[Swinging Man]

Any suggestions?

[fuser]

Chomsky on anarchism by By Noam Chomsky, Barry Pateman

Anarchy in action by colin ward

I "ll suggest you to read this

Here is all that you "ll need http://www.marxists.org/subject/anarchism/index.htm

[Scartol]

I second the Chomsky recommendation. It's very accessible for Chomsky, which means pretty inaccessible for most people but not as bad as other books.

I also recommend Emma Goldman's autobiography Living My Life. I read them while researching the Wikipedia article (now featured, thank you so much), and found them very engaging and valuable. Not so much theory, but filled with important perspective. And she was just so awesome. (Even though I disagree with her support for attentat.)

[CatoLives]

Anarchy State and Utopia.

[Amadas Sadama]

The Anarchist's Cookbook

[Swinging Man]

Thank you for the suggestions ! I'll have to look into them. I have to say though I really have taken an interest with Emma Goldman. She seemed to be an amazing person from what I've read about her so far.

[Comrade Ostav Bender]

I think to understand anarchism, it helps to understand the philosophy of post-modernism. Once you think about the flaws in all-encompassing view points (the "isms") and consider the rationale for rejecting them in favour of localised meanings, it becomes clearer how something like anarchism can be supported. Just my two kopecks, anyhow.

[Invictus_88]

Any suggestions?

What sort of Anarchism? Or what sort or level of overview?

I could suggest a lot of books of very different types. I read pretty widely for my undergrad' dissertation on the topic, but I'd feel happier advising if I knew what you were looking for. Until you explain that, you'll probably just get a list of books from people which are - in effect - just lists of books which other people happen to have read and enjoyed; which doesn't necessarily warrant your shelling out the cash to buy them.

[Invictus_88]

I think to understand anarchism, it helps to understand the philosophy of post-modernism. Once you think about the flaws in all-encompassing view points (the "isms") and consider the rationale for rejecting them in favour of localised meanings, it becomes clearer how something like anarchism can be supported. Just my two kopecks, anyhow.

Nah.

Anarchism was fully evolved whilst postmodernism was just an embryo. Keep the kopeks.

[Comrade Ostav Bender]

Thanks Invictus, I'll buy myself something nice

[Swinging Man]

What sort of Anarchism? Or what sort or level of overview?

I could suggest a lot of books of very different types. I read pretty widely for my undergrad' dissertation on the topic, but I'd feel happier advising if I knew what you were looking for. Until you explain that, you'll probably just get a list of books from people which are - in effect - just lists of books which other people happen to have read and enjoyed; which doesn't necessarily warrant your shelling out the cash to buy them.

Well, I'm looking for something that would be good for a beginner on the subject, so maybe a good overview of the basics would be great. I want to get a grasp of the concepts.

[Kropotkin]

I'd recommend Daniel Guerin's Anarchism. It's a short, concise introduction to the main ideas of anarchism; it defines its goals, explains its origins, and mentions all the major thinkers of the movement - Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin - plus their intellectual contributions; and it also mentions 20th century thinkers who are less known - Malatesta, Makhno, etc.

I'm finding it a nice roadmap to guide me to several key texts of anarchism.

[Invictus_88]

Guerin is a fair bet, as is "Demanding the Impossible" by Peter Marshall.

What's important to understand in going into the area is that historically there have been two main families of anarchism with their own fairly distinct origins. Understanding those goes a long way toward seeing the current 'brands' of anarchism more clearly.

The earlier family of anarchism developed out of William Godwin's close study of the nature of government and the state, and close on its heels came another family of anarchism which grew up from the raft of mainland continental socialism and communism. The branches which spread from this latter group are the 'red' anarchisms which emphasise economic theories of wealth redistribution, class identity/warfare, and physical revolution, traits naturally shared with their socialist and communist co-originators. The former family never gained the mass-movement appeal of the latter, largely because it never had the shared platform of what became vast radical leftism of the late 1800s and early 1900s, but it nonetheless helped to inspire a thread of counter-cultural iconoclasm which connected the English Radicals of the 1700s to figures like Shelley and Byron, so kept Romanticism a fundamentally political movement. The outlook of this family of anarchism is no more and no less applied or theoretical than the red anarchisms are, but the formulations of its beliefs and doctrines is much more flexible and shows a greater variety through time.

The two families have shared a lot, but their differing origins and outlooks go a long way to explaining the differences between modern anarchist movements.

[Kropotkin]

Interesting. I had no idea of William Godwin's proto-anarchist theories. Guerin, who has been my anarchist roadmap for a while, ignores him. What would be a good introduction to Godwin's anarchist theories?

[Invictus_88]

"Demanding the Impossible" might be a bit heavy to buy out of mere interest, but I can strongly recommend it. Every book on the market has blind spots and ignores some contributors to the diverse raft of anarchist political philosophy, but Marshall's book is broader than most.

From p.191-219 is a chapter about William Godwin. I've looked it up for you on Google Books to save you buying the whole tome.

http://books.google.com/books?id=QDWIOL_KtGYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=demanding+the+impossible&hl=en&ei=d3-KTMa6HMrAswaf7pXxAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=%22william%20godwin%20was%20the%20first%20to%20give%20a%20clear%20statement%20of%20anarchist%20principles%22&f=false

Marshall's knowledge of anarchism is authoritative, but his understanding of Godwin's work can be relied upon especially, as "The Anarchist Writings of William Godwin" (Freedom Press, 1986) is edited by him and features a very good introduction and analysis of Godwin's thinking and his influence which is more of an accessible overview of Godwin than is the chapter in "Demanding the Impossible".

[Invictus_88]

Swinging Man,

If you can find a cheap copy, "anarchism (a beginner's guide)" is a decent entry-level text and, having flicked through it again now, probably exactly what you're looking for. By not dwelling on individual thinkers it doesn't risk having so many glaring omissions, and because it only intends to give an overview it remains quite straightforward and easy to understand.

Decent little thing, with diagrams to explain the fundamentals more easily, and heavily referenced so it's easy to know where to go for further reading if a particular area catches your eye.

This is the one;
http://books.google.com/books?id=LLLaAAAAMAAJ&q=ruth+kinna&dq=ruth+kinna&hl=en&ei=boSKTL_hN8GDswbfpsGEAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA

[yourstruly]

The problem is the term "Anarchism" is a blanket label that refers to a lot of extremely different ideologies.

If you want a compelling, factual, and well-composed argument for anarchism by someone with a sound understanding of economic principles (none of this utopian nonsense), then I strongly recommend

"The Machinery of Freedom" by David Friedman

He makes a pretty solid argument for anarcho-capitalism here. I think it ultimately breaks down on the public goods problem (national defense, response to pandemic diseases, etc.), but it had a pretty significant impact on my own views.

Also, David is a PhD Chicago Economist, and the son of Uncle Miltie himself.

I highly recommend the read.

[NGNM85]

For beginners, I'd start light. I'd recommend Emma Goldman's Pamphlet; 'Anarchism:What it is, and What it Stands For';

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Ar ... chism.html

Kropotkin's article for the Encyclopedia Britannica;
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Ar ... archy.html

I'd also have a gander at the Anarchist FAQ;
http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnAnarchistFAQ

I'm really glad to see recommendations for Peter Marshall's Demanding the Impossible, it is the best single volume on the subject, although, I imagine, a bit daunting for beginners. Chomsky on Anarchism is also indespensible, however, again, I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point.