The Anarchist Cookbook
ISBN:9780974458908

First off, this is not a novel. It is literally a "cookbook", full of recipes to construct various weapons, booby traps, drug grows, etc. Some of the info is a bit out dated (the book was written about 40 years ago) but still entertaining to read. 99% of the recipe's should NEVER be tried at home. You could get hurt BAD. My favorite section is the one on hand to hand combat and non lethal weapons. The contents of that particular section could still be utilized today. Overall, it was okay. Not amazing, not horrible, just okay. If you don't buy it, your not really missing out on anything.

Amazon, you should be ashamed of yourselves to sell this book. It has caused nothing but damage and heartbreak since it's first printing ( the same goes for you Lyle Stuart) I believe in absolute freedom of the press, BUT, companies as big as Amazon have a responsibility not to sell such dangerous and wrong headed items.
SHAME ON YOU!

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...

This book is dated in its information and outdated at the same time. I purchased this book years ago and after reading it was very disappointed. The constant raving about Nixon got tiresome and the technological aspects do not apply to today's technology advancements. This book rates with Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book. Lame. Save your money and buy a military manual or at the very least something that is up to date and not political. Also the recipes in this book are very dangerous and I question even if they would work half way.

Mind the korny title, but with all seriousness this book was a good read. Cookbook - not really, information is a little wrong, but more along the collector's line of books. Its more of inspiration and philosophy, this symbolizes America, freedom to live, and maintain freedom. And in a socialist state as America is now, this book must be kept!