Anarcho book recommendations
Dec 13 2004 17:12
Hiya,
Been lurking for a while, but first post 
I'm after recommendations for books I should read - preferably related to anarcho politics, but other philosophy and politics book recommendations would be great too...
Just been given £250 of amazon tokens from the shite job I have and want to expand my book collection, so anything and everything considered...
xTx
Dec 13 2004 17:23
#2
xTx wrote:
Hiya,Been lurking for a while, but first post
I'm after recommendations for books I should read - preferably related to anarcho politics, but other philosophy and politics book recommendations would be great too...
Just been given £250 of amazon tokens from the shite job I have and want to expand my book collection, so anything and everything considered...
xTx
Ooh well firstly I would recommend - if you can - buying books frmo anarchist publishers on amazon, like Freedom Press, AK or Rebel Press etc.
(Freedom's listed as 4-6 week delivery but it's actually a few days-2 weeks max)
There have been some other threads on here with book recommendations that'd be worth looking through.
Chomsky stuff is all useful, er and a great anarchist novel is ursula leGuin's The Dispossessed. Anarchy in Action is a must read about anarchism as a working forum of organisation, er Orwell's Homage to Catalonia's great and about the spanish revolution. About Anarchism's a good intro to anarchism.
That's all I can think of for now...
Dec 13 2004 17:24
#3
excellent stuff - cheers for the quick reply too! read a lot of the Marx stuff already...
any Malatesta/Emma Goldman/Chomsky/Zinn/Focault books peeps can recommend?
xTx
Dec 13 2004 17:30
#4
Zinn's People's history of the United States kicks the shit out of everything.
Ed on here has been reading chom's Understanding Power, or something and say it's ace
Goldman's best stuff seems to be her autobiog "living my life 1 + 2", a good thing to read after that is alex berkman's "prison memoirs of an anarchist".
I've only read foucault's madness and civilisation but it was damn good, as is anti-psychiatry stuff like RD Laing's
I haven't read kropotkin's mutual aid yet but would like to, and everyone says it's good
Dec 13 2004 18:28
#5
Dec 13 2004 18:42
#6
Malatesta's Life and Ideas is excellent but i think it's out of print.
Can't comment on the Pannekoek's Wokers' Councils as even though I waited years for it to be reprinted I still haven't read the damn thing. 
Might of been the boring bits that AK added at the start or maybe just the post Mayday 2000 hatred of Marxists/Marxism I picked up. I suppose I could give it another go over xmas....
I prefered Kropotkin's Conquest of Bread to Mutual Aid.
I haven't read that much Chomsky but all I have has been good - pick which area you're interested in as he's written on a lot of stuff.
Generally I find histories easier to read than more theoretical stuff. And you can usually pick up theory from the histories anyway.
Dec 13 2004 18:46
#7
nastyned wrote:
Malatesta's Life and Ideas is excellent but i think it's out of print.Can't comment on the Pannekoek's Wokers' Councils as even though I waited years for it to be reprinted I still haven't read the damn thing.
pssh neither have i, only read bits
on that note jack can i borrow your copy over christmas, i'll lend you anti-parliamentary communism if you haven't read that already
Dec 13 2004 19:23
#8
If you can get it off Martin, yes.
Dec 13 2004 21:34
#9
Also, The Iron Heel, Jack London
And an old favourite that you may know, The Ragged Trousered Philanphropists, Robert Tressell (reall Robert Noonan), good explanation of the Great Money Trick.
Dec 13 2004 21:35
#10
Has anyone read any Judith Butler??
I might order one of her books.
Dec 14 2004 09:07
#11
thanks tons for the recommendations - and only in a coupla hours! nice one
keep 'em coming - how about something relating to the spanish civil war or latin america?
sorry to be so demanding 
xTx
Dec 14 2004 09:49
#12
I have read Mark Shipways book and it's excellent. The pamphlet 'Class War on the home front' is also great and probably on the same website.
I wonder how many of the books Jack recommended he's actually read?
For the Spanish Civil War Antony Beevor does a good basic history and is surprisingly sympathetic to the anarchists. As I think was previously mentioned Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' is a must. 'The blood of Spain' by Ronald Fraser has accounts from people in just about every faction from the ultra-left to the ultra-right and I found it very interesting. And Vernon Richards 'Lessons of the Spainsh Civil War' is well worth a read.
Dec 14 2004 10:55
#13
Jeff Ferrell writes good stuff about gutter punks and graffitti and stuff like that in the US. he's quite cool
'Tearing down the Streets' is a good one that i'm reading at the moment: i started reading it for my course, then liked it a little too much...
Dec 14 2004 11:30
#14
nastyned wrote:
I wonder how many of the books Jack recommended he's actually read?
The only ones I haven't read are Capital vol. 3, and about half of Vol.2 and some of the Grundresse. 
Oh and a different edition of the Gramsci.
Dec 14 2004 11:35
#15
Jack wrote:
nastyned wrote:
I wonder how many of the books Jack recommended he's actually read?
The only ones I haven't read are Capital vol. 3, and about half of Vol.2 and some of the Grundresse.
Oh and a different edition of the Gramsci.
LOL! Thought you wouldn't have read Capital vol.3 - I've never met anyone who has.
Dec 14 2004 11:38
#16
George'sBush wrote:
Zinn's People's history of the United States kicks the shit out of everything.
^Knows what he's talking about. 8)
Does the newer version of this have great additions or just a new intro?
