Whitley Strieber Essay, Research Paper

Whitley Strieber is the author of many non-fiction bestsellers. His most famous books

include: The Wolfen, The Hunger, Night Church, War Day, Wolf of Shadow, Nature?s

End, Cat Magic, Transformation, Majestic, Billy, The Wild, Unholy Fire, Forbidden

Zone, Breakthrough: The Next Step, The Secret School, Evenings With Demons: Stories

of Thirty Years, and Confirmation: The Hard Evidence.

Whitley Strieber is best known for his autobiographical account of his

experiences with strange ?visitors? who came to his cabin in the New York countryside,

titled Communion. Communion was published in 1987 and sold more than 250,000

copies and was number one on the NewYork Times non-fiction best seller list for two

weeks. It is the story of Strieber?s attempt to deal with an assault from the unknown. He

and his family allegedly have had a series of elaborate personal encounters with

intelligent non-human beings. At first he thought he was losing his mind. Unconcerned

with the whole phenomenon of UFOs and extraterrestrials, he viewed them as easily

explainable misperceptions or hallucinations. Strieber was rudely awakened when these

?visitors? began to take over his life.

Strieber describes the stunning effects of his encounter in the most graphic way

possible. Frightened and curious, he faces the unknown,?whose eyes seem to stare into

the deepest care of being, seeking the very depths of the soul – seeking Communion.?

Whitley Strieber is also greatly known for his follow-up book to Communion,

called Breakthrough : The Next Step. After writing the book, Communion, Strieber

mysteriously retired from public life in 1989. At the time, he said that he would not

return until he had something new to say about the beings he had come to call ?the

visitors?.

In 1989, Strieber had gotten compelling proof that the visitors were real. His first

impulse was to rush the information to the press, but Strieber was afraid how the world

would react to this stunning evidence. He decided to put his information into another

book, Breakthrough: The Next Step. This book deals with Strieber?s five year struggle to

understand. He asks many questions: Who are they? What are their intentions? What do

they want and need from us? He observed as they entered the lives of his family and

closest friends. He watched over the years how the family changed and the remarkable

effect of the visitors on their child.

There has never been an unexplained experience so carefully documented or

extensively witnessed by others. He has passed four lie detector tests and he has been

examined for many diseases both physical and mental. Not only is he entirely normal,

the proof he presents in this book could convince a jury.

Another book that Strieber wrote is Billy. This book is about a psychopathic

kidnaper who is looking for the perfect child to keep as his own son. This deranged man

moves from child to child and finally comes across Billy. he attempts to brainwash Billy

and tries to get him to believe that he is his father. Personally, I found it hard to put the

book down.