Subject: Anarchist Cookbook FAQ

Many people are interested in the "Anarchist Cookbook" and repetitive questions
often appear in groups such as rec.pyrotechnics and alt.engr.explosives. In order to cut down on this traffic, I have prepared a FAQ file on the Anarchist Cookbook. A WWW version is at ftp://ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/ucb/sprite/www/an.html and a text version is at ftp://ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/ucb/sprite/www/an.faq. Feel free to repost this file to the net or email it to anyone who needs it.

Note: I would like to make it totally clear that I am not an anarchist and I do not advocate the overthrow of the U. S. Government by force, sabotage, violence, or terrorism.

If you have comments or additional information for this file, please send it to me at shirriff@eng.sun.com.

Ken Shirriff, shirriff@eng.sun.com
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~shirriff

Subject: What is the Anarchist Cookbook?

The Anarchist Cookbook, by William Powell, is a 160 page book, originally published
in 1971 by Lyle Stuart. It is currently published by Barricade Books under ISBN 0-9623032-0-8. (Note that the name is not the "Anarchist's Cookbook"; there is no possessive in the name.)

The table of contents should give an idea of what the book is about:

A prefatory note on Anarchism today by P. M. Bergman

Chapter 1: Drugs

From pot to hydrangea leaves.

Chapter 2: Electronics, Sabotage, and Surveillance

From electronic bugging devices to telephone and communications sabotage.

Chapter 3: Natural, Nonlethal, and Lethal Weapons

From natural weapons to defense and medical treatment for gases.

Chapter 4: Explosives and Booby Traps

From how to make nitroglycerine to cacodyal.

Some people consider the Anarchist Cookbook to be a classic while many people consider it total junk. Many anarchists say that the Anarchist Cookbook has nothing to do with "real anarchy." The Anarchist Cookbook generally has a bad reputation on Usenet.

Subject: Can I get the original Anarchist Cookbook off the net?

I am told that it will soon be for sale online (along with other "underground" materials) from E-Logic ( nxtc@midusa.net ); they are licensing it from Barricade Books.

If you're looking for a free copy of the real Anarchist Cookbook, note that this would technically illegal, as it is a copyrighted book. More to the point, it's unlikely you'll be able to find it; I've never found it online despite extensive searching (although http://ntas-edu.cudenver.edu/pyrotechnics/Text-files/Pyrotechnics/D-F/extracts-from-AC.txt
has excerpts from the explosives section). Several people insist they've seen the whole Anarchist Cookbook online, but nobody has been able to give me a path.

Most of the claims that the Anarchist Cookbook can be ftp'd or has been posted
are based on confusion between the original Anarchist cookbook and online files
with content and/or name similar to the Anarchist Cookbook (e.g. The Anarchist's
Home Companion, Gunzenbombz Anarchist's Cookbook, BHU Anarchist Cookbook). These are, however, not the real, original Anarchist Cookbook and are just ripping off the name. I feel it is important to keep this straight.

As for other similar files, you can get the Big Book of Mischief, the Terrorist's
Handbook, and other files in ftp://wiretap.spies.com/Library/Untech.
Cudenver (above) also has related files (such as the black books) available over the WWW. Other sources of information are

http://www.stack.urc.tue.nl/~pier/Books/TACB/index.html

http://ruby.arts.kuleuven.Ac.be/~warlord/terr/terr.html

http://www.mds.mdh.se/~dat94avi/2600/anarchy/

http://ntas-edu.cudenver.edu/pyrotechnics/pyroindex.html

ftp://ftp.std.com/obi/Mischief

ftp://crh0843.urh.uiuc.edu/pub/badstuff/docs/anarchist.cookbook.gz

http://www.altie.org/~wrose/Jolly/jolly-roger.html

http://www.wood.army.mil/DCD/SYSTEMS/_demo.htm

http://www.intersurf.com/~materva

You can use AltaVista (http://www.altavista.digital.com)
to find more sites.

