Amok Press
| Status | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City |
Amok Press was an American book publishing company founded by Adam Parfrey and Ken Swezey in 1986, based in New York City. They were known for their controversial books. Their first publications were an English translation of Michael, a novel by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and Apocalypse Culture, an anthology of the controversial and transgressive, which became a cult classic.
Amok Press stemmed from the similar and often confused, but separate, mail order catalogue and bookstore Amok Books. It was one of many independent publishers that arose in the 1980s, though was one of the more right-leaning. Despite the success of its initial books, Amok Press was short lived, and published only eight books before shuttering. After it closed, it was succeeded by the publishers Blast Books, founded by Swezey, and Feral House, founded by Parfrey.
Background
[edit]In what writer Spencer Sunshine described as an "extremely confusing situation", Amok Press was distinct yet related to the Los Angeles-based Amok (also called the Amok Store, the Amok Bookstore, or Amok Books), a mail order catalogue, bookstore, and later itself a book publisher, which was run by Ken Swezey's brother Stuart Swezey and Brian King.[1][2][3] They were assisted by Mariska Leyssius.[4] King was also affiliated with Ken Swezey and Adam Parfrey.[2] The catalog was established in 1985, and it began to be sent out in March 1986, entitled Amok: Third Dispatch, and focused on the strange and deviant.[1][5] Their slogan was "the extremes of information in print".[1][6] They established the bookstore in 1987.[1]
Alternatively, Amok as a group has been seen as an entity leading both enterprises.[1][7] They were, to some extent, interrelated; Lisa Rosset writing for The Boston Phoenix described both Amok Books and Amok Press as "a mail order catalogue and book store on the West Coast and a separate publishing company on the East Coast", but both based on "a group of entrepreneurs [...] calling their enterprise Amok", both "masterminding this new affront to conventional sensibilities".[1] Some sources completely conflate them, or say one was the enterprise of the other,[5][8][9] but they were independent.[10][11] Amok the catalogue and book store continued to exist after Amok Press closed,[3][12] and afterwards Amok launched a different, separate book publisher as Amok Books.[12]
History
[edit]Founding
[edit]Amok Press was founded in mid-1986 by friends Adam Parfrey and Ken Swezey,[13][14] based in New York City. They operated out of Swezey's apartment in the East Village of New York City.[1][15] Swezey was then the operator of a small printing business, and said her intended to use it to "take risks on books dealing with taboos and heresy". Parfrey was, at the time, a used book wholesaler,[1] and had co-created the Exit magazine.[16] Parfrey was affiliated with, but did not have control over, the Amok catalog,[17] and Ken Swezey helped the operators of Amok Books.[1] According to Parfrey, he convinced Swezey, then working for Amok Books, to start their own publishing business covering similar materials to the catalog.[18] The name Amok Press comes from the term amok, "in a frenzied, murderous manner".[11]
Book publishing
[edit]Editing, typesetting, design and publicity were initially done in-house by Parfrey and Swezey.[1] Writer Charles Schneider assisted both Amok Press and Amok Books.[19] It functioned as an underground press.[2] It was one of several independent publishers that sprung up in the 1980s. Other independent publishers that emerged at about the same time included Autonomedia, RE/Search Publications, and Loompanics. Compared to those, Amok Press was more right-leaning in the books it published.[20] Parfrey was its co-editor.[21] They declared their aims to be promoting resistance to good taste and the existing consensus.[6] The Daily Telegraph described it as "wild and anti-authoritarian".[22] Parfrey said in an interview that "Most people in our culture are like zombies from a George Romero movie. Our books offer strong medicine for a shallow world."[1]
