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Evasion [Paperback] [2001] (Author) Crimethinc.
The eagerly awaited second offering from the CrimethInc. collective offers up a collection of stories, anecdotes from in and around the margins of drop-out culture. "We dumpstered, squatted, and shoplifted our lives back. Everything fell into place when we decided our lives were to be lived. Life serves the risk taker..." Guaranteed to be a best-seller. Snap em up while you can.
Unknown Binding
First published August 1, 2001
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About the author
CrimethInc.
30 books267 followersFrom the official website:
Crimethought is not any ideology or value system or lifestyle, but rather a way of challenging all ideologies and value systems and lifestyles—and, for the advanced agent, a way of making all ideologies, value systems, and lifestyles challenging.
Crimethought is not any ideology or value system or lifestyle, but rather a way of challenging all ideologies and value systems and lifestyles—and, for the advanced agent, a way of making all ideologies, value systems, and lifestyles challenging.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
February 21, 2008
This book taught me how to use my white privilege to score free bagels.
Sweet.
Sweet.
June 17, 2020
No longer using this website, but I'm leaving up old reviews. Fuck Jeff Bezos. Find me on LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...
"Homelessness. Unemployment. Poverty. If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right."
Rootlessness. Unaccountability. Privilege. If you unapologetically wallow in all three, you aren't a revolutionary.
This book wouldn't be so thoroughly annoying if it wasn't widely promulgated when I was first getting into anarchism as a book about "how to be an anarchist." In fact, it's largely entertaining for its own sake. But the amount of influence it had on late 90s//early 00s anarchists is depressing. And this coming from a straight-edge, vegetarian, anarchist punk who eats trash to keep living costs down. Imagine what people who are not knee deep in the subcultural ghetto of punk that this kid is up to his nose in think about it.
"Homelessness. Unemployment. Poverty. If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right."
Rootlessness. Unaccountability. Privilege. If you unapologetically wallow in all three, you aren't a revolutionary.
This book wouldn't be so thoroughly annoying if it wasn't widely promulgated when I was first getting into anarchism as a book about "how to be an anarchist." In fact, it's largely entertaining for its own sake. But the amount of influence it had on late 90s//early 00s anarchists is depressing. And this coming from a straight-edge, vegetarian, anarchist punk who eats trash to keep living costs down. Imagine what people who are not knee deep in the subcultural ghetto of punk that this kid is up to his nose in think about it.
January 17, 2008
I did not enjoy this one bit. For starters, it's very poorly written and each author is really trying too hard to be witty. Also, the constant hc band name dropping is annoying. Don't get me wrong, I like Youth of Today and Earth Crisis just as much as the next person but if I ever say something like "...as Ray of Today would say, "take a stand!"", I hope that I immediately choke to death on the very cheese that would have just spewed from my mouth. Also, seriously...how many stories can I read in one book about people doing the exact same thing everyday? It's ironic that these people think they really have one up on working people when their lives are every bit as structured and redundant as everyone else's. Location means nothing. You can hop all the trains you want but where ever you go, there you are, the same person. You still think the same things, you still have the same perception of your own reality just like we all do. My next problem with this book is that it's just totally immature. A life of vagrancy and shoplifting and subsisting off of waste is clearly not a solution to the problems that these people profess to have with american culture. In fact, I would argue that these same ideas lead mega-coporations to operate in the manner they do. It's all just take take take. If you are living a life of all take and no give, you will never in a million years convince me that you have found some secret to happiness or whatever these people think they're doing. If everyone lived like this, who would you shoplift from? Who would build and abandon the places you squat? Who's waste would you subsist off of? How exactly does any of this solve the greater problems of out of control capitalism, homelessness, poverty, poor levels of health and education, etc...If you live your life solely for your own benefit you are selfish and if you are doing it at the expense of everyone else you are doubly selfish and really just exploiting the world in the same way as corporate america, even if it's on a smaller scale. If you have such a problem with the way the world is, cultivate your mind and use your life as a benefit to the world.
September 15, 2007
this book just reeks of white suburban privilege to me. an irresponsible lifestyle that only works if you are white male who can get away with it cos america is such a fucked up place. not worth reading.
