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“Red Emma Speaks: Selected Writings and Speeches”
Emma Goldman
1972 Random House
Probably the best of the three ‘anarchist’ books I’ve read recently, because Emma Goldman was an American and lived during the 20th century, so has the most relevant things to say about this stupid and messed-up society we live in. Her essays here range from feminism, to education, to sexuality, to prisons, to war, to violence, to revolution and counter-revolution.
My favorite pieces here are the Afterword to her wonderful anti-Bolshevik book “My Disillusionment in Russia” and her essay “There Is No Communism in Russia” – both on the subject of how dictatorship in the name of the people is in no way synonymous with freedom, nor capable of leading to it. Read the rest of this entry »
“We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party”
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
2004 South End Press
This is a great history of the Black Panther Party, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s early life, and even a great overview of the history of black resistance movements from the first slave rebellions – which he says the BPP fits into as an integral piece.
Mumia does a great job explaining the origins and philosophies of the party, as well as covering its history succinctly but in a sweeping way that other books have failed to do. There is a chapter on women in the party, which is of mixed quality, but other chapters, like the ones on COINTELPRO and snitches in the party, are absolutely vital.
Don’t miss the pictures of young Mumia working in the BPP (at age 14…)
“Bakunin on Anarchy”
Mikhail Bakunin
1972 A.A. Knopf
Collection of some of Bakunin’s most important writings and essays. Having not really read much Bakunin before, I’m a little disappointed, I must say. Not for what he says, but what he doesn’t.
He tended to repeat his own ideas a lot, which are of course valid (the state must be destroyed, not reformed; revolution must be decentralized and spontaneous by the masses of people, not handed down by a privileged elite), but also simplistic and formulaic. Overall, Bakunin’s writings are not very useful in contexts beyond the theoretical and philosophical, and you can take them more as guiding and grounding principles rather than any kind of program for revolutionary action.
Then again, there’s some important stuff here, especially about Bakunin’s relationship with Marx and other socialists of his day, the nature of the First International being especially interesting. Recommended but not by much.
“The Collapse of Complex Societies”
by Joseph Tainter
1988 Cambridge University Press
A classic book, highly recommended for anyone becoming aware of the coming collapse of industrial capitalism, or just anyone who is interested in the origins and failings of civilization more generally. Tainter approaches the subject as an archaeologist, and attempts to decipher a general theory behind collapse – a process he describes as declining returns on investments by the ruling class.
Tainter doesn’t view it in terms of class, so he strangely falls into the realm of historical materialism while criticizing Marxism for not being materialistic enough. The examples given (Rome, Maya, Chaco Canyon) help elucidate the topic by showing how the majority of the population tends to benefit and welcome collapse (he mentions how the average citizen/slave of Rome welcomed the ‘Barbarians’ who freed them from brutal debt and servitude). Despite some academic and boring language, my only major complaint is the lack of substantive mention of oil and fossil fuel depletion, which has doomed global capitalism. But the book is 20 years old, I guess he didnt see it coming.
“Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision”
by Barbara Ransby
2005 University of North Carolina Press
Just kept getting better as it went on. The writing style was not my favorite, the author seemed overly interested in teasing out categories or labels to apply to Baker’s life, rather than telling the bare facts. A more serious complaint is that the book spends hundreds of pages in Baker’s early life and upbringing, only to speed through the most politically interesting part of her life, in the Black Freedom Movement of the 50s and 60s. I’m sorry, but I can never get enough information about SNCC.
Nevertheless, it’s a good book, makes very useful points about radical democratic movement-building and education (that the role of the organizer is to bring people together and ask tough questions, and help nurture people to determine their own strategy and vision), and shows that Ella Baker above all others was the true mentor and parent of our grassroots organizing struggles today.
The End of Capitalism 
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