Henry M. Tichenor was a writer and magazine editor prominent in the socialist and freethinking movements during the Progressive Era of American history. His writings frequently condemned organized religion, Christianity in particular, as a tool used by the upper classes to maintain control over the working class. In the realm of opposition to religion, he has been ranked beside Clarence Darrow and Madalyn Murray O’Hair as a leading American freethinker of the twentieth century. In “The Sorceries and Scandals of Satan”, Tichenor employs the figure of Satan as a literary symbolic character to represent rebellion against tyranny — a symbolism with a robust tradition in literature and political works. In his book, the character symbol of Satan is employed as a foil against which to compare the horrors of organized religion, especially Christianity More importantly, however, Tichenor reminds us all that there was a time in American history that open skepticism and opposition to religion was a major facet of social political discourse so Americans certainly should not shy away from it today. Vocal opposition to religion is not novel or new.  What is new is the Underworld Amusements republication of this important work. This edition uniquely includes a valuable and critically acclaimed foreword by Robert Merciless which details Tichenor’s biography as well as the times and trends which shaped his penetrating writing.  “Some “Debsians” who think of Eugene Debs only as a pioneer labor and Socialist Party leader may not be aware of some of his more radical associates. Marx expressed the role of religion in justifying structured inequality by referring to it as the “opiate of the masses”. Tichenor chooses, in the “Sorceries and Scandals of Satan”, to develop the fictional struggle of “good” and “evil” from the vantage point of a “Good-seeking” personna called Satan.The books by Tichenor are a challenge worth undertaking, and we are fortunate to have this lesser known of his books re-released. It is fortunate also to have included the highly informative 21 page Foreword by Robert Merciless. Don’t dig into the text without first reading the Merciless essay which locates Tichenor’s work in the late 19th and early 20th century progressive movement.” -Charles King Secretary, Eugene V. Debs Foundation and Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Indiana State University “Tichenor’s “The Sorceries and Scandals of Satan” is a withering and ironic indictment of Christianity wrought with passion and wry humor. Slaughter’s handsome re-publication resurrects an almost forgotten monument of diabolical rhetoric. Exposing the lunacy inherent in twisted tales of Christian saints and surreal biblical fables, Tichenor climaxes the book by detailing the horrors of European persecution of heretics and the murderous madness of the New England witch trials. He extols anti-Christian writing from Milton to Ingersoll with deft quotations, and even champions the pagan Greek deities over the foul phantasms enshrined by Christ-lovers. The informative foreword by R. Merciless places this classic of free-thought in a historical context, listing predecessors and descendants, offering a pithy guide to literate thinkers who have embraced Satan as an image inspiring joy in life and liberty of mind.” -Peter H. Gilmore High Priest, Church of Satan Author of The Satanic Scriptures “Meticulous research into Tichenor’s life and works is presented in the foreword of this “lost” work, and Merciless puts the book into the context of Tichenor’s lifetime, and into today. Those who research the areas of freethought, atheism, non-theism and works controversial to organized religion should read this work.” -Timothy Binga Freethought Historian Contributor, New Encyclopedia of Unbelief Director of the Center for Inquiry

The Sorceries and Scandals of Satan

Politics & Social Sciences

Tichenor, Henry M.

