Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots on TOUR!!
By kate | January 25, 2012
It’s true: the book tour for Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots is about to begin! Please spread the word, and tell your local booksellers to order the book!
Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?:
Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform
Edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
(AK Press, February 2012)
“These essays, alternately moving and sprightly, contemplative and outraged‚ display the power of presenting an alternative to the mainstream: a world of greater tolerance, acceptance, support, and creativity.”–Publishers Weekly
“You may have thought you understood human nature before you read this book; after reading it you will be humbled by all you failed to grasp until now. America invented identity politics but here those identities have been multiplied and articulated as never before.”–Edmund White, author of A Boy’s Own Story
“These essays come like a plunge into a forest pool of revitalizing joy, honesty, and common sense. Read them. Now. No‚ not tomorrow. Now!”–Samuel R. Delany, author of Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
Upcoming Events:
Stories Books and Cafe, Echo Park
Sunday, January 22, 6:30 pm
1716 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026-3225
www.storiesla.com
(213) 413-3733
http://www.facebook.com/events/348593838486877/
University of Southern California
Monday, January 23, 5 pm
Los Angeles, CA
Claremont Colleges
Scripps College, Balch Auditorium
Thursday, January 26
7 pm doors, 7:30 pm talk
Reception and book signing to follow in the Hampton Room above Scripps Dining Hall
Claremont, CA
Friday, January 27 publishing conversation
Pomona College, Queer Resource Center, 3 pm
Snacks provided
Pomona, CA
University of San Francisco
Wednesday, February 8, 5 pm
University Center (UC) 4th Floor Lounge
San Francisco, CA
THE BIG BOOK LAUNCH
Valentine’s Day 2012, Tuesday, February 14, 6 pm
(come early for heart-shaped refreshments)
San Francisco Main Library
1100 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA
A delicious discussion with contributors Jaime Cortez, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Debanuj DasGupta, Booh Edouardo, Eric Stanley, Harris Kornstein, Gina de Vries, Horehound Stillpoint, Matthew D. Blanchard, and your lovely host Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Topics: AK Authors!, AK News, Happenings, Uncategorized | No Comments »
An update from Eddie Conway, author of Marshall Law
By kate | January 5, 2012
We just received this letter from our author and comrade, Marshall “Eddie” Conway, currently serving a life sentence in a Maryland prison for a crime he didn’t commit. As ever, his spirits remain high, and his work is an inspiration to activists and organizers both beyond and inside the prison walls. And, there’s hope on the horizon – Eddie is in the midst of a parole appeal. Read on for an update on his case, and on how you can lend support. And, if you haven’t read Eddie’s autobiography, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, we highly recommend it – it’s one of our top sellers for 2011!
Revolutionary Greetings, to all my family, friends, and supporters. The last few months have been a very busy time for me. I am very happy to report that some progress has been made in several areas. The best news to date is the progress with my parole situation. Since my last update letter, my lawyer filed a request for a parole hearing for me. I had the hearing on November 30, 2011. I met with two commissioners and they decided to advance my case to the next level of the parole process for persons with life sentences. That level requires a psychological evaluation, which means that sometime in the near future I will be transferred to another institution for a three month evaluation. This whole process is called a Risk Assessment, and once this level is completed the case goes before the full body of the parole commission. There are ten commissioners and a majority vote is required before the case can be sent to the governor who has the final right to approve or deny.
Thanks to all of you who wrote support letters or sent cards. One of the key reasons for moving my case forward was the enormous amount of community support reflected by those letters and cards. You all really helped, thank you once again. For those who did not know that this process was underway, it happened fast, but there is still time for you to write. The case will go before the full commission and the members will once again read the letters of support. So please continue to send letters requesting parole to:
Mr. David Bloomberg
6776 Reisterstown Rd.
Baltimore, MD. 21215
My lawyer, Phillip Dantes and his legal team has committed to filing my case in court by the end of this year 2011. As of this writing, that schedule is still being honored. We are looking forward to being in court sometime in 2012. Once we have a date, I will make you all aware via facebook and an update letter. We will be organizing a fundraiser in the spring to help with legal and court costs.
