Modestly describing itself as “the most explosive book of the 20th century,” …And the truth shall set you free is the most recent evidence of a certain faction of die-hard New Agers’ growing fascination with the anti-Trilateral Commission/Illuminati obsessions that were once the exclusive and much-ridiculed domain of the Birchers. That this ground has all been covered extensively in books like Tragedy and Hope and None Dare Call It Conspiracy and weekly in The Spotlight newspaper does not faze author and former British soccer player David Icke in the least. That some of Icke’s New World Order/banking/secret society muckraking might have some solid basis in fact makes his unsurpassed “good-vibey” self-glorification no less offensive. In author Icke’s memorable words, “People of Planet Earth, it is wakey, wakey time.” SS

Publisher: Bridge of Love
Paperback: 518 pages
Illustrated

Using accounts of how indigenous Americans in Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama are securing recognition and self-government, this book presents real possibilities for re-possessing territory, and establishing both self-government and multiethnic government. Control of natural resources and land development have become central issues to these negotiations. These recognized rights are very fragile, and are kept alive by struggle and vigilance. SC

Publisher: Black Rose
Paperback: 190 pages

“This insightful and witty critique of the media’s coverage of the news includes: the corporate spin on the news, media hypocrisy and political correctness; the spectrum of debate on TV talk shows.”

Publisher: Common Courage
Paperback: 272 pages

Examines the “aesthetic” in film, in politics, in war, the philosophy of subjectivity and elsewhere. AK

Publisher: Autonomedia
Paperback: 124 pages

“Focuses on exposing the agenda and cost of expansion in the world and documents the lies used to justify violent intervention in world politics, considering how economics plays into political decision-making process and providing a strong case for considering past wrongs and future changes.”

Publisher: City Lights
Paperback: 217 pages

Incisive treatment of the religious origins of AA, its cultish aspects, effectiveness and secular self-help alternatives. AK

Publisher: See Sharp
Paperback: 192 pages

A hilarious and thorough account of the Amway experience written by a disillusioned “distributor” who is also a professor of English. This is delicious armchair sociology, manna for the conspiracy theorist, and worth the attention of anyone who has sat next to an Excel troglodyte selling pyramid long-distance phone service on a cross-country flight. HJ

Publisher: South End
Paperback: 186 pages

Something for the high-bandwidth student of cultural criticism and the neo-Luddite as well. Collins follows postmodernism to the next level, charting its evolution from the “terror of pure excess to the manipulation of available information” to its domestication into popular, functional, “safe” forms such as television, film, architecture, design and fiction. What’s interesting is that to do this, the author conducts a parallel study: To understand how the technological overload has really affected the cultural landscape he extends the current discussion on techno-textuality which includes “cyberpunk science fiction, digital sampling, hypertext, virtual reality,” and he traces their effect on the ponderous traditional process-oriented, low-tech forms of production favored by purists. CP

Publisher: Routledge
Paperback: 256 pages

Virilio is a philosopher/theorist who writes clearly and thinks idiosyncractically regarding how information is digested and distributed through electronic, television, radio and computer technology. The journey is no longer critical, but the arrival is all too crucial. For example, Virilio clearly maps out how the Gulf War as seen by the outside viewer is nothing more than a video game. Technology has not only changed the world, but through modern speed of transportation and electronic media, it has buried the old by rewriting the past. Information is no longer content, but it is speed itself that is the content. TB

Publisher: University of Minnesota
Paperback: 184 pages

Battle plans suitable for any conquest, first etched out 2,400 years ago in China by a chief military strategist for the state of Wu. Popular today with corporate America, and here’s why—it’s the New World Order in a nutshell. “Once this overlord’s forces invade a large country, its legions will be incapable of assembly; when his omnipotence engulfs the enemies, their alliances will be incapable of forming. By competing for worldwide alliances and developing worldwide influence, an overlord will thereby give rein to his ambitions, and his omnipotence can engulf his enemies: thus, their city may be occupied and their country toppled.” Based on manuscripts recently discovered in Linyi, China, that predate all previous texts by 1,000 years. GR

Publisher: Morrow
Paperback: 299 pages