Customer Reviews

The Best of Abbie Hoffman: Selections from Revolution for the Hell of It, Woodstock Nation, Steal this Book and New Writings

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By attempting to reintroduce The Hoff to a new generation, this book certainly attempted the honourable. However, one of the most important elements of the original trio of books that make up the bulk of the text of this volume (REVOLUTION FOR THE HELL OF IT, WOODSTOCK NATION and STEAL THIS BOOK) was the brilliant artwork, punctuating the texts, that was not even mentioned in this one. If you can't find the original three, this will be a passable introduction to Hoffman's brilliance, but be forewarned that you're missing out on a unique experience.

Like most teenagers in the 1980s feeling the stifling air of the Reagan Revolution, I romanticized the 60s. I loved Woodstock footage. I watched PBS documentaries on the Beatles. I listened to only 60s music. However, reading the radical literature at the time was a bit onerous. THE STRAWBERRY STATEMENT -NOTES OF A COLLEGE REVOLUTION was full of "Disney was a fascist" verbiage (ok he was but I still didn't see how that was relevant) and much of the Weather Man literature was creepy. I was slowly learning the fact that would slap me in the face many times in college which was that stupidity, jingoism, zealotry and narrowmindedness are not the sole property of Conservatives (or people who don't agree with my politics).

Abbie Hoffman was a welcome relief from this kind of garbage. He had a sense of humor. He could argue his points clearly and with wit. He embraced a positive world view and didn't let his beliefs turn him into a jerk. Sadly he killed himself so that kind of undercut his value but I still liked his books.

Sadly, these are the early books. They show too much earnestness and rough beliefs. The first two books are crowing about the new hippie utopia. Steal this Book is a retread of The Anarchist Cookbook even if much of its advice is in the "Duh" school of larceny. I didn't really need a book to tell me that those Record & Tape Clubs are much more profitable if you get the initial order and never buy anything else again.

Anyone interested in Abbie Hoffman should read his later books like Square Dancing in the Ice Age (written during his fugitive years) and Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture which has a lot more perspective.

I bought this book for a customer. She really enjoyed it and was well pleased.

Tammy
Book Peddler

Abbie was a rebel and I am proud to be from the same country as him.

He was the first to wear an american flag as a shirt (we see it on shirts, shoes, bandanas, etc now). He was proud to be an american and wanted to keep this country free.

Remember all the freedoms we have and what it would be like if no one fought for them.

As Emmitt Grogan of the Diggers said, Abbie Hoffman was a snitch. Fink, rat, stool pigeon, whichever word you prefer. For example: as soon as someone told him about them, he wrote about all the ways to get free food in NYC, which of course meant the authorities shut them all down. But Abbie got his momentary publicity buzz. Typical of how he operated his entire "career."