One of the most colorful figures to emerge from the social turmoil of the 1960s, Abbie Hoffman put his personal stamp on the activism of the decade with his insistence that radical politics find expression in personal attitudes as well as political positions. Linking the spirited hedonism of the hippies with the politics of the Civil Rights movement, the New Left and the anti-war movement, Hoff-man's attitude was pure hippie—Revolution for the Hell of It was the title of his first and most influential book. His doctrine of absurdity and wit, combined with an unmatched media savvy, marked him for the elite ranks of the counter-culture. A founding Yippie, and a hippie, activist, visionary and knave, he left an enduring legacy of influence and controversy.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1936, Abbie Hoffman's life was an extraordinary patchwork of triumphs, calamities, and accidents...