Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles is a 1997 non-fiction book about Area 51 in Nevada by David Darlington. A review in the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" called the book "a real service" for readers interested in the early history of the site, but also scolded the author for entertaining "alien seekers, the tragically abducted, and self-appointed aliens ... saucer nuts" whose record "drown[s] out any legitimate inquiry into how much secrecy and how large a restricted compound the government needs to conduct black-budget activities". The A.V. Club called it "a definitive work on the
Area 51 around the field is referred to as Restricted Area 4808 North (R-4808N). The base's current primary purpose is publicly unknown; however, based on historical evidence, it most likely supports the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems (black projects). The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component to unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore. Although the base has never been declared a secret base, all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). On 25 June 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)