Origins
The main author of the book, Abbie Hoffman was one of the most influential and recognizable American activists of the twentieth century. Abbie Hoffman was born in 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Hoffman wrote several books and other works such as Steal This Urine Test: Fighting Drug Hysteria in America, Revolution For the Hell of It, and The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman. He died in 1989 from an overdose of barbiturates. Aside from Hoffman, several others were involved in the compilation of Steal this Book including Izak Haber who is listed as “co-conspirator” and Bert Cohen who is listed as “accessory after the fact” on the cover. Tom Forcade was not credited in the book, but Hoffman later admitted that he had taken part in some of the editing before being replaced by Bert Cohen. Steal this Book was written in the climate of the counter-culture, in which opposition to tradition and government was rampant, and experimentation with new forms of living was encouraged. In short, it was written in the time of “sticking it to the man.” Although the book was published in the seventies, it is truly a relic of the sixties. When the book was published, it took hold among the new left, especially among students on college campuses, such as Brandeis, the school where Hoffman had earlier attended.
Read more about this topic: Steal This Book
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