Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook [Paperback]

Crimethinc (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

Beautifully designed A-Z of the totality of revolutionary politics. This brand new Crimethinc book is the action guide - the direct action guide. From affinity groups to wheatpasting, coalition building, hijacking events, mental health, pie-throwing, shoplifting, stenciling, supporting survivors of domestic violence, surviving a felony trial, torches, and whole bunch more. Incredible design, and lots of graphics give it that hip situ feel. Loads to read, to think about, and to do. At 650 pages, you could always throw the damn book at a suitable target. What are you waiting for?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The CrimethInc. ex-Workers’ Collective is a memberless underground pledged to the total transformation of Western civilization and life itself.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Disaster? Yes, disaster. When you think of disasters, perhaps some secret part of you thrills at the idea of something happening, something interrupting the tedious routines that comprise existence for so many of us. You might not be ready to own up to actually desiring one, but a disaster would at least o¤er a chance to escape your cage and explore the unknown for a little while. What anguish, to live in longing for a reprieve from your own life, never knowing when or if it might come!

Or perhaps you cringe at the word, thinking of all the senseless tragedy and loss of life that real disasters entail. In that case, it may have already occurred to you that we are in the midst of the most terrible slow-motion disaster in history, as the natural environment is utterly laid to waste and the diversity of human experience is steamrolled into the monoculture of capitalism. In such a disaster, you can’t cook out of the books your ancestors developed for more peaceful times.

Whether disaster is something you privately pine for or desperately hope to escape, one thing is for certain—the old recipes won’t suªce anymore. We need recipes for disaster. Here they are.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970910142
• ISBN-13: 978-0970910141
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensable manual of direct action, January 31, 2005

By 

Phil Myers (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook (Paperback)

After a long wait, America's heirs to the Situationists come through with a wide-ranging, imaginative, and inspiring compendium of actions that people can take to challenge the status quo. Big and small, legal and il-, the 62 recipes run the gamut from dumspter-diving to banner drops, open relationships to locking down streets, monkeywrenching to coalition building. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the direct action tactics that have developed in anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian circles in recent years.

One gripe-- the section on "undermining oppression" is a clumsy and unfortunate endorsement of the kind of identity politics that have so recklessly divided the left.

24 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing "Pacifist Scrapbook", April 17, 2009

By 

Flaming Pope - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook (Paperback)

I bought this book instead of the "Anarchist Cookbook." From what I've heard this book was supposed to be a better cookbook for activists, since it was written in retaliation to the former.

Wrong - this book had no real value in its text. 'How to Party' paraphrasing one chapter from the book, "When women get together to party, nothing happens, de fin'e." How to sneak into less public areas "duh wear a suit and look like you belong", and chapters pertaining to panty antic bull $h]t. Examples: break a fusebox, temporary disabling utilities until a repairman comes,

Don't get me wrong, you don't chase cookbooks for the recipes, everything in the "Anarchist Cookbook" could be learned in a crash course in organic chemistry, just hop into the nearest university, befriend a chemist and wala you're ahead of the game. But the point of the cookbooks are in the collectible value- this had 'no real value.' Just 700 pages of an immature brat ranting about how messed up the government is, providing no real action. This person could have at least justified their view, showed some deep insight into the government or at least provide some real solution, and not temporary nuisances that place you in jail for stupid reasons. "Hi pig, yea look at me I'm an anarchist and I broke the glass window, catch me if you can"... please, if you want to get a point across, start by crippling the right targets, don't fruit fly.

Overall I would NOT recommend buying this book. I'm already returning my copy, even if I only receive 10% back that's still a well saved one dollar bill, on principal...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For beginning or advanced anarchists, December 31, 2008

By 

Christopher C. Cantwell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook (Paperback)

Not only is this book huge and chock full of great information and compelling first person accounts. It does not tell you how to blow yourself up. If you want to find out how to make a bomb or kill people, this book is not for you. If you are looking for a non-violent way to get your message across to others, follow the Crimethinc way! Also, Green Alert! This book is printed in Canada by Unionized workers on 100% post consumer recycled paper with soy based ink. This book is not useful for just anarchists, but also any person who wants to protest anything!