Since my last letter I have had the opportunity to speak at a number of events. I spoke with students and activist at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of California at Riverside, and Students Against Mass Incarceration at Howard University. I also spoke at several community events and book readings of Marshall Law The Life and Times of a Baltimore Panther: the Urban Network in Detroit, MI., Internationalist Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., and readings in Chicago, Ill., and in Baltimore, MD. Some of these events also included large groups form Occupy Riverside, CA. and Occupy Chicago, plus students from University of North Carolina. In October I participated in a conference of community leaders and activists like Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle organized by Dylan Rodriguez with the American Studies Association; their annual meeting was held in Baltimore. I also had the opportunity to meet and speak with National Black United Front members who visited me and offered some encouragement for the survival of our community.
The work we are doing with the Friend of a Friend (FOF) mentoring organization is going very well. The organization has developed so many positive community leaders and mentors that I can no longer keep up with all the new people around the system and out in the community; that is a good thing and I am happy with both the group’s growth and direction. The (FOF) prison project is expanding into another prison- with one more wanting the program; it is currently in five Maryland prisons.
I will never be able to thank the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for taking on this task and helping us save hundreds of lives and put many positive activists back into the community. We are now organizing our families outside with the support of a local church, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church and Pastor Heber Brown. Members of a Friend of a Friend are working with a local school to help provide guidance to youth; they are starting a Freedom School in 2012, and are also speaking at colleges in the region.
Our Neutral Grounds project has opened up a snack and beverage stand to demonstrate our concept of “Do for Self”. Since unemployment is highest among people of African descent and even higher among former prisoners we have to think of ways to employ ourselves, and create our own economic opportunity. My family is okay in general. However, I recently lost a brother-in-law; he was married to my sister for thirty-nine years. Many of the family are planning a large holiday dinner and I plan to call in to the gathering. I am still struggling with high blood pressure, but I am exercising and trying to eat right, but prison food only allows so much right eating.
One thing I wish I could do better is write everyone as soon as the mail comes in, it’s just not possible, but I greatly appreciate every letter – thank you all. I am looking forward to the coming year, and hope to see positive changes in the world. 2012 is an important year for our community and as the economic picture continues to change and capitalism collapses, food and basic needs will be in greater demand for the most vulnerable people in our communities. We need to learn and teach everyone how to grow our own food in local city gardens, and meet our needs collectively. Block by block – help rebuild the community- grew something to eat!
In Struggle,
Eddie Conway
Topics: AK Authors!, Current Events, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Top 10 of 2011: AK Press Distribution
By Suzanne | December 28, 2011
Last week we gave you this year’s Top 10 bestselling new titles from AK Press publishing; this week we’re back with our Distro Top 10: our bestselling new titles this year from our distributed indie publishers. It’s been a great year and, as you can see below, there have been some excellent new releases. If you have missed any, now’s the perfect time to take another look!
The Top 10 AK Press Distribution Titles of 2011 are:
1. 2012 Slingshot Organizers [Slingshot Collective]
The Slingshot Organizer pretty much always tops our distro bestsellers list, and for good reason: they’re practical, they’re cheap, and they’re fun. They have more personality than your iCal could ever dream of. Available in a rainbow of colors, and two sizes: the pocket organizer and the spiral-bound desk planner. Don’t have your new calendar or organizer yet? Get yours now, and get organized!
2. What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower: Being An Adventure Of Your Own Choosing [Margaret Killjoy / Combustion Books]
Remember those “choose-your-own-adventure” books you read when you were a kid? Well, here’s the politically-charged grown-up version, full of goblins and gnomes and vice, from the author of our own Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction. It’s awesome—and if you don’t believe us, maybe you’ll believe Cory Doctorow’s BoingBoing review!
3. Work: Capitalism. Economics. Resistance. [CrimethInc.]
This latest arrival from CrimethInc. takes on not just work itself but also the larger forces of capitalist economy that make it possible (and seemingly necessary) for most people to work our whole lives with nothing to show for it. If you’re familiar with CrimethInc.’s other popular books—Days of War, Nights of Love; Recipes for Disaster; and Expect Resistance—some of this will seem like familiar territory, but with its particularly timely focus on dismantling capitalism (and thus work as we know it), it goes in some interesting directions.
4. The Listener: Memory, Lies, Art, Power [David Lester / Arbeiter Ring Publishing]
From the author of The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism (which is also great!) comes this compelling graphic novel that tells a startling story of Germany in 1933, interwoven with scenes from the life of a modern-day artist. Paul Buhle says, “Speaking as a reviewer of comic art since 1970 and historian of comic art, in some way, for the last thirty years, I can say that no one has captured better this dilemma of the politically-inspired artist.” That’s pretty high praise, eh? See what others have said, and then check it out for yourself.