Politics & Government

Underworld Amusements

There is no irony in the fact that H.L. Mencken is a tall figure in the history of letters, and Robert Rives La Monte is wholly forgotten. La Monte, who worked at the Baltimore News as well as being an editor for the International Socialist Review, was a true believer in the promise of Socialism. Here he writes six letters trying to convince H.L. Mencken to reject his selfish ways and become a comrade in the revolution, to usher in a perfect world of total equality and universal brotherhood. 
Mencken, long time writer for the Baltimore Sun, editor of The American Mercury, and prolific author and essayist, was the absolute worst choice of target for an evangelist of the common man. There have been few who were as openly resolved to a robust Nietzschean individualism. And so, in one of the turn of the last centuries greatest “flame wars,” we have the Bard of Baltimore’s six responses to those appeals. 
The battle of the “collective good” versus “individual liberty” still rages in pitched battles. La Monte’s voice is rightfully now just one of many faceless advocates of class-warfare, and Mencken’s personality survives as the greatest advocate of social Darwinism and thus ultimately Mencken’s own views. 
 “(It) shows how (Mencken’s) political thinking had solidified—hardened, really. The law of the survival of the fittest, he declares, is “immutable,” thus making socialism an absurdity; human progress is the product of the will to power, and all social arrangements failing to take this fact into account are doomed to failure; inequality is natural, even desirable, both in and of itself and as an alternative to mob rule; the world exists to be run by “the first-caste man.” -Terry Teachout, The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken 
 “The argument of Men versus the Man is one we are still having today. The content of the argument is the relative desirability of two approaches to our social life. On the one hand is proposed a society of men: a society in which none is allowed to rise too high above another, a society that subtracts great resources from the more able in an effort to raise up the less able. On the other hand is a society of the man: a society in which individuals are left to do what they can with their inherited capabilities, in conditions of maximum personal freedom and minimal state control.” -John Derbyshire, from the preface

Men Versus the Man: A Correspondence Between Robert Rives La Monte, Socialist, and H. L. Mencken, Individualist

MENCKEN, H.L.

La Monte, Robert Rives

This is the saga of Madame Rosenbloom's fashionable establishment in Chicago and of the ladies in her domain. And here is the Jim Tully of "Circus Parade", the forthright Tully whose language is as frank as life itself. Tully does not pull his punches. The big men and the little ladies for whom Madame Rosenbloom's house is a social center are portrayed with vigor and honesty. The novel is crammed with incident and penetrating word pictures. It is not a story for the squeamish. But if life itself, that robust, lusty segment of life that is here so honestly and brilliantly depicted, does not frighten or shock you, this novel will hold your deepest interest. Upon initial printing of this book in 1935, copies were seized from the publisher and destroyd by police based on allegations that the material was obscene and blasphemous. It is unknown how many copies survived. This is the first printing since that time.

Ladies In The Parlor

Tully, Jim

Ironist, Critic, Poet, Nietzschean, Anarch. Friend of H.L. Mencken, Charles Fort, Jack London and relative of Baruch Spinoza. Published in periodicals ranging from the radical anarchist Liberty, to the mainstream Life, his work is now mostly lost and forgotten save a mention every decade or so by scholars or writers who have stumbled across him. This volume contains the known poetry of Benjamin DeCasseres (1873-1945) outside of his ANATHEMA! Litanies of Negation and the few poems written in tribute to his brother Walter, contained in The Sublime Boy. 129 poems in verse and prose, collected from two published volumes (The Shadow-Eater and Black Suns) and culled from dozens of periodicals over the first half of the 20th century.

