Revolution for the Hell of It The Book That Earned Abbie Hoffman a Five-Year Prison Term at the Chicago Conspiracy Trial

by Hoffman, Abbie; Wasserman, Harvey; Reverend Billy

• ISBN13: 9781560256908
• ISBN10: 1560256907
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-27
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

While the supremely popular Steal This Book is a guide to living outside the establishment, Revolution for the Hell of It is a chronicle of Abbie Hoffman's radical escapades that doubles as a guidebook for today's social and political activist. Hoffman pioneered the use of humor, theater, and shock value to drive home his points, and in Revolution for the Hell of It he gives firsthand accounts of his legendary adventures, from the activism that led to the founding of the Youth International Partyor "Yippies!to the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests ("a Perfect Mess") that resulted in his conviction as part of the Chicago Seven. Also chronicled are the mass demonstrations he led in which over fifty thousand people attempted to levitate the Pentagon using psychic energy, and the time he threw fistfuls of dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and watched the traders scramble. With antiwar sentiment once again in a furor and an incendiary political climate not seen since the book's original printing, Abbie Hoffman's voice is more essential than ever.

Author Biography

Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) was an American political and social activist, anarchist, and revolutionary who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies"). He was arrested and tried for his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Hoffman continued his activism into the 1970s, and remains an icon of the anti-war movement and the counterculture era.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Harvey Wasserman	xi
Introduction by Reverend Billy	xix
Introduction	1	(194)
1 Revolution for the Hell of It	7	(16)
Revolution: The Highest Trip of All	9	(1)
There Is No Way to Run a Revolution	10	(13)
2 The Rising of the Pentagon 21
flashback 1-Central Park Be-In	23	(1)
flashback 2-The Charge of the Flower Brigade	24	(2)
Skulldiggery	26	(5)
Property Is Theft	31	(1)
flashback 3-Driving the Money Changers from the Temple	32	(1)
flashback 4-Trip to Denton & the Diggers	33	(5)
flashback 5-TWA Never Gets You There on Time	38	(3)
A Good Ad for the Exorcism	41	(1)
How I Lost the War at the Pentagon	42	(6)
flashback 6-Dean Rusk Comes to Town	48	(3)
3 The New Niggers	51	(26)
Letter to Stokely	53	(1)
Garbage	54	(1)
Talking in My Sleep-an Exercise in Self-Criticism	55	(16)
The White Niggers	71	(2)
Runaways: The Slave Revolt	73	(2)
flashback 7-Calm Before the Storm	75	(2)
4 Yippie!-The Media Myth	77	(22)
Blank Space as Communication	79	(3)
TV Trip after King Got It	82	(2)
The Night the Red Sox Attacked the U.S. Embassy	84	(2)
April 11, 2001	86	(3)
Getting It All Out There (1)	89	(6)
Getting It All Out There (again)	95	(4)
5 On to Chicago	99	(46)
Festival of Life	101	(1)
The Yippies Are Going to Chicago	102	(6)
Postscript	108	(2)
A Non-Response to the Doubting Thomases	110	(3)
This Is What Happened	113	(1)
Creating the Perfect Mess	114	(7)
The N.Y. Times & Entering the Myth	121	(2)
The Festival Begins: Sunday, August 25, 1968	123	(4)
Hustling & Myth Making	127	(4)
flashback 8-Tears at Sunrise	131	(1)
Figure & Ground	131	(4)
Key to the Puzzle	135	(2)
Photos	137	(8)
6 Free Is the Revolution	145	(6)
Yippie! Is Free!	147	(1)
The Free Store	148	(3)
7 Free Advice to the Brothers	151	(8)
Messages to the Brothers (to be accepted or rejected)	153	(3)
Advice to My Black Brothers	156	(1)
Plans for the Destruction of the Universities	157	(2)
8 Some Props Used	159	(14)
Cops Eat Pie (leaflet)	163	(1)
Yippie (leaflet)	164	(1)
Yippie (program)	165	(8)
9 Extra Quotes, Bits & Pieces	173	(22)
10 Ego Tripping	195	(12)
Love & Doing Your Thing	197	(2)
Pool Hustling & Bragging	199	(4)
How to Write a Book of Garbage	203	(2)
I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends	205	(2)
11 Epilogue: Life among the Dinosaurs	207	(8)
12 This Part Is Absolutely Free	215	(42)
Review of Fuck the System	217	(3)
Fuck the System	220	(33)
Postscript	253	(4)
About the Author	257