The Anarchist’s Cookbook was probably my favorite text that we have read as a class this year. It definitely seemed a little more light-hearted than texts like 120 Days of Sodom and Mein Kampf. I was able to find humor in this book and I actually enjoyed reading it and I read it all the way through this time.
The book contained many different recipes for weed-baked goods and different ways to get high with a variety of substances. The sheer number of recipes that were contained in this text was astounding and I had no idea you get high off of a lot of these substances. The book itself did not have much ideological content related to anarchism but I liked it just the way it was. The amount of research that went into this text really impressed me and with this text, I feel like I’ve learned the most compared to the other texts we have read. The little anecdote about the marijuana plants in the sewers of New York was funny to me. People flushed their weed down the toilet to avoid being caught and as a result the weed began growing the sewers of New York, even without sunlight. If I remember correctly, the book said that it was also possible to get high off a banana peel, or a combination of items including a banana peel.
I can definitely understand the argument that The Anarchist’s Cookbook would be a forbidden text. I mean it contains a plethora of drug related content as well as information about how to make a bunch of different weapons. If this text were to be discovered who was really bent on raising hell, it would not be very difficult for them to make a choice as to what they wanted to do.
