Q-Anon. Fake News. Bohemian Grove. False flag attacks. Deep state. Crisis actors. Whatever Gate. Is any conspiracy worth the life of a believer?
The mainstream news media struggles to understand the power of social media while conspiracy advocates, malicious political movements, and even foreign governments have long understood how to harness the power of fear and the fear of power into lucrative outlets for outrage and money. But what happens when the harbingers of “inside knowledge” go too far?
In American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness (Feral House), author Tea Krulos tells the story of one man, Richard McCaslin, who’s fractured thinking made him the ideal consumer of even the most arcane of conspiracy theories. Acting on the daily rants of Alex Jones and his ilk, McCaslin takes matters into his own hands to stop the unseen powers behind the world’s disasters who congregate at conspiracy world’s Mecca- The Bohemian Grove. It all goes wrong with terrible consequences for the man who styled himself-The Phantom Patriot.
McCaslin is not alone, as conspiracy-driven political action has bubbled its way up from the margins of society to the White House. It’s no longer a lone deranged kook convinced of getting secret messages from a cereal box, now its slick videos and well-funded outrage campaigns ready to peddle the latest innuendos and lies in hopes of harnessing the chaos for political gain. What is the long term effect on people who believe these barely believable stories? Who benefits, and who pays the price?
Krulos investigates and explains the power of conspiracy and the resulting shared madness on the American psyche.
Tea Krulos is a Milwaukee-based writer who documents the underground world of fringe sub-cultures. His previous books, Apocalypse Any Day Now-Deep Underground with America’s Doomsday Preppers and Heroes in the Night-Inside the Real Life Super Hero Movement explored the driving beliefs and lives of the people who choose to reject accepted reality and substitute their own.
NOW FOR A LIMITED TIME: FOLKS WHO BUY THE BOOK WILL GET A LIMITED EDITION SUPPLEMENTAL ZINE AND SIGNED AUTHOR BOOKPLATE. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. GET YOUR COPY HERE.
“Social media is today’s most popular platform for self- expression, but the button preceded it as a way to tell others what was on your mind and as a tool to help spread an idea. No other form of wearable expression has yet to replace the humble button – and unlike social media, a button is something you can literally stand behind.” – excerpted from BUTTON POWER: 125 Years of Saying It with Buttons by Christen Carter and Ted Hake
Punch line. Political Statement. Conversation piece. Souvenir. From the campaign trail to the rock tour, BUTTON POWER (Princeton Architectural Press) collects a people’s history of American culture told through the pin-back button. Lively commentary from two of America’s foremost button experts shows how the small but powerful button reveals the events and movements that outraged, amused, and inspired us over time, from the solo flight of Charles Lindbergh to the Black Power movement. In this chaotic time of protests and presidential elections, this book offers a glimpse into the cultural movements that make up our rich history. Artists, athletes, actors, politicians, punk and pop musicians, and mascots of the past 125 years make cameos, including Rube Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, the Ramones, Shirley Chisholm, and Bette Midler. The first book of its kind, BUTTON POWER is a rich visual feast. Each colorful spread chronicles defining moments in history through colorful photographs and artifacts. This collection will be an essential pick for fans of pop culture, visual culture, and design.
Don’t miss this virtual event celebrating BUTTON POWER: 125 Years of Saying It with Buttons by authors Christen Carter and Ted Hake!
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Christen Carter is the founder of Chicago-based Busy Beaver Button Company and has produced more than 50 million buttons for bands, artists, political campaigns, non-profits and more. In 2010, she started the Button Museum, dedicated to telling American history through pin-back buttons.
Ted Hake is the founder of Hake’s Auctions, America’s first auction house to specialize in popular culture artifacts. He has written seventeen collectors’ guides that span presidential campaign items, vintage Disneyana, and comic character toys. Ted has received the American Political Items Collectors Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Advisory Board.