Imp: The Poetry of Benjamin DeCasseres

Literature & Fiction

DeCasseres, Benjamin

Poetry

This book contains facsimile reprints of the rare booklets "Sketches of Naughty Ladies", "Confessions of a Taxi Dancer" and "Chorus Queens, or, The Private Lives of the Hotcha Chorus Girls". Enter the world of Johnson Smith &amp; Company, or at least some of the more risque parts of it. In the beginning of the 20th century a family could have two catalogs to survive. One was the Sears-Roebucks catalog, and from it you could buy everything from horse bridles to clothing and kitchen utensils. In fact, just about everything you absolutely needed to live you could buy right from the pages. And then there was everything you didn’t need, but really wanted-and that’s where Johnson Smith &amp; Co. came in. From whoopie cushions to pistols, this thick catalog was truly the "Necronomicon" to Sear’s "Holy Bible". Established in 1914, they produced all sorts of novelties, many of them quite cruel. If it didn’t cause physical harm, it would send you home shamed. When WWII broke out, they quickly cranked out 1.5" novelty buttons that said "To Hell with Japan", "To Hell With Hitler", and even the phonetic "Moider Dem Japs". Johnson Smith was for the people. A wave of conservatism washed over the country, reacting to those care-free previous decades. Gritty pulp novels and Tijuana Bibles fed the street level need for sex and violence, but it wouldn’t be another decade before the word “pinup” was coined. In the JS &amp; Co. product lines they had a number of publications of varying interests and quality. Offering full books to nickel or ten-cent booklets. From money making idea guides to Minstrel Show routines, exposés of the Masons and the Klan, Black Magic and dreaded White Slavery. Because JS &amp; Co. was aiming for the mass audience, they knew what most people LOVED: the lowest common denominator. That meant skirting as close to the issue of sex as possible in the open market.

Hotcha!: Three Vintage Booklets about Scandalous Broads and Sinful Sweethearts

Slaughter, Kevin I.

Las Escrituras Satánicas transmite el ingenio, sabiduría y perspectiva diabólica del Sumo Sacerdote de la Iglesia de Satán, el Mago Peter H. Gilmore. Estos ensayos, artículos y diatribas, se han recopilado entre los escritos que por más de veinte años ha hecho el Sumo Sacerdote para su conciliábulo infernal, algunos de ellos editados originalmente en las páginas de publicaciones disponibles sólo para miembros. Desde la magia de los juguetes hasta las técnicas para viajar en el tiempo, el Mago Gilmore conduce al lector por el Sendero Siniestro, en donde unos pocos encontrarán lo que esperan. El Diablo siempre tiene las mejores melodías y ahora escucharás, de un Maestro satánico, cómo el Señor Oscuro ha influenciado compositores y músicos mucho antes del advenimiento de las guitarras eléctricas y los conciertos en estadios. El Mago Gilmore revela principios del ritual satánico, en una discusión franca en torno a ritos prohibidos. ¿Qué es un funeral satánico? ¿Cómo se casan los satanistas? Descúbrelo ahora, ya que estas ceremonias profanas nunca antes se habían divulgado por fuera de la jerarquía infernal de la Iglesia de Satán. He aquí la filosofía para aquellos lo bastante intrépidos para ser sus propios dioses —- o Demonios.

Las Escrituras Satanicas (Spanish Edition)

Religion & Spirituality

Gilmore, Peter H.

Nadramia, Peggy

Occult & Paranormal

Benjamin DeCasseres (1873-1945) was an Ironist, Critic, Poet, Epigrammist, Polemicist, God. He announced his candidacy for mayor of New York as a "Cubist Candidate" in 1913, vowing to "legalize human frailties," among other fine ideas. He was a comrade of H.L. Mencken, Charles Fort, James Huneker, George Sterling, Don Marquis and is a distant relative of Spinoza. His writing was published in a wide range of periodicals from Benjamin Tucker's radical anarchist Liberty, to the mainstream Life. He could be found in the pages of the New York Times, among other newspapers, and even on the radio. This is a collection of his writing solely focused on New York, but mostly about booze. Peggy Nadramia was born in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, was the editor of the award-winning horror publication GRUE Magazine, is one of the mixologists behind Cocktail Vultures, and also the current High Priestess of the Church of Satan.

