Michael Bakunin: God and the State (1882/1970)

A colorful, charismatic personality, violent, ebullient, and energetic, Bakunin was one of two poles between which 19th and early 20th-century anarchism was formed. Although it was never finished, God and the State, his only major work, is the torso of a giant. A basic anarchist and radical document for generations, this book makes one of the clearest statements of the anarchist philosophy of history: religion by its nature is an impoverishment, enslavement, and annihilation of humanity.

Publisher Dover Publications, 1970
This Dover edition, first published in 1970, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the edition published in 1916 by Mother Earth Publishing Association, New York.
ISBN 048622483X, 9780486224831
Length 89 pages

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Caroline Cahm: Kropotkin. And the Rise of Revolutionary Anarchism, 1872-1886 (2002)

This major study of Peter Kropotkin sets him firmly in the context of the development of the European anarchist movement as the man who became, after Bakunin’s death, their chief exponent of anarchist ideas. It traces the origins and development of his ideas and revolutionary practice from 1872 to 1886, and assesses the subsequent influence of his life and work upon European radical and socialist movements. Dr Cahm analyses Kropotkin’s role in the transformation of Bakunin’s anti-authoritarian socialism, and shows how two principal types of revolutionary action emerge from anarchist efforts to develop clear alternatives to the parliamentary strategies of social democrats; one based on the activity of individuals and small groups, the other related to large-scale collective action.

Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2002
ISBN 0521891574, 9780521891578
388 pages

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CrimethInc: Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook (2004)

Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook is an anarchist book released by the CrimethInc. collective in December 2004. It provides information on and strategies for direct action useful to activists and dissenters. There are sections on forming affinity groups, organizing demonstrations, stenciling, black blocs, sabotage, squatting, and more personal topics like mental health and “Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence”. It was written over a span of three years by dozens of radical collectives from all over the world working together.

The title alludes to The Anarchist Cookbook, a controversial book from 1971. CrimethInc. denounces the earlier book, saying it was “not composed or released by anarchists, not derived from anarchist practice, not intended to promote freedom and autonomy or challenge repressive power–and was barely a cookbook, as the recipes in it are notoriously unreliable. At best, it was a fraud, a spoof; at worst, an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of anarchist practice, and cause readers to injure themselves. The recent movie by the same name is equally embarrassing, not so much to anarchists as to the industry that produced it.”

Publisher CrimethInc. (December 2004)
ISBN 0-9709101-4-2
624 pages

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Patricia Pisters (ed.): Micropolitics of Media Culture. Reading the Rhizomes of Deleuze and Guattari (2001)

This book focuses on the micro-political implications of the work of Gilles Deleuze (and Félix Guattari). General philosophical articles are coupled to more specific analyses of films (such as Fight Club and Schindler’s List) and other expressions of contemporary culture. The choice of giving specific attention to the analyses of images and sounds is not only related to the fact that audiovisual products are increasingly dominant in contemporary life, but also to the fact that film culture in itself is changing (‘in transition’) in capitalist culture. From a marginal place at the periphery of economy and culture at large, audiovisual products (ranging from art to ads) seem to have moved to the centre of the network society, as Manuel Castells calls contemporary society. Typical Deleuzian concepts such as micro-politics, the Body without Organs, becoming-minoritarian, pragmatics and immanence are explored in their philosophical implications and political force, whether utopian or dystopian. What can we do with Deleuze in contemporary media culture? A recurring issue throughout the book is the relationship between theory and practice, to which several solutions and problems are given.

Publisher Amsterdam University Press, 2001
ISBN 9053564721, 9789053564721
Length 302 pages

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Jen Angel: Becoming the Media: A Critical History Of Clamor Magazine (2008)

Clamor Magazine was a movement publication that existed between 2000 and 2006, covering radical politics, culture, and activism. Clamor published 38 issues and featured over 1,000 different writers and artists. The mission statement was:

Clamor is a quarterly print magazine and online community of radical thought, art, and action. An iconoclast among its peers, Clamor is an unabashed celebration of self-determination, creativity, and shit-stirring. Clamor publishes content of, by, for, and with marginalized communities. From the kitchen table to shop floor, the barrio to the playground, the barbershop to the student center, it’s old school meets new school in a battle for a better tomorrow. Clamor is a do-it-yourself guide to everyday revolution.

