Customer Reviews

Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching

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You know what's really refreshing about this book? It actually dares to take seriously the "I-don't-give-a-damn-I've-got-mine" attitude that's destroying the planet. Too many of us are content to talk, talk, talk about the ecocide we see going on around us daily. We lament global warming, the loss of species, the deforestation of the earth, the pollution of land and water and air, and frequently become so overwhelmed by it all that we throw up our hands and adopt an "apres moi, le deluge" cynicism. And in the meantime, by the way, we continue to drive our SUVs, blithely drink our plastic-bottled water, and keep realtors in business (did you know that 46 acres of prime farm land is developed every hour in this country?!) as if there's no tomorrow--which of course there won't be if all we do is talk and waste!

The folks who put "Ecodefense" together are tired of talk and collaboration. They advocate a NONVIOLENT defense of imperiled nature, and they're willing to belly up to the bar and pay the price of their convictions. State and federal prisons house a goodly number of people who've had the courage to monkey-wrench in defense of Mother Earth. Instead of condeming them, as an earlier reviewer of "Ecodefense" does, we should see them as prophets and political prisoners.

The conviction, passion, and courage in this book should, if nothing else, make the rest of us ashamed of our inaction. If the tactics of monkey-wrenching aren't for you, fine. But at least let this book nudge you to get off your duff long enough to work "within the system" to bring about changes in public complacency and corporation-driven public policy. Please, though: don't carp about monkey-wrenchers if you're sitting on your hands and doing nothing. And double please: wake up to the unpleasant but indisputable fact that if you're not part of the solution, you're most definitely part of the problem.

This book is actually banned in Australia, as I unsderstand. I'm sure Australia is not the only country where sales and publication of the book are illegal. Do you want to know why?

I think this book is exceptionally well written, thorough, smart and interesting even for those who are not about to run around Texas with bolt cutters. It is a straight forward manual for how to prevent corporate greed (among other modern ills) from destroying this nation's remaining wilderness through acts that would be best described as sabotage, or as the "authors" call it, ecotage. The book gives you all you need to know about how to do it and how not to get caught doing it. I think the chapter on spiking trees was amazing.

The morality of the methods the authors suggest is questionable, however. The actions described are illegal and thus a lot of the book deals with security and hiding the "monkeywrencher's" identity. From dealing with guard dogs to giving anonymous interviews, this book is a comprehensive how to for covert illegal activities. This book is the kind of thing that could have been read by the Unabomber when he planned his attacks, except that the book constantly reinforces the idea that violent means against humans should never be employed and that great care should be taken to avoid harm to human life. However, virtually everything the authors suggest could lead to injury or death, the way sabotage often does. (The suggestion to spike roads used by ORVs, for example.)

I think if you are a mature and responsible adult you can read this book and enjoy it without being driven to carry out any of the acts described therein. But beware that this is one of those books that the FBI is interested in, along with the people who read it. I would not go so far as to classify Ecodefense a "how-to for terrorism," the way some in corporate America and the FBI may want to. Unfortunately the corporations have plenty of money to contribute to politicians who then direct the FBI towards such an incindiary mind set. In fact, I think the word terrorism is tossed about too carelessly these days. It makes one wonder how the book would read if it was written in 2002 rather than 1985.

The book is moderate in tone, non-violent and certainly not extremist in any sense. This is not the Turner Diaries or similar lunacy. However, it describes acts that mostly constitute the illegal destruction of private property, and while the cause may be just, and the ends may be virtuous, I think there are better and more legal means for activists to employ.

This book focusses on methods and assumes you already have the mindset to follow through. In that sense it reads more interestingly and it doesn't waste time giving the authors' political motivations or justifications.

This book made me want to go and fight for mother nature. Written as a textbook, this book gives the enviromentalist many "ideas" on how to help the enviroment. This book is like no other I have ever seen.

This is a great book in the tradition of "Steal This Book" and "The Anarchist Cookbook" et al. A classic of radical politics, tactics, and strategy. Not to be missed. However, given the current state of American politics and legislation, I'd strongly recommend you buy this anonymously, paying with cash. You're in enough trouble already, without Big Brother knowing what you read...

The do-it-yourself guide to monkeywrenching. Guarunteed to give you many sleepless nights. If you don't have a copy, get one today.

I came across this book while researching eco-terrorism in Alberta's oil patch. The book, actually a loose collection of sabotage ideas by varied contributors, offers an intriguing insight into the methodology and ideology of 'earth defenders' in the war to protect natural spaces.

This is the most important book when it comes to ecodefense. Our planet needs underground warriors to halt production. This book has it all... what; where; when; how; why; This is the one book that all of the others refer too when discussing tree spiking, or lock picking, or large machinary dismanteling... etc. It was a fine read, and great reference. And full of motivational works. I would recommend this book to anybody ready to get out there and start protecting their landbase... GO MONKEYWRENCHING!