5. Fair Game: A Strategy Guide for Racial Justice Communications in the Obama Era [Praxis Media Productions / Praxis Project]
A new workbook-style guide from some of the same folks who were involved with our own Talking the Walk: A Communications Guide for Racial Justice! Introduced at the US Social Forum, and now updated and available to the general public. This guide is designed to help its readers navigate new political waters, explore proven strategies, and consider long-term strategy. There’s lots to chew on here, for anyone committed to racial justice.
6. SteamPunk Magazine: The First Years, Issues #1–7 [Ed. Margaret Killjoy & C. Allegra Hawksmoor / Combustion Books]
A recent arrival, but this one was such a big hit at the holidays that it’s already a bestseller! This anthology collects all published issues (so far!) of SteamPunk Magazine, including plenty of fiction and artwork as well as pieces on music, fashion, politics, history, and mad science. Over 400 large-format pages of awesome steampunkery at a very reasonable price!
7. Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language [Jila Ghomeshi / Arbeiter Ring Publishing]
We’ve all heard self-appointed “language police” bemoan today’s sloppiness, imprecision, and a general disregard for the rules of grammar and speech. For sure, we at AK are sometimes guilty of being sticklers for proper grammar (it kind of comes with the territory). But this book is a valuable counterpoint, demonstrating what the insistence on “proper” use of language reveals about power, authority, and social prejudices. Listen to this radio appearance by the author to hear more about the book… and then get a copy for yourself or your favorite grammar nerd.
8. Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh [Anne Elizabeth Moore / Microcosm Publishing]
A USA Today reviewer called this “the best travel book I read all year.” Anne Elizabeth Moore (also author of the excellent Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity) brings her experience in the American cultural underground to Cambodia, where she teaches young women to make zines and in the process learns more than she’d bargained for about women’s rights, globalization, the failures of democracy, and justice.
9. Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Violence, Art, and Imagination [David Graeber / Minor Compositions]
From the author of our own excellent collection, Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire (and one of the most articulate voices coming out of the Occupy movement—check out this recent piece!) comes a timely new book of essays explores the political imagination. Capitalism as we know it is over. In our current political landscape, where can we find signs of hope and possibility? How can we come together to create a new language, a new strategy, a new set of expectations?
10. Art Gangs: Protest & Counterculture in New York City [Alan W. Moore / Autonomedia]
An important new contribution to the study of art history, from an art historian who knows what he’s talking about. From the Art Workers Coalition through Art & Language, Colab and Group Material in the 1980s, in Soho and the Lower East Side, the collectives described in this book built the postmodern art world, and in many ways laid the foundation for today’s radical art collectives. This is the essential background story of the politicized international art world.
Honorable Mention: Debt: The First 5,000 Years [David Graeber / Melville House]
Even though this one isn’t exclusively distributed to the book trade by AK Press (as all of the above titles are), and even though it’s a giant $32 hardcover, it still made our bestseller list. Why? Because it’s just that good. Do yourself a favor and read it. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it could not have come out at a better moment in history. Check out the New York Times review!
It’s also worth noting here that there were a whole bunch of great new titles released near the end of the year that didn’t make it onto this list just because they didn’t have time to become bestsellers YET—but they’re still worth checking out! Among the year-end bestsellers: Practicing Feminist Mothering (Fiona Joy Green / Arbeiter Ring Publishing); Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars (Ed. Ryan Conrad / Against Equality Press); Communization and its Discontents (Ed. Benjamin Noys / Minor Compostions); and many more! New titles arrive every week… Why not sign up for our e-mail list to make sure you hear about them?
Topics: AK Distribution, Recommended Reading | No Comments »
Surrealism in 2012!
By kate | December 27, 2011
If you should happen to find yourself in the mid-Atlantic or the Northeast in January or February, I strongly recommend you make time for a detour to Reading, Pennsylvania for the improbably located Surrealism in 2012 exhibition: a never-before-exhibited-together collection of surrealist material created since 1960. NO, surrealism didn’t die out in the 50s with the death of Andre Breton. A quick survey of the surrealist titles we carry in the AK Press distribution catalogue–most of them published by Charles H. Kerr/Black Swan Editions–drives this point home where writing is concerned, but surrealists around the globe have continued to produce art objects at a frenetic pace over the past fifty years, and poet and photographer Joseph Jablonski has culled together the largest, most diverse surrealist exhibition since the 80s. In Reading, PA. Of all places.
