The Poor Man's James Bond
The Poor Man's James Bond is a four book series originally intended for the survivalist-minded, compiled by Kurt Saxon. They were marketed toward the survivalist movement of the 1970s and 1980s, and as a counterpoint to The Anarchist Cookbook which Saxon believed contained inaccurate information. The first volume was an expansion of an earlier Saxon book, The Militant's Formulary.
According to Saxon, during the 1960s he sent brochures about The Militant's Formulary to "several thousand" police and fire chiefs. His stated purpose was that, as a result of several officers being killed by "improvised weaponry directed at them by radicals", police and fire departments could use the literature "to recognize improvised bombs and such and their common components". However, some of the recipients believed Saxon to be a radical, and sent letters stating this fact to the police in Saxon's hometown of Eureka, California. In response, the chief of the Eureka Police Department replied with letters assuring the others that Saxon was "on their side".[1]
Content
Much of the content of these books consists of reprints of old books now in the public domain. Although compared to other paramilitary manuals such as The Anarchist Cookbook, the Poor Man's James Bond is much more relevant to modern day survivalism. The first volume talks about how to blow up a car, make napalm and poisons such as ricin, nicotine, arsenic and cyanide. It also contained a full U.S. Army self defense manual along with a gunsmithing workshop. This included diagrams of how to alter the firing mechanism for different firearms. These modifications were often to increase rate of fire. The second volume talks about improvised weapons that could be made legally using common household items. It also had a number of easily made and readily available booby traps and a number of other explosives recipes. The third volume, which was not widely available, is the least controversial as it mostly contained information on crime in modern society, how to beat the system, and significantly less information on "anarchism" or "terrorism." A fourth volume was published, but it is very rare to find a copy and contains more of what the previous volumes contained. In each book the author states that nothing in the book should be remanufactured, procured or otherwise created without first consulting the government of the area. This is because the books were designed to inform the people about survivalist techniques, not to necessarily harm the individual or others in society.
