A sobering, occasionally amusing, and altogether compelling look at the impulses that have fueled the rising pitch of Armageddon, this startling book explores the arcane but significant phenomena of contemporary American cults--from survivalists and white supremacists to UFO cultists, satanists, and the most far-flung New Agers. 40 photos.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The editor of Apocalypse Culture returns with another collection of anti-essays of his own authorship, plus a few from his disgruntled friends. Not even sacrilege is sacred to Adam Parfrey as he aims his poison pen at targets ranging from Andrea Dworkin to G.G. Allin. Articles on the sex lives of freaks, amputees, and Nazis are sure to offend someone you know, and they're oddly compelling reading as well. In fact, there's not a clunker in this volume of politically astute if overly nasty pieces. Not to be missed are the interesting series of articles on the militia movement and the Oklahoma City bombing, which defy easy categorization on the standard political chart by attacking the media's biases as well as the narrowness of the militia movements.Cult Rapture is fine reading for a cozy night around a post-nuclear hell pit.
From Publishers Weekly
Reading this incendiary, offensive and fascinating collection from underground freelancer Parfrey (Apocalypse Culture) is like looking at pornography: it's a cheap thrill but a thrill nonetheless. In 21 articles, many reprinted from the San Diego Reader, one from the Village Voice, Parfrey surveys the carnival of American culture, from The Girlfriend Who Last Saw Elvis Alive Fan Club, run by a woman who wants to be the surrogate womb for Elvis's child, to A Cult of Sex-Obsessed Cripples, who will put anything anywhere, to G.G. Allin's world of sick violence and nasty court battles over Walter Keane's kitschy big-eyed waifs. Parfrey also covers conspiracy theorists, such as the group called Project Monarch, who believe that the government tortures children, then programs them to be its slaves, and Linda Thompson, who threatened to start lynching congressmen unless some Constitutional amendments, the IRS and the Brady Bill were eliminated. Parfrey reveals a certain sympathy for his subjects' conspiracy-mindedness in his final article, an "expose" of the Oklahoma City bombing in which he raises some valid questions about the still-mysterious event while showing that the Clinton administration needed the bombing to justify its crackdown on militias. Parfrey's own language is almost absurdly inflammatory ("the Christian militia man has become a scapegoat, a justification for intelligence agencies' headlong rush into technocratic dystopia... where every financial transaction is instantly monitored by computers operated by Fortune 500 and its omnipotent police force." A truly mean piece on Andrea Dworkin's radical feminism even includes Parfrey's attached apologies.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
National Geographic for Real People,
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This review is from: Cult Rapture: Revelations of the Apocalyptic Mind (Paperback)
Set aside assurance or lack thereof for the veracity of the specific elements of the stories. Read "Cult Rapture" as it is: an engaging National-Geographic type of narrative but with cocks and pussies and people who indulge their whims or who wait for space brethren. There is no less fact checking as far as the reader knows than with an ordinary newspaper article. Concerns with all verifiable contents to assure oneself of the reality of the people and activities depicted in the articles deflects the reader's attention from benefiting from and being amused by the material. The stories have the "ring of truth" which should make anyone's obsession with fact checking evaporate, though such may not be the case with all of Parfrey's writings or editorial anthologies. Neat cover, groovy fronticepiece, fun to read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fearless,
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This review is from: Cult Rapture: Revelations of the Apocalyptic Mind (Paperback)
Where other reporters are afraid of letting their opinions be known, Adam Parfrey, in his exploration of the fringes of society, is fearless. At times he does seem a bit mean, but come on, he is printing what everyone is thinking! Included in this collection are tongue-in-cheek reports on women sexually obsessed with Elvis, the history of big-eyed waif velvet paintings, the Unarians (who prophesized that the Space Brothers would land in their UFOs and save the world in 2000 -- are they still around?), Bo Gritz (the man who Rambo is based upon) and, yes, a group that encourages the empowerment of the handicapped through sex. There are other articles on various charlatans and conspiracy theories,including an excellent one on Waco (Fact: did you know that every ATF agent killed at Waco worked as security for Bill Clinton while he was governor?!?). My personal favourite is an interview with Shelby Downard, my all-time favourite "paranoid" (I can't wait until his collected works are released in 2002 by Feral House!).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A melange of counter-culture freaks and other oddities.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cult Rapture: Revelations of the Apocalyptic Mind (Paperback)
One of the best things about Adam Parfrey's articles arethe subtle sarcasm that abounds. While one man recounts his ardour for Russian mail-order brides, Parfrey, without shame reveals his opinion of this man as a travesty. Not all the subjects in this collection of articles are treated as rudely though. Parfrey investigates anything weird from millenialists to congenital human oddities with an open-mind. Photographs adorn the articles, making this book more alive in the reality of the strange.
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