Paladin Press was a book publishing firm founded in 1970 by Peder Lund and Robert K. Brown. The company published non-fiction books and videos covering a wide range of specialty topics, including personal and financial freedom, survivalism and preparedness, firearms and shooting, various martial arts and self-defense, military and police tactics, investigation techniques, spying, lockpicking, sabotage, revenge, knives and knife fighting, explosives, and other "action topics" (though the availability of books on topics like improvised explosives has been severely curtailed in recent years). Often associated with right-wing and libertarian ideologies, the press emphasized individual empowerment and distrust of authority. Sometimes described as the "most dangerous publisher in the world",

History

The company's first iteration was when Peder Lund began operations in association with co-founder Robert K. Brown, in 1970 as "Panther Publications".

In 1983, Paladin Press published a controversial book, Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, under the author's pseudonym "Rex Feral". However, Paladin Press was sued by the families of victims whose murderer they alleged to have used this book as a guideline in three 1993 murders. In 2000, Paladin was sued again as a result of Hit Man. After the cases, Paladin stopped publication, and allowed the remaining copies to sell out. The book is still for sale online.

In the spring of 2006, Paladin announced that it had acquired the rights to reprint 40 books previously published by Loompanics Unlimited, including the works of Claire Wolfe and other popular anti-authoritarian writers. A new in-house printing press enabled Paladin to reprint classic combat books in the public domain as well as bring back into print select titles it had dropped over the years. The company has reprinted hard-to-find books on World War II hand-to-hand combat, firearms, combat shooting, counterinsurgency, martial arts, survival skills, boxing, wrestling, and self-defense.

On June 3, 2017, Peder Lund died suddenly while on vacation in Finland, and it was decided to close Paladin Press, with no new orders being accepted, and existing orders being honored until January 31, 2018.

See also

  • Lawrence Horn

Selected publications

  • Hayduke, George (1981). Getting Even 2: More Dirty Tricks From the Master of Revenge.
  • Hayduke, George (1989). The Hayduke Silencer Book.
  • Merkle, Robert (1998). Ultimate Internet Terrorist: How Hackers, Geeks, and Phreaks Can Ruin Your Trip on the Information Superhighway... And What You Can Do To Protect Yourself.
  • Strauss, Erwin S. (1999). How to Start Your Own Country: How You Can Profit from the Coming Decline of the Nation State. 2nd ed.

Further reading

  • Greene, Bob (Jun. 8, 1981). "Have Gore, Will Travel: That's Paladin Press." Chicago Tribune, p. 15.
  • Smolla, Rod (1976). Deliberate Intent: A Lawyer Tells the True Story of Murder by the Book. New York: Crown. .

References