June 8, 2007
I am currently physically, spiritually, and emotionally infatuated with the author.
January 6, 2009
I really hate "Mac Evasion", the guy who wrote this. And I'm basing it on my personal interactions with him. I read the majority of this book in its original zine form, and I thought it was relatively cool: in that it was heavily illustrated with borrowed photos. Although I am a vegan and extremely tolerant of "straight-edgers" (I actually like to encourage it in others and some times even myself), his attitude toward women is hardly any different than a drunken fratboy/jock. He once spoke to a group of fledgling anarchists in Lawrence, Kansas and to promote his book, openly voiced his disdain at them for being some thing that they actually were NOT. "I didn't write this for you, I wrote it for the poor lonely outsider that feels trapped in a suburb in the middle of nowhere" (or something like that). Like Lawrence was great Metropolis and as if Kansas WASN'T in the middle of nowhere! Like all these kids, politically precocious as they were, had a master's degree in dumpster diving and shoplifting- which almost none of them did. I think there were about three shoplifters and just a few more habitual dumpster divings in a room of 2 dozen, I being the worse of them of course! So all these people that he misjudged and insulted had no real idea of what the "evasion"/CrimethInc. life was all about, except me of course and maybe one or two others.
So basically, he's just an all around jerk. However, this an interesting piece of historical documentation of a lifestyle that was already becoming a widespread phenomena among priviledged white dorks like Mac Evasion... ten years after people like me were already doing it of course!
So basically, he's just an all around jerk. However, this an interesting piece of historical documentation of a lifestyle that was already becoming a widespread phenomena among priviledged white dorks like Mac Evasion... ten years after people like me were already doing it of course!
December 10, 2007
The first 100 pages made me very angry. The author is ignorant to the plight of the poor, anyone who is not white, anyone with a child, anyone who wants an alternative to live. The book also made me angry because the author glazed over any negative aspects of his life. For example, being cold, mosquitoes at night, getting tired of bagels. Are we as readers supposed to pretend that this little problems do not exist? After the first 100 pages, much of the arrogance and denial of the negative subsided, which made the book interesting enough for me to finish.
March 7, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. The reviews I had read on Goodreads seemed to be primarily negative and I am surprised.
Politically, I agree with the author's viewpoint; we live in a society where there is so much unnecessary waste. I can completely understand why the author and many others "dumpster dive" for food. I have absolutely no problem eating this food and have friends who have shared dumpstered food with me in the past. Personally, I don't know how comfortable I am seeking out the food myself. The book definitely makes me want to shop at smaller businesses rather than the large corporations who are making the larger waste and contributing to junk food, unsafe working practices and a culture which is solely focused on wealth creation, and not on happiness, health and treating each other well.
I fell in love with the unnamed sweetheart who wrote this book. I would happily hop freight trains and sleep on a roof with this guy. I had read reviews saying people had felt he was unkind to the women in the book, but I felt that he was beyond treating women like pieces of meat and seemed genuinely interested in finding someone with similar ethics and values to his own. He would hate me because I eat meat and like sleeping in my nice bed, but his devotion to his beliefs and the fact that he practiced what he preached appealed to me.
Evasion is like Kerouac for the 21st century. The primary difference of course being Kerouac did tend to have a much heavier focus on women and wine. For Evasion the focus is music, left-handing and not compromising one's values. I do find reading Kerouac that to be the major upsetting factor that prevents me reading everything in one big go - his attitude toward relationships. I'm not saying I view Kerouac as a misogynist, I guess I am a romantic and the way he can just pick up and move on without words of reminiscence or regret can break my heart.
The straight edge aspect of the writing could have come across as quite preachy, but gladly didn't. It is good to read something about being young that doesn't end in a downward spiral of drug abuse, without it being some right-wing/Christian tome to virginity or something.
I think the whole lifestyle presented by Evasion may not appeal to everyone, it certainly isn't a way I want to live. It did however, make me rethink my attitudes toward the lifestyle I want to live and the consumerist nature to our society. I am glad I have read this book and would recommend it to anyone who is open to not living a life that has a value beyond working 9-5, getting married, having children and living in the suburbs.
