“It is true now as ever that American multinationals derive significant economic advantage from Third World countries due to their being underindustrialized, underdiversified, capitalist-oriented and relatively powerless. It is equally true that the consequence of American interventions has frequently been to keep Third World countries in just such an undeveloped, impotent state. There is thus at least a prima-facie case to be made for the contention that the engine of U.S. foreign policy is still fueled predominately by “economic imperialism.” And so are cataloged a depressingly long list of names, dates and places where, in the name of McDonald’s, Coke, guns and apple pie, the U.S. establishment has bought down democratically elected governments and abused freedom and hope, replacing them with the spirit of Oliver North and John Wayne. BW

Publisher: Common Courage
Paperback: 500 pages

Former Scientologist Corydon presents a remarkably disorganized yet wholly worthwhile account of L. Ron and attendant Clears. While in places the book reads as if it had been written by the author of Battlefield Earth himself (“They had this paper shredder which was so big!… It was a big big big giant munching shredder!!”), the story of how a pulp science-fiction writer created, maintained and left to his heirs, such as they are, one of this century’s most successful religions (now IRS-approved!) remains as disconcerting as it is unlikely, however often it is told. Considerable material here not found in other books on the subject, expressed whenever possible in the most melodramatic way. JW

Publisher: Barricade
Hardback: 464 pages

“Candid, no-holds-barred account by the foremost American anarchist: her own life, anarchist movement, famous contemporaries, ideas and their impact.”

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 503 pages

“Candid, no-holds-barred account by the foremost American anarchist: her own life, anarchist movement, famous contemporaries, ideas and their impact.”

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 1 pages

This is a great bathroom book. It is full of amazing little pieces on a wide variety of topics, which are for the most part quite compelling. (All but two of these pieces are reprinted from the Loompanics catalog.) It can prove maddening if one is hoping for a logical progression from piece to piece or even a loose grouping of articles into subject categories. The design lacks consistency and occasionally even feels padded. But if one takes the short-attention-span route, skipping around it like a magazine, the yields can be most rewarding and suitable for a variety of moods. The writing is consistently competent and frequently excellent.
The subjects that are covered include: things to know if you are planning to serve on a jury, how to survive in prison, covering your tracks if you are using a fake ID, drug testing, how the tabloids operate and how they effect the “mainstream” press, an assortment of cyber issues, home schooling, renegade WW II GIs, energy farming and other Green stuff, class struggle, Holocaust survivors with guns, war as entertainment, National Health Care, 12-step mania, assorted fiction and a whole lot more. A piece on the Jim Rose Circus and a short story by convicted serial killer G.J. Schaefer were commissioned especially for this book. SA

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 200 pages
Illustrated

What one should know about speaking to the FBI, changing identities, writing checks, anarchism, alternative health, media control and hype, pirate broadcasting, “paranoid theories,” squatting and much more. Featuring previously unpublished articles by Gregory Krupey, as well as contributions by Bob Black, Richard Geis, Michael E. Marotta, Ben G. Price and a full array of others. TD

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 300 pages
Illustrated

The French urban planner and cultural theorist examines aspects of postmodern society ranging from space travel to time and the physical sciences. AK

Publisher: Autonomedia
Paperback: 150 pages

The multinational corporation known affectionately as the Mafia or the Mob is nothing if not efficient. The managers and CEOs of this company have a penetrating understanding of human nature, and this ability to give people what they want while ruthlessly eliminating the competition has led to the universal success of its stock. Lee Wallek, a corporate CEO himself, now near retirement, has taken some of the principles of management Mafia-style and presented them in a slim volume along with his own idiosyncratic drawings of various personalities one might encounter in the “business world.” Equal parts Macchiavelli’s Prince, Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People, and Joe Pesci’s nastiest characters’ chauvinist-guy handbook, The Mafia Manager will make valuable reading for anyone involved in activities relating to the management and control of other human beings. AS

Publisher: December
Paperback: 112 pages
Illustrated

Whether one is under the spell of conspiracies or the Internet, UFOs or religion, politics or MTV, Nazis or North Koreans, one best believe there’s a whole lot of brainwashin’ goin’ on. “What makes brainwashing so different from the equally insidious effects of indoctrination and conditioning, or even advertising and education? “Research findings from psychology show that brainwashing is not a special subversive technique; it is the clever manipulation of unrealized influences that operate in all our lives… This book, by breaking down so-called brainwashing to its individual elements, shows how social conditioning, need for approval, emotional dependency and much else that we are unaware of, prevent us from being as self-directed as we think and, conversely, which human traits make us the least susceptible to subtle influence.” GR

Publisher: Octagon
Hardback: 217 pages

“When one reads the following pages, it will become clear there is a cover-up within our own government regarding electrical stimulation of the brain, telemetry, etc. as well as harmful E.L.F waves, exposure to microwaves through TV, stimulation of the brain, etc., in order to control and manipulate people. I believe, there is a secret government within our government, and they are using this type of warfare in order to bring us (the citizens) into complete subjection and electronic control… Our own secret government created these street people by shutting them down electronically, thus keeping them alive artificially and controlling them and manipulating them through electronic means, thus the reasoning behind not providing for them properly. Thus, the government is using them to harass, terrorize and possibly kill us, their fellow citizens, through manipulating them through their computer science techniques whenever it suits them.” Spiral-bound xeroxed collection of articles, excerpts and original hypotheses.

Publisher: Greensward
Paperback: 163 pages
Illustrated