This is the cover of Death Rush: Poppers & AIDS, a 64-page book published by Pagan Press in 1986. Its purpose was to warn gay men about the dangers of the nitrite inhalants or alkyl nitrites (amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite, et al.).

Although Death Rush: Poppers & AIDS has been out-of-print for many years now, the medical information is still valid. the toxicities of these drugs have not changed.The nitrite inhalants are still powerfully mutagenic; they still cause anemia; they are still immunosuppressive.

To read Death Rush in HTML format with hypertext click here.  Death Rush is also available as a PDF book, which is a facsimile reproduction of the original book; to read Death Rush in PDF form click here. The typesetting for Death Rush was done on a Qume daisy wheel printer, with a proportionately spaced font based on Hermann Zapf's Optima typeface. In 1986 laser printers were much more primitive, and could not do acceptable typesetting.

Death Rush has been translated into Italian by Roberto De Angelis. To read this PDF book — DEATH RUSH: I poppers [nitriti inalanti] e l'AIDS — click here.

Here are some online articles on poppers.

• Robert Payne, the editor of Drummer (an S&M magazine “for the macho male”) reviewed Death Rush very favorably in issue 98 (late 1986). To read his review in HTML form click here. To see facsimile reproductions of the Drummer review and cover click here.

• John Lauritsen: NIDA Meeting Calls for Research into the Poppers-Kaposi's Sarcoma Connection. Click here.

• Ian Young: The Poppers Story: The Rise and Fall and Rise of “The Gay Drug”. Click here.

• John Lauritsen: Queer Advertising: From Poppers to Protease Inhibitors. Click here.

• Arthur Evans: An article from 1981! POPPERS: an ugly side of gay business. Click here.


I write books and am proprietor of Pagan Press, a small book publisher.  Each of our books is unique and well produced.  Please check out the Pagan Press BOOKLIST  — John Lauritsen

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