Constructing an accurate account of American history and of the current political situation is akin to putting together a puzzle in which many of the most important pieces are kept hidden. The books listed here will provide various pieces of the puzzle that are left out of most history and political science texts, although many of these works contain varying levels of disinformation and/or misinformation as well. Many of these books are no longer in print, and some are exceedingly difficult to find. Click here for assistance in locating out-of-print titles.
U.S. History: The Essential Trilogy
David E. Stannard, American Holocaust, Oxford University Press, 1992
Far and away the best pre-Colombian history of the Americas, documenting the almost incomprehensible level of genocide perpetrated on these shores over the last five hundred years, and continuing to this day.
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, Harper and Row, 1995
The definitive populist history of the United States by America’s premier alternative historian.
William Blum, Killing Hope, Common Courage Press, 1995
U.S. foreign policy is laid bare in this exhaustively researched and documented accounting of nearly sixty years of U.S. covert and overt military interventions around the world.
U.S. Ties to Nazi Germany
George Seldes, Facts and Fascism, In Fact, Inc., 1943
They just don’t write them like this anymore. This vitally important work is essential for understanding exactly what fascism is, and what it isn’t (all other titles by Seldes are strongly recommended as well).
Ladislas Farago, Aftermath, Simon & Schuster, 1974
Notable for being the first book to document the role played by the Pope, the Vatican and various other elements of the Catholic Church in collaborating with Western intelligence services to help Nazi war criminals escape justice.
James and Suzanne Pool, Who Financed Hitler, Dial Press, 1978
This book provides at least some of the answers to the question posed by the title, covering the rise of the Nazi party from 1919-1933 and the political machinations and the funding that brought it to power.
Charles Higham, Trading With the Enemy, Delacorte Press, 1983
Documents the complicity of numerous U.S. corporations in trading with and arming Nazi Germany both before and during World War II. [click here to read an article from The Nation on this subject]
Charles Higham, American Swastika, Doubleday, 1985
Traces the Nazi connections and funding of numerous American pro-fascist and anti-war activists during WWII, including Charles Lindbergh, Father Coughlin, Errol Flynn, and numerous others.
Lenny Lapon, Mass Murderers in White Coats, Psychiatric Genocide Research Institute, 1986
Traces the parallels between the psychiatric and eugenics movements in Nazi Germany and the United States from early in the twentieth century through the present day.
Tom Bower, The Paperclip Conspiracy, Little, Brown, 1987
One of the essential books on Project Paperclip, the CIA program (actually several parallel programs) that actively recruited Nazi scientists, academics, military and intelligence personnel, and chemical and biological warfare specialists for use as intelligence assets in the U.S. and around the world.
Christopher Simpson, Blowback, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1988
Another essential book on the Paperclip project, focusing primarily on the recruitment of fascist émigré groups for use as stay-behind ‘anti-communist’ guerrilla armies, disseminators of pro-Western propaganda, etc.
Linda Hunt, Secret Agenda, St. Martins Press, 1991
Yet another essential book on Project Paperclip – and one that is particularly difficult to find. Hunt reveals that countless Nazis were brought to the U.S. and strategically placed in military installations, universities and private corporations, regardless of their wartime records.
Burton Hersch, The Old Boys, Charles Scribner’s Son’s, 1992
With heavy doses of disinformation, this book traces the origins of the OSS and the Central Intelligence Agency, providing details about the Dulles brothers, Richard Helms, William Donovan, William Bullit, Frank Wisner, William Casey, William Colby, and the rest of the old boy network.
Christopher Simpson, The Splendid Blond Beast, Grove Press, 1993
Relates how international law and international finance, which Allen and John Foster Dulles played key roles in crafting, have thwarted efforts to prevent acts of genocide and prosecute war criminals from WWI through the present day.
Martin Lee, The Beast Reawakens, Routledge, 2000
Though perhaps inaccurately titled (the beast never actually went to sleep, it just went into hiding), this book provides a wealth of information on the post-war international fascist infrastructure and its connections to Western intelligence services.
‘Conspiracy’ Anthologies
The National Insecurity Council, It’s A Conspiracy!, EarthWorks Press, 1992
Along with The CIA’s Greatest Hits, this is one of the best ‘bathroom readers’ ever written, with an abundance of information packaged in an easily digestible, user-friendly format.
Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’s Greatest Hits, Odonian Press, 1994
Clever, concise summaries of some of the CIA’s more dubious accomplishments of the last fifty years. [click here to read chapter 1, “The Gehlen Org,” which covers some of the U.S. intelligence community’s ties to Nazi Germany]
Doug Moench, The Big Book of Conspiracies, Paradox Press, 1995
Don’t be fooled by the comic book format! This book contains a considerable amount of information on various assassination plots, U.S./Nazi ties and, regrettably, the seemingly obligatory UFO/alien nonsense.