The first books published by Amok appeared the year after its founding, in 1987, which had them publish two books.[4][23] Its first book, published that year, was an English translation of Michael by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, with the translation by Joachim Neugroschel.[13][23] Almost immediately, it was a success, their first book being reviewed in The New York Times, a surprise for the first book for a new publisher.[13][16] Despite this success, many reviews were critical, with a reviewer from The New Republic accusing Parfrey of attempting to start a "neo-Nazi revival".[24][16] This made Parfrey take a step back from his plans to publish a book by the neo-Nazi James Mason, about George Lincoln Rockwell.[25]
Amok Press also published Apocalypse Culture that year. "Apocalypse Culture" is also the name of the milieu around Amok Press. Content was controversial and ranged from conspiracy theories to the occult to neo-Nazism.[6][14][26] The book was very successful and became a cult hit; by mid-1988 it was on its third printing.[27] In 1988, Amok Press published The Manson File, an anthology of writings on Charles Manson that declares him "one of the last true heretics of our time".[28] This book was a success and underground hit for Parfrey.[29] Other titles, like Boxcar Bertha, saw less success.[1] After initial successes, its later publications were commercial failures.[30]
Dissolution
[edit]The publisher fell apart in late 1988.[31] The parting of Swezey and Parfrey into their respective publishing houses was said to be amicable,[18][30] but Parfrey later said in an interview that the break happened when he moved to Portland; he said it "could've worked out, but there was some issues, too, going on with Ken and his brother with the Amok Catalog and then it was like, there's this in-fighting going on", so they decided to split.[18] On March 30, 1989, Stuart Swezey and Brian King of Amok Books wrote a letter to LA Weekly saying that Amok Press was defunct.[10] In response to Stuart Swezey and King, Parfrey and Ken Swezey penned a letter to the LA Weekly that denied they were defunct, and said that Feral House and Blast Books would be imprints of Amok Press.[32] This was not the case and both publishers succeeded Amok Press.[3] Parfrey said that "it made sense to go our own routes at that time and that's what happened".[18]
The final Amok Press book was 1989's Rants and Incendiary Tracts, edited by Parfrey and the anarchist Bob Black, co-published with Loompanics Unlimited.[33] The book had a mix of leftist thinkers and far-righters; its original co-editor was Hakim Bey, who left the project and denounced Parfrey due to what he called Parfrey's "strangely reactionary mind-set". The denunciation itself appeared in the book.[34] Black later denounced Parfrey.[35] Amok Press published eight books in total before closing.[9]
Influence and legacy
[edit]After leaving Amok Press, Parfrey moved to Los Angeles and founded the independent publisher Feral House in 1989.[14][36][37] Feral House succeeded Amok Press and published similar materials;[3][38] Parfrey used a $5,000 profit from Amok Press to found Feral House.[39] Feral House also reissued Apocalypse Culture.[26] Amok Press was also succeeded by the publisher Blast Books, which was established by Swezey. Swezey described Blast Books as a more "grown-up" version of Amok Press.[30][32][3] Amok Press published several titles that were well received, especially Apocalypse Culture, which became an underground hit and cult classic.[9][21]
List of books published
[edit]- Michael (1987) by Joseph Goebbels, translation by Joachim Neugroschel[40]
- Apocalypse Culture (1987) edited by Adam Parfrey[1]
- The Manson File (1988) edited by Nikolas Schreck[41]
- You Can't Win: The Autobiography of Jack Black (1988) by Jack Black, foreword by William S. Burroughs[1][42]
- Boxcar Bertha: An Autobiography (1988) by Ben Reitman, introduction by Kathy Acker, afterword by Roger A. Bruns[1][30]
- Disneyland of the Gods (1988) by John Keel[1]
- The Grand Guignol: Theater of Fear and Terror (1988) by Mel Gordon
- Rants and Incendiary Tracts (1989) edited by Bob Black and Adam Parfrey[1][30]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rosset, Lisa (September 1, 1988). "Running Amok on publisher's row". The Boston Phoenix. Vol. 17, no. 35. pp. 7, 10. ISSN 0163-3015.
- ^ a b c Sunshine 2024, p. 210.
- ^ a b c d e Black 1994, p. 24.
