Writing style
Direct · Fragmentary · Technical
The Anarchist Cookbook
Politics and government
- First published
- 1971
- Print length
- 162 pagesLyle Stuart, 1971
Description
Written in 1971 as a protest against the Vietnam War and the era’s political climate, William Powell’s counterculture manual combines an argument for anarchist revolt with collected instructions for illegal and dangerous activities. Its opening presents anarchy as a mass uprising grounded in individualism and human nature. Subsequent sections range across hand-to-hand combat, surveillance, illicit communications, drugs, sabotage, booby traps, tear gas, demolition, and improvised weapons. The result is less a sustained political theory than a volatile period document in which youthful opposition to state power becomes a practical compendium of transgression. Because the material can cause injury or death and has prompted legal controversy, its historical significance is inseparable from the risks of its contents.
Reading profile
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Pace
Variable
Tone
Dark · Earnest · Irreverent · Unsettling
Structure
Argumentative · Reference
Focus
Argument · Ideas · Information
Emotional intensity
4 / 5
Reading complexity
1–5 · higher means more demanding- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 2 / 5
Themes
Book details
For the print edition listed above.
- Publisher
- Lyle Stuart
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9780818400049
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