Subtitled, 'A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground,' this is a new revised and expanded edition of David Keenan's seminal secret history. It is a biography of three musical groups: Coil, Nurse With Wound and Current 93. It follows the band members' lives and, more widely, illuminates their underground scene,  which included playwright Joe Orton, novelist Arthur Machen, and occultists Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley. The book shows the existence of an exciting 'reverse current', that is to say, a current running counter to the mainstream. This expanded edition has many new photographs, previously-unpublished ephemera, three new chapters, and an afterword. 
 
Author David Keenan is an author and critic based in Glasgow Scotland. He is a regular contributor to The Wire magazine. From 2005 to 2015 he co-ran Volcanic Tongue, an online retailer and magazine of contemporary underground music.
 
London, UK: Strange Attractor Press, 2016. 446 pages, paperback. New.