Politically, I agree with the author's viewpoint; we live in a society where there is so much unnecessary waste. I can completely understand why the author and many others "dumpster dive" for food. I have absolutely no problem eating this food and have friends who have shared dumpstered food with me in the past. Personally, I don't know how comfortable I am seeking out the food myself. The book definitely makes me want to shop at smaller businesses rather than the large corporations who are making the larger waste and contributing to junk food, unsafe working practices and a culture which is solely focused on wealth creation, and not on happiness, health and treating each other well.
I fell in love with the unnamed sweetheart who wrote this book. I would happily hop freight trains and sleep on a roof with this guy. I had read reviews saying people had felt he was unkind to the women in the book, but I felt that he was beyond treating women like pieces of meat and seemed genuinely interested in finding someone with similar ethics and values to his own. He would hate me because I eat meat and like sleeping in my nice bed, but his devotion to his beliefs and the fact that he practiced what he preached appealed to me.
Evasion is like Kerouac for the 21st century. The primary difference of course being Kerouac did tend to have a much heavier focus on women and wine. For Evasion the focus is music, left-handing and not compromising one's values. I do find reading Kerouac that to be the major upsetting factor that prevents me reading everything in one big go - his attitude toward relationships. I'm not saying I view Kerouac as a misogynist, I guess I am a romantic and the way he can just pick up and move on without words of reminiscence or regret can break my heart.
The straight edge aspect of the writing could have come across as quite preachy, but gladly didn't. It is good to read something about being young that doesn't end in a downward spiral of drug abuse, without it being some right-wing/Christian tome to virginity or something.
I think the whole lifestyle presented by Evasion may not appeal to everyone, it certainly isn't a way I want to live. It did however, make me rethink my attitudes toward the lifestyle I want to live and the consumerist nature to our society. I am glad I have read this book and would recommend it to anyone who is open to not living a life that has a value beyond working 9-5, getting married, having children and living in the suburbs.
December 7, 2009
This book sucks.
I agree with the philosophy that motivates people to pick food out of Dumpsters and live off the staggering amounts of waste Americans create without thinking where it goes. I dislike capitalism and I dislike the sense of "ownership" Americans have that compels them to grow distraught when someone takes something out of their garbage can for chrissakes.
But this book sucks.
Mostly, I find it problematic because the narrator's scavenging off the system he professes to hate. (Is it actually multiple narrators? I thought the distinct voice remained the same throughout, so I assumed one narrator.) He boasts that he does not have a job or any obligations, but he does NOTHING in the way of creating meaningful change in the society he claims to find so disgusting.
I also find his superiority complex and obnoxious. He judges others for being blind and ignorant and perpetuating capitalism, yet his own solution is deeply flawed. He contributes nothing to society, only takes. He disagrees with the economic system and its sociological effects, failing to recognize his responsibility as a dissenter. He is a would-be dissenter, too self-absorbed and delusional and detached to make any kind of a difference.
This book sucks.
I agree with the philosophy that motivates people to pick food out of Dumpsters and live off the staggering amounts of waste Americans create without thinking where it goes. I dislike capitalism and I dislike the sense of "ownership" Americans have that compels them to grow distraught when someone takes something out of their garbage can for chrissakes.
But this book sucks.
Mostly, I find it problematic because the narrator's scavenging off the system he professes to hate. (Is it actually multiple narrators? I thought the distinct voice remained the same throughout, so I assumed one narrator.) He boasts that he does not have a job or any obligations, but he does NOTHING in the way of creating meaningful change in the society he claims to find so disgusting.
I also find his superiority complex and obnoxious. He judges others for being blind and ignorant and perpetuating capitalism, yet his own solution is deeply flawed. He contributes nothing to society, only takes. He disagrees with the economic system and its sociological effects, failing to recognize his responsibility as a dissenter. He is a would-be dissenter, too self-absorbed and delusional and detached to make any kind of a difference.
This book sucks.
April 8, 2012
The story itself is interesting. It's always good to pick up a book about someone living differently from yourself. It gives you perspective and gets you out of your own bubble.
