The Anarchist Library

I’m guessing we all know of The Anarchist Library, but do we all know how to utilize it to its full potential? Did you know it has a bookbuilder function where you easily can format any text into a printable (or at the very least infinitely easier to read) PDF? Did you know it has (a somewhat ignored and scarce) forum? What about their recommended section? There’s a lot more there than a wall of text. With this thread I thought I’d try to make a little more sense of it all, and especially point out some reading suggestions.

• Librarian picks

This is a section where they’ve asked five people (supposedly librarians but I have no idea if that’s right) which texts they’d recommend and why. It’s a great place to start.​

• PDF shortcuts

If you simply want a PDF version without changing anything more then you don’t need the Bookbuilder (explained in detail below). There’s handy buttons on every text in the library that gives you the option to quickly export to a format of your choice. If you want to read it from top to bottom, one page at a time, then ”plain PDF” (1) is your button. If you want a print ready and double sided PDF then go for ”A4 imposed PDF” (2). If you’re on a mobile device you can also export as an e-pub version (3) as well.
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• Bookbuilder

This is a tool to make the text look like, and be grouped as, you want. In addition to picking your own font family and size you can group books, shorter texts, or even excerpts of texts, together in one file. When looking at a text you want to format or group, click the book icon. The site will then confirm your selection by telling you ”The text was added to the bookbuilder”. Up in the main menu of the site the option ”Bookbuilder” will now have a number next to it, indicating the number of texts you’ve added.
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When you have everything you want in your bookbuilder list, click ”Bookbuilder” in the main menu. On the following page you can define what order you want the texts to be in (if you’ve selected several), what font family and size you want on the various elements and how you want the pages to display information such as chapters, titles etc. If you’re unsure about what to choose then leave everything at default, you can always go back and adjust as needed after you’ve inspected the final result. Speaking of the final result – you get it by clicking ”Build it”, a button towards the bottom just above the section ”Session sharing”.​

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• APN recommended

It’s time to look at what cool stuff we can find in The Anarchist Library. Here’s a selection of works I’d recommend, please feel free to make more suggestions and I’ll add them as we go!​

Contemporary:​

DAVID GRAEBER

2011: 'Debt: The First 5,000 Years'

The history of debt far surpasses that of money. What does the relationship between debt and the social institutions look like throughought history?​

2015: 'The Utopia of Rules'

Bureaucracy is more harmful than valuable, being "instruments through which the human imagination is smashed and shattered". And what about the political implications?​

2018: 'Bullshit Jobs'

Our blind and eternal strive for productivity has created bullshit (pointless) jobs. What does this tell us about our society and what repercussions does it have on our mental health?​

JAMES C. SCOTT

1998: 'Seeing Like A State'

State-driven schemes to impose order and uniformity on diverse, complex societies (making people ”legible”) often lead to disastrous results.​

2009: 'The Art Of Not Being Governed'

With a focus on upland Southeast Asia, Scott is examining ”the relationship between state power and societies that have historically lived beyond its control”.​

NOAM CHOMSKY

2013: 'On Anarchism'

Various essays from, and interviews with, Chomsky gathered to shine light on his take on anarchism.​

ZOE BAKER

2023: 'Means And Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States'

Listed as contemporary since it’s written by Baker in 2023, but its focus lies on anarchist history in Europe and the United States in the years 1868 through 1939.​

CRIMETHINK

2015: 'Why We Don’t Make Demands'

Why is it so common for leftist coalitions to make demands that can’t be met?​

Older:

EMMA GOLDMAN

1910: 'Anarchism And Other Essays'

A collection of essays written by Emma Goldman that outlines her anarchist views on various subjects (such as the oppression of women, prisons, political violence, sexuality, nationalism and more)
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1931: 'Living My Life'

Goldmans non-chronological autobiography outlining her conversion to anarchism.

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PJOTR KROPOTKIN

1885: 'Words Of A Rebel'

During his imprisonment, Kropotkin gathered all the articles he wrote for Le Revolte from the time period 1879-1882 and published them under the title ’Words Of A Rebel’.
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1892: 'The Conquest Of Bread'

Perhaps the most famous book by Kropotkin. ”It argues for a society based on free agreement, decentralization, and common ownership of land and means of production. It traces the historical origins and current challenges of socialism, and proposes a practical and realistic vision of anarchist communism.”

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MICHAIL BAKUNIN

1882: 'God And The State'

"If God really existed it would be necessary to abolish him."

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ERRICO MALATESTA

1891: 'Anarchy'

Malatestas views on anarchism (while also arguing against Marxism).
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1922: 'At The Cafe'

17 AFK chats.

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Misc:

1995: 'What Is Anarchism: An Introduction' (Malatesta, Kropotkin, Rocker, Bakunin etc)​

 

By the way, I think I'm going to do a different kind of sorting further down the line, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. At the moment I kind of find it tricky to format anything at all since the "Rich Text Editor" craps out on me every other minute and forces me to go into the manual "BB Code Editor" and since I want to see how it's going to look I then have to go back and forth between them like a yoyo.

 

I remember Ungov talking about a recent upgrade regarding XenForo, but that must've been a minor one then. I'm usually on Firefox (I used to be on a privacy centered fork, LibreWolf, but it broke way too many sites to bother in the end). I'll check the console next time the problems occur (it's not always, it's mostly when writing a larger post with several tweaks to the text)!