Customer Reviews

The Anarchist Cookbook

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I am an avid collector of controversial books both for their historical and entertainment value. Don't waste your money on The Anarchist Cookbooks sold here on Amazon. While the picture(s) may show an original one, these are actually re-prints from 2002 and a lot of the original content has been removed or edited. I am very disappointed in the misleading sales tactic.

My first exposure to this counter-culture classic was in the most unexpected of settings, my college ROTC classroom. The book written in protest of the Viet-Nam War was being used by a Green Beret veterain of that same war to train us who might be leading troops in, yes, that same war. The irony speaks for itself. I understand that William Powell no longer agrees with what he wrote as a young man, and symphathise with the plight of an artist who has lost control of his work. However, I am glad (and somewhat suprised) that this is still available. Not only is it an important sociological piece of the period, but it is filled with information that could be useful if (god forbid) things ever hit the fan. That same ROTC instructor told me time and again, "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it," so this book gets a space on my shelf just in case. It's the best book I hope you'll never need.

First published in the turbulent '60's, this book has attained a sort of cult status for that time. It reflects many of the mores and problems of that generation of young people, and is worth it for a read for that, if for no other reason.

So far as bomb-making and all of that, the book is technically good, but the methodology involving use of nitrogen compounds, particularly red, fuming nitric acid and cotton, to make guncotton, is fundamentally ununsound and unsafe. You could blow a hand off or worse very easily, following Powell's directions. I think "The Monkeywrench Gang" and others of its genre are more in tune with today's eco-warrior desires. Also, the book never mentions the superiority of Oxydol and its green beads, as a binding agent for homemade napalm. For shame.

Even with these quibbles, the book is entertaining, and offers a clear glimpse into the mentality of a now-settled generation.

The "Anarchist Cookbook" is full of useless but very interesting information. This book gave me tons useless knowledge but, it makes for very interesting conversations. Most of the instructions in this book are extremely hard and dangerous to perform. Some of the instructions are not descriptive enough and leave some questions unanswered. This book is excellent reading for entertainment purposes. And maybe if you have an extremely eventful and adventurous life you might use one thing that you learned. I do not suggest that you try any of the instructions in this book. This book makes fun reading and when placed correctly in you home can make for interesting conversations and maybe some nice rumors.

I was in the military for quite some time working with explosives of all kinds....let me tell the prospective buyer of this book this....The recipes contained in this book are dangerous and can often be lethal. They teach us about this book in our job school and the recipes are extremely volatile and unstable. Losing a hand or arm or your very life is a real possibility if you start trying to make stuff in this book. Use at your own risk....hope you have your will done up......

I do believe that the title of the book should be changed to the survivalists handbook. The information contained within the pages of the Anarchist cookbook could not only help save your own life but, the life of others as well. However, There is quite a bit of information that is of a terrorist nature. Nonetheless, this is a book I recommend all to study.

I spent 26 years in the military, mostly Rangers and Special Forces. I attended a sabotage course taught by the "other governmantal agency" and taught a sabotage class myself for members of a classified Special Forces detachment in Europe. I can assure you all that there's a reason why the military refers to "improvised" explosives and incendiaries. Many, if not most, are obscenely unstable even if the best formulas and proceedures are followed. My SF demolitions sergeants thought the "AC" recipes were weirdly, consistently,dangerously, wrong. We never, never did things the "AC" way. Suspiciously, I find no mention of ammonium nitrate fertilizer mixed with diesel fuel. Both ingredients are highly stable, even when properly combined, yet together constitute a highly effective explosive. Both are bought by the ton in thousands of commercial agriculture operations across the world and often stored with minimal security or accountability. That was well known even back then, but there's no mention of it. Just all this unnecessarily dangerous stuff. What's all that about, if not a provocation?

The weapons stuff was weird too. For instance, "AC" kept talking about pairs of weapons that were "great teams together." To me that suggests one of two things. Maybe weapons whose capabilities complemented each other. Say, a sniper rifle and a shotgun for close-in team protection. Or a pair of weapons that shared ammunition and possibly accessories, or even allowed cross-canibalization of parts. These suggested "great teams together" seem to have been paired to negate any such synergistic benefits.

I can't address the drug formulation. I can say that I thought the "theory" stuff was lame and low-brow. "The Wretched of the Earth" this ain't. And from a practice and tactics standpoint it isn't even a "Mini-mmanual for the Urban Geurilla".

So what's up with all this? I can't help but suspect that it was written and published to flush out wannabe terrorits and get them to do stupid, dangerous things, operate in ineffective ways, and generally self-destruct beforethey could actually develop into efective terrorits in effective organizations. Who knows? Maybe we can hear from the author. For sure the dreaded Weathermen did not cause as many casualties total as they inflicted upon themselves in one botched bomb-making operation. Wonder whose recipes they were using...

The "cookbook" as it was known when it was first published, is in the same genre as A.Hoffman's "Steal this Book" -- what the other reviews fail to realize is that most of the material is harmless (any 1st year mining engineer's text tells much more) and the period is the message: Nixon, the King and Robert Kennedy assassinations, the escalation of bombing in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos - the Pentagon papers coupled with G. Gordon Liddy's insane forays into a psychiatrist's office and the abortive Watergate break-in by 3`rd rate Cuban CIA operatives led to the Weather underground and the feeling that the next US revolution would have to happen if Nixon were to attempt a third term. The book is a reaction to much social unrest and the rejection of popular mandate by the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

Never the less, this is not a book for children or parties given to violence. It is a social commentary with fireworks.

I found the book funny and hilarious but former members of the military do not. Most of the recipes can cause damage not only to others but also to yourself if you are not careful and plan first. I bought the book just because the government doesn't want people to have it.

I bought this book simply because I wanted to see what all the hype is all about concerning this book. Maybe *30* years ago this book would be more relevant, but now much of the information in it is outdated or irrelevant. In addition to that, some information is not correct, which means some poor kid who's parents haven't explained to him/her about this stuff might get hurt because of it. (Take note: It's the parents' job to keep stuff like this away from children.) The book is interesting, but that's about it. If you plan on making chemical items from this book, don't. If you know enough to make these items you won't need this book. If you aren't skilled enough in chemistry you shouldn't try anything in this book. And, on a final thought, the author of this book doesn't even want it in circulation anymore and disagrees with what he published when he was 19. Read it if you're curious about this infamous book, but don't get it if you're planning on using it to do things.