Anarchist's Cookbook

There are a few different versions out there, but they’re all essentially the same.

Many of the recipes are incomplete, and they’re so dangerous that a theory arose in some underground circles that the Cookbook was written by an FBI agent for the express purpose of killing Anarchists…

I’d leave it unread where I found it and use something like the Jolly Roger for my information (though I wouldn’t actually TRY any of the experiments, of course…)

-David

      • I will.
      • I thought that stuff in Oklahoma was found to be amm. nitrate (diesel -n- fertilier) which is a low-powered explosive. Better than Cheerios and milk, but not particularly impressive; about the same as gun propellant, which you can buy by the 5-lb can if you want.
  • When I saw explosives made, most seemed to require methanol sooner or later. Due to methanol’s “other” “new” use in making crystal meth, places that sell it are a bit more leery of selling to someone who they don’t know has a legitimate use. If the cops show up expecting to bust you for making meth but find you making explosives, they won’t care too much; the paperwork is pretty much the same to them. - It is still pretty easy to make some serious firecrackers cheap, though. The stuff we used is still stocked on regular store shelves like it was back then. - MC

“I wasn’t really looking for “recipes” as much as the history of the volume. Why was it written and how did it come to the attention of the government ?”

According to the 1971 edition of the “Cookbook” …

The first “cookbook” that was sold openly was written by J.H. Most (Emma Goldman’s teacher) around the turn of the last century. It was titled, “The Science of Revolutionary Warfare”.
Most was one of the first Marxist deputies to the German Riechstag.

The Anarchist Cookbook was written by William Powell, and copyrighted in 1971 by Lyle Stuart Inc.
(Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 71-127797)
It includes about twenty pages of “introduction” (political rationalization) that was written by Peter Bergman.
It would probably make interesting reading for someone that understands his politics, considering that it was written during the war in Veitnam. (and the “Cold War”)
I wonder how his opinions would look (to someone that understands them) in light of the current situation with the former Soviet Union.
Some of the frequently recurring words and names that he uses to reinforce his positions are: Marx, Nihilism, Lenin, Hegel, Veitnam, Nixon, and Kent State.
(I can’t tell for sure where he really stands on any of it)

Powell’s motives are much easier to understand.
(for what they’re worth)
“If I could come out in this book and advocate complete revolution and the violent overthrow of the United States of America, without being thrown in jail, I would not have written The Anarchist Cookbook, and there would be no need for it.”

The recipes are real, (as far as they go) and very dangerous.
The section on drugs includes a complete copy of the patent application for the process of manufacturing LSD.
(there’s a big difference between an individual, voluntarily doing a single hit of acid, and an anarchist dispensing gallons of it, anywhere it serves his purposes)
The Explosives section includes a detailed (complete?) description of the process of making nitroglycerin, as well as 61 different ammonium nitrate compounds. (including household substitutes for most chemicals)
There are also hundreds of plans for misc. bombs, boobie-traps, silencers and weaponry.
(not very much on safety precautions: static charges, temp.changes, leeching, compression limits, spontaneous combustion, etc.)

The first sentence in the Explosives section:
“This chapter is going to kill and maim more people than all the rest put together, because people refuse to take things seriously.”

I’m all for freedom of information, but this book makes me question whether any principle should be absolute.
…especially since most of the “kids” that now have access to this information are not nearly as concerned with civil liberties, as they are about what the other kids think of them.

I read the web copy of the book and downloaded a lot of it for potential ‘future reference,’ but I cracked up reading it, especially the way some of the ‘contributors’ wrote their information in it and expressed their warnings.

Like ‘this might be a bit dangerous, so it is suggested to test it in some open space, far from everyone else, with a long fuse so that you don’t get blown to bits when you light it.’

Or ‘mix thoroughly, cap it, throw it and then get yourself out of there as fast as possible to avoid being caught it the resultant explosion.’

I even liked the one that said something like ‘I don’t know if this works, but it should. E-mail me with your results.’

Even the one with the ‘radioactive bomb’ made of the glow chemicals from those light sticks and something like clear gook that is harmless but startling to the victim. The creator stated that ‘your subject will no doubt find it alarming to hear a loud pop and find himself and the locality covered in glowing material, but you will find it amusing.’

