Rants and Incendiary Tracts: Voices of Desperate Illumination 1558–Present is an anthology book of rants edited by Bob Black and Adam Parfrey. The book does not attempt to define what a rant is. Black was an anarchist, the author of The Abolition of Work, while Parfrey was a publisher. It was co-published by Parfrey's Amok Press and Loompanics Unlimited in 1989. The original co-editor was Hakim Bey, another anarchist, who left the project.
Following a prelude and a foreword from Parfrey and Black, respectively, the book is a collection of 56 rants from a variety of sources, arranged in chronological order from 1558 to 1988. The rants are either full texts or excerpts. Writers of the rants range from left-wing and anarchist activists to far-right writers, dictators, attempted murderers and murderers. The book received praise from reviewers, particularly for the perceived entertainment value and the diversity of ideologies. Several noted some content as offensive or immoral.
Background and publication history The book was edited by the anarchist Bob Black and the counterculture publisher Adam Parfrey. Parfrey was then the co-founder of Amok Press, a publisher known for its publication of strange and taboo books. Parfrey was the editor of a similar volume, Apocalypse Culture, published by Amok in 1987, while Black had previously authored the 1985 book The Abolition of Work.
In compiling the book Parfrey asked for quotes from the neo-Nazis Joseph Tommasi and George Lincoln Rockwell from James Mason for their inclusion in the book. For unclear reasons these quotes were ultimately not included. The original co-editor was Hakim Bey, another anarchist. He quit the project, disliking what he called Parfrey's "strangely reactionary mind-set" and accusing Parfrey's circle of a cultic interest in Charles Manson, murder, and Nazism. His denunciation is included as a rant in the book.
Prior to its publication, Amok Press as a publisher was having troubles, with an uncertain future. Rants and Incendiary Tracts was co-published by Amok Press and Loompanics Unlimited in 1989, in New York. Its first edition was 219 pages long; the cover features an unidentified man screaming. It was the final Amok Press book before the publisher split. By 1994, Black had denounced his co-editor Parfrey as "a pissant hustler, a liar, and a thief".
Contents Rants is an anthology book of "rants", with chapters sourced from numerous sources by different authors. At no point does the book attempt to explain what a rant is. Parfrey gives a prelude on the importance of rants, arguing that "to hold an opinion and dare to express it is the final prerogative of the free man", and that in contemporary times no one spoke their mind. Following this is a foreword from Black that expands on the meaning and consequences of these "rants"; Black defines ranters as those who "care so much that they don't care if nobody else cares".
The book includes 56 rants in total; the rants included in the book are either full texts or excerpts of longer texts. The rants are arranged in chronological order. The first entry is an excerpt from The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women by John Knox from 1558. The final rant is Hakim Bey's rant against the book itself as "Intellectual S & M Is the Fascism of the 80s" in 1988. Each entry has an explanation giving it context.
Inclusions range from the well-known to the obscure. Most of the inclusions are men, with only three women writers; it also largely focused on the United States. The book includes writers of a variety of ideologies; rants from many left-wing and anarchist writers like Bey, Wilhelm Reich, Louis Lingg, and Emmett Grogan. It also includes the works of a few far-right writers like Kurt Saxon, Ezra Pound, and Ragnar Redbeard. Other writings and authors included are SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas (who attempted to assassinate Andy Warhol), Iranian dictator Ruhollah Khomeini, the Marquis de Sade, and the murderer Carl Panzram.