This month, our beloved Quimby’s Bookstore turns 29! To celebrate this anniversary of the best zine shop on the planet, we’ll be joined by a special guest: Steven Svymbersky, who founded Quimby’s in Chicago and now owns Quimby’s NYC. We’ll also be commemorating Zine Club Chicago’s second year with Quimby’s as our home base and sponsor.
Nearly three decades ago, Quimby’s opened in Wicker Park. Since then, the shop has offered a vast selection of zines, comics, and other unusual publications, along with championing the self-publishing community in Chicago and beyond.
At Zine Club Chicago Online: I Got it At Quimby’s! Edition, we’ll be discussing our favorite self-published works that we’ve snagged at the store over the years. If you’ve made a zine at Quimby’s (at a Zlumber Party or Zinemaking Hangout, perhaps?), acquired a title in a trade with another zinemaker there, or collaborated with someone you met in the aisles, please bring those zines to share, as well. BYOS(nacks) and join us on Zoom for a great conversation!
Please note our new event start time: 7:30 p.m. CST!
** Zoom info ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link and password publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email zineclubchicago@gmail.com to RSVP by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29. We’ll email you the Zoom link and password one hour before the event begins.
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Chicago Zine Fest/Midwest Perzine Fest organizer Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers and created our logo, and also made this awesome Zine Club Shoutout database of zines people talk about at Zine Club!
Steven Svymbersky published zines under the Quimby’s name from 1985-1991, opened Quimby’s Bookstore in 1991, lived in Amsterdam from 1997-2016 where he worked as the head technician for Boom Chicago Improv theater, and in 2016 moved to Brooklyn where he opened Quimby’s Bookstore NYC.
Join us for an online sneak preview screening + filmmaker Q&A of the 2020 Sundance-Award winning doc Feels Good Man on Aug 28-29 and select Quimby’s Bookstore to receive a portion of proceeds as well as make a donation, along with the opportunity to buy a signed copy of artist Matt Furie’s Mindviscosity. Only 250 tickets available per showtime at feelsgoodman.watch .
This weekend’s sneak preview showtimes will be the first and only way movie fans can watch this film before it opens in theaters and prior to its VOD (video on demand) release.
More info!:
@feelsgoodmanfilm for Instagram/Facebook
@feelsgoodmandoc for Twitter
P.S. Astute Quimby’s historians will remember beloved director Arthur Jones’ comics consigned here in 2002: 900 Lb Gorilla and Magic Pants when he was but a young comics-maker, as well as his book Post-it Note Diaries. Further, said astute Quimby’s historians will also recall artist Matt Furie’s comics and books sold at our fine establishment as well, featuring such titles as Boys Club, Dungeon Family and Night Riders. Quimby’s thanks Arthur, Matt and friends for including Quimby’s in this endeavor!
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, 4 students were killed and 9 wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children. Using the journalism skills he employed on his celebrated graphic novels My Friend Dahmer and Trashed, Backderf has conducted extensive interviews and research to explore how mistakes, political rancor, and paranoia built to a deadly crescendo on an American campus. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio (Abrams ComicArts),to be published by the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, is a moving and troubling story about the bitter price of dissent — as relevant today as it was in 1970.
“Backderf delivers a provocative, heartbreaking account of the days leading up to the infamous tragedy of May 1970… His expertly crafted chronicle of this defining moment in U.S. history serves as a deeply moving elegy for the victims.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
Derf Backderf is the bestselling, award-winning author of My Friend Dahmer and Trashed, and recipient of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. His weekly comic strip, The City, appeared in more than 100 newspapers for almost twenty-five years. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
** Zoom info ** We want to make sure that our online event is a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link and password publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email info@quimbys.com to RSVP by 5:30pm CST Thursday, Septemeber 24th. You’ll get an email you the Zoom link and password one hour before the event begins.
“Social media is today’s most popular platform for self- expression, but the button preceded it as a way to tell others what was on your mind and as a tool to help spread an idea. No other form of wearable expression has yet to replace the humble button – and unlike social media, a button is something you can literally stand behind.” – excerpted from BUTTON POWER: 125 Years of Saying It with Buttons by Christen Carter and Ted Hake