Of course there are the instructions on how to obtain some hard to find chemicals, like you should go and break into certain chemical supply houses or doctors offices because they carry the stuff, but in doing so, you need to be careful because the cops might arrest you and throw you in jail.

Unfortunately, our freedom of speech allows this to be published, even though the web guys should take a bit of responsibility, and you just know that there are many out there who WILL make the pipe bombs, will make the C-4, will try making gun powder and will use the various home made explosives on someone or, accidentally, on themselves.

No doubt someone out there with a criminal tendency has gotten the instructions to make disposable .22 caliber silencers and will use them on someone else and there will be someone who now knows how to make napalm and is going to use it on a person or building.

I found the text interesting, but I don’t think that it should be available for just everyone or so darn easy to get. I mean, in some places, it’s harder to get pornography through the mail than to get the book and pornography, so far as I know, has never been used to maul, maim or kill anyone.


      • Uhh, , ,
      • The real, actual printed books that I’ve seen don’t say anything like “try this and e-mail me to let me know how it works”. The books say “step 1, , ,step 2, , ,step 3, , ,”.
      • .22 silencers aren’t difficult to make, and, uh, , -
      • neither is (a reasonable approximation of) napalm. Making flamethrowers is something of an anarchist “benchmark”; the stuff usually is (it’s simple but Unca Cece don’t want it said here, likely). Mixed right, it’s very thick and heavy. The catch is, you need something that you can wear like a backpack, that is capable of squirting the mixture a useable distance away from you. You might imagine that you can’t really carry more than a couple cubic ft of the stuff at best, and considering how much pressure it takes to spray the gunk, the practical capacity for fuel can end up quite small. As far as I’ve read, there isn’t really anything that can do it off-the-shelf, except an actual flamethrower. If yuo D-I-Y, you will have (strapped to your backside) flammable fuel, under pressure, burning. Paging Sgt. Murphy . . .
      • I recall seeing a site of a guy who actually owns a flamethrower (I think it was linked to that “pumpkin cannon”[punkin’ chukin’] site); I dunno how-n-th-hell he got it. I believe military stuff is classified as “destructive devices” under US federal laws, but I ain’t heard of anybody making one, and then publicising it. - MC

The web-versions of the Cookbook have very little in common with the book that William Powell wrote.
(even though some stole his title, name, and a few “recipes”)
He was concerned with revolutionary change, and the concept that ordinary citizens should have the power to disrupt and resist “big brother”, if need arises.(however naive or misguided his methods were)
These people are only interested in “fucking up shit for fun”.
That’s vandalism, not anarchy.

… and only a complete idiot, or a child, would rely on any of their instructions.
What bonehead is going to trust their life (or freedom) to an author that gives equal attention to the following subjects, that he gives to lethal weapons and high explosives?

Do ya hate school?
Ripping off change machines
Breaking into houses
Fun at K-mart
Getting money out of pay phones
Phone related vandalism
Fucking with the opperator
Terrorizing McDonalds

These phakerz are obviously targeting children with this, for no other reason than to fuel their pseudo-2600 egos.

… this stuF is bound to kill some kidz

Here is a bit of trivia which I hope will answer MC’s implicit questions. I don’t know about pumpkin shooters specifically, but I do know that potato shooters are not at all regulated by Federal law, and there is a letter from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to the effect that potato shooters are 100% legal as far as they are concerned.

I don’t think flamethrowers are regulated under Federal law either. They are not guns, after all, so they don’t fall under any provision of the National Firearms Act, including the destructive device provisions. It’s ironic that the arm which uses fire in it purest form is not a firearm, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, since I bet fire codes treat flamethrowers as among the greatest of hazards, so owning one is probably prohibited, or effectively prohibited, pretty much everywhere.


Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental.

I read the Anarchist book & also the web book & they seem pretty much the same to me. The web book doesn’t have pictures, though.

The reason I don’t mention the specific chemicals is, because believe it or not, the FBI/CIA has been known to record anyone on the net talking about that stuff.

I read the book a long time ago - jr. high or something… The one device I remember (has been deleted by manhattan). It was called a firebomb or sulpher bomb or something equally pleasant.