- ^ a b Tottenham, John (December 10, 1987). "Running Amok". LA Weekly. Vol. 10, no. 2. p. G21. ISSN 0192-1940. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b McKenna, Kristine (August 7, 1987). "Running Amok in a world of literary curiosities". Los Angeles Times. p. 2. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Reynolds & Press 1995, p. 151.
- ^ "Publishers cater to non-conformists". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Gannett News Service. October 4, 1987. p. Scene-6. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Dery, Mark (March 23, 1989). "The Fringe connection: Mail-order Apocalypse Now". LA Weekly. Vol. 11, no. 15. p. 43–44. ISSN 0192-1940. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Heller, Steven (October 1, 2010). "Adam Parfrey: Writer, Editor, Publisher". Print. Vol. 64, no. 5. pp. 20–22. ISSN 0032-8510.
- ^ a b Swezey, Stuart; King, Brian (March 30, 1989). "Apocalypse". LA Weekly. Vol. 11, no. 16. p. 6. ISSN 0192-1940. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b See, Lisa (September 25, 1987). "Amok: Books on the dark side, for a 'dark time'". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 232, no. 13. New York City. p. 84. ISSN 0000-0019.
- ^ a b Chute, David (July 21, 1991). "Running Amok". Los Angeles Times. p. 3, 7. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Sunshine 2024, pp. 208, 210.
- ^ a b c Roberts, Sam (May 14, 2018). "Adam Parfrey, publisher of the provocative, dies at 61". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 139.
- ^ a b c Sunshine 2024, p. 212.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 225.
- ^ a b c d Nirenberg, Michael Lee (October 13, 2015). "Conversation With Adam Parfrey (Part One)". HuffPost. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
- ^ Loynd, Ray (September 12, 1987). "The horror of one man's ways". Los Angeles Times. p. 2. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 157.
- ^ a b Sunshine 2024, p. 205.
- ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (September 7, 2002). "White faces, black eyeliner". The Daily Telegraph. No. 45, 796. London. p. A4. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Sunshine 2024, p. 208.
- ^ Joll, James (October 19, 1987). "The Nazi in the rye". The New Republic. Vol. 197, no. 16. Washington, D.C. p. 43. ISSN 0028-6583.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 214.
- ^ a b Sunshine 2024, p. 213.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, pp. 205, 213.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, pp. 208, 210, 277.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, pp. 214, 278.
- ^ a b c d e Bolles, Don (March 21, 1991). "Local Heroes: Read 'em and weep". LA Weekly. Vol. 13, no. 15. p. 27. ISSN 0192-1940. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 215.
- ^ a b Parfrey, Adam; Swezey, Ken (April 20, 1989). "Running Amok again". LA Weekly. Vol. 11, no. 19. p. 6. ISSN 0192-1940. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, pp. 214, 226.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 226–227.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 226.
- ^ Bregman, Adam (August 13, 2002). "Turning taboo into titles". Los Angeles Times. p. E1, E4. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Major, Jesse (May 14, 2018). "Port Townsend publisher Adam Parfrey dies following a stroke". Peninsula Daily News. Port Angeles. p. A5. ISSN 1050-7000. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, pp. 205, 215.
- ^ Conklin, Ellis E. (November 23, 2010). "For Adam Parfrey, publishing the Unabomber's book is all in a day's work". Seattle Weekly. ISSN 0898-0845. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
- ^ Joll, James (October 19, 1987). "The Nazi in the rye". The New Republic. Vol. 197, no. 16. Washington, D.C. p. 43. ISSN 0028-6583.
- ^ Sunshine 2024, p. 178.
- ^ Casey, Dan (December 1, 2022). "Plans for Dano prize go up in smoke". The Roanoke Times. p. A2. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
Works cited
[edit]- Black, Bob (1994). Beneath the Underground. Portland: Feral House. ISBN 978-0-922915-21-7.
- Reynolds, Simon; Press, Joy (1995). The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n Roll. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-80272-8.
- Sunshine, Spencer (2024). Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason's Siege. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-57601-0.