American Anarchist Page #4

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a part of that book.

That was never a part of

the Bill that I had met.

Sometimes, when you're an

adolescent, you do dumb things.

Not all of them put it

into print, though.

That's...

Okay.

The reason that we

chose to show this to you

and this point

in the workshop

is if we're not paying attention

to something,

it's easy to miss it.

My wife and I

travel extensively

to international schools

working with teachers

to become more inclusive

of children

who learn differently.

In my last school, my teachers,

well, none of them

really understood

uh, my learning disability.

As soon as they put the question

up on the board they'd say,

"Okay, everyone else has

got it, why haven't you got it?"

Just, the pressure.

The pressure and the stress

does not help you.

Kids that,

if the conditions are right,

do turn to violence.

Both of you have had

some learning support

here at Hong Kong Academy.

Oftentimes when we're

talking with students

who are getting

learning support,

we don't ask

about their strengths.

And I would be

very interested.

What strengths do you have?

That you feel pretty good about,

you feel proud about.

Being the author

of "The Anarchist Cookbook,"

the irony of my career

is not lost on me either.

From "The Anarchist Cookbook"

to teaching

emotional intelligence.

When was the first

time you learned of a connection

between an act of violence

and the book.

It was Columbine.

Okay.

The guy was in

a black trenchcoat.

Oh, my god...

I was under a table

and people were getting shot

all around me.

The boys who created

the massacre there...

they had a copy of

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

I was very upset.

And I'm a teacher.

The last thing

I would want to do

is to see students

hurt or killed.

It was appalling.

How did you learn that the

book was associated with Columbine?

I got an email from

a friend in the United States

who had seen the film

"Bowling for Columbine,"

and had seen the book

in the film.

The thing is,

I have a thing,

it's called

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

It shows you how to make bombs

and stuff like that in it.

If there's anything that went wrong,

they're gonna come to me first.

Just 'cause

you owned a copy of the book?

-Just 'cause I own a...

-Never made a bomb yourself?

Nope. Oh, as in, like...

Oh, I've made 'em.

I imagine you had

some kind of visceral reaction?

Yeah, I mean, you...

you, um...

You feel terrible.

You, um, feel sick

to your stomach and...

Was your

instinct to try to learn more?

There was part of me that didn't

want to know anything about it.

Um, and there was part of me

that was torn apart about it

that did want to learn more.

At this point,

we're in the Internet age,

you know, everyone

Googles themself,

and you have a book

that you can search.

At any point

did you start to look at

whether the book was connected

to any other events?

I did do a Google search of

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

And there was hundreds

and hundreds of entries.

Um, but I didn't... I didn't

spend a whole lot of time

going through them.

That was awesome!

This is

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

I got this from Amazon.

As you can see before you,

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

The information in the book

is really good information.

Fire in the hole!

It's usable, it's practical.

They show you how

to do this sh*t.

Somewhere along the line they appropriated

William Powell's original title.

You can find

things online that call themselves

some version of

"The Anarchist Cookbook."

Whoa!

Oh, my god!

This is not just a cookbook,

this is a book of ideas.

Hey, guys, today we're going to be playing

some more Super Columbine Massacre.

The boys downloaded a page

from "The Anarchist Cookbook."

It was clear to me

there had been

a resurgence of interest.

So I put out a statement

through Amazon.

"I have recently been made

aware of several websites

"that focus on

'The Anarchist Cookbook.'

"The central idea of the book

was that

"violence is an acceptable means

to bring about political change.

"I no longer agree with this.

"I want to state categorically

that I am not in agreement

"with the contents of

'The Anarchist Cookbook.'

"I consider it

to be a misguided

"and potentially

dangerous publication

that should be taken

out of print."

This is your

first public statement,

what's the response?

I received no direct

response from anyone.

I did note that

some publications,

"The Guardian," for example,

picked it up,

and they ran

a very short piece.

"Author wants his book

taken out of print."

Um, I don't know whether it was

picked up elsewhere or not.

But there was no direct

response to me from anyone.

Have you tried to

stop publication of the book?

When the book came out,

it was very,

very clearly copyright

in Lyle Stuart's name.

Lyle Stuart Incorporated.

I did not recognize at the time

that that might be

in any way unusual.

I didn't know enough

about publishing.

Never published before,

19 years old.

And Lyle let me know

that the decision to continue

publishing was his.

That was not my decision.

And, um, basically,

what I had a right to

were the royalties

until such time as,

basically, he bought me out.

Lyle Stuart

declared bankruptcy,

but sold the publishing house.

So he wrote to me and said,

would I accept $10,000

for all of the rights.

And I wrote back

and said absolutely.

I don't want anything

more to do with it.

I thought it would just continue

to fizzle. Fizzle away.

What would have

happened if you had said no?

I don't know.

Did you think

about consulting a lawyer?

To find out what

your options were?

No. I didn't think about that.

Financially did it make sense?

To take the $10,000

versus continue to get...

Well, I wasn't going to get...

I mean, it was very clear

that Lyle wasn't going

to continue to publish it.

So if Lyle Stuart was

not going to publish the book,

but he was asking if you would

take a $10,000 payout

and continue to be published,

why did you not choose

to have Lyle Stuart just

not publish the book?

Mmm. Mmm.

It's a hard question. Um...

I think probably

I thought that the book was

just going to die its own death.

The $10,000 was welcome.

Um, I was living on

a teacher's salary.

Um...

Was that an

opportunity for you to...

It might have been.

It might have been

an opportunity for me to...

But he was making a lot

of money out of the book.

So I knew how many

copies were being sold.

And I knew

what I was receiving.

And it was a lot?

A lot of sales. Yeah, it was.

So the book was not fizzling?

Well, it was. It was.

During the '70s,

you're being paid royalties.

At any time

were you uncomfortable

with the fact that you were

receiving money

while you're uncomfortable

with the content of the book?

Hmm.

Yeah. I...

The royalties

were not substantial,

but I was growing uncomfortable

with receiving them.

But I continued to do so.

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