George H. Smith once described The Myth of Natural Rights as a scathing, all-out attack. This was not hyperbole. First published in 1983 by Loompanics Unlimited, L.A. Rollins' incisive monograph sought not merely to dethrone the doctrine of natural law that had come to dominate libertarian discourse, but to upend the very foundations of moral philosophy. Describing himself as an amoralist and an egoist of sorts, Rollins echoed Stirner alone in his insouciant refusal to genuflect before the pieties of intellectual fashion.

While few readers would embrace Rollins' intractable moral skepticism, his short book struck a powerful chord. As the text was discussed in marginal periodicals, it gathered an almost scandalous aura, eliciting both approbation and excoriation for its lacerating critique of natural rights theory--particularly as exposited by such libertarian luminaries as Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan and Ayn Rand.

In 1985, The Myth of Natural Rights would become a central exhibit in a spirited debate that spanned several issues of Samuel Edward Konkin III's New Libertarian magazine. The forum included contributions by Robert LeFevre, Murray Rothbard, Sidney E. Parker and Robert Anton Wilson, along with a reply by L.A. Rollins himself. Although Rollins' engagement with the libertarian cognoscenti would soon come to an end, the dam had broken.

This definitive reissue features a new publishers preface and has been supplemented to include all of the relevant essays that originally appeared in New Libertarian, along with extant commentaries and rejoinders by L.A. Rollins.

Inspired by Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, L.A. Rollins first unsheathed his lexicographer's lance in the pages of marginal political periodicals during the mid-1980s. At a time when Objectivist orthodoxy and Cold War political theater dominated libertarian discourse, Rollins' distinctive brand of irreverent irony stood out. He skewered shibboleths and dethroned dogmas from all quarters, and his trenchant jeu de mots made a lasting impression in the minds of many readers.
In 1987, Loompanics Unlimited released the first edition of Lucifer's Lexicon, a freewheeling compilation of Rollins' satirical definitions--including content deemed too inflammatory for less adventurous publishers. Though the book would become a cult classic, Rollins' contrarian take on certain closely guarded historical and religious taboos chafed the sensibilities of some gatekeepers. Following its release, Rollins--who had previously courted controversy for his incisive critique of natural rights theory--was marked a pariah.
The present edition is the first in a series of portable paperbacks being published by Nine-Banded Books and Underworld Amusements to chronicle the work of L.A. Rollins. With slight revision, it incorporates the canonical Loompanics text, now extensively supplemented to include never-before-published material that Rollins produced until his death in 2015. It is presented with a new introduction by individualist-anarchist blogger and Attack the System co-editor MRDA and a publisher's preface.

Best known as an underground satirist (Lucifer's Lexicon) and as an irreverent critic of bien-pensant libertarianism (The Myth of Natural Rights), L.A. Rollins [1948 - 2015] was also an unruly exponent of historical revisionism who courted reprisal for his skeptical interrogations of canonical World War II and Holocaust historiography.

Drawn from a variety of marginal sources dating from the mid-1980s, the essays and book reviews in Outlaw History provide contemporary readers with a time-capsule showcase of Rollins' scathing and scrupulous approach to dissident history-both as a practitioner of revisionism and, inevitably, as a skeptic of revisionist dogma. If the texts are as problematic now as when they were written, they also offer insight into a mode of unfettered freethinking that has since been expunged from intellectual discourse. To invoke a popular expression, Rollins went there. And he didn't care.

Outlaw History is the third volume in the The Portable L.A. Rollins pocket paperback series co-published by Nine-Banded Books and Underworld Amusements. It features an introduction by the erudite revisionist and conspiracy researcher Michael A. Hoffman II and a prolegomenon by Chip Smith of Nine-Banded Books.