The idea is interesting. The story - though not incredibly well written - is entertaining and does bring up plenty of important questions about the world we live in. So I will give it two stars for being interesting and for teaching me something about a world I would not otherwise have known about.
Here's the deal though. Someone who wasn't white, who wandered aimlessly around stores and touched everything, would be kicked out. Someone who did not have money to begin with and who was used to stealing and dumpster diving for their survival would not find this lifestyle as exciting. That is the viewpoint that is not present here, and that is unfortunate because those are other important questions we need to ask ourselves about our society.
(Also, too many exclamation points. Oh, how I hate exclamation points.)
The idea is interesting. The story - though not incredibly well written - is entertaining and does bring up plenty of important questions about the world we live in. So I will give it two stars for being interesting and for teaching me something about a world I would not otherwise have known about.
Here's the deal though. Someone who wasn't white, who wandered aimlessly around stores and touched everything, would be kicked out. Someone who did not have money to begin with and who was used to stealing and dumpster diving for their survival would not find this lifestyle as exciting. That is the viewpoint that is not present here, and that is unfortunate because those are other important questions we need to ask ourselves about our society.
(Also, too many exclamation points. Oh, how I hate exclamation points.)
August 11, 2022
If Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance had been written by an anarchistic straight-edge atheist youth, I think it would've been something like this. There's much less about it that smacks of resounding epiphanies (and much less, for that matter, that I find myself readily agreeing with) and the writing is amusing but often comes across as condescending and spiteful, despite its often silly tone. I didn't always enjoy the preachy animal-rights, anti-white-people (from a white kid, no less) messages, but I gained some respect for tramps. (Is "respect" the right word?)
Also, this guy's hilarious.
Recommended For bagel-loving anarchists
Recommended By college
Also, this guy's hilarious.
Recommended For bagel-loving anarchists
Recommended By college
April 10, 2021
It's written rather nicely, kind of like a modern-day Kerouac (which the author references here and there) with stories about hobo-life, sleeping in squats, having adventures, dumpster-diving etc., but it's so incredibly repetitive and self-indulgent that you get tired of it very quickly.
February 7, 2020
Good if you're like...9
July 5, 2016
This guy's philosophy is not without hypocrisy- I cannot help but point out that the system (or lack thereof- I should say, the "fuck y'all imma steal everything" declaration) that he thrives on is one that, in order to work, requires other people to NOT do that. I mean, yeah, materialism is shitty, working 9-5 is shitty.. but you know WHY you are able to steal things from grocery stores and dumpster-dive your essentials? Because other people are living the typical life. You know, stocking the shelves and producing the things you are able to take. If eveyrone was a ruffian like you.. there'd be no entitled people to steal from. Just saying. That being said.. I envy this guy his courage and convictions and even if his philosophy is not without flaws, I still want to go on a mad shoplifting spree with him and gorge on delicious vegan food. B/c he's kind of my hero.
Also, man, his description of Arcata was awesome. And hilarious. I'm biased b/c I've lived there but, seriously. DRUG ZOMBIES WOO.
Also, man, his description of Arcata was awesome. And hilarious. I'm biased b/c I've lived there but, seriously. DRUG ZOMBIES WOO.
February 22, 2012
Pretty neat little book, Everyone here seems to have extreme hate for the guy because of the fact that he is an idiot politically (and it doesn't help that he inserts his ideology into every action he takes, and it gets really after page after page of hearing about how his shoplifting is revolutionary).
BUT I Liked it. and I feel like if you try to ignore the stupid uninformed self-righteous views he has about his actions like I did, you will find that this is a great and inspiring story about how you can go out and literally live off of peoples waste.
I feel like he glorified it a little bit to much, I wish there was more details about what he did in the winter, when he got arrested, ect. But he brushes over anything negative about his lifestyle and makes this very unbalanced. Also I didn't like how haphazardly he goes from one tale to the next, the chronology is totally fucked up and confused the hell out of me.
He needs some more positive reviews, it was actually a pretty neat book when you look at the positive aspects of it.