At the time I thought it was a brilliant concept (“why didn’t I think of that???”), but now I just think back and grin. That was jr. high after all.

Does anyone know if that thing would actually work? What kind of power would it have?

Oops. Knock on the door - maybe I shouldn’t have asked! :eek:

[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]
[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]

I just knew this would happen in this thread. Folks, even in the pursuit of knowledge, please do not post instructions on how to make explosive devices, even rudimentary ones. You understand that the Straight Dope and the Chicago Reader want to proceed gingerly on this subject.

It’s worth noting for the benefit of readers of this thread that the “recipe” I edited out of JohnnyHarvard’s post was pretty entry-level, and not some sinister James Bond thing. I’m sure he meant no harm by it. So don’t flame (heh) him. It was just a shade further than I feel comfortable.

[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]

To address MC : Anfo (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) 96/4 is 82% as effective as TNT. That’s a pretty good explosive. Gun Powder is not a real explosive, true (high) explosives cannot be used as propellants or rockets because the shock wave moving through the material ignites it all nearly instantly. I do a lot of research on explosives on the web because of my job and so far the FBI hasn’t come knocking on my door.

I read a story recently about the man who got a hand transplant last year, he’s beginning to have some control and feeling in it. He lost his hand in a “fircracker” accident. Nuff said.

You should have seen version one! I thought I had edited it sufficiently. How would anyone know what I was talking about now that you’ve edited it, Manhattan?

OK, I’ll try again. How about “exploding tennis ball”. Does anyone here know what I’m talking about?

Wait… Forget it. I guess we’re getting beyond the scope of the OP and we won’t be able to discuss these things anyway.

No hard feelings… :frowning:

Frolix, gunpowder does explode all at once! There is a small “explosion” and the bullet is propelled down the barrel of the gun because that’s the path of least resistance. Perhaps your thinking of the primer?

OK, take a one pound block of elemental sodium in one hand, and a bucket of water in the other . . . whoops, maybe that’s going too far . . .


Samuel Vimes, Commander
Night Watch
Citie of Ankh-Morpork

I’ve made an exploding tennis ball. [Construction And Usage Instructions Deleted] It was pretty anticlimactic. All that work for nothing. Well, not much. I think there’s a somewhat large pothole there, now.

–Tim


We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.

[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]

Speaking of explosives, I know that if you mix chemicals like [chemicals deleted], it creates a toxic gas [gas deleted]. In one of the Big Secrets books, it’s mentioned that there have been cases of when the two chemicals were mixed in a toilet bowl, and it exploded. Anybody know if this is actually possible?

[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]

Hmmph. Nickrz’s admonishment. My editing out of just the descriptive name of a device. Apparently our earlier attempts have failed to act as the subtle hints we intended.

Let me make it crystal clear. The Straight Dope Message Board does not publish or suffer to be re-published instructions on how to make explosive devices. Even ones that do not work as intended.

Do Not Post With Instructions On How To Make Things Blow Up.

I tried to tell the guys myself that. tsk.

OK, I saw the Professor do this on Gilligan’s Island once. Take 2 coconut halves, 3 cups of pineapple pie filling, a handful of sand, and 27 sticks of dynamite.

(Further instructions deleted.)

I used to work with a guy who had a friend in college who used to make nitro glycerine. He would freeze the capsules in ice cubes and wait for a very hot day, then space them along the street.

I’ve read parts of The Anarchist’s Cookbook and parts of The Poor Man’s James Bond. You’d have to be a complete idiot to try most of the stuff, and I believe that a lot of it has been made obsolete by modern technology.

The Poor Man’s James Bond has plans for a “guided missile”. Basically a radio-controled Estes rocket. Oh yeah, the Branch Davidians could’ve used a few of THOSE! Hahahahahaha!

Read 'em for laughs; but the only ones who could ever possibly think most of that stuff is useful probably picks up his mouse and points it at the screen and wonders why it doesn’t do anything.

[Note: While it is pretty useless, it is also very dangerous and illegal to make many of the things in the books. If you want to play with that sort of thing, join the army and use the real stuff.]