The Masks of Lucifer: Technology and the Occult in Twentieth-Century Popular Literature

This book examines ufology and belief in extra-terrestrials as a cultural phenomenon. The author examines how 19th-century occultism, particularly theosophy, has been revitalized under the guise of scientific speculation and captured the popular imagination. Unexplained or mysterious phenomenon such as UFOs, alien visitors, crop circles and the evidence for the "astronaut gods" theory are habitually interpreted by those who claim to have witnessed them in scientific terms, a fact that the author believes can be explained partly by tensions and anxieties within society caused by political, social and technological change. David Morris identifies links with the writings of Madame Blavatsky, Velikovsky, Von Daniken, and others of the same genre, who helped to popularize beliefs in lost civilizations, forgotten events and theories such as the "astronaut gods" - that the human race is the result of experiments by extraterrestrials.