Surrealism in 2012: Toward the World of the Fifth Sun
January 6 – February 19, 2012
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts
201 Washington Street
Reading, Pennsylvania
The opening reception is January 6, 2012 from 5:30 – 7:30PM. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this lovely piece by my friend and mentor Franklin Rosemont, the great surrealist poet and historian, who helped to organize the World Surrealist Exhibition of 1976, from whose catalogue this essay is drawn.
Freedom of the Marvelous
Caught upon an emotional precipice between the irretrievable and the unhoped for, men and women today rarely recognize each other, or even themselves. Ask them who they are, what they are doing, where they are going; they stare blankly, stammer, look the other way. No one dares to be happy: too many wars, too many suicides, too many unemployed, too many priests, too many cops; too many “troubles” of every sort conceivable and too many that are scarcely conceivable at all. The exceptions prove the rule. The traffic is always heavy, the weather is always bad. No doubt about it: life today is only five percent of life, and day by day the percentage goes down. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: AK Allies, Happenings, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized | No Comments »
AK Press is hiring!
By kate | December 20, 2011
AK Press has an immediate opening for a new collective member. More specifically, we’re looking to expand our publishing department by hiring someone who has a passion for books and ideas, requires little sleep, and knows the difference between Lucy Parsons and Lady Gaga. Read on for more explanation.
The publishing department at AK Press oversees the acquisition, development, production, and promotion of roughly twenty new titles every year, in addition to managing our extensive backlist catalog and seeking new sales avenues for our titles. Ideally, our newest hire will work out of our Baltimore office (but if we can’t live without you then we’ll consider making space in the Oakland warehouse). Our new collective member will be unreasonably organized and efficient, have a sense of humor but take the work of AK Press as seriously as it deserves, and they will spend their time:
- Working with authors to think through and develop promotional campaigns for their books
- Creating promotional materials for AK & AK Press books
- Building relationships with reviewers, media producers, bloggers, and other public outlets
- Developing and expanding the AK Press social media world
- Responding to review copy requests when they come in, and following up when they go out
- Partnering with other publishers, bookstores, and organizations to expand the boundaries of AK Press’s core readership
- Traveling for tabling gigs and conferences
- Being a communicative public face for AK Press
- Playing an organizational role in our publishing department (Keeping track of annual deadlines, staying on top of our production schedule and marketing & publicity schedule, working with project coordinators through various steps of the publishing process)
- Acquiring new titles and authors
The day to day tasks revolve around the functions of the publishing department but as a member of the collective you’ll be self-managing the largest and most productive anarchist publishing house and distribution center in the world. Our jobs are tremendously fun, but remember, this is hard work.
Required skills include some combination of:
- Working knowledge of anarchist politics, past and present
- Communication skills (writing, public speaking)
- Fluency with design/design software (Adobe preferred)
- Experience in the book trade
- Experience with Macs and Excel, Word, Photoshop, Constant Contact, and WordPress
- Experience with social media/website development
- Impeccable organizational skills
Recommended skills include:
- Relevant job experience managing multiple projects at once
- Experience working collectively
- Connections to current political activities
- A history of full-time employment, preferably work that is self-directed
- Contacts with relevant writers, reviewers, media contacts, etc.
- Foreign language skills
The position is full-time (40hrs per week plus additional nights and weekends, as necessary). We offer comprehensive health care, twenty-four paid vacation days a year (in addition to May Day, our only official holiday), and a salary of $27,500.
Still interested? Please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@akpress.org with the subject line: ATTN Publishing Position | YOUR NAME. All queries must be received by January 15. Your cover letter should address why you want to work with AK Press, and highlight your ideas about reaching people with the books and ideas we publish – send us your manifesto for making AK Press books dinner table conversation around the country and beyond. Let us know what you have to offer, and where you’ll take us as a member of our collective.
Thanks in advance for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you!
Topics: About AK, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Interview with the Comité Organizador de la 3ra Conferencia Anual de la NAASN, Puerto Rico
By charles | December 20, 2011
This year, the conference of the North American Anarchist Studies Network will be happening in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 7-8. I’m deeply bummed that I can’t make it, but there will be a table full of AK books there, with a lovely person standing behind it. In the meantime, here’s an interview with the conference organizers (from the Rekolektiv blog). |
 |
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On Organizing the Conference
Q: Interest in having Puerto Rico host this conference began a long time ago – I know that in Toronto last year the idea was certainly floated around, and people on the listserv began suggesting it immediately afterwards. What was the initial reaction to the idea among Puerto Rican anarchists? Who picked up and ran with the idea in the early stages?
