His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocates drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society should look like.

His six major books are Elements of Refusal (1988), Future Primitive and Other Essays (1994), Running on Emptiness (2002), Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections (2005), Twilight of the Machines (2008), and Why hope?

In 1966, Zerzan was arrested while performing civil disobedience at a Berkeley anti-Vietnam War march and spent two weeks in the Contra Costa County Jail.

He attended events organized by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and was involved with the psychedelic drug and music scene in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.

[4] In 1974, Black and Red Press published Unions Against Revolution by Spanish ultra-left theorist Grandizo Munis that included an essay by Zerzan which previously appeared in the journal Telos.

He began to question civilization in the early 80s, after having sought to confront issues around the neutrality of technology and division of labour, at the time when Fredy Perlman was making similar conclusions.

The New York Times reporter Kenneth B. Noble took interest in Zerzan's sympathies and published an interview titled "Prominent Anarchist Finds Unsought Ally in Serial Bomber" that raised his national profile.

He criticized his former friend's 2008 essay "The Truth About Primitive Life: A Critique of Anarchoprimitivism" and expressed disapproval of Individuals Tending Towards the Wild, a Mexican group influenced by the Unabomber's bombing campaign.

[11] Zerzan is an anarchist philosopher, and is broadly associated with the philosophies of anarcho-primitivism, green anarchism, anti-civilisation, post-left anarchy, neo-luddism, and in particular the critique of technology.

[14] In 2014, AnarchyRadio gained unwanted media attention when it was discovered by the New York Daily News that Adam Lanza (who was the shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012) once called the show in December 2011 and spoke to Zerzan live on air.

"[19] One comment by Lanza drew particular attention from media in light of his actions was "I just don't think it would be such a stretch to say that he [Travis] very well could have been a teenage mall shooter or something like that.

[17] In an interview with TV station KMTR shortly the call surfaced, Zerzan stated that Lanza mentioning shooting "and then again later he ends up doing it, I mean it's just hard to grasp.

[25] John Zerzan responded to such claims by suggesting a gradual decrease in population size, with the possibility of people having the need to seek means of sustainability more close to nature.