Mel Tappan

Mel Tappan (1933 - 1980), full name of Melrose H. Tappan III, was one of the founders of the preparedness movement. He was the editor of the newsletter Personal Survival ("P.S.") Letter. He was also author of the Survival books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival.

A graduate of Stanford University, Mr. Tappan was one of the earliest survivalists to promote the idea of strategic relocation to an underpopulated state from a liberal state. Mr. Tappan advocated survivalist retreats in lightly populated rural regions.

Books

• Survival Guns Paperback: 480 pages, Paladin Press (November 1, 2009) ISBN 978-1581607192
• Tappan on Survival Paperback: 218 pages, Paladin Press (July 1, 2006) ISBN 978-1581605099

Continuing Influence on Modern Survivalism

Mr. Tappan's works see influence survivalists more than three decades after his untimely passing. In 2009 Tappan on Survival was re-published as a new edition with a foreword written by Bruce D. Clayton. As of December 2014 it ranks in Amazon's top 90,000 books (out of more than 5 million titles.) The seminal work Survival Guns is also back into print. Mr. Tappan's books are published by Paladin Press.

See also

• Survivalist retreat
• Free State Wyoming
• Free State Project