New York is Hell: Thinking and Drinking in the Beautiful Beast

Essays & Correspondence

Underworld Amusements has released a compilation of Essays and Aphorisms on Egoism, edited by Kevin I. Slaughter. The writings collected here are from the contemporaries of Ragnar Redbeard, radical thinkers who went against the herd with all their might. They upheld themselves as Gods, all other concerns come after that. Blasphemous, mocking and visceral, they are the children of Nietzsche, Stirner and Thoreau. Though often overlapping with Anarchists, they are too individualistic for many modern anarchists who are often just Socialist-minded egalitarian Utopians. Contents DEFINITION Definitions of Egoism &amp; Altruism THE PHILOSOPHY OF EGOISM The Philosophy of Egoism -James L. Walker Biographical Sketch of James L. Walker -Henry Replogle QUOTES, APHORISMS, MAXIMS Testimony of the Apostles of Egoism Egoism as Taught by Thoreau Via Hellorosa The Eagle &amp; The Serpent Wisdom &amp; Wickedness of La Rochefoucauld Wisdom &amp; Wickedness of Chamfort Flashes of Lightning from Nietzsche ESSAYS, EPISTLES, ASSAULTS Nietzsche on Atheism, Pessimism, Schopenhauer -Translated by Thomas Common Darwinism In Sociology: A Reply to Nietzsche’s Critics. -Thomas Common The Land of the Altruists: A Parable for the Infant Class. -John Beverley Robinson Why Women Need Egoism -Fraulein Lepper An Apppreciation of Stirner -John Henry Mackay That Blessed Word Altruism -John Erwin McCall Aeschylus at Marathon: Are We Saved by Love or by Hate? -John Erwin McCall The Religion of Egoism: A Prayer for More Bitterness. -John Erwin McCall

A Bible Not Borrowed from the Neighbors.: Essays and Aphorisms on Egoism

A long-form poem of negation and egoism, of scorn and cynical delight. Included is a URL for a free full audiobook read by Kevin I. Slaughter.  Benjamin DeCasseres (is) the Pontius Pilate of America.  -H.L. Mencken  A passionate, erratic poet… strives to shake the foundation of the world.  -The Saturday Review of Literature  He occupies a niche that is all his own and asks space to stand for no other man . -The Nation  DeCasseres is the most fiery and independent writer that I know of.  -Remy de Gourmont  There is but one Benjamin DeCasseres. And he is perhaps the one living wonder of the literary world. It is fortunate that such an one must be born, that he cannot be made; especially that he cannot be imitated, for if every one wrote like DeCasseres readers would go mad. That he can keep in any semblance of thought-order such whirls of words is something to marvel at. Yet to read him once, twice, is to experience the greatest mental exhilaration. -New York Times

Anathema!: Litanies of Negation

"I wrote The Philosophy of Disenchantment, which is, I think, the gloomiest and worst book ever published. Out of sheer laziness, I then produced a history of atheism, The Anatomy of Negation, which has been honored by international dislike. Need I state that of all my children it is the one that I prefer?" -Edgar Saltus "Returning to an estimate of Saltus, let us sum up by saying we have in him a temperament saturated with pessimism which expresses itself by the beautiful decoration of sinister themes. To see grandeurs in vast horrors is the last thing a commonplace person can do. Neither can commonplace persons accumulate effortlessly a legend about themselves. This Edgar Saltus has done... In The Philosophy of Disenchantment and The Anatomy of Negation he has written two compact readable and scholarly resumes of pessimism and of skepticism—perhaps the best handbooks ever published on these subjects" -Broom, Vol. 2 The Philosophy of Disenchantment. "Mr. Saltus is a scientific pessimist, as witty, as bitter, as satirical, as interesting and as insolent to humanity in general as are his great teachers, Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann. there is a prodigious and prodigal display of genius in his work that is a history of antitheism from Kapila to Leconte de Lisle." -Worcester Spy The Anatomy of Negation. "A whole library of pessimism compressed into one small volume by a writer whose understanding of the value of words amounts almost to genius." -Chicago Herald "The work is remarkable in every way and its originality and power will compel for it more than an ephemeral existence, for independently of the force with which it deals with its theme its literary merits are of a high order, and its reflections are those of a bold, brilliant and able thinker." -Boston Saturday Review

The Philosophical Writings of Edgar Saltus: The Philosophy of Disenchantment & The Anatomy of Negation

Saltus, Edgar

Philosophy

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