That’s a different category entirely. Useful examples:
The 1970s biker film craze (think Easy Rider) created a demand for "authentic" outlaw literature. Desert Publications delivered. They published The Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (predating Hunter S. Thompson’s work) and various "how-to" manuals that blurred the line between journalism and exploitation.
Desert Publications was founded in the late 1970s by a shadowy figure known primarily as "Swen" or "Swen W." operating out of Phoenix, Arizona and later El Paso, Texas. The desert backdrop was not accidental. The arid, isolated expanse of the Southwest has always been a refuge for nuclear worriers, preppers, and those who wish to operate outside the gaze of federal oversight. desert publications books
Initially, Desert Publications started as a simple distributor of out-of-print military and intelligence manuals. However, it quickly evolved into a publisher of original content. Their mission statement, often printed on the inside covers of their digest-sized booklets, was blunt: “To provide technical, historical, and philosophical information that is suppressed or ignored by the corporate publishing establishment.”
What does that mean in practice? It meant that while Random House was publishing Stephen King, Desert Publications was publishing “Improvised Munitions from Household Chemicals” and “The Anarchist’s Cookbook” (before the latter was picked up by larger publishers). That’s a different category entirely
The format of Desert Publications books was distinctive. They were almost always 5.5” x 8.5” saddle-stitched paperbacks (staple bound), with crude, hand-drawn covers or stark black-and-white photographs. The paper was cheap pulp. There was no ISBN in the early days. You ordered them via mail-in coupon using a money order sent to a PO Box. This anonymity was by design.
For vintage book collectors, Desert Publications books occupy a strange niche. They are not "high literature"; they are ephemera. However, scarcity has driven prices up. The 1970s biker film craze (think Easy Rider
Sometimes confused with Desert Publications but unrelated. These are often regional presses (e.g., Southwest US history, poetry).
With the rise of print-on-demand and PDF scams, the market is flooded with fakes. If you are looking to purchase physical Desert Publications books, here is how to tell the real thing from a modern reprint: