It wasn't that long ago, just a few decades back, that accessing the counterculture, the truly marginal and underground, required some digging, rummaging, and getting to know some wild folks. This isn't romanticization; it's reality. The Internet democratized access to a wealth of information, but it also made it flatter and more boring. Feral House served as a kind of madness hub for fans of 4Chan back when Moot was still in his father's eggs.

This is a reading guide to immerse yourself in one of the most daring publishers in the United States.

Talking about Feral House means talking about Adam Parfrey, its editor; one of the most controversial and provocative figures in the depths of the United States, who managed to bring many underground ideas into the mainstream without discriminating between left and right, but with a clear goal of shaking up the moral beehive of dominant culture. This is a reading guide to immerse yourself in one of the most daring publishers in the United States.

American Hardcore – Steven Blush

Steven Blush is a cultural agitator, booker, and journalist from New Jersey who made regular trips to New York during the punk boom to soak up the underground. Over the years, he moved to Washington D.C. just as hardcore was exploding.

His book American Hardcore is a bible of the American genre, focusing on its most prolific years, from 1980 to 1986, told by its protagonists.

In its more than four hundred pages, Blush analyzes every possible facet of the genre: bands, record labels, fanzines, logos, illustrators, photographers, clubs. The thematic chapter division provides a crucial organicity to dissect a historical and cultural process in which many things were happening simultaneously in different parts of the country.

One of the most interesting points of his research is delving into hardcore from tribal conceptions, with its own rules, dances, and forms of communication. Blush gives space to the more well-known scenes, Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Texas, but also to some less documented ones like those in Maine, Raleigh (North Carolina), and Richmond (Virginia), among others.

The book served as the basis for the eponymous documentary released in 2006.

Lords of Chaos – Michael J. Moynnihan and Didrik Søderlin

The Nordic black metal scene, especially the Norwegian scene, was the most extreme expression in the history of rock. Its dark and heavy aesthetic wasn't just a pose; they took it to the extreme, and it had real consequences. There was everything: church burnings, murders, conspiracy, Nazism, and Satanism. Lords of Chaos, originally published in 1998, is the first document that tells the story of what happened between the eighties and nineties, with the bands Burzum and Mayhem as the torchbearers of the dark flame that spread the genre and its ideas worldwide. The book, edited while the events were still fresh, was key in expanding the myth of the genre at a time when the internet was a privilege. Originally, the book was supposed to come with a compilation CD, but Varg Vikernes, founder of Burzum, had no intention of participating in a record with artists who had testified against him in the trials that put him behind bars for fifteen years. Feral House decided to release the compilation and Burzum's Filosofem separately, but the compilation never saw the light of day, and Filosofem became the only release from the publisher. In 2018, the book was adapted into a fictional film with Rory Culkin playing Euronymous.

Technological Slavery: The Collected Works of Theodore Kaczynski – Theodore Kaczynski

Between May 1978 and June 1996, mathematician Theodore Kaczynski sent sixteen letter bombs, killed three people, and injured more than twenty. His targets were linked to technological and industrial advancement. Secluded in a cabin in the Montana woods, he wrote a substantial amount of texts against industrial society. He extorted the largest newspapers in the United States to publish one of his manifestos in exchange for stopping his crimes. He was turned in by his own brother. This book gathers his most important texts, trial transcripts, and letters.

Apocalypse Culture – Adam Parfrey (editor)

Before Feral House, Adam Parfrey, its editor, founded the magazine Exit alongside designer George Petros. The project began in 1984 and ran for three issues, until 1989. Petros continued on his own for a few more years. They defined it as “a marginal liberal fascist sci-fi pop art magazine.” With cutting-edge design, the publication managed to evade censorship despite featuring contributors like Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan), Joe Coleman (an artist who disseminates corpses to paint his works), and Boyd Rice (a neo-Nazi noise artist); but also showcased somewhat kinder countercultural figures like Raymond Pettibon (famous for the logo and posters of Black Flag), Mark Mothersbaugh (leader of Devo), and Robert Williams (founder of Juxtapoz magazine and creator of the Appetite for Destruction image used by Guns N' Roses for their debut album).

By the end of the volume, you will have traversed writings about and by serial killers, necrophiles, Satanists, modern cannibals, neo-Nazis, messianic conspiracies, cults, and climate control.

Some of the articles published in the magazine were included in the anthology Apocalypse Culture at Amok Press, the first editorial effort created in collaboration with Ken Swezey in 1987. This anthology encapsulates the American post-war madness in less than 400 pages. If the series of essays can be navigated without indignation and nausea, on the other side of the abyss awaits understanding, or at least an insight into why the United States is the sickest country in the world. By the end of the volume, you will have traversed writings about and by serial killers, necrophiles, Satanists, modern cannibals, neo-Nazis, messianic conspiracies, cults, and climate control.

Secret and Suppressed; Banned ideas & hidden history, edited – Jim Keith

Jim Keith, one of the most recognized authors of conspiracy theories, compiled this compendium of conspiratorial essays that shoots in all directions: from the Jonestown massacre in Guyana to the FBI siege of David Koresh's cult in Waco. Keith hits the gas and sheds light on some of the darkest topics of American madness and paranoia: AIDS as a chemical weapon, the secret continuation of the Third Reich on American soil, and the murder of journalist Danny Casolaro to silence one of the murkiest interweavings of Yankee politics since Watergate.