The quality of these files ranges from somewhat dangerous to largely fictional, and I wouldn't recommend them for anything other than entertaining reading.

Subject: What are the other online cookbooks like?

The Big Book of Mischief: explosives, propellants, bombs, ignition devices, firearms, rockets, cannons, pyrotechnics. Includes theory and safety information. This is one of the better online cookbooks I've seen (but I still wouldn't make anything from it).

The Terrorist's Handbook (Gunzenbomz): explosives, lock picking, ignition devices, projectiles, rockets, cannons, pyrotechnics. Doesn't seem as good as The Big Book of Mischief (it gives advice on stealing chemicals from labs).

The Anarchist Cookbook IV (not the original Anarchist Cookbook of course) aka the BHU Pyrotechnics Cookbook; a superset of the Jolly Roger Cookbook: counterfeiting, lock picking, explosives, bombs, revenge, vandalism, hacking, killing, drugs. Much of this was apparently written by an antisocial high-school student: grind gum into the school carpet, put a potato in the principal's car's tailpipe, annoy the clerks at McDonald's. It also contains obviously unworkable explosive plans such as the auto exhaust flame thrower and the fertilizer bomb. This is one of the worst online books.

Anarchy Cookbook aka the Anarchist's Home Companion: introduction to the anarchial
arts, theft, destruction, weapons, explosives, pyrotechnics. It has obvious ideas for the antisocial: spraypainting graffiti, bricks through windows, shoplifting, torturing cats; and the sort of explosives a teenager would invent after too many action movies: the "ammonia pellet" napalm bomb and the C-4 detonated by a mousetrap. This is another of the worst cookbooks.

Black Books aka Improvised Munitions Handbooks: improvised explosives, bombs,
firearms, timers, etc. This is an online version of the US Army Technical Manual 31-210; it's not a copyright violation since your tax dollars already paid for it (17 USC 105). You can get it in original book form with lots of diagrams for about $5 from various sources, such as Sierra Supply (303)-259-1822. On the positive side, these formulas are allegedly tested by the government, rather than invented by bored teenagers; on the negative side, since they are intended for improvised wartime use don't be surprised if you blow yourself up. If you're a crazed survivalist waiting to defend against invading Soviet tanks, this is
the book to have.

I'm open for suggestions on modifications or additional reviews.

Subject: Where can I get the Anarchist Cookbook?

The easiest way is from your local bookstore. This is not a snide way of telling
you to get lost, but a serious answer. Go to the counter and ask for "Books
in Print, Titles A-D". Flip to the "Anarchist Cookbook". (Or just give them
the ISBN above.) Tell the bookstore to order it for you. You will get it in
a few weeks. This really works.

Alternatively, you can send $22 (includes postage) to Barricade Books, PO Box
1401, Secaucus NJ 07096. Other mail order places also sell it, such as Paladin
Press.

You can also buy it from the online bookstore http://www.amazon.com.

I am told that in New Zealand, the Cookbook is classified as an "indecent publication",
and attempting to import it could land you with heavy fines or even a jail sentence. So be careful if you're in a country with restrictive import laws. On the other hand, in Canada I am told it is sold by the Coles Books chain everywhere.

Email E-Logic (above) for the latest information on a genuine online version.

Subject: Can you send me a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook by email?

No. Get a life. :-)

Subject: Is the Anarchist Cookbook safe and accurate?

No. According to people who know explosives, it contains
many dangerous errors and formulas that are likely to hurt you. People strongly advise to stay away from it if you enjoy having your limbs.

If you want to read it just for entertainment, however, go ahead. I thought it was rather silly and contained a lot of tedious 60's political rhetoric. I'd suggest saving your money, but buy it if you want.

Also note that kids regularly blind, maim, deafen, or kill themselves or their friends by playing around with pipe bombs and other explosives. Please avoid this, as it will not only mess up your life and upset your parents, but also motivates laws against the Internet and professional pyrotechnicians.

