An Interview with Ralph Blumenthal: Author of "The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack"

One of our favorite books of the March/April 2021 issue introduced us to John Mack, a brilliant author and top Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who inexplicably developed an obsession with alien abduction—and nearly lost his career because of it. In The Believer, Ralph Blumenthal chronicles this fascinating life story—Mack’s childhood in New York, founding the psychiatry department at Cambridge Hospital, a Pulitzer-winning biography of T.E. Lawrence, antinuclear activism—in addition to his wayward turn to using “hypnotic regression to unlock the suppressed memories of ‘experiencers’ of alien encounters,” in the words of Amy O’Loughlin in her review for Foreword. 

With an assist from High Road Books, we connected Ralph and Amy for the following Mack conversation. Be forewarned: you might become a believer. too.