With her 2019 book, American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology D.W. Pasulka documents her six-year-long ethnographic study into the belief systems at the root of the UAP phenomenon. Along the way, she interviews influential scientists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, astronauts, and former military and government officials, traveling from the deserts of New Mexico to the Vatican archives in Rome. Pasulka’s intent isn’t to persuade or deter from the phenomenon but to understand why—and how—people believe (or don’t believe) in UFOs and aliens from a modern vantage point. Using the history of religion as her narrative compass, Pasulka questions how people interpret unexplainable events and how current technology manipulates such interpretations.