Product Description

Inspiration for a generation of troublemakers and idealists. Both celebrated in the punk underground (where the original book has become a seminal text) and denounced in academic anarchist circles, the book has proved itself as both influential and relevant to multiple generations of dreamers, agitators, and activists. Hakim Bey's first book, originally published in 1985, refers in its title to "a mobile or transcient location free of economic and social interference by the State," and through a series of incendiary communiques, short essays, and poetic historical analysis insists on the production of greater autonomy in the present moment, rather than the acceptance of domination in exchange for the promise of some future utopia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57706 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781570271519
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
'Who is Hakim Bey? I love him!' - Timothy Leary; 'Exquisite...' - Allen Ginsberg; 'Hard-line dada/surrealism' - Rudy Rucker; 'A Blake angel on bad acid' - Robert Anton Wilson; 'Scares the shit out of us' - Church of the SubGenius; 'A literary masterpiece...' - Freedom; 'A linguistic romp...' - Colin Wilson

About the Author
Hakim Bey is the nom-de-plume of a notorious anarchist intellectual, under which a large number of essays and communiques have appeared, mostly in the punk underground and on-line. He splits his time between a trailer in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and a run-down NYC Chinatown hotel.

Customer Reviews

Grand!
A masterpiece, quite possibly the best book I have ever read! Hakim Bey managed to synthesize the philosophical statement that I have been looking for my whole life! It is good to see such an articulate voice out there who managed to "see through" the paradigm -the Spectacle- and suggest such creative and joyous ways for all humans realize their TRUE POTENTIAL. I've always felt that mysticism and all that consciousness-expansion talk had received a bad stigma because of all the "new age" framing it undertook, but Bey manages not only to "deframe" this concept, and poetically shows the VALUE that such practices can have to "free one's mind" - show people that they need not be oppressed, dogmatic, hive-minded SLAVES, that they truly are MONARCHS. Mysticism helps in a way that it provides methods for the individual rid himself of the "inner cops" inside their heads -all the social programming of generations, sabotaging us by our Freaudian Superegos. Deep inner changes, deep inner consciousness are monstrous catalysts for social reforms -accompanied by good wine and sense of humour- in true anarchist fashion, as Bey rightly states, even though I have a feeling his intent was more focused on change on an individual level...

Well, it was definitely the first book that made me laugh and cry hysterically, but I understand it might be too overwhelming to some...

I'm hopeful that younger generations, such as mine (I'm 20) have the opportunity to be presented to such work, especially at an early age... Man, why haven't I read this back in my schooldays? I might just have quit everything and ran into the woods! =D

5*s

Wisdom, or laughing madman's ANARCHY OF THE MIND?
For me, this is the kind of head trip I enjoy reading. It's not deep, but it can be. It's not serious, but it can lead to some very serious considerations. Actually, much of this book is outrageously funny. It's like Salvatore Dali rewriting the Dharmapada on LSD. Maybe what makes this book interesting, is the way it CONFRONTS you on so many levels. Sometimes, you are confronted by your sense of decency. Other times, you are confronting why you have the sense of humor you do. Because I found myself laughing over and over, about a story conserning incest producing a small tribe of half crazed gypsies living within the lonely trailors in the Pine Barrens. But mostly, the book confronts the mediocracy of normalacy. What can you say when a man tells you, "HEY, mysticism doesnt dissolve the Ego, only Death does that, nor does mysticism destroy the carnal desires." It sounds like a wise jester at our disposal. In fact, history tells us that the most enlightened zen masters, were ALWAYS seen as madmen, just as you have "divine idiots" in eastern Christianity, or crazed yogis who tell you the meaning of life, is that life has no meaning. Or whatever. This book takes the stuffing out of SO MUCH, and with great insight, and black humor, that you cant put it down. Hey, what can you say if someone writes down a title chapter as "BLACK MAGIC AS A REVOLUTIONARY ACTION"? To me, its back to the yippies trying to levitate the Pentagon, back in the 1960s peace marches. So, the book's not demonic, just confrontational. Indeed, its primarily a book about how to be an ANARCHIST. Or, how to conduct LIVING THEATER to confront the banality of existence. Let's have a revolution, and make Popeye our new leader. (We've done worse.) As such, Bey's work could easily be the philosophical underpinning of NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS. (The book has a very "punk" Zeitgeist, mixed with Yippie revolution philosophy.) This is someone that sees that the problems on earth, are caused NOT by individuals, as much as its caused by Countries, Institutions, Churches, Colleges, as well as a whole sleu of "-ISMS" that produce philosophical, theological, economic, or political points of view, that often OBSCURE our views on the world, and cause wars, rather than clarifiy our role in life, and bring peace. I think Bey is a FREE THINKER, trying to break thru the crystalized conformities and stale philosophies that have frozen our minds into robotic mode. If we take ourselves too seriously, or take the ideas of institutions too seriously, we might miss the most important thing that CAN happen to us in our lives. WE MIGHT HAVE AN ORIGINAL IDEA OF OUR OWN. And, if POETIC TERRORISM is about anything, it might just be about that. How to break free of the NORMAL, to find the truth in the TRANS-NORMAL. So, if you have a strong sense of humor, and dont mind seeing a little bit of IDOL smashing going on, this is a book for you.

Brought a tear to my eye
This small book is so big in ideas. This man truly understands the beauty and love of freedom itself.

I'm not saying this as an "Anarchist" or -ist or -tarian or -whatever. I like this book for the thoughts in its essays.

And yes, indeed, I do want somehow to find/create even for a brief time a truly T.A.Z... Perhaps on an artificial island in the pacific? Or perhaps in a decade or so with our economy trashing we can have "Free Cities" briefly?