The Anarchist Cookbook was written by William Powell as a teenager and first published in 1971 at the apex of the counterculture era to protest against United States involvement in the Vietnam War.[1][2] Powell gained inspiration for his text from his experiences with Vietnam veterans throughout his time living in New York City, during which, the pacifist movements of the 1960s began to take a more violent turn, having been responsible for over 100 politically inspired bombings. Powell began plans to become a writer but decided upon a political course when he was drafted to the Vietnam war, which inspired him to write "recipes" and later compile them into a "cookbook".[3] The initial vision of The Anarchist Cookbook was to post instructional flyers in New York City, including how to properly throw a Molotov cocktail and how to make LSD. These "recipes" were eventually adapted to make up an entire book.[4] From 1968 to 1970, Powell began researching in the "U.S. Combat Bookshelf" at the New York Public Library, including external texts such as The Boy Scout Handbook, Fuck the System by Abbie Hoffman, and other anarchist texts.