Dec 14 2004 11:38
#17
Strike! by Jeremy Brecher is also good - but it's well overpriced on Amazon (it's £15 at Freedom)
Also, less theoretical, more historical
Phil Mailer - Portugal: the Impossible Revolution - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0919618332/ref=cm_mp_wli_/202-8717031-0562262
E.P. Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140136037/qid=1103024096/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/202-8717031-0562262
Christopher Hill - The World Turned Upside Down - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140137327/qid=1103024138/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_2/202-8717031-0562262
Dec 14 2004 11:40
#18
nastyned wrote:
LOL! Thought you wouldn't have read Capital vol.3 - I've never met anyone who has.
Well, I'm just re-reading Vol.1 and am intending on going right on to 2 + 3 then the Grundresse, but that's pretty much just the theory. Jesus, the first half of Vol.1 is fucking painful enough.
Dec 14 2004 12:40
#19
3rdseason wrote:
Has anyone read any Judith Butler??I might order one of her books. :)
Ohhhhhhh yes.... a particular favourite. I suppose I'd go for the "big 3," Gender Trouble, Bodies that Matter & The Psychic Life of Power. I'd also read them in that order, since BTM is partly a response to the (mis)appropriation of Butler's work by the strand of queer theory that goes, "If gender is a performance, then that means I can do what I like." And Psychic Life... has one of the best chapters on Hegel that I've read anywhere.
She's not an easy read by any stretch, but unlike a lot of 'theory' it's cause she's got complex things to say, rather than just for the sake of it.
Dec 14 2004 12:56
#20
Also, at the beginning of the thread you mention Foucault -- another favourite. (And not just because I look like him.... back me up on this, rkn ).
My first one was "Discipline & Punish," but the one I find myself using most is the 3 volume history of sexuality -- all available in Penguin. This said, D&P is a cracking read -- one of the great opening chapters, I'd say.
Dec 14 2004 18:30
#21
the button wrote:
3rdseason wrote:
Has anyone read any Judith Butler??I might order one of her books. :)
Ohhhhhhh yes.... a particular favourite. I suppose I'd go for the "big 3," Gender Trouble, Bodies that Matter & The Psychic Life of Power. I'd also read them in that order, since BTM is partly a response to the (mis)appropriation of Butler's work by the strand of queer theory that goes, "If gender is a performance, then that means I can do what I like." And Psychic Life... has one of the best chapters on Hegel that I've read anywhere.
She's not an easy read by any stretch, but unlike a lot of 'theory' it's cause she's got complex things to say, rather than just for the sake of it.
Yeah Im gonna get Gender Trouble. 8)
Dec 14 2004 18:44
#22
I'll second Capital Vol. 1 (it's enough to keep you going for a while, so I'd diversify rather than buying the other two volumes then the Grundisse, which I fully admit to not having read).
Stuff that hasn't been mentioned:
The Third Revolution by Murray Bookchin, not actually read it yet but very promising, and on my shelf waiting - covers a most of the revolutions from the past three hundred years:
then vol 2.
and vol. 3
The Murray Bookchin Reader (although it's a hundred quid on Amazon!!, ought to be about £15ish, so maybe wait and get it from Freedom).
so in that case:
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/187317635X/qid%3D1103049423/026-6349755-2735622
If you want some Emma Goldman, "Anarchism and other Essays" is free as an e-book online,
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2162
a few other sites have lots of things for free by most major writers and lots of minor ones (anarchist archives, marxists.org, jesusradicals.com come up a lot, sure there's plenty of others) so worth googling things you're not sure about to check them out before you spend money.
Dec 14 2004 19:19
#23
wouldnt recommend AK, seven weeks and counting for a couple of pamphlets! I aint a fan of that customer service bollocks but i aint asking for much.
Dec 14 2004 22:40
#24
Grundrisse is bloody difficult to read. There are lots of books/pamphlets from a byegone era that explain the core of Capital, Grundrisse etc. I have a kind of ancient archive here that I should try to put online sometime (includes many examples of the latter plus stuff like John McLean's Economics materials for his working class tutorials from the early 20th century - not sure how to do that, but I can look into it). Obviously not everyone would agree with everything, but could be an interesting archive nonetheless?
Also, just want to remind everyone (not be anti-anarchist in any way btw) that George Orwell was an MI5 tout, just to keep in mind that's all.
Dec 15 2004 01:47
#25
Refused wrote:
George'sBush wrote:
Zinn's People's history of the United States kicks the shit out of everything.^Knows what he's talking about. 8)
Does the newer version of this have great additions or just a new intro?
i thought it went into the 80's and early 90's
might be wrong
Dec 15 2004 11:20
#26
New one goes up to 2000, including the election
Dec 16 2004 11:57
#27
Do people think it might be worth enrager doing a recommended reading list?
A few people new to anarchism have come on here and asked for stuff that they should read. A recommended list might be a useful service (always good to be customer focused!)
Dec 16 2004 12:54
#28
A while ago I thought it'd be worth doing a reading list, with direct links to texts where they're free on-line. The problem with those lists is they can get really, really, long. Would be good to have one broken into categories, or have a multi-level thing (recommended, further reading).
Dec 16 2004 13:08
#29
I'd be prepared to put a levels-type list together on feminism/Foucault/post-structuralism/that kind of shit.
Dec 16 2004 13:26
#30
starting new thread in general
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140445684/qid=1102958084/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140445692/qid=1102958084/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140445706/qid=1102958084/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140445757/qid=1102958134/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_18_1/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/087975446X/qid=1102958084/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573922587/qid=1102958160/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1902593294/qid=1102958191/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_0_2/202-8717031-0562262
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0853152802/qid=1102958227/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/202-8717031-0562262