A few safety tips to think about: a) Constantly ask yourself, what would happen to me if this mixture blew up _right_now_, say from static electricity? b) Look at a .22 and consider that the few grams of gunpowder in this could kill you thousands of feet away. Admittedly a gun is a special case, but the point is that a little bit of explosive can fling deadly bits of metal long distances at you. c) You don't need high explosives to hurt yourself; people get themselves killed with match heads, gasoline, or gunpowder.

Subject: I'm a journalist. Isn't it terrible that people can get the
Anarchist Cookbook over the net? Shouldn't this be stopped?

Note that the Anarchist Cookbook available from nearly any bookstore in the U.S. These dangerous institutions will also sell you Nazi literature, pornography, instructions on growing drugs, and so forth. For some reason, getting this stuff from a bookstore is not news, but getting it over the Internet is. Before calling for restrictions on the Internet, think of how you would like these restrictions to be applied to books, which really provide much more dangerous information than the Internet does.

Subject: Where can I get information on making big bombs?

Strangely, the US government uses tax dollars to make this information available. The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service publishes the "Blaster's Handbook", which explains how to make large ammonium nitrate/fuel oil bombs. This book is available as FSH7109.51 or Government Publication Office item 86-C. One might wonder why the government is so concerned about explosives information on the Internet when it provides the same information itself.

Subject: Does the Anarchist Cookbook really contain errors?

Yes. Lots of them. A classic error is the recipe for extracting the drug bananadine from banana peels. The flaw is that bananadine does not exist; it was mentioned in the March 1967 Berkeley Barb as a joke but the Anarchist Cookbook took it seriously. [Reference: "Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, p. 336, thanks to Lamont Granquist.]

There are more inaccuracies in the demolition section. Most of this section
was cribbed from the U.S. Army Field Manual 5-25 "Explosives and Demolitions". However, the Cookbook discussion is simplified or even made up in several cases. For instance, while the Field Manual has a long discussion of the difficulty of demolishing suspension bridges, the Cookbook simply gives six places to put charges.

For a review with several specific errors, see the anarchistic publisher Spunk Press's rather negative page on the Anarchist Cookbook: http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/cookbook.html
. Also check out their page for information on their new Anarchist Cookbook (a real cookbook with food recipes).

Also see a review at http://hyperreal.com/drugs/faqs/FAQ-Clandestine-Chemistry
that describes the Anarchist Cookbook as a flawed classic, full of all sorts of mistakes.

For a detailed look at some errors, I have analyzed one paragraph from the Anarchist Cookbook:

| "To conclude this chapter, I will present the most horrendous recipe I
| could find.  Since it is not feasible to make napalm in your kitchen,
| you will have to be satisfied with cacodyal.  This is made by
| chemically extracting all the oxygen from alcohol and then replacing
| it, under laboratory conditions, with metal arsenic.  The formula for
| alcohol is C4H5O, whereas for cacodyal it is C4H5AR.  Now, this new
| substance, cacodyal, possesses spontaneous inflammability, the moment
| it is exposed to the air.  [Followed by a description of the deadly
| arsenic fumes it gives off]"

Now for a closer look at this paragraph: a) There isn't actually a recipe described
above, unless you consider "replace oxygen with arsenic" to be a recipe. It starts out telling you something to do in your kitchen and ends up with "in laboratory conditions." b) The formula for alcohol is C2H6O (C2H5OH), not C4H5O. You can't have C4H5O. c) The valence of oxygen is 2. The valence of arsenic is 3 or 5. Thus, simply replacing oxygen with arsenic isn't possible. d) The symbol for arsenic is As, not AR. e) The Merck Index and the dictionary list cacodyl (notice the Cookbook's misspelling) as As2(CH3)2. This formula is totally different from C4H5AR.

So, there are four obvious errors and a totally useless recipe in one short paragraph. I hope this brief review has pointed out the quality of the information in the Anarchist Cookbook.