A: We cannot speak of a concerted reaction among Puerto Rican anarchists because although there’s an always evolving non-written history of organizing, there isn’t that much of an anarchist milieu going on from where to draw any explicit opinion. Nevertheless, there are certainly some moderately small groups with different agendas, in addition to anarchists in other socialist organizations as well as individualists, who have nodded their heads in agreement, recognizing the importance of opening spaces for the discussion of such thinking on a bigger scale. At first, members of the ad hoc NAASNPR committee presented the project of housing the third NAASN conference to other groups akin to anarchist thought, but since they were mostly focused on other projects it was put on hold. The first formation of the organizational committee structured the foundations of what would be the conference itself (booking the first venue, the call for papers, the announcing of the event, etc.) and eventually other comrades got in touch to help volunteer with issues such as food, artwork, planning, logistics, writing, and transportation, among others.
Q: The website and organizing you’ve done so far is very impressive. You definitely have a talented group of artists, scholars, activists, and organizers in Puerto Rico. How did you all find each other and what has it been like to bring your efforts together?
A: It has been great. Even though we have known each other for a while, the process has been an excellent opportunity to bond as individuals. The actual organizational committee is made by two teachers, a farmer, an artist, a student, and a poet. We’ve also had help from people from different backgrounds. Even though our main goal is the conference and we get together at least twice a week to work with it, it also gave us a space to discuss our ideas and create future plans that go beyond the conference.
Q: Obviously this conference benefits from a history of organizing in Puerto Rico. What previous anarchist organizations or affinity groups have come together to help put this conference together? Do many of the organizing collective’s members have previous experience with anarchist groups?
A: Even though Puerto Rico has a rich history of organizing and resistance, we have done this without the direct support of any organization. There are members of other collectives or socialist groups that promote the event and spread out the word and will be participating but the organizing aspect has been done by a small group of people. Radio Huelga, a collective that was born as a pirate radio during the strike at the University of Puerto Rico will be working with us to transmit the event live through their webpage.
Nonetheless we cannot deny the impact all this history of struggle has had in ourselves as individuals. Even though all of us have been part of past struggles in an individual aspect and only two of us had been part of an anarchist organization, but not for long, we are learning from our interactions with the struggles in Puerto Rico and with the contact with other socialist and progressive organizations.
Q: In September the original venue cancelled after the Rector of the institution discovered the political leanings of the gathering. How did this affect the organizing? Was it easy to find a new space?
Is the AteneoPuertorriqueño more receptive to your politics?
A: When we first started looking for a venue the options available were quite limited. For practical reasons, the conference had to be hosted within the metropolitan area (San Juan specifically), due to serious problems and deficiencies in public transportation on the remainder of the island, and a lack of spaces with the minimum requirements for the purpose intended. In addition to this, we wanted a space that would be open for the discussion of any political idea so we were looking for spaces outside the academia.
Paradoxically, we settled for the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe because of its convenient location and accessibility for everyone. After a few weeks of phone calls, emails and personal visits we were given the heads up; there was only some bureaucratic paperwork left to do, but we were told anyhow not to worry, and decided to start promoting the conference. When the Rector of the institution found out about the activity they cancelled it on the basis of miscommunication and conflicts with the dates. They said they were having an Art Symposium that was going to last two weeks; out of which we still haven’t seen anything announced, and certainly just a made up excuse for censorship. This put us in a precarious situation and left us back at the beginning of our organizing efforts. After an intense week of searching for a new space we thought the Ateneo Puertorriqueño would be the most appropriate venue for the event.
Two things must be said about the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. Even though it springs from liberal ideas, it welcomed us without ever questioning our purposes and was excited to have us there. Even though the Ateneo closes down for the holidays and resume their labors after the dates of the conference, they agreed on opening the space for us within the time span of their holiday vacations, not only for the event, but for the venue’s preparation days earlier; something which was highly appreciated since the probability of getting those same dates on other public or private spaces were null for different practical or cultural circumstances. Furthermore, the Ateneo has been an open forum for all the ideologies that have taken part in the political debates in Puerto Rico, from far right conservatives to the radical left. Being a cultural, educational and historical institution founded in 1876, it receives funds directly from the government but their open politics has won them the hate of the current administration which wants to transfer its yearly pay of $500,000 to a children hospital in the grotesque fashion of putting people who could oppose between the sword and the wall, as if one had to choose between cultural endeavor or agonizing children; using among many of the excuses, the hosting of an anarchist conference; this of course from the distorted cartoonist perspective of being wreck advocates. Even after this attack on the Ateneo (they got already paid) they have decided to keep on going anyway they can, even without the economic support of the government if those funds happen to be withdrawn or transferred.
