Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader

Adam
Parfrey was, before starting iconoclastic publisher Feral House, a writer. His foresight in revealing extreme
trends and societal angst long before mainstream media had any inkling of the
darkness bubbling just under the surface of American culture earned him praise
and derision. Apocalypse Culture
(1987) was hailed by J.G. Ballard as the "terminal documents of the Twentieth
Century."

Many of
the included essays are eerily prescient as Parfrey warned about right-wing
militias in the early nineties and documented the rise of conspiracy-dominated
thinking decades before Republican government officials loudly declared
political opponents were satanically inspired drinkers of baby blood. Yet
Parfrey's interests were wide-ranging and Apocalypse Omnibus includes
profiles of outr?characters, artists, and, yes, some crackpots. Parfrey loved tweaking American mythology
by resurrecting lost texts highlighting outlaws and outsiders. He
continually sought to expose the absurdity of American culture.

Parfrey
was fascinated by the contrast between America portrayed as wholesome freedom
loving peacekeepers and the reality of covert military operations, mass-drug
experiments, and the obscured "wizards" hidden behind the curtain pulling the
levers of power. His work has been lauded as groundbreaking and criticized as
dangerous. In a time when truth has been stretched to the breaking point,
Parfrey's essays remind readers that there is always more to the story.

Apocalypse Omnibus also contains material previously published in
the out-of-print books, Apocalypse Culture 2 (2003) and Cult Rapture
(1995), as well as new material culled from his extensive private archives. It
also contains a selection of Parfrey's essays and investigations, originally
published in the San Diego Reader, Village Voice, Hustler Magazine, and on his
own site, and inaccessible for years, are collected here in a single
volume. Black and white images with full-color art by Joe Coleman.