Abbie Hoffman
Steal This Book
With new introductions by twenty-first century activists
Lisa Fithian and Al Giordano

"[Steal This Book] reads as if Hoffman decided it was time to sit down and advise his children on what to avoid and what was worth having in America. He says that if you want to be free, then America might kill you. You must know certain things if you are to survive.…" — New York Times

"In Abbie's reflections, hilarious as well as painful, we recognize the schizo psyche of our country today: ebullience and despair rolled into one.… Abbie was the best." — Studs Terkel

"No one in America better represents the spirit of the '60s." — Los Angeles Times

A classic of counterculture literature and one of the most controversial documents of all time, Abbie Hoffman's "outlaw handbook" is as meaningful today as the day it hit the streets in 1970. An alternative guide to life, covering everything from shoplifting and growing marijuana to effective demonstrating and defending yourself in a court of law — and in a brawl — Steal This Book has educated and inspired young activists around the world for more than three decades.

This beautiful new trade paperback edition features introductions by two of today's most important activists, Lisa Fithian and Al Giordano, both of whom worked with Abbie during the 1980s. They provide historical context and personal anecdotes that bring new readers up to speed on Hoffman's unique brand of political wit and humor, his inimitable sense of theater, and his legacy as a voice of spirited defiance in a time of overwhelming uncertainty. For those who lived through the sixties and for those today who are facing off against global conglomerates and government bureaucracies, Abbie's timeless call to arms will provide fresh inspiration.

One of the most influential and recognizable American activists of the twentieth century, Abbie Hoffman was born in 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating from college he became active in the civil rights movement of the early 1960s; later he became an organizer in the growing U.S. counterculture and the anti-Vietnam War movement. His most famous writings include Revolution for the Hell of It, Woodstock Nation, and The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman. He died in 1989.