Topics: AK Allies, Happenings, Spanish | No Comments »
Sale is on!
By AK Press | December 16, 2011
Just putting the finishing touches on the warehouse for tomorrow’s Holiday Book Sale. Drop by between 2:00 and 7:00 for a cold drink, snacks, and the best radical literature on the planet at great prices. Select books are $1, $3, and $5 and everything else is 25% off. See you then.
Topics: AK News | No Comments »
Top 10 of 2011: AK Press Publishing
By Suzanne | December 15, 2011
It’s that time of year, when everyone and their mother puts up their “year-in-review” blog post. Best films, best albums, Person of the Year, and what have you. Well, here we are with our own list, to celebrate all the awesome work we’ve done at AK Press this year. We like to step back and pat ourselves on the back every once in a while because we have been putting out some damn fine books (if we do say so ourselves) for twenty-one years.
The Top 10 AK Press titles of 2011 are:
1. Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther [Marshall "Eddie" Conway]
This important memoir, by a Baltimore Black Panther who has been incarcerated for 41 years for a crime he did not commit, really took off this year—thanks to some excellent launch events, some awesome professors teaching it in college courses, and some renewed public attention to Eddie’s case. But he’s still locked up, and people still need to hear what he has to say.
2. I Mix What I Like: A Mixtape Manifesto [Jared Ball]
Got a DJ or a hip-hop fan on your holiday shopping list? Look no further than this fascinating look at internal colonialism theory and modern African America through the lens of the hip-hop mixtape. Read the great two-part OC Weekly interview with Jared Ball (Part One and Part Two) to find out what this book is all about!
3. Oppose & Propose: Lessons from Movement for a New Society [Andrew Cornell]
The second book in the Anarchist Interventions series co-published with the Institute for Anarchist Studies! (See also the first book, Anarchism and its Aspirations, and the soon-forthcoming third book, Decolonizing Anarchism.) This one brings to life the history and legacy of Movement for a New Society, a radical pacifist organization that was active in the 1970s–80s
4. Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex [Edited by Nat Smith & Eric Stanley]
The first collection of its kind, on an essential topic: the experiences of trans and gender variant people caught up in the Prison Industrial Complex. Includes contributions from current and former prisoners, activists, and academics. Check out the release event videos of Miss Major and Eric Stanley & Angela Davis to get a feel for what’s covered in the book.
5. Peace, Love & Petrol Bombs: A Novel [D.D. Johnston]
Our second novel in as many years, this one should elicit many smiles and nods (and maybe snort-laughs?) from those of us who came of age in the anti-globalization movement. Trust us: it’s awesome. Or else you can trust the author, who does his best to be honest with you about whether or not you will like the book.
6. After the Future [Franco "Bifo" Berardi]
Bifo is gaining recognition within U.S. activist circles, and for good reason. He’s been saying some things worth listening to. Take this, for instance: “We don’t have to get indignant anymore, we have to revolt.” Here’s his new book about our collective obsession with “the future,” whose time, he argues, has come and gone. What’s next, if not the future? Well, that’s up to us…
7. Property Is Theft: A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Reader [Pierre-Joseph Proudhon; Edited by Iain McKay]
Years in the making, here’s a massive (over 800 pages!) collection of writings by the first man to call himself an “anarchist.” Edited by Iain McKay (of Anarchist FAQ fame), who also wrote here about his thoughts on the process of editing this book, and the final result. An essential addition to any anarchist’s library.
8. “Yellow Kid” Weil: The Autobiography of America’s Master Swindler [J.R. Weil & W.T. Brannon]
You’ve probably just heard about this one on BoingBoing, where it was called the “perfect toilet-tank book.” It’s the latest in our popular Nabat Books series of outlaw biographies. It would make a great gift, don’t you think? Or maybe you’d like to brush up on your own swindling technique before that family holiday get-together? (Kidding! AK Press does not endorse ripping off your own family.)