Jonathan Vankin, Conspiracies, Cover-Ups and Crimes, Illuminet Press, 1996
A comprehensive overview of a wide range of conspiracy theories, scandals and cover-ups. A mixture, like many of the titles on this list, of good information and disinformation.
Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, The 70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time, Citadel Press, 1998
An encyclopedia of conspiracy theories, many with an impressive amount of documentation. Like Vankin’s other book, a mixed bag of legitimate research and red herrings.
The MK-ULTRA Project
[click here for a crash course]
George H. Estabrooks, Hypnotism, Dutton, 1943
Long before the MK-ULTRA project officially existed, and before the CIA itself even existed, Estabrooks (one of the agency’s pioneer ‘spychiatrists’) spilled the beans on the intelligence community’s experiments with, and successes with, the creation of hypnotically controlled agents. [click here to read an excerpt of a Science Digest article penned by Estabrooks in 1971]
Jose M. R. Delgado, Physical Control of the Mind, Harper and Row, 1969
Another agency ‘spychiatrist,’ recruited from fascist Spain, reveals here how his experiments with electromagnetic control of the mind met with resounding success. Delgado receives bonus points for ending the book with a chapter entitled “Toward a Psychocivilized Society.” [click here to read a 1965 article on Delgado]
Donald Bain, The CIA’s Control of Candy Jones, Playboy Press, 1976
The story of Candy Jones, one of America’s favorite pin-up girls, who discovered that she had been programmed as a CIA courier and possible assassin. [click here to read a 1997 article concerning women telling similar stories]
Paul A. Verdier, Brainwashing and the Cults, Wilshire Book Company, 1977
A classic in agency disinformation, Verdier’s book acknowledges that hypnotic mind control is a real phenomenon, but attributes its use only to ‘Communists’ and cult-like groups. Verdier scores bonus points for ending his book with a chapter entitled “Benevolent Brainwashing in the Future.”
Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, Dell Publishing, 1978
One of the most difficult to locate books on the MK-ULTRA program. Bowart’s exposé is worth searching for, but expect to pay a premium price for any copy you can locate.
Peter Watson, War on the Mind, Hutchinson, 1978
Written by a British journalist and published in the UK, Watson’s book only indirectly addresses the MK-ULTRA program, but it nonetheless contains a good deal of valuable information.
Peter Schrag, Mind Control, Pantheon, 1978
Schrag’s book does not focus specifically on MK-ULTRA research, but rather looks at how the entire field of psychology/psychiatry was developed and is used as an agent of control and repression, particularly through the use of behavior control drugs.
John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979
This book is readily available and is a good place to start for anyone unfamiliar with the CIA’s MK-ULTRA program, but do not make the mistake of assuming that the story told here is anywhere near complete.
Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985
Also readily available, this book provides further details on the CIA’s MK-ULTRA projects as well as a look at how the 1960’s counterculture was co-opted from early on by CIA-connected acid gurus.
Gordon Thomas, Journey Into Madness, Bantam, 1989
Yet another hard-to-find book that is essential reading both for information on MK-ULTRA as well as for background information on Dulles, Helms, Colby, Casey, Gottlieb, Buckley, and various other key players in the CIA.
David Black, Acid: The Secret History of LSD, Vision Paperbacks, 1998
Not particularly well written and with poor production values, this book nevertheless makes a nice supplement to Acid Dreams, filling in some more of the details on the shadowy Ron Stark.
Satanism, Satanic Crime and Fascism
Yes, Virginia, there are Satanic cults in modern-day America, committing the most heinous of crimes. And no, this is not a fundamentalist Christian website. The books listed here primarily approach the issue from a secular viewpoint. In the words of Carl Rashke, Satanism should be seen not as a religion, but as a “sophisticated and highly effective motivational system for the spread of violence and cultural terrorism.”
Ed Sanders, The Family, Dutton, 1971
A much different take on the Manson Family than was presented by hack prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in Helter Skelter. The UK edition is much better than the heavily censored U.S. edition.
Dusty Sklar, Gods and Beasts: The Nazis and the Occult, Crowell, 1977
Sklar traces the occult roots of the Third Reich in a book that is out-of-print and very difficult to find, but worth searching for; expect to pay a premium price for any copy you can locate.
Jan Hollingsworth, Unspeakable Acts, Congden and Weed, 1986
Hollingsworth provides a lengthy and very well documented look at a multiple perpetrator/multiple victim childcare ritual abuse case in Florida that was successfully prosecuted.
