The Anarchist Cookbook and other ‘dangerous’ books
What books should we not sell, and why?
December 6, 2023
Bookshops have an almost unlimited right to carry whatever stock they wish, subject only to a few laws [e.g., intellectual property/copyright]. But just because we have the right to stock anything doesn’t mean we do stock it even if we have access to it. This blog post is a reflection on the choices we make in curating what makes it onto the store’s shelves and what is rejected, and why. This is a first effort at stating our thinking, and it may change as we reflect upon it more deeply. We invite your comments on what you see, and what you might do differently.
A case study is The Anarchist Cookbook. This initially self-printed book from the early 1970’s certainly has philosophical and historical merit. It conveys some of the angry debates of the time at the wind down of the Vietnam War, the youth rebellion, and the questioning of many or America’s historic institution. It puts forth a political point of view that has the right to be heard in the public square, and gives many advices on influencing politics and society. But it does not stop there. It also includes sections that meticulously describe how to make bombs and other weapons from easily available materials. It encourages violence. A reader can become an effective murderer by following the step-by-step cookbook guides.
We have a copy of the Cookbook in our Books & Fields inventory. It remains for sale. On balance, we feel the historical and philosophical worth outweighs the potential for violent mayhem. We note that it is not forbidden and in fact is for sale in many venues, though ideally, we would not care what others do. But we may change our mind, and if we do, it should be based on solid thinking. Here, then, are our views on what is and is not suitable books for our store.
It’s easy to note the reasons to include a book in the inventory. Positive factors include customer demand, the book’s reputation, to build up a category that we carry and to diversify the range of views within the category, ability to sell it at a fair price while making a small profit, offering works that other stores do not carry, and sheer attractiveness in the printing, binding and illustrations.
When we decide to not carry a book that is available to us, we basically do it for one of three reasons:
We do not carry books with pictures or graphics that violate the dignity that humans and our fellow creatures are entitled to. Thus, we do not carry sexually explicit pornography. Neither do we carry books that show graphic photos of dead and mutilated people or animals. We are less able to police the text in books but will withdraw books we find violate this core value about dignity, include verbal descriptions of sadistic violence. There are rare exceptions, like the illustrations in the Joy of Sex, the Civil War photographs of the battlefield dead, and war memoirs describing what can happen to the body. On rare occasions we have to look to learn, and to listen to the unlistenable.
We don’t think we can sell it in a reasonable period at a fair price. For example, books from many current best-selling authors can be found for 25 cents to $1 dollar at any library sale. It is futile to stock them as they don’t sell at the price we would need to charge. This logic extends to books that are badly outdated.
It is a bad book, dull and repetitive and lacking any genuine insight. Even borderline books or good ones can be foregone because we already have enough in that category whatever the book’s merits.
That’s it. Our guiding logic.
Looking at it more positively, we do not refrain from carrying content that some people might be uncomfortable with. We feel we should not be censors. This issue comes up surprisingly often, and we have thus made the following choices:
A. Our Religion and Philosophy sections contain works about all the great religions as well as about atheism.
B. Our Natural History sections include polemics against vaccines, and we are willing to carry books arguing against evolution or about human-caused global warming.
C. We carry books that espouse the cause of the Southern traitors in our civil war, by the same logic of historical merit followed with The Anarchist Cookbook.
D. Our Humor section includes books by comedians and authors formerly judged as obscene.
E. Our Fiction section includes books with revoltingly sexist tropes, not to mention biased views on just about any social group found on earth. The alternative is a collection of about 15 books that offend and educate no one.
F. Our Social History sections include rhetorically violent memoirs and polemics in favor and against radicals, labor unions, each sex/all genders, immigrants. minorities, and majorities. These hard and ugly views or the noble defense of human rights and unity are the core of critical debates across America and global history.
G. The Cookbooks section includes strong views on factory farming and the ethics of eating animals, alongside the conventional recipe collections and celebrations of various cuisines.
H. Our section on camping, crafts, active hobbies and survivalism includes gun manuals, gun catalogs, and hunting guides. These are historic and legitimate pastimes, whatever one’s views on gun control.
This being our first effort to define our thinking, we may eventually adjust what we think and how we describe it. But the bottom line is that we will remain highly resistant to barring books from the shelves for any reason than a direct attack on one’s dignity.
As always, we invite your views on these issues, and would be happy to publicize well thought out responses in this blog or on our social media outlets.