This analysis is presented as a case study on how movement projects and organizations deal with vital but rarely discussed issues such as management, sustainability, ownership, structure, finance, decision making, power, diversity, and vision.

Publisher PM Press, 2008
ISBN 1604860227, 9781604860221
Length 44 pages

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John Holloway: Change the World without Taking Power. The Meaning of Revolution Today (2002)

The series of demonstrations since Seattle have crystallised a new trend in left-wing politics. Popular support across the world for the Zapatista uprising and the enthusiasm which it has inspired has led to new types of protest movement that ground their actions on both Marxism and Anarchism. These movements are fighting for radical social change in terms that have nothing to do with the taking of state power. This is in clear opposition to the traditional Marxist theory of revolution which centres on taking state power. In this book, John Holloway asks how we can reformulate our understanding of revolution as the struggle against power, not for power.

After a century of failed attempts by revolutionary and reformist movements to bring about radical social change, the concept of revolution itself is in crisis. John Holloway opens up the theoretical debate, reposing some of the basic concepts of Marxism in a critical development of the subversive Marxist tradition represented by Adorno, Bloch and Lukacs, amongst others, and grounded in a rethinking of Marx’s concept of ‘fetishisation’– how doing is transformed into being.
The struggle for radical change, Holloway argues, far from being marginalised, is becoming more and more embedded in our everyday lives. Revolution today must be understood as a question, not as an answer.

Publisher Pluto Press, 2002
ISBN 0745318649, 9780745318646
Length 237 pages

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Damian F. White: Bookchin. A Critical Appraisal (2008)

This is the first comprehensive overview of the work of Murray Bookchin, the left-libertarian social theorist and political ecologist who is widely regarded as the visionary precursor of anti-corporate politics. Bookchin’s writing spans fifty years and engages with a wide variety of issues: from ecology to urban planning, from environmental ethics to debates about radical democracy. Weaving insights from Hegel and Marx, Kropotkin and Mumford, Bookchin presents a critical theory whose central utopian message is ‘things could be other than they are’. This accessible introduction maps the evolution of Bookchin’s project. It traces his controversial engagements with Marxism, anarchism, critical theory, postmodernism and eco-centric thought. It evaluates his attempt to develop a social ecology. Finally, it considers how his thinking relates to current debates in social theory and environmentalism, critical theory and philosophy, political ecology and urban theory. Offering a clear account of Bookchin’s key themes, this book provides a critical but sympathetic account of the strengths and weaknesses of Bookchin’s writing.

Publisher Pluto Press, 2008
Original from the University of Michigan
Digitized Jul 17, 2009
ISBN 0745319645, 9780745319643
Length 236 pages

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Lee Hoinacki, Carl Mitcham (eds.): The challenges of Ivan Illich: a collective reflection (2002)

This unique collection examines the man Utne Reader has called “the greatest social critic of the twentieth century.” The essays — all but one written by people who knew Illich personally — discuss how his life and thought have affected conceptualization, study, and practice of psychotherapy, notions about education, ideas concerning the historical developments of texts, perceptions of technology, as well as other topics. All of Illich’s books are discussed and his ideas on education, theology, technology, anarchism, and society are examined in relationship to those of Rene Girard, Karl Polanyi, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jacques Ellul. Illich’s previously unpublished paper offering a new view of conspiracy in European history is included.

Edition: illustrated
Published by SUNY Press, 2002
ISBN 0791454215, 9780791454213
256 pages

Key terms:
Ivan Illich, CIDOC, Tools for Conviviality, Boyars, Puerto Rico, Cuernavaca, Jacques Ellul, Deschooling Society, Carl Mitcham, E.F. Schumacher, Rene Girard, homo economicus, David Cayley, Barry Sanders, Leopold Kohr, iatrogenesis, Dalmatia, Karl Polanyi, Duden, Louis Dumont

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