9. Weaponizing Anthropology [David H. Price]
For anyone who’s worried about military incursions into schools and universities and the co-optation of research by intelligence agencies: well, you’re right to worry. For anyone else, here’s a wake-up call. The social science students and professors in your life need to read this. Check out this great review from La Jornada.
10. Zapatista Spring: Anatomy of a Rebel Water Project & the Lessons of International Solidarity [Ramor Ryan]
From the author of Clandestines, and more recently the translator of Dispersing Power, comes this nuanced look at what happens when a group of international volunteers converge to help build a water system in Chiapas and encounter a “real world” much more complex than the flowery Zapatista communiqués. You can read an excerpt from the book here.
Honorable Mention: Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader [Colin Ward; Edited by Damian White & Chris Wilbert]
It’s only been out a couple months, but our long-awaited Colin Ward reader nearly made it onto this list anyway. So what the hell, who says there can’t be 11 books on our Top 10? Colin Ward was one of the most influential anarchist writers of the 20th (and early 21st) century; this is the definitive collection of his work.
And, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Friends of AK Press. In 2011, generous contributions from our Friends helped us to publish all 11 titles mentioned above—plus the also-excellent The Right to Be Lazy, Revolt and Crisis in Greece, Story of the Iron Column, Eyes to the South, and (any day now) Decolonizing Anarchism! In return for their support, Friends of AK received every one of these books in the mail, hot off the press! What lucky ducks! Sign up now to help us keep up the pace in 2012—we’ve even brought back Lifetime Friends of AK Press memberships for a limited time.
Much gratitude to those of you who have supported us either as Friends of AK, or by buying our books, in 2011! Here’s to many more…
Topics: Recommended Reading | No Comments »
“Yellow Kid” Weil Reviewed on BoingBoing!
By Suzanne | December 8, 2011
Much to our delight, we woke up this morning to an excellent BoingBoing review of the latest book in our popular Nabat series, “Yellow Kid” Weil: The Autobiography of America’s Master Swindler!
Cory Doctorow describes the book:
“Weil’s autobiography is really more of a memoir—it doesn’t provide much of a coherent narrative of the man and his life. Rather, it is a series of unconnected—but hugely entertaining—anaecdotes about the various scams he ran and the venal fools he took for thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. Weil is a virtuoso exploiter of human foibles, and each story serves as a miniature morality play in which someone who thinks he’s getting something for nothing (usually at some innocent’s expense) instead loses everything as payback for his venality.”
In conclusion, he says:
“This is one of the most entertaining memoirs I’ve ever read. Its episodic nature makes it a natural for quick reads—a more perfect toilet-tank book there never was—and the detailed descriptions of Depression-era cons are priceless, especially for anyone interested in gadgets and improvisation. The scam fortuneteller whose turban disguised a telephone clamped to his head, which was wired down his collar and trouser-leg to an electrical contact on the bottom of his shoe, which would be mated to a telephone circuit when the ‘swami’ reclined on an ‘oriental lounger’ to ‘commune with the spirit world’ is one of the best things I’ve ever read.”
We are still laughing at the fact that Cory Doctorow called one of our titles a “perfect toilet-tank book.” We hope you will agree. Read the whole review on BoingBoing, and then check out the book—or better yet, the whole Nabat series!
Topics: Reviews | No Comments »
The AK Press 2012 Catalog!
By Suzanne | December 1, 2011
It’s that time of year again—time to excitedly flip through the pages of the new AK Press catalog, pick out all your holiday gifts, and come up with your 2012 reading list. This year in the interest of saving trees and money, we’ve limited the production of print catalogs and tried to target our mailing to our less technologically inclined customers as well as folks in prison. We hope those of you who are following us here will take a look at our newfangled online catalog!
You have a couple of options: you can go to our Scribd page to download a PDF (or print it out, if you must!), or you can browse the catalog online (go to the Scribd page to adjust size and page view):
And thanks to the twenty-first century, you can easily help us spread the joy you no doubt felt when you picked up your first AK Press catalog: please pass this around via your social networks, e-mail, blog, or whatever you’ve got! And for those of you who still love the printed catalog (we’re with you, secretly!): if you don’t get a copy in the mail, you’ll very likely still have an opportunity to pick one up at an AK Press table near you.
Topics: AK Distribution, AK News, Recommended Reading | No Comments »
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