BUT I Liked it. and I feel like if you try to ignore the stupid uninformed self-righteous views he has about his actions like I did, you will find that this is a great and inspiring story about how you can go out and literally live off of peoples waste.
I feel like he glorified it a little bit to much, I wish there was more details about what he did in the winter, when he got arrested, ect. But he brushes over anything negative about his lifestyle and makes this very unbalanced. Also I didn't like how haphazardly he goes from one tale to the next, the chronology is totally fucked up and confused the hell out of me.
He needs some more positive reviews, it was actually a pretty neat book when you look at the positive aspects of it.
July 6, 2007
My favorite train bum book but it is so much more too. This is also the most recent account, compiled from a zine that I believe was done around about the late 90s/early 00s by a train-hopping, dumpster-diving, vegan, straight-edge hardcore kid.
In addition to his train stories, he tells about squatting in abandoned houses in suburbia and living off of a sort of modern conception of "the fat of the land": a combination of perfectly good things people just throw away and scamming companies like Wal-Mart that I personally don't have that much sympathy for in this equation.
I think what makes this one so cool is that it is a train story but it is also so much more.
In addition to his train stories, he tells about squatting in abandoned houses in suburbia and living off of a sort of modern conception of "the fat of the land": a combination of perfectly good things people just throw away and scamming companies like Wal-Mart that I personally don't have that much sympathy for in this equation.
I think what makes this one so cool is that it is a train story but it is also so much more.
January 10, 2008
I kick myself in the ass for liking this book. I loved the episodic progression and memoir nature, however, I feel as though crimethinc did Evasion injustice by publishing it in such a way. When I was first attracted to redical ideals I regarded this book almost as though it were some kind of scripture (a foolish and self-contradicting act) which led me to become a crimethinc pamphleteer and sheep. After a realization and thusly, abandonment of the collective it is clear that for an "anarchist" collective, crimethinc certainly has a dogmatic following. None the less, the book is inspiring when read in the correct manner.
February 21, 2008
I know a lot of friends I have would give me shit for liking this book so much, but honestly I couldn't put it down. I didn't want it to end, and I don't want to be banned from local anarchist bookstores for not wanting to put it down. Although, if you asked me I've always liked it in the original 'zine format.
December 19, 2008
A rambling autobiography of a shop-lifting, dumpster-diving, train hopping, vagrant punk. A great exploration of a very small subculture and a life lived to it's fullest.
But you don't have to take my word for it.
But you don't have to take my word for it.
February 14, 2009
i catch myself thinking about this book a lot. in certain social situations i wonder what evasion would do.
March 29, 2022
A modern flaunt of anti-capitalism with strong echoes of Dharma Bums. Intensely motivational and inspiring for those who already have a rebellious spirit.
January 4, 2011
so here we go. A book from my favourite anarchist collective Crimethinc.
This book is about living life under the radar in the United States of America. The author takes pride in not paying for food, glorifies shoplifting, stealing and not paying rent. Great! Escaping the mind erasing 9-5 culture at all cost is one of the driving factors. Not participating in the exploiting, consumerist culture of America of the '90's is the ultimate goal. And I support him for that.
To be honest, this book is very poorly written, knee deep in cultural bias, racist views and the author is one of the most close minded people I have ever encountered in my life. Therefor it should earn 1 to 2 stars max.
But I am a sucker for everything Crimethinc produces or publishes, largely because of the mighty Catharsis and the excellent Days of War, Nights of Love : Crimethink For Beginners . And I like anything counter culture, anarchist or anti-capitalist (there's this nice naive youthful, gloomy romantic thing about it which touches my heart). That, together with the Hardcore band name dropping makes it a 4 star read for me.
So if the above paragraph doesn't appeal to you, you should definitively not read this book. If you are interested in the whole Crimethinc thing I suggest you read the Days of War, Nights of Love first. Or, you could start by reading Catharsis lyrics.
This weapon will replace my tongue.
I will learn to speak through it.