Cult Rapture – Adam Parfrey

Cult Rapture can be seen as one of the most worthy continuations of Apocalypse Culture and Secret and Suppressed. The book delves into many of the publisher's obsessions, analyzing all kinds of subcultures and characters: Russian mail-order brides, the last interview with G. G. Allin, conspiracy theories surrounding SWAT officers. It also provides an in-depth analysis of the Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building carried out by Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran who took a radical stance after the siege of the David Koresh cult in Waco, Texas in 1993, where the FBI stormed in and killed many of its members. The 1995 bombing was an act of revenge that left 168 dead and nearly 200 injured.

Parfrey also shines a spotlight on the UFO Unarius cult, among other topics, highlighting the countless tiers of madness present in the United States and its decline as the supposed cradle of Western civilization.

Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment – Timothy Wyllie

The Process Church on the Final Judgment was one of the most controversial and fruitful orders (or cults) of the sixties, the B-side of the summer of love. One of its members recounts the true story of the cult linked to Charles Manson, which was pursued and harassed by the authorities. Based in the major capitals of the United States and Britain, The Process Church had a loyal following. This is its story told by one of its protagonists. The publisher has also released an anthology of the cult's internal circulation magazines and a sort of guide to its most esoteric rituals. If you're looking to join a cult, this one might be one of the easiest to find information about.

Death Scenes: A homicide detective Scrapbook – Sean Tejaratchi

Jack Huddleston was a private detective in Los Angeles from the twenties to the forties. The book compiles many gruesome photos of crime scenes and autopsies, along with detailed notes and memories of the situations. Images not suitable for the sensitive.

Grossed-out surgeon vomits inside Patient! An insider´s look at supermarket tabloids – Jim Hogshire

A brief essay on the history of sensationalist tabloids, focusing on the “big six” American publications: The Enquirer, The Weekly World News, Sun, The Star, The Globe, and National Examiner. The book delves into yellow journalism, the invention of news, the need for sales, the fleeting nature of editions, lawsuits, and journalistic ethics, with both hilarious and gruesome examples. A short but interesting book to compare with what Crónica and other tabloid newspapers have done here.

Running on Emptiness: The pathology of civilization – John Zerzan

John Zerzan is a leading figure in anarcho-primitivism and neo-Luddism, admired by new generations of anti-globalization activists. In this book (published in Spanish by Walden Editora), he explores a wide range of topics, including pop culture, the plastic arts, the thoughts of authors like Noam Chomsky and Hakim Bey, the Waco massacre, and even his friendship with the Unabomber (which put him under the media and FBI spotlight). A recurring thread that ties it all together is the stance that has made Zerzan one of the most recognized anarchist thinkers in the U.S. in recent decades: disdain for technology, the idea of civilization as inherently oppressive, the close link between domestication and violence, and the view of hunter-gatherer society as a model for a free society.

Disco´s Out…Murder´s In! – Heath Mattioli and David Spacone

The rise of gangs like the Bloods and Crips seemed tied to hip-hop culture, just like those that emerged in New York and inspired the novel and film The Warriors. However, this type of social congregation soon made its way into punk culture. Los Angeles had many of the spiciest ones, like the Los Angeles Death Squad, Circle One, and The Mercenaries. Frank The Shank was one of the members of La Mirada Punks. Drug dealing and murder were commonplace, which is how Frank ended up behind bars but was released by a friend of his father, a mafia member. The book is a journey through those years of unchecked violence, punk music, and a world that was much more unpredictable and less controlled.

You Can´t Win – Jack Black

Jack Black was a hobo from the United States. These are his memoirs of the journeys he took on trains across the country from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Originally published in 1926, it became a cult classic that has continued to inspire, even being one of the favorite books of William Burroughs and the beat generation. Black recounts his experiences in jail, his secrets for evading authority, the world of illegal gambling, and the codes of conduct among men who choose to live on the fringes of society.

Lexicon Devil: The fast times and short life of Darby Crash and The Germs – Brendan Mullen

Based on over a hundred testimonies, the life and death of Darby Crash, the vocalist of The Germs and one of the most influential and important figures in Los Angeles punk, is reconstructed. His story is complicated and complex; the band left behind only one LP, released by Slash Records and produced by Joan Jett, but it helped reshape punk into what would soon follow: hardcore. The band's life was brief and extreme, just like that of its singer, who chose to take his own life at the age of twenty-two. His death was overshadowed publicly by the assassination of John Lennon, which occurred just one day later. A key book for understanding one of the most creative periods in Los Angeles.

The modern utopian: Alternatives communities of the 60´s and 70´s – Richard Fairfield

Through several essays, the communal experiments that took place in the United States are revisited. It takes a look at Drop City in Colorado (which served as the setting for a novel by T.C. Boyle), the commune of acid guru Timothy Leary in Millbrook, New York, and Trans-Love Energies, the housing group where the MC5 emerged in Detroit. The book offers a reading of the attempts to step outside the norm and create self-sufficient communities, although the results were not always as expected. The authors of the texts range from beat hippie Alan Watts to acid rock journalist Nick Tosches. If you hate your condo association, this book is for you.

The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family – Isis Aquarian & Electricity Aquarian

Father Yod was a hippie who opened an organic vegetarian restaurant in 1972 called The Source, where notable patrons included John Lennon and Marlon Brando. From a restaurant, it evolved into a movement and eventually a cult, led by this man who also formed a psychedelic rock group, YaHoWha13. What he preached obviously took a backseat to what he did: he drove a Rolls Royce and had fourteen wives. This is the story of one of the strangest movements that emerged when hippiedom had died at the hands of the Vietnam War and the murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson Family.