Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader

The Apocalypse Omnibus collects the best of Adam Parfrey's essays in a single volume.

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 outré 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. His collective writings have become the ur-texts of the "Dirtbag Left."

"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.