When news broke that school shooter Karl Pierson had a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, author William Powell called for the book to be "quickly and quietly taken out of print." Now, in an op-ed for the Guardian, Powell elaborates on that change of heart. When he wrote the book, he explains, he was consumed with anger because the US military "seemed single-mindedly determined to send me to fight, and possibly die, in Vietnam." But now, while the source of that anger hasn't changed—government-sanctioned violence "is still very much a feature of our world"—he considers the cookbook a "profoundly flawed" response.
Powell's rage "blinded me to the illogical notion that violence can be used to prevent violence." Now he's a teacher, and he's horrified that his book has been found in the hands of students like Pierson. "I do not know what influence the book may have had" on these often ostracized and disturbed youths, "but I cannot imagine that it was positive." If Powell had the copyright, he'd kill the book. It "serves no purpose other than a commercial one for the publisher." Click for Powell's full piece. (More Anarchist Cookbook stories.)
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