Synopsis
Anarchism has been both a vision of a peaceful, cooperative society—and an ideology of revolutionary terror. Since the term itself—anarchism—is a negation, there is a great deal of disagreement on what the positive alternative would look like. The black flag comes in many colors.
The Anarchist Handbook is an opportunity for all these many varied voices to speak for themselves, from across the decades. These were human beings who saw things differently from their fellow men. They fought and they loved. They lived and they died. They disagreed on much, but they all shared one vision: Freedom.
Review
The Anarchist Handbook by Michael Malice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was super insightful. I learned a lot. I read it as an audiobook, which had multiple narrators, some I recognized, some new, all enjoyable. Sort of reminded me something like the Federalist Papers in the way that it read. I’d recommend it to anyone, great for book clubs or student topical report, anyone wanting to understand the political philosophy, the function of government, key people and their ideas around the subject.
The Story
It covered a lot of ground between the historical context of situations and key persons advocating for an anarchical state. Very comprehensive and commentary by the author helped to ask questions that I was pondering over and tie thoughts together.
Topics/questions that were brought up and dissected in detail include:
-Social contract and the consent to be born
-The Spartans
-Wage earners, colonists
-Order and disorder
-The state
-What is the government as far as representation? The state? US? Nazi Germany?
-Is modern day immigration a form of colonialism not much different than colonists of the past?
-Defining code of morals in origin and the protection around such concepts
-Monopolies
-Labor, taxes, capital gains
-Rights and responsibility
-Scale of crime
-Punishment and revenge
-Justice
-Reparations
-Open source software
I thought the bit about the room, the house, and a bed, idle or laborers, was interesting.
The Writing
Most of the content was excerpts from previous writings from the source, sometimes followed by commentary, which I quite liked. It was mostly chronological and well-organized from that standpoint.
Overall, it answered a lot of questions and I felt it to be a very thorough, well-researched, and well presented read.
I will look forward to more from this author.
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