Enter to win a free copy of One Game at a Time!
By Suzanne | October 9, 2013
About One Game at a Time:
Sports are serious stuff. Football, basketball, tennis, mixed martial arts, and beyond: these are arenas of immense power, with mass appeal, yet far too many of us have abandoned the sporting world as a legitimate site of contestation and innovation. Why? What do we gain by handing over the power of sports to the world of hyper-consumption, militarism, violence, sexism, and homophobia—the worst elements of our culture? As Matt Hern suggests, not a whole lot.
On the basis of his forty-plus years of sports fanaticism, Hern makes an impassioned and entertaining plea for a more active engagement with sports, both physically and intellectually. His eye is critical, and his analysis is sharp, but this book is more than a critique—it’s a celebration of what sports have taught us, and a map of how much more we still have to learn. Matt Hern is a former sportswriter and a radical urbanist whose writing has been published on six continents.
Fun, engaging, and fast-paced, One Game at a Time is for anyone willing to get their head into the game.
Visit the AK Press website for more information on this new title!
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Half-Price AK Press Titles for October
By Suzanne | October 7, 2013
With a new month comes new deals!
Each month we like to pick a few of our AK Press titles to feature, and when we do, we mark them down to half price all month! Of course we think they’re all awesome books (that’s why we published them to begin with). And they’re even more awesome when you can get them for 50% off. Eh? Eh?
This month’s featured titles are:
Haymarket Scrapbook: 25th Anniversary Edition
Edited by Franklin Rosemont & David Roediger
$23.00 On sale for $11.50!
Radical Priorities
Noam Chomsky
$18.95 On sale for $9.48!
Durruti in the Spanish Revolution
Abel Paz
$27.95 On sale for $13.98!
Dynamite: The Story of Class Violence in America
Louis Adamic
$19.95 On sale for $9.98!
Wasting Libby: The True Story of How the WR Grace Corporation Left a Montana Town to Die (and Got Away With It)
Andrea Peacock
$15.95 On sale for $7.98!
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Editor Q&A with Lisa Factora-Borchers of Dear Sister: Letters From Survivors of Sexual Violence
By christa | October 2, 2013
Available through AK Press in January 2014
Why did you decide to edit this book, and how do you feel it is contributing to the conversation and work around sexual violence?
Lisa Factora-Borchers: When I first worked as a legal and medical advocate for survivors of sexual violence, I often wished I had something to give them that very first night I met them after their assault. The packet they went home with was usually a plain folder filled with various tip sheets and hotline numbers. And when I walked them out of the hospital, I watched some of them collapse into a family member’s arms or I’d watch them step into a cab to take them home. It wasn’t those images that haunted me, but the feeling of aloneness they carried. I wanted to give them something more than that folder. That was the beginning of a very long road to begin an anthology for survivors.
I feel the conversation around sexual violence, particularly in the media, does very little for survivors themselves. Books about prevention are either written by academics or feminist authors about sexual prowess and empowerment. These can be powerful tools for deconstructing theories and strategies, but that doesn’t help the survivor in that very moment who holding the trauma in her body, reliving the violence because of the isolating nature of survivorhood. This anthology is multipurposed. It is first and foremost for survivors to know they are not alone. And it is also a tool for the communities survivors live in. Some of the pieces in the anthology lay down possibilities for helping survivors heal and also to address sexual violence at its core: in our own families, peer groups, professional settings, and neighborhoods. All of this is told by the survivors themselves. Who better to centralize in a discussion about sexual violence than the ones who have survived it?
Who are you trying to speak to with this collection? What does this book do differently than other books on the topic of sexual assault and abuse?
L: I’m speaking to the survivors of sexual violence and anyone who lives in community with them. (That means everyone.) Anthologies, in the literary world, are supposed to offer a compelling argument about a specific issue. Dear Sister makes a compelling argument by harmonizing different voices about justice, sexuality, and healing. It gives varying and different accounts of how one goes about their survival. There is no one path that works for everyone. This anthology highlights that diversity and speaks to the unpatterned and complex nature of everyday healing. It offers other survivors touchstones as they go through their own healing process. The survivors reflect upon the roles reproductive justice, immigration, healthcare, art, sexuality, poverty, race, and feminism have played in their lives as survivors. They give literary arms to other survivors.
The tagline of the book is “Surviving is testament to someone’s strength. Healing is testament to the community surrounding her.” I feel this perfectly sums up the duality of the book; an uplifting of the wisdom and bravery of survivors and the responsibilities of the communities in her healing process.
What was the most challenging aspect of putting together a book like this? What was the most rewarding?
L: The most challenging aspect was organizing over fifty contributors and editing a piece of literature that centralized on the most painful and unresolved part of their entire life. The anthology was completely organic in its inception. I learned a lot in this process because I never did anything like this before and there was no blueprint. I’d never seen anything like what I wanted to create and believing in something that was taking so long to finish was emotionally grueling. It tested every muscle of endurance.