Maury Terry, The Ultimate Evil, Dolphin Doubleday, 1987
A compelling account of the Son of Sam and Manson murders, and why they weren’t what they appeared to be. Read this in conjunction with Acid Dreams and The Family and then play ‘connect the dots.’
Larry Kahaner, Cults That Kill, Warner Books, 1988
Investigative reporter Kahaner talked to law enforcement personnel across the country about their experiences investigating occult crime; many of them had stories to tell.
Kevin Marron, Ritual Abuse, Seal Books, 1988
Journalist Marron closely followed the ‘Canadian McMartin’ case for eighteen months before writing this exposé of a ritual abuse case that ended in convictions.
Carl A. Raschke, Ph.D., Painted Black, Harper & Row, 1990
The director of the Institute for Humanities at the University of Denver looks at occult crime and traces the intricate connections among Satanist, Skinhead, White Supremacist, and neo-Nazi groups.
Gordon Thomas, Enslaved, Pharos Books, 1991
Thomas’ book tells “The chilling modern-day story of abduction and abuse in the global trafficking of men, women and children.” It is indeed a chilling collection of tales.
Henry Scammell, Mortal Remains, Harper Collins, 1991
A well-documented case of ritual crime perpetrated by a Satanic cult in a small, picture-perfect Massachusetts town — which just happens to be the former home of Lizzie Borden.
John Decamp, The Franklin Cover-Up, AWT, 1992
Former Nebraska State Senator DeCamp chronicles the crimes of a pedophilic cult composed of Omaha’s political and business elite, and the cover-up that left a trail of dead witnesses.
Michael Newton, Raising Hell, Avon, 1993
Newton has structured his book as an encyclopedia of Satanic crime, providing a valuable reference book for any serious student of the occult underground and its fascist connections.
Linda Blood, The New Satanists, Warner Books, 1994
A former mistress of Col. Michael Aquino (founder of the Temple of Set and a ‘former’ U.S. intelligence asset) details the Nazi connections and ideological basis of Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan and its various offshoots.
Peter Levenda, Unholy Alliance, Avon, 1995
An invaluable book that details the occult underpinnings of the Third Reich, and the connections to American and British occult groups and to modern-day neo-Nazi, Skinhead, and Satanist groups.
Daniel Ryder, Cover-Up of the Century, Ryder Publishing, 1996
Ryder provides an overview of a variety of documented cases of Satanic cult crime, and the massive cover-ups that have kept these stories under wraps.
Tim Tate, Children for the Devil: Ritual Abuse and Satanic Crime, Methuen London, 1991*
Details a historical overview of paganism and Satanic worship from ancient Egypt through modern times inclusive of the revelations made by its victims. Publication was halted due to a lawsuit and few copies remain in circulation. No current copies are known to be available on the secondary market, although six copies are allegedly available in university libraries.
R. Roy Blake, Objective Evil: Satanic Cults in US Intelligence, Laramie Productions, 1995*
No known copies available worldwide, the last print copy having disappeared from a university law library after an interlibrary loan request in November 2016.
Other Noteworthy Titles
Herman Morris & Harry Henderson, World War II in Pictures, Doubleday, 1942/Greystone, 1946
A Time/Life-style, three-volume series that was written and published as events unfolded (i.e. without Cold War revisionism) and therefore presents a decidedly different version of the war than what now passes for history.
Alfred W. McCoy, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, Harper and Row, 1972
The definitive work on the global drug trade and the key role played by the Central Intelligence Agency (A newer, updated version is currently in print under a slightly different title).
Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman, A Higher Form of Killing, Hill and Wang, 1982
The most accurate history available of chemical and biological warfare from World War I through 1981, including decades-old efforts to develop ethnically specific biowarfare agents.
Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix Program, William Morrow, 1990
An in-depth look at the CIA’s notorious torture and assassination program that claimed tens of thousands of civilian victims during the Vietnam war, and the connections to other death squads both before and after.
Leonard Mosley Dulles, The Dial Press, 1978
Ridiculously disinformational in its analysis and tortured rationalizations of the actions of various members of the Dulles clan, but a valuable work nonetheless for anyone with the ability to read between the lines.
Burton Hersch, The Mellon Family, William Morrow, 1978
Ridiculously disinformational in its analysis and tortured rationalizations of the actions of various members of the Mellon clan, but a valuable work nonetheless for anyone with the ability to read between the lines.
Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Nation Books, 2007*
Details the privatization of armies at home and abroad and the history of Blackwater from it’s founder Erik Prince, brother to Betsy Devos, current Secretary of Education in the Trump administration. Prince not only holds Trump’s attention but has also addressed top strategists at the Pentagon regarding the deployment of private contractors at home and abroad.
*These titles were added to the list in May 2020 by David’s daughter Alissa at the request of his brother Craig.