SOME GOOD BOOKS
"Whoever lays a hand on me to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant. I declare him to be my enemy."
--Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Many of the books below are specifically by anarchists; others are not necessarily, but contain useful ideas (in my opinion) that anarchists may be able to develop and expand. I'm calling these "anarchistic." If you have any trouble finding these books, contact AK Press and ask them for a catalogue; they'll help you out.
Read them and judge for yourself; don't take my word for it!
ANARCHIST NONFICTION
These are books by anarchists or people who have affinity with the movement. Much of the theoretical and historical foundations of anarchism can be explored here.
Paul Avrich
- Anarchist Portraits
- Bakunin and Nechaev
- Sacco and Vanzetti
Alexander Berkman
- The ABC of Anarchism
- The Bolshevik Myth
- The Russian Tragedy
- Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
- What Is Communist Anarchism?
Mikhail Bakunin
- God and the State
- Integral Education
- The Capitalist System
- Marxism, Freedom and the State
- Statism and Anarchy
Murray Bookchin
- To Remember Spain: The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936
- Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm
Noam Chomsky
- World Orders Old and New
- Deterring Democracy
- What Uncle Sam Really Wants
- The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many
- Secrets, Lies, and Democracy
- Problems of Knowledge and Freedom
- Class Warfare
- Keeping the Rabble in Line
- Year 501: The Conquest Continues
Emma Goldman
- Anarchism and Other Essays
- Living My Life (Vol. 1 and 2)
Daniel Guérin
- Anarchism
- Fascism and Big Business
Ulrike Heider
- Anarchism: Left, Right, and Green
Peter Kropotkin
- The Conquest of Bread
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
- Act for Yourselves
- Anarchism and Anarchist Communism
- Ethics
- Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow
- Fugitive Writings
- Memoirs of a Revolutionist
- The Place of Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution
- The State: Its Historic Role
- An Appeal to the Young
Albert Meltzer
- Anarchism: Arguments for & Against
Jerome Mintz
- The Anarchists of Casas Viejas
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
- What is Property?
- The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
Max Stirner
- The Ego and Its Own
Colin Ward
- Anarchy in Action
Howard Zinn
- A People's History of the United States
- Declarations of Independence
- You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
ANARCHISTIC NONFICTION
These are books that are either about anarchism or famous anarchists, or which contain ideas that may be of use to anarchists (marked in boldface), with an eye on the updating and developing our theories for today's world.
- The Evolution of Cooperation
by Robert Axelrod
- The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations
edited by Charles Bufe
- Reinventing Anarchy, Again
edited by Howard J. Ehrlich
- Bakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom
by Brian Morris
- Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell (also Animal Farm
- The Rights of Man
by Thomas Paine
- Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
(3rd Edition) edited by Alix Kates Shulman
- Mexican Anarchism After the Revolution
by Donald C. Hodges
- War at Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It
by Brian Glick
- The Anarchist Writings of William Godwin
by Freedom Press
EYE-OPENERS
These are great books for someone just beginning to explore anarchism, who may need a little information as to WHY anarchists are so opposed to government. If these books don't get you questioning authority, NOTHING will!
- Drawing the Line: The American Decision to Divide Germany, 1944-1949
by Carolyn Eisenberg.
- Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
by William Blum
- Censored: The News That Didn't Make the News--And Why
Project Censored Yearbooks, 1990- by Carl Jensen and Project Censored
- Toxic Sludge is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
- The Uses of Haiti
by Paul Farmer
- Bridge of Courage
by Jennifer Harbury
These are also fascinating books that challenge prevailing notions of what is and what could be (it is important to note that while the authors themselves tend not to be radicals, the ideas they put forward are of use to radicals)
- Columbia: The Genocidal Democracy
by Javier Giraldo, S.J.
- Friendly Fascism
by Bertram Gross
- The Conquest of War: Alternative Strategies for Global Security
Edited by Harry B. Hollins, Averill L. Powers, and Mark Sommer
- Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty
Edited by Michael Hudson
- Diet for a Small Planet
by Frances Moore Lappé
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James W. Loewen
- Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty
, edited by Michael Hudson
OTHER RELATED NONFICTION
These are books that are not ostensibly anarchistic, but which contain ideas that an anarchist can develop on their own.
- The Origins of Totalitarianism
by Hannah Arendt
- The Evolving Self
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (also Flow)
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert M. Pirsig (also Lila)
- Small is Beautiful
by E.F. Schumacher
- Raiders and Rebels
by Frank Sherry
ANARCHISTIC FICTION
- A Girl Among the Anarchists
by Isabel Meredith
- Germinal
by Emile Zola
- Triton
by Samuel R. Delany (also Dhalgren)
- Christ the Vampire
by E.G. Eccarius
- The Free
by M. Gilliland
- The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin (also Four Ways to Forgiveness)
- Steel Tzar
by Michael Moorcock (also The Warlord of the Air)
- V for Vendetta
by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (also Watchmen)
- Woman on the Edge of Time
by Marge Piercy (also He, She, and It)
- Red Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson (also Green Mars)
- Door Into Ocean
by Joan Slonczewski
- Islands in the Net
by Bruce Sterling
- The Death Ship
by B. Traven
ANARCHISTIC PERIODICALS, ETC.
There are a number of good periodicals. I'll make some links to them in the future.
Return to the Anarchy for Anybody Homepage.