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Steal This Book

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Steal This Book
Cover of Steal This Book
AuthorAbbie Hoffman
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPirate Editions / Grove Press
Publication date
1971
Publication placeUnited States
Pages308 +xii, illustrations, bibliography[1]
ISBN1-56858-053-3
OCLC32589277
335/.83 20
LC ClassHX843.7.H64 A3 1971a

Steal This Book is a book written by Abbie Hoffman. Written in 1970 and published in 1971, the book exemplified the counterculture of the sixties. The book sold more than a quarter of a million copies between April and November 1971.[2]

The book is, in the style of the counterculture, mainly focused on ways to fight the government, and against corporations in any way possible. The book is written in the form of a guide to the youth. Hoffman, a political and social activist himself, used many of his own activities as the inspiration for some of his advice in Steal This Book.[3]

Origins

The main author of the book, Abbie Hoffman, was one of the most influential and recognizable American activists of the late-1960s and early-1970s, gaining fame with his leadership in anti–Vietnam War protests. Aside from Hoffman, several people were involved in the compilation of Steal This Book including Izak Haber, who is listed as "co-conspirator", and Bert Cohen who is listed as "accessory after the fact" on the cover. Tom Forcade was not credited in the book, but Hoffman later admitted that he had taken part in some of the editing before being replaced by Bert Cohen.[4][5] Steal This Book was written in the climate of the counter-culture, in which opposition to tradition and government was rampant, and experimentation with new forms of living was encouraged. When the book was published, it took hold among the new left, especially among students on college campuses, such as Brandeis University, where Hoffman had been a student.[6]

Content

Steal This Book is divided into three sections, "Survive!", "Fight!" and "Liberate!". Each section has several sub-chapters. As the book has aged, the specific details of the various techniques and advice Hoffman gives have become largely obsolete for technological or regulatory reasons, but the book iconically reflects the hippie zeitgeist.

"Survive!" describes techniques of obtaining "free" things through legal and extra-legal means to survive "on the run." It includes chapters on how to acquire food, clothing, furniture, transportation, land, housing, education, medical care, communication, entertainment, money, drugs, and other assorted items and services. Suggestions include the use of slug coins, taking advantage of government and church hand-outs, and a variety of shoplifting techniques.

The section "Fight!" includes chapters on starting an underground press, guerrilla radio, guerrilla television, what to bring to a demonstration that’s expected to be violent, how to make an assortment of home-made bombs, first aid for street fighters, legal advice, how to seek political asylum, guerrilla warfare, gun laws, and identification papers. This section also includes advice on such topics as growing cannabis, living in a commune, and obtaining a free buffalo from the Department of the Interior.

The third section is "Liberate!", and focuses on local solutions in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The book also includes an appendix that lists "approved" organizations and other books worth stealing.[7]

The "Pig Empire"

In the book, Hoffman referred to America as the "Pig Empire" and stated that it was not immoral to steal from it: In fact, Hoffman wrote, it was immoral not to do so.[8] The term was picked up by the Yippies, and was widely used by what became known as the "Woodstock Nation".[9] In place of "America", Hoffman also referred to the nation as "Amerika."

Publication and Reception

Steal This Book was rejected by at least thirty publishers before it was able to get into print, and Hoffman was eventually forced to make a publishing company of his own, Pirate Editions, in order to sell the book, with Grove Press as the distributor. Some of the publishers rejected the book out of moral opposition to its content, while others were afraid that they might provoke a negative response from the government. Some editors feared a negative reaction from booksellers, to the title as well as the content. This fear proved to be well-founded: in the US, many regional distributors and bookstores were unwilling to carry the book. In Canada, it was banned outright by the government.

Once it got into print, Steal This Book had widespread readership and became a bestseller mainly through word of mouth. A positive review by Dotson Rader in the New York Times described it as a "necessary" work "of warning and practical knowledge" that had been written with "gentleness and affection". He wrote that the book had received no reviews and that only one paper had permitted an advertisement, though the book had sold 100,000 copies. Rader felt that the "remarkable" suppression of the book constituted a form of "fearsome censorship".[10]

On the success of the book, Hoffman was quoted as saying, "It's embarrassing when you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List."[citation needed]

Subsequent to publication, two contributors to the book, Tom Forcade and Izak Haber, had a dispute with Hoffman. Forcade accused him of failing to pay sufficient royalties, contravening the contract Hoffman had made. Hoffman responded that Forcade had done an "inadequate job" of editing the book. Haber threatened to sue Hoffman for breaking his contract; he claimed that he was due 22% of the royalties for having compiled and written the book but received only $1000.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ CATNYP: New York Public Library online catalog
  2. ^ Bill Hartel (August 26, 1996). "Steal This Book-Abbie's Magnum Opus".
  3. ^ Linder, Douglas O. (21 Feb 2012). "The Chicago Seven Conspiracy Trial". UMKC School of Law.
  4. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (September 2, 1971). "Abbie Hoffman Accused Before 'Court' of Peers". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Simplified Justice". The New York Times. September 3, 1971.
  6. ^ Gitlin, Todd (1987). The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. Toronto: Bantam. ISBN 9780553052336. OCLC 781900043.
  7. ^ Hoffman, Abbie; Izak Haber; Bert Cohen (1996). Steal This Book. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
  8. ^ Raskin, Jonah (1996). For the Hell of It. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21379-3.
  9. ^ Harris, Randy (1993). The Linguistics Wars. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509834-X.
  10. ^ Rader, Dotson (July 18, 1971). "Book Review: Steal This Book". The New York Times. p. BR19.
  11. ^ Graham, Fred P. (September 9, 1971). "Abbie Hoffman Accused Before 'Court' of Peers". New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
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