The Handbook was an updated version of the Cookbook with new ‘recipes’ that took into account the latest technologies. According to Rocco Castoro, former Editor-in-Chief at Vice magazine, a text file called The BHU’s Handbook started to circulate during the 1980s on the ‘bulletin board system’, a primitive version of Reddit. Thanks to the Internet, the Cookbook’s contents have been revised and updated by a number of anonymous authors. Power must be taken, it is never given (Powell, 1971, p. Power is not a material possession that can be given, it is the power to act. I believe that the people in power – not only political power, but also economic and social power – will not non-violently give up that power to the people. However, it is no longer the polemical text, in which Powell wrote:
More than forty years later, the Cookbook continues to be circulated and read.
It’s a fascinating book, not only because of its literally explosive contents but also because of the transformation of its author from violent activist to emotionally intelligent teacher. In my last post, I discussed The Anarchist Cookbook, which was originally published in 1971 by William Powell.
