So I’ve been meaning to read theory and stuff, and I just never do, but I have decided to change that. So I have to ask, out of these 4 books which do you think I should read first?
- Mutual Aid.
- The Conquest of Bread.
- Fields, factories and Workshops.
- Memoirs of a Revolutionist.
Also please leave a recommendation for any of books about anarchism, or really any other types of stuff, doesn’t matter to me. Thanks y’all!
The first I read on that list was Conquest of Bread, but all are good and you’ll likely read through more than once (at least I needed to in order to annotate/take in the info.
My tastes skew ecological and so I personally really like Murray Bookchin’s writings Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), Our Synthetic Environment (1962), The Ecology of Freedom (1982), and Urbanization Without Cities (1987).
And i always recommend HT Odum’s Environment Power and Society (1971) as a good primer on the relationship between energy, power, and societal organization.
I like Arne Naess’ writing on “ecosophy”- his term for philosophy rooted in ecological knowing. I think he builds off Bookchin/Kropotkin and other anarchist analysis, albeit from a more liberal lens and I don’t recall if he cites them but the threads seem to be there. His text “‘Truth’ as Conceived by Those who are Not Professional Philosophers” (1938) lays the groundwork for his understanding of philosophy as a decentralized, individual formulation rather than a universal code. His book “Ecology, Community and Lifestyle" (1989) explores the relationship between philosophy, environmental degradation, and the rethinking of humanity’s connection with nature.
I think Naess’ work is kind of a “re-skin” of the philosophies of Indigenous peoples, but that’s primarily from listening to Elders and other knowledge keepers- haven’t had much success in finding published source material (I understand it to be typically passed orally). But definitely would recommend research into Indigenous people’s viewpoints on the topic as well - I feel this is an area where there’s much to learn, and have only scraped the tip of the iceberg.
Hope you find some good recommendations