Book Review: Jim Keith's 'Casebook on the Men in Black'

Recently I have mentioned that I have been reading Jim Keith's Casebook on the Men in Black. Just the other day I finally finished reading the book and as promised here is my review. If you don't know who Jim Keith is, and if you have even a peripheral interest in para-politics, you are really doing yourself a disservice by not reading his writings. Keith was very influential conspiracy writer, who had moved past the ETH in reference to the UFO phenomena. As a matter of fact in his equally great book Saucers of the Illuminati, Keith argues that the vast majority of the 'UFO phenomena' is actually the vehicles of the secret government and their psychological operations program (psy-ops). Like I said it's a fascinating book, but this review isn't about Saucers of the Illuminati.

Instead it is a review of Keith's last book before his untimely death following an accident at the Burning Man festival in 1999. The original printing of Casebook on the Men in Black was in 1997. The edition that I have is the newly revised and reprinted 2011 version. It features a new forward by the equally (in)famous para-political guru Kenn Thomas, who along with Keith wrote the classic book on the Danny Casolaro murder titled The Octopus. Within Casebook on the Men in Black, Keith lays out some of the history of the MIB phenomenon (both past and present).

Like any book that I enjoy that deals with Fortean topics, Keith's Casebook realises that there is nothing 'modern' about the concept of the Men in Black encounters. The book opens with Keith leading the reader through the magic lore and how witches and wizards of old seemed to be interacting with entities that bear striking resemblances to what people were reporting in more modern times about the Men in Black. After this Keith leads the reader right were he is most comfortable. With the concept that the MIB encounters, at least the more modern ones anyway, are possibly apart of a psy-ops program being run by some clandestine portion of the American government.

One of the other great things about Keith's work is that even though you can tell that his pet theory is the psy-ops angle, he isn't an 'all or nothing' type of researcher. By this I mean that the last few chapters of the book are spent detailing encounters with MIBs that are, for a lack of a better word 'otherworldly' or ethereal. Now by this word I don't mean to imply that Keith believed that the entities encountered were by any means extraterrestrial, it's more of an interdimensional kind of view. The stories that are recounted towards the end of the book, if true, leave the reader wondering just what in the hell people were seeing.

And like all of the people that I admire, Keith leaves that question for you to answer for yourself. So if you only know of MIBs from the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones movies, then please do yourself a favour and pick up this newly released version of a classic esoteric book. I promise you will not be disappointed and if like me you do end up enjoying this book by Keith, and you are open to alternative theories about UFOs, then I highly recommend you also check out his Saucers of the Illuminati. OK Forteans that is all I've got for you tonight, be sure to stick around for more fun tomorrow night. Between now and then look out for shady characters that have long slender fingers and claim to work for the US Air Force.