(As a random aside, the early studies of cacodyl were done by Dr. Bunsen (of burner fame), who lost one eye and nearly died of arsenic poisoning in the process.)

Subject: Did the CIA sabotage the Anarchist Cookbook?

Some people claim that the CIA/FBI/author/whoever sabotaged the Anarchist Cookbook
to blow up would-be anarchists or to make the recipes fail. However, there is little evidence to support this theory. I find it much more likely that the errors are just due to incompetence. Note that many of the above errors (e.g. wrong symbol for arsenic, wrong formula for alcohol) don't sabotage anything but are just stupid errors. I would expect that if it were deliberately sabotaged, it wouldn't have errors like these.

There are a few suspicious things, however. For example, while the truss bridge demolition illustration is redrawn directly from the U.S. Army Field Manual, one charge is misplaced in the figure and the bridge won't be entirely severed. This could be a deliberate change, but it's more likely just a copying error.

Subject: What was the author's motivation?

I received the following long but interesting message:

| I was Bill Powell's roommate and close friend during the 60's when Bill
| wrote the book. Bill and I were working for Bookmasters, an independent
| bookstore chain that is no longer in business. Bill was 19 when he wrote
| book. 
| 
| The idea of the Anarchist Cookbook was originally conceived as a series
| of recipes in the form of broadsides that would be pasted up all over
| Manhattan. Recipe #1 would be a how to for a molotov cocktail, #2 - how
| to make LSD, etc. The idea was never acted upon. It grew from
| discussions at the IWW headquarters in NYC (4th Street between C and D);
| this apartment also housed Resurgent Youth, and the League for Sexual
| Freedom. I lived there for several years before moving out and into an
| apartment on 10th Street between First and A with Bill. 
| 
| He liked the idea and one day quit his job and started on the book. He
| got all his information from manuals at the public library and current
| magazines. Most of the stories and anecdotes were made up. Bill was
| never an Anarchist and had no philosophy. We had a few large arguments
| after I read the early drafts of the book.
| 
| At any rate he sent this out to every publisher he could find. The
| rejection slips were fascinating. Some were actually apologetic because
| they couldn't publish the book. Lyle Stuart published the book for a
| number of reasons. At the time Librarians across the US were being
| intimidated by the FBI and CIA who wanted to get names of people
| checking out books they felt were subversive. Lyle Stuart felt that
| publishing this book would make those efforts meaningless since people
| could simply buy the book without signing for it. Anyway Lyle did
| publish the book. 
| 
| In my opinion the event of publishing the book was important. The
| contents are garbage. This was a very dangerous and brave publishing act
| for the 1960's. 
| 
| Bill moved to Putney, VT, married, had a baby, divorced, became a right
| wing reactionary voice in the local college. He was in Alaska briefly
| working as a timekeeper in Valdez on the pipeline. I later heard that he
| was teaching English in Saudi Arabia. 
| 
| The concept was Anarchism but the book is nihilism. He took the idea and
| assembled a book from other books. The rewrite consisted of replacing
| all photos and drawings from their sources with drawings and
| paraphrasing a lot of material. Lyle used it to negate FBI and CIA
| efforts to get names of book readers.

Subject: Where can I get more information?

Look at the rec.pyrotechnics FAQ file, which, like most FAQ files, can be ftp'd
from rtfm.mit.edu: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/rec.pyrotechnics
.

Disclaimer: The Anarchist Cookbook describes activities which may be dangerous and illegal. In addition, the Anarchist Cookbook contains many dangerous errors. I strongly advise against performing any of these activities. I am serious about this. If you hurt yourself, don't blame me. I have no connection with the Anarchist Cookbook. I am not engaged in any illegal activity, so BATF please don't raid me.

Copyright 1995 Ken Shirriff

Ken Shirriff shirriff@eng.sun.com http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~shirriff

PGP fingerprint: EF7E44B29D27008A ABD587C5FCF38434, key on homepage