The phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum is found on the bottom of the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States, and is Latin for “The New World Order,” and that’s what we learn on just the first page of this captivating book. Here is a scenario similar to Brave New World: There is one government, one source for food and water, and a new religion. In the NWO, there will be no private property, no inheritance, no starvation or homelessness. Shelters for all, jobs for everyone. One small problem: Don’t fit the mold? Handicapped? You’ll be eliminated. “Thou shalt not kill” a problem? The new religion says killing’s okay, if it fits the NWO. Who’d go along with this program? Who thought up this insanity? The book reveals that plans for the NWO have been set in motion since a secret society, the Thules, reorganized the then-disorganized Masons. The Thules are termed the secret prime movers of Nazism, and are a fragment of a much more important secret society known as the Germanic Order, founded in 1912. Thought-provoking, well-written and disturbing. CF

Publisher: Publius
Paperback: 357 pages

We live in a country obsessed with the details of the criminal mind—all the details, from bed wetting to history to methods. A comprehensive guide is assembled here for the first time. Hundreds of entries spanning collectors, collections, methods, college courses, weapons, poetry, songs and art by murderers and the infamous practitioners themselves. Grisly murder has been the subject of story and song, of art high and low for centuries. True crime books have been around since at least the 1600s. The case of Dr. H.H. Holmes, “America’s first serial killer,” was said to have caused as much excitement as O.J.’s trial today. Features few actual photographs but includes baseball-style trading-card drawings from such collections as “Bloody Visions,” “52 Famous Murderers” and artwork by Joe Coleman. If you are the consummate collector, you probably have most of this information, but it is a reference point for further investigation containing quirky details for the voyeur at heart—Ed Gein received requests for locks of his hair, David Berkowitz was a bed wetter. CF

Publisher: Pocket
Paperback: 341 pages
Illustrated

Ectrodactyly, a genetic condition, which has run in the Stiles family since 1840 for five generations, results in the absence of the third digit and the fusing together of the remaining fingers and toes into “claws.” The condition, which is also known as lobster-claw syndrome, sometimes affects all four limbs, sometimes two. Lobster Boy documents the bizarre life of Grady Stiles Jr. (and family), his abuse of wives and various handicapped and “normal” children, and Grady’s brutal, premeditated murder. The murder itself is not as shocking as the zeal of the prosecutors in their quest for “justice.” Big type makes this a quick but queer read, with an insider’s view of on-the-road freak shows. CF

Publisher: Pinnacle
Paperback: 331 pages
Illustrated

The tragic, unsolved, 1931 Starr Faithful murder mystery, dissected under a microscope with meticulous research and a credible conclusion—though it’s fairly painful to get there! This “thriller” is written in anglophilic English (hat = bonnet, etc.), and full of mind-numbing detail, much with no apparent connection to the case. Woven in between is a fairly interesting mystery, featuring Starr’s sordid, clandestine love affairs (one with a former Boston mayor), her unconventional sex life and misuse of drugs and bootleg alcohol, and details of her stepfather’s unsavory business ventures, including his involvement in a murder investigation. Mindful of the still-unanswered question of whether her death resulted from an accident, suicide or murder, the author tries to demystify this enigmatic case. CF

Publisher: Kent State University
Paperback: 311 pages
Illustrated

A scientific analysis of violent attachment disorder broken down by case study, behavior and conclusion. Includes some interesting case studies, but much of the book is written in a dense language intended for a specific audience: “The Harris and Lingoes subscales of Scale 4(Pd) suggested that most of the loading was attributable to Sara’s perceptions of family conflict and discord (Pdl=T69) and profound alienation from herself (Pd4B=T74).” CF

Publisher: Aronson
Paperback: 365 pages

Isolated from a rare Mexican sage found in only a few ravine locations in the Sierra Mazateca mountains, the active compound, salvinorin A, has dramatic effects. Used by Mazatec Indian shamans in Oaxaca and first described by Swedish anthropologist Jean Basset Johnson in 1939, it is easily propagated by cuttings, and during the past few decades it has made its way into numerous botanical gardens and private collections around the world. It is thought by many botanists that Salvia divinorum is a cultigen; it is not known to exist in the wild, and the few patches that are known in the Sierra Mazateca appear to be the result of deliberate planting.
The high, as described by Turner, is another matter, after all, not exactly an LSD high but similar to it, the entire experience lasting around 20 minutes. Results range from alarming intensity to exquisite feelings. Firsthand accounts from the author are bizarre and questionable considering the amount of psychedelic experimentation under his belt. He explains time and again his confusion regarding which high is residual from past LSD use and which is attributable to current Salvia divinorum, and any other psychedelics that may have crossed his path. Every method is described and used, from smoking, snorting, eating and any other way he can think of ingesting the herb. Descriptions are extensive and vivid. CF

Publisher: Panther
Paperback: 57 pages
Illustrated

Written in short story style, as a collection of childhood memories, traumatic episodes and remembrances, these stories illustrate how we forget childhood trauma, and how and why these memories return. They also illustrate exactly what goes wrong with memory and what parts of memory sometimes turn false. (One story is about an entirely false remembrance.) Well documented, each short story is true, taken mostly from personal interviews by the author. A balanced and valuable work useful for judges, court systems, the psychiatric profession, and persons who have experienced lost and found memories themselves. CF

Publisher: Basic
Paperback: 282 pages

The definitive women’s guide to the selection, purchase, use and care of vibrators. Helping women overcome the embarrassment, ways to enjoy (men included), good and bad points of vibrators currently on the market. Includes drawings of different models, and how and where to use them. Features Joani Blank, the founder of Good Vibrations, the only store in the United States specializing in vibrators. CF

Publisher: Blank Tapes
Video

Originally written in 1983, this revised edition of the classic Weinberg-Kamel work has collected recent research and writing on sadomasochism, including material never before published. Topics include gay and lesbian SM; SM and prostitution; women in the SM scene; unusual body modifications, including piercing, branding and burning; sadomasochistic organizations; the role of pain and fantasy in SM; and the increasing integration of SM themes into areas of popular culture such as the arts, literature, mass media and fashion. Eighteen articles explaining the weirdness of human nature and sexuality.
Discusses the urge for non-mainstream body modification as a rite of passage, ceremonial symbolism and affiliation. The ritual symbolism is to make visible and tangible beliefs, ideas, values, sentiments and psychological dispositions that cannot directly be perceived. For the purpose of affiliation with a desired social order, people surrender what is dearest to them: the body itself. Through adornment, the naked skin moves one from the biological world to the cultural world. CF

Publisher: Prometheus
Paperback: 312 pages

Written from experience and personal use, a guide to herbs and potions to enhance sexual prowess and pleasure, where to obtain them (mail-order suppliers included). Includes herbal blends, Chinese herbs, etc., and results from said experiments. A cult classic now revised and updated, once again available.
Originally published by High Times/Level Press, it is meant to be a guide to the wonderful world of altered states. There seems to be a large amount of information on the start-up, care and maintenance of an erection. Includes legal, i.e., amyl nitrate, basil, DMSO, garlic, ginseng, nutmeg and more, plus illegal, i.e., cannabis, cocaine, methaqualone and opium, and the down-right obscure, i.e., absinthe, dangerous, datura, hormones, iboga and others, listed in alphabetical order. The first sentence of each entry briefly defines the substance, what it is and where it comes from. Information on the history or scientific data is included. It is meant to derail the overpriced mail-order aphrodisiac market with accurate information along with appropriate warnings about misuse. CF

Publisher: Ronin
Paperback: 89 pages