s Low Trick
Chapter 37: Fiasco Fallout
Chapter 38: The Bitter End
Chapter 39: After the Fall
Chapter 40: Aftermath
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Endnotes
Sources
Index

What they're saying:

“As a journalist, I have spent twenty-three years advocating for government transparency on UFOs. Donald Keyhoe, the first to hold the Air Force accountable some seventy years ago, devoted decades of his life to pursuing that effort. Against the Odds is a fascinating, in-depth biography about an extraordinary human being and courageous pioneer who could not be deterred. An inspiring work.” — Leslie Kean, author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record

"A towering figure in his time... Keyhoe is now the subject of Linda Powell's solid, deeply researched biography...Against the Odds can be read as an object lesson in the dangers of public identification with a heretical opinion...Powell focuses on the societal, political, and personal side of the disputes that rages, sometimes within ufology itself, over matters both profound and petty. Though I am well versed in the history of the UFO wars, hardly a page of Against the Odds fails to inform me of something I didn't know...One closes Powell's splendid biography, which is sympathetic but hardly hagiographic, with the impression of an ordinary man who placed himself in extraordinary circumstances. Decades later, as physicists, journalists, historians, academics, pilots, and politicians—precisely the figures whom Keyhoe attempted with limited success to recruit into the ranks—descend on a subject barreling toward respectability, one wishes he were here to see what he started." — Jerome Clark, Fortean Times 

"...the most well-researched book in the UFO field that I've ever seen...For any viewer out here who is serious about understanding the history of the filed of UFOlogy, particularly in the United Sates, this is a must read book." — Jeffrey Mishlove, New Thinking Allowed

"It's a landmark bio of Donald Keyhoe...He was the first person to be questioning the government and UFOs...a great read...He began the serious narrative about ufos... A really fascinating story about the early days of ufology...The research is meticulous. Linda Powell is a top-notch researcher... " Christine Scott, UFO Talker

"Linda Powell's biography of the original UFO personality takes care to represent Donald Keyhoe as a person apart from his 'obsession.' The author can't help the fact that most of his adult life was spent chasing the saucers. Lucky of us, that makes this book a captivating read for any fan of UFOlogy's golden years." — Roy Illitch, The Observer

"The chapter headings of Against the Odds alone, give a grand idea of a fascinating life, well told, with rich insights and lessons for current players who think they know it all. You need to realise that others have gone before you, and you need to realise with current events, controversies and insights, much of it seems like, 'History continues to repeat itself,' as Linda Powell suggests. Her Keyhoe biography gives us much to consider, and it might even help in recalibrating the trajectories and certainties offered up and claimed by current iterations of the UFO/UAP controversy." — Bill Chalker, UFO Truth Magazine

In 1957, "Keyhoe quickly set to the job of using the [NICAP] organisation to argue with the Air Force about its lamentable UFO explanations and investigations. On the top of his agenda was to get open Congressional hearings on the subject. Doesn’t this all sound like the UAP fiasco of today on a repeat cycle!...Powell does an expert job of showing us the major characters and factors that constituted that influential period of UFO politics ... I’m sure [Keyhoe] would have been in the thick of the current UAP controversy." — Nigel Watson, Magonia

"I dove into Powell’s impeccably detailed research and found my interest in Keyhoe’s fascinating career growing with every page....[Powell] creates a vivid narrative that makes the read an ongoing pleasure...She has gathered together an amazing mountain of information on Keyhoe’s career, and she knows how to use that research to tell a gripping, engaging story...Powell’s history of NICAP [which Keyhoe founded] is a real tour de force...Donald Keyhoe may not have solved the UFO mystery in its entirety, but in Powell’s telling, he led us all one step closer to understanding the mysteries of the cosmos, and he showed us the power of struggling Against The Odds." — Mark O’Connell, Journal of Scientific Exploration