Anarchism and Other Essays Paperback – April 30, 2013

Currently, as we sense the decline of the labor movement, the fraying of the social safety net, the widening of income gaps, the disappearance of the middle class and the rise of Tea Party and Libertarian philosophies, this woman and this era, (1890's through 1930's), offer interesting, pertinent and surprising insights and parallels.This work includes Emma Goldman's essays, and also addresses Emma Goldman's life and activities, and so it embraces as it must her thoughts and feelings, her formal and informal statements, and a complete range of her writings, speeches and public utterances. It is not a close parsing of the differences amongst the intellectuals on the finer points of Marxist theory, a topic that is probably of little interest much less application for today's reader, but it will inform your understanding of anarchy as a school of thought.The book does present a vibrant and fascinating picture of a woman who was of her time and yet well ahead of her time. It captures the political excitement and hysteria and ferment that marked the 1890'ss, and it calmly and clearly explains some of the main lines of thought that we now lump together under the vaguely misunderstood heading of "anarchism".There is much to think about here, and it is a pleasure to recapture and appreciate who Emma Goldman was and what she accomplished.This is a very nice Kindle find, and worth a look. The writing is crisp and feels very modern despite the book's age. While the author clearly admires Emma Goldman, this is no hagiography, and while the book is sympathetic to the anarchist cause it is not unreliable or exaggerated in its claims. It would seem that this would serve as a solid introduction and guide to the politics of this largely forgotten, or at least overlooked, period in U.S. history. That seems a solid basis for recommending this book to the interested reader.

The most important thing about these essays is that they are still directly relevant in a hundred years time. The anarchist and socialist Emma is a passionate critic of puritanical hypocrisy about sex, the abuse of women and the working men and of how those in power incite wars and use patriotism to hide it, or the cruelty of the prison system.Goldman's anarchism is consistent, perhaps almost to a fault. And it is impressive how very well she understood the value of freedom and every man's right to pursue his/her happiness. She lived in the period of self-righteous greed and militarism that was the late Gilded Age and one of the most relevant times of history to understand "what went wrong" with corporativism and mixed economic policies the following century. These essays are a series of criticisms of power in its religious, political, military, corporativist, and legal forms.I truly enjoyed reading her tenacity of thought and I admire the fact that in many ways she was the first in the United States to fight for ideas which are still important today. A must read.

This book is an eye opener"SPOILER"Especially her explanation of the American prison system in the 1920, where she explains that the prisoners were taught skills displacing women from the workforce when they exited prison, this lead to them having very poor salaries (back then women were paid much less). This lead to the working class hating the prisoners because their salaries were decreased (displaced wifes) and it made the x prisoners continue to commit crimes. As a result the privately owned prisons were guaranteed to get cheap force labor back. And the working class waited all it's energy hating the disenfranchised instead of the ruling elite... Now 100 years later America has more prisoners pr capita than any other country, so obviously this successful business strategy has been expanded quite substantially

When you read this book, you'll see how the events in the late 1800's to early 1900's are still consistent with our government. Our rights being infringed upon well before any world wars. I absolutely believe in this writing and Emma Goldman's view of how the world should be! If you have a hard time getting into novels, just make it through the Preface and you'll just cruise along in this amazing book! I recommend this to everyone from the poor and/or dishonored, to the weathiest people on earth and the top levels of courts and government. This is how our original constitution was written. By the treasonous and violent men we call our fore fathers who would now be considered domestic terrorists and traitors. We need to learn from our history or we are "DOOMED to repeat it!"

Emma Goldman was a preeminent anarchist thinker of the early 20th century, and this work that she has done is a great indicator of that. Though I would not personally consider myself to be an anarchist, some of the ideas and philosophies that were laid out in the essays (the issues of poverty, the legislation of morality, and the collusion of big business and the state) definitely struck a chord to me. I would definitely recommend this book to those who would like an introduction to the general philosophies of the anarchists of the 20th century, and anarchist thought in general.

This particular book is a great introduction into Emma Goldman's world. It's definitely not an Anarchism 101 but the novice will be able to grasp Goldman's version of Anarcha-Feminism. Two things I should mention: 1.) It's cheap price is appealing and the reason for is printed on demand through Create Space. 2.) Because it's independently created its poorly proofread. Honestly not even sure the person the typed this actually read through his final product. A lot of typos. But if this doesn't bother you, then the cost savings is worth the loss.

"The problem that confronts us today, and which the nearest future is to solve, is how to be one's self and yet in oneness with others, to feel deeply with all human beings and still retain one's own characteristic qualities."Familiar as the highly influential feminist, 'notorious' Anarchist from the 20th Century, Emma Goldman gives here powerful political essays on the notions of Anarchism, Majoritarianism, critical views on feminism, civil rights and suffrage movements.She goes on to attack the notions of Patriotism as something emergent and people holding it absolute and rationalizing the means of military budgets and arms race. There are essays which are context specific, mind you this was written more than a century ago, like the notions and influence and poisoning of Puritanism, Gradualism in the women's emancipation movements.There are few powerful quotes in the ending essays where she quotes on Prostitution as something evil and puts the economic and moral structure for making it institutionalized (although the practice was there from time immemorial) There are certain passages people could disagree but in context to the contemporary normalization with the sex work and most existing structures like Pornography all having top down structures & segregations it's mostly women who engage (I might be wrong here with the assumption though) and if so, powerful questions can be put forth with the gender hegemony under the structures of patriarchy?More like questioning the validity of 'sex work is real work' as a mere justification for normalizing the status quo and to fit along with the existing neoliberal economic setup. I may have to read more works on Sex work for any progress from my side.Having said all these, its a powerful work and very relevant even still way ahead of our times despite having written more than a century ago.Reminds me of David Graeber who hinted often that all this practicality that we emphasize so much in everyday trivialities have pretty much susceptibility to get crumbled overnight. As they say, the human imagination stubbornly refuses to die.

As someone who identifies as an Anarcho-capitalist, I was unsure how Emma Goldman's work would sit with me - she'd be considered an anarcho-socialist by today's standards.I found these essays to be deeply interesting and the style of writing and clear intellect of Goldman had me hooked - I could not put these essays down. She has such a way with words and was so in tune with the social fabric of the world around her, that it is easy to forget the time in which these essays were written. She talks about things (e.g. war) in a way that sounds as if she is recounting the recent past, when in fact her words are more like prophecy when you line up the dates of the essays.A must-read for anyone interested in the ideas or history of anarchy - regardless of how you would classify yourself politically.

Un libro che potenzialmente può cambiare la vita, analisi storica e sociale da una persona in prima linea. Consigliatissimo

Emma is a great writer - maybe not a great philosopher, but that is why I like her writing.This book is a must read for everyone who wonders why is he paying taxes, why is the majority allowed to "vote", while few of them really understand the consequences of their actions, and many more.How (or if) you will act upon it - that is a completely different story.

Good quality hardcover. Delivered promptly