And my poetry will now be written with blood
This book is about living life under the radar in the United States of America. The author takes pride in not paying for food, glorifies shoplifting, stealing and not paying rent. Great! Escaping the mind erasing 9-5 culture at all cost is one of the driving factors. Not participating in the exploiting, consumerist culture of America of the '90's is the ultimate goal. And I support him for that.
To be honest, this book is very poorly written, knee deep in cultural bias, racist views and the author is one of the most close minded people I have ever encountered in my life. Therefor it should earn 1 to 2 stars max.
But I am a sucker for everything Crimethinc produces or publishes, largely because of the mighty Catharsis and the excellent Days of War, Nights of Love : Crimethink For Beginners . And I like anything counter culture, anarchist or anti-capitalist (there's this nice naive youthful, gloomy romantic thing about it which touches my heart). That, together with the Hardcore band name dropping makes it a 4 star read for me.
So if the above paragraph doesn't appeal to you, you should definitively not read this book. If you are interested in the whole Crimethinc thing I suggest you read the Days of War, Nights of Love first. Or, you could start by reading Catharsis lyrics.
This weapon will replace my tongue.
I will learn to speak through it.
And my poetry will now be written with blood
September 27, 2007
This one is anonymously written. It started as a series of zines, and someone collected all of them and published it. At the core, it's about running away from home and living 'off the grid' while taking advantage of it.
I learned a lot from it, but what I learned are things I would never do. Like stealing receipts out of a garbage can in front of a Kmart, then walking back in, taking the item on the receipt off the shelf and walking up to customer service to 'return' the item to get the cash. Or stealing from a record store, then walking into a different record store to sell the CDs as used discs. Then there's all the dumpster diving.
The important things that I learned are more about recycling and how often food is wasted by restaurants.
And of course there's the emotional side to it. Definitely an interesting read.
I learned a lot from it, but what I learned are things I would never do. Like stealing receipts out of a garbage can in front of a Kmart, then walking back in, taking the item on the receipt off the shelf and walking up to customer service to 'return' the item to get the cash. Or stealing from a record store, then walking into a different record store to sell the CDs as used discs. Then there's all the dumpster diving.
The important things that I learned are more about recycling and how often food is wasted by restaurants.
And of course there's the emotional side to it. Definitely an interesting read.
September 7, 2014
There was once a moment in time (ok, a decade) when Crimethinc represented all that was wrong with American anarchism. This book is a reflection of that. A disjointed collection of stories by a middle class white kid who decides to "slum" it, it is full of his half-baked political conclusions. Conclusions that lead not to the expected anger at the conditions of the homeless and unemployed, but happiness because their lives are so fun. Only the late 1990s, and the absolute domination of American conformity and capitalist realism could have produced something like this, and have it pass as 'liberating'.
If you strip the politics from the book (which is difficult), you end up with something that has is very much in line with American folklore and whose predecessors can be found in the prospectors of the 1800s and Wobblies of the early 1900s. This is it's only redeeming value.
If you strip the politics from the book (which is difficult), you end up with something that has is very much in line with American folklore and whose predecessors can be found in the prospectors of the 1800s and Wobblies of the early 1900s. This is it's only redeeming value.
January 3, 2008
train hopping, dumpstering, squatting, scamming, loving and noise making. the content of this book is wonderful, but stylistically, it appears unedited from it's original napkin/toilet paper/receipt/oddity form. read it for its content. fall in love. pass it around. you won't be referencing this one; it'll just stew harmoniously in your heart with memories of being punk rock.
btw. crimethinc publishing (CWC): Crimethinc ex-Workers Collective.
btw. crimethinc publishing (CWC): Crimethinc ex-Workers Collective.
July 5, 2008
This book had profound impact on my life. I've spent an hour now trying to start this review, attempting to disentangle the objective judgement of the book from the analysis of how the book affected my development as a person. So much of who I am, for better or worse, is a direct result of reading this book. How many books can you say that about?
August 12, 2008
This is the sort of fanciful stuff that punk rock dreams are made of. Follow the semi-factual account of "Mac Evasion" (aka Peter Young) as he schemes, shoplifts, and squats his way to the (anarcho)-American Dream.
June 30, 2007
bagels are awesome.
October 19, 2007
A little overrated...
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