William Powell

Danuta Kean “Anarchist Cookbook author William Powell dies aged 66” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/30/anarchist-cookbook-author-william-powell-dies-aged-66


多くのテロリストや絶望的にキレたティーンエイジャーに愛読された武器製造マニュアル Anarchist Cookbookの著者ウィリアム・パウエル氏が昨年7月にヴァカンス中の突然の心臓発作のために66歳で亡くなっていたことがわかった。最近公開されたAmerican Anarchist というパウエル氏を主人公にしたドキュメンタリー映画のエンディング・クレディットでパウエル氏の死が言及された。


A manual filled with diagrams and recipes about how to make weapons from bombs to homemade guns and even how to convert a shotgun into a rocket launcher, The Anarchist Cookbook was inspired by Powell’s rage at the presidency of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam war.

As an angry teenager in 1969, he used the New York Public Library to research and the book included instructions for illegal practices including breaking into telephone networks and making LSD. The book went on to sell more than 2m copies.


In 1976, Powell converted to Christianity and began his fight to have the book removed from circulation, but the copyright was in the name of the publisher Lyle Stuart. The latest version of the book, from Snowball Publishing, is reported to have been heavily edited.
2013年にコロラド州デンヴァーのハイ・スクールでKarl Piersonが同級生を殺し、自殺するという事件が起きたが、友人の証言によれば、ピアソンもまた Anarchist Cookbookを読んでいた*1

Following the attack, Powell called for the book to be taken out of circulation. Writing in the Guardian, he revealed that he no longer held the copyright for the book and had been wrangling with its publisher to take it out of print. “Over the years, I have come to understand that the basic premise behind the Cookbook is profoundly flawed,” he wrote. Describing the anger that he felt at the time of writing as blinding him to the “illogical notion that violence can be used to prevent violence”, he added: “I had fallen for the same irrational pattern of thought that led to US military involvement in both Vietnam and Iraq. The irony is not lost on me.”*2
パウエル氏は、人生の後半においてはADHD*3などの発達障害の子どもたちの教育や支援に尽力していた;

As an adult, Powell turned to teaching in Africa and Asia, working with schools around the world to support children with learning challenges. In 2010, he and his wife founded the Next Frontier: Inclusion, a nonprofit organisation aimed at helping children with special educational needs including dyslexia, ADHD and autism.