Ecodefense is one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read. It's fictional counterpart, The Monkey Wrench Gang, is equally good, but this tells you how you can act on how you feel. If you feel that the environment is going to hell and the government doesn't care, buy this book!

The essential book for those concerned with the protection and survival of the Earth and its animals. 1.12.6

If a stranger batters your door down with an axe, threatens your family and yourself with deadly weapons, and proceeds to loot your home of whatever he wants, he is committing what is universally recognized-by law and morality ­as a crime. In such a situation the householder has both the right and the obli­gation to defend himself, his family, and his property by whatever means are necessary. This right and this obligation is universally recognized, justified and even praised by all civilized human communities. Self-defense against at­tack is one of the basic laws not only of human society but of life itself, not only of human life but of all life.

The American wilderness, what little remains, is now undergoing exactly such an assault. Dave Foreman has summarized the character and scale of the assault in the first chapter of this excellent and essential book. With bull­dozer, earth mover, chainsaw and dynamite the international timber, mining and beef industries are invading our public lands-property of all Americans ­bashing their way into our forests, mountains and rangelands and looting them for everything they can get away with. This for the sake of short-term profits in the corporate sector and multi-million dollar annual salaries for the three-piece ­suited gangsters (M.B.A., Harvard, Yale, University of Tokyo, et alia) who control and manage these bandit enterprises. Cheered on, naturally, by Time, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, actively encouraged by those jellyfish Government agencies which are supposed to protect the public lands, and as always aided and abetted in every way possible by the quisling politicians of our Western states (such as Babbitt, DeConcini, Goldwater, Hatch, Garn, Symms, Hansen, Wallop, Domenici-to name but a few) who would sell the graves of their own mothers if there's a quick buck in the deal, over or under the table, what do they care.

Representative democracy in the United States has broken down. Our legis­lators do not represent those who elected them but rather the minority who fi­nance their political campaigns and who control the organs of communica­tion-the Tee Vee, the newspapers, the billboards, the radio-that have made politics a game for the rich only. Representative government in the USA rep­resents money not people and therefore has forfeited our allegiance and moral support. We owe it nothing but the taxation it extorts from us under threats of seizure of property, or prison, or in some cases already, when resisted, a sud­den and violent death by gunfire.

Such is the nature and structure of the industrial megamachine (in Lewis Mumford's term) which is now attacking the American wilderness. That wilder­ness is our ancestral home, the primordial homeland of all living creatures in­cluding the human, and the present final dwelling place of such noble beings as the grizzly bear, the mountain lion, the eagle and the condor, the moose and the elk and the pronghorn antelope, the redwood tree, the yellowpine, the bristlecone pine, even the aspen, and yes, why not say it?, the streams, wa­terfalls, rivers, the very bedrock itself of our hills, canyons, deserts, moun­tains.

For many of us, perhaps for most of us, the wilderness is as much our home, or a lot more so, than the wretched little stucco boxes, plywood apartments, and wallboard condominiums in which we are mostly confined by the insatiable demands of an overcrowded and ever-expanding industrial culture. And if the wilderness is our true home, and if it is threatened with invasion, pillage and destruction-as it certainly is-then we have the right to defend that home, as we would our private rooms, by whatever means are necessary. (An English­man's home is his castle; an American's home is his favorite fishing stream, 'his favorite mountain range, his favorite desert canyon, his favorite swamp or patch of woods or God-created lake.)

The majority of the American people have demonstrated on every possible occasion that they support the ideal of wilderness preservation; even our politicians are forced by popular opinion to pretend to support the idea; as they have learned, a vote against wilderness is a vote against their own re-election. We are justified in defending our homes-our private home and public home ­not only by common law and common morality but also by common belief. We are the majority; they-the greedy and powerful-are the minority.

How best defend our wilderness home? Well, that is a matter of strategy, tactics and technique, which is what this little book is about. Dave Foreman explains the principles of ecological defense in the complete, compact and conclusive pages of his short introduction. I can think of nothing I could add nor of anything I would subtract; he says exactly what needs to be said, no more and no less.

I am happy to endorse the publication of Ecodefense. Never was such a book so needed, by so many, for such good reason, as here and now. Tomor­row might well be too late. This is a book that will fit handily in any saddlebag, in any creel, in any backpack, in any river runner's ammo can-and in any pic­nicker's picnic basket. No good American should ever go into the woods again without this book and, for example, a hammer and a few pounds of 60-penny nails. Spike a few trees now and then whenever you enter an area condemned to chainsaw massacre by Louisiana Pacific and its affiliated subsidiary the U.S. Forest Service. You won't hurt the trees; they'll be grateful for the pro­tection; and you may save the forest. My Aunt Emma back in West Virginia has been enjoying this pleasant exercise for years. She swears by it. It's good for the trees, it's good for the woods, it's good for the earth, and it's good for the human soul. Spread the word-and carry on!