By: Tony

“If the real people of America, the silent majority, are going to survive, they must educate themselves. That is the purpose of this book.”

As a rebellious high schooler, I remember thinking the Anarchist Cookbook was so cool and edgy, but I never ended up actually reading it.

Until now.

I was hoping to find maybe some useful information, some weird construction diagrams, and maybe a few solid quotes about anarchy. This book was originally written in 1971, so I was not expecting the actual content of the book to be very useful.

The version I got my hands on started with a prefatory note from 1989 by P.M. Bergman, which for the most part is an update on politics of the time. The writer of the note discusses the similarities of Anarchism, Nihilism, and Marxism. The writing has an irresistible energy, as the writer is very passionate about revolution. At one point, he quotes a note left in a bank burned by Anarchists in West Berlin, “Make kaputt what makes you kaput.” There is a brief history of DIY revolution books, the writer specifically mentions that the Anarchist Cookbook does not cover free love or religion, which are apparently common topics of discussion in revolutionary literature. It does, however, start with a very large and detailed section on drugs.

The note then continues to discuss anarchist ideologies, but it quickly devolves into a rant about the Nixon administration. It has some good quotes, but is severely outdated. If you’ve ever been in the kitchen of a house party at about 3:00am, you’ve probably met P.M. Bergman’s ghost.

As a sidenote, did you know that the Maquis from Star Trek: Voyager were named after a Geurilla Resistance group in Nazi occupied Europe? Because I did not. And that’s pretty cool, considering the (Star Trek) Maquis are an anti-Federation group. We’ll save that deep-dive for another article.

Where were we?

Oh, right. As I mentioned, there is an extensive section on drugs. The book is only 157 pages long, so Chapter 1 is a significant portion of the book. Bear in mind, some things have changed in the drug world since 1971. This section is much more fun in a time capsule sort of way. I would not recommend trying any of the recipes in the book unless you really know what you’re doing (re: you’re a chemist). Some sources on the internet (very vague on the details, of course) say that there are different versions of the Cookbook, one being an edit by the CIA that includes dangerously inaccurate information. I could not find much on how to tell the versions apart, so after skimming several copies from the deep recesses of the internet, I decided it wasn’t really worth going into for a book review article. I really wouldn’t use this as a guide, that’s what the internet is for.

Speaking of the internet: this book has some areas that I found especially interesting as a study of spreading information in an era before the internet. For instance, the following warning:

There are some absolutely fascinating aspects to this statement. I have found that the most effective anti-drug sentiments do not come from the preachy you’ll-ruin-your-whole-life rhetoric, but from statements like this. Without passing judgment on the substances themselves, the writer enumerates how damaging it is, and the potential dangers of the drug. Powell is able to make a strong statement by removing the stigma surrounding drug use and being able to discuss the effects and side-effects of the drugs. This holds more useful knowledge than any DARE class could.

“Bad Acid is usually nothing more than speed, or rat poison”

Surprisingly, the Anarchist Cookbook has actual recipes in it. He describes mixing up a “stimulating drink,” which is basically a banana smoothie with weed in it (sounds great). Also he calls weed “grass” through the entire book, which cracked me up.

The later chapters are less endearing, the electronics chapter was made completely obsolete with modern technology, but was fun to skim. In the weapons section, he talks about how a common lady’s hatpin would do well in a pinch, and I don’t really think that’s very useful advice any more.

The chapter on explosives is literally just tables of weight ratios of chemicals. It is just raw numbers, and I am not completely sure that you couldn’t just google any of it. Of course, you’d end up on a watch list, but we’re doing this for academic purposes anyway, so that’s fine. Who isn’t on a watchlist these days.

In conclusion, I would say that the cookbook was interesting to read as an anarchist, fun to pick out the old-timey slang, and very quotable. If you are looking for an entertaining read, I highly recommend it. If you’re looking for a how-to, go to youtube.