I have recently been made aware of several websites that focus on The Anarchist
Cookbook. As the author of the original publication some 30 plus years ago, it
is appropriate for me to comment.
The Anarchist Cookbook was written during 1968 and part of 1969 soon after
I graduated from high school. At the time, I was 19 years old and the Vietnam
War and the so-called "counter culture movement" were at their height. I was
involved in the anti-war movement and attended numerous peace rallies and
demonstrations. The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my
adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight
in a war that I did not believe in.

I conducted the research for the manuscript on my own, primarily at the New
York City Public Library. Most of the contents were gleaned from Military and
Special Forces Manuals. I was not member of any radical group of either a left
or right wing persuasion.

I submitted the manuscript directly to a number of publishers without the help
or advice of an agent. Ultimately, it was accepted by Lyle Stuart Inc. and was
published verbatim - without editing - in early 1970. Contrary to what is the
normal custom, the copyright for the book was taken out in the name of the
publisher rather than the author. I did not appreciate the significance of
this at the time and would only come to understand it some years later when I
requested that the book be taken out of print.

The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring
about political change. I no longer agree with this.

Apparently in recent years, The Anarchist Cookbook has seen a number of 'copy
cat' type publications, some with remarkably similar titles (Anarchist
Cookbook II, III etc). I am not familiar with these publications and cannot
comment upon them. I can say that the original Anarchist Cookbook has not been
revised or updated in any way by me since it was first published.

During the years that followed its publication, I went to university, married,
became a father and a teacher of adolescents. These developments had a profound
moral and spiritual effect on me. I found that I no longer agreed with what
I had written earlier and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the
ideas that I had put my name to. In 1976 I became a confirmed Anglican Christian
and shortly thereafter I wrote to Lyle Stuart Inc. explaining that I no longer
held the views that were expressed in the book and requested that The Anarchist
Cookbook be taken out of print. The response from the publisher was that the
copyright was in his name and therefore such a decision was his to make - not
the author's. In the early 1980's, the rights for the book were sold to another
publisher. I have had no contact with that publisher (other than to request that
the book be taken out of print) and I receive no royalties.

Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of
the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state
categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist
Cookbook and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication
discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous
publication which should be taken out of print.

William Powell

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