Also absorbing all the stories - from the call from submission through the three years of editing the ones that ended up in the manuscript - took its toll on me as a human listener/reader. Though it is a book about hope, you can’t have hope without a nod to despair, and the weight of that despair could be crushing at times. I had to learn how to be an advocate again. To be balanced, to practice self-care. The last thing the world needs is another burned out person who meant well.
The most rewarding aspect of the process, by far, is when people contact me and write the book has helped them in their healing. When some of the contributors shared with me that writing their letter helped them talk to their mother again, or how putting their healing into words solidified a personal truth for them, there are no words to describe my joy. It is beyond rewarding. It is purpose.
What do you want readers to take away from this book? What are the essential lessons and narratives?
L: I want readers to take away a piece, no matter how small, that helps them understand the human condition. And the human condition is that we are not meant to be in isolation. Not in celebration, not in suffering, not in healing. We are meant to build and grow in communities and relationship with others. We are meant to learn how to love and converse with one another across differences, riches and struggles. To have each survivor close the book feeling a little bit lighter and less alone, to have the public consider how legislation, public policies, and social services impact survivors of sexual violence, to have family members and friends learn how rhetoric, love, and gentleness are radical tools for justice – this would be a great beginning for readers.
Topics: AK Authors!, Recommended Reading | No Comments »
The Heavy Stuff
By charles | September 25, 2013
Benjamin Franks, author of Rebel Alliances, has generously scanned issues of The Class War Federation’s theoretical journal The Heavy Stuff for anarcho-posterity. The journal lasted for five issues between 1987 and 1992. According to Ben, “There was also a ‘special edition’ of The Heavy Stuff…a pamphlet by Dave Douglass, ‘Coal Communities in conflict.’ It was written for Heavy Stuff No. 6, but I’m not sure if No. 6 ever came out. Class War also later went on to produce another magazine with a theoretical bent: A Touch of Class.”
I’ve uploaded pdfs of the scans for anyone who’s interested. Enjoy!
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THE HEAVY STUFF #1 |
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THE HEAVY STUFF #2 |
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THE HEAVY STUFF #3 |
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THE HEAVY STUFF #4 |
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THE HEAVY STUFF #5 |
Topics: AK Allies, AK Authors!, Anarchist Publishers | No Comments »
“We never, ever, heard a whisper of anything of that…”
By AK Press | September 20, 2013
AK Press author Jared Davidson (Sewing Freedom, 2013) has written a new article on little-known anarchist Johann Sebastian Trunk (1850–1933). As an anarchist historian with a focus on New Zealand, Davidson is used to following tough leads. Chasing a clue from a footnote, he was able to piece together a fascinating profile of Trunk, the Bavarian-born anarchist, who edited Freiheit (alongside Johann Most), shared a platform with Louise Michel, Peter Kropotkin, and Errico Malatesta, and later settled in New Zealand.
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A New Gravestone For Harry Kelly
By AK Press | September 17, 2013
Nathan Jun is heading a campaign to restore Harry Kelly’s (1871–1953) gravestone, which has gone missing from his final resting place in Waldheim Cemetery. Kelly was a trade unionist who associated with the anarchist movement in 1894. He became friends with Emma Goldman, sparking a life-long friendship, after spearheading a campaign for the commutation of Alexander Berkman’s sentence for the assassination attempt on Frick. In the mid-1890s he co-edited The Rebel, later moving to England and working with the Freedom Group. He later founded the Ferrer Association in New York City and the Modern School in Stelton, NJ and was a driving force behind the modern school movement in the United States. We do hope you’ll contribute to this worthy endeavor.
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Enter to win free books!
By Suzanne | September 11, 2013
See the link above for complete contest rules, but please note: winners in the US and Canada may choose between print and e-book formats; winners anywhere else will receive e-books (in their format of choice). Good luck!
Topics: AK Distribution, AK News | Comments Off
Join the AK Press E-mail List for a Chance to Win!
By Suzanne | July 2, 2013
AK Press is giving away a set of our five latest releases: Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism, Anarchism and Workers’ Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain, In the Shadow of the Sabertooth, Anarchists Against the Wall, and Stay Solid! (Total value: $78)!
For your chance to win this set of books, just sign up for our e-mail list! Everyone who signs up between now and July 15 will be automatically entered to win. Visit this link to join our e-mail list and enter the contest: http://bit.ly/15gJUSc
If you are already on our e-mail list, you’re also eligible; just see our next e-mail update for more information on how to enter.
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Send Books to Grand Jury Resistor Jerry Koch!
By Suzanne | July 1, 2013
As of the time of writing this, anarchist grand jury resistor Jerry Koch has been incarcerated for more than a month and ten days, just for refusing to collaborate with the State. If you aren’t familiar with grand juries or with Jerry’s case, you can read more at jerryresists.net. AK Press stands in solidarity with Jerry and all political prisoners. We have offered to help Jerry’s support committee out by coordinating the effort to get him some much-needed reading material while he is locked up.
Here’s how it works: we’ve gotten a list of titles that Jerry has requested (below). We’ll keep this list updated as we send him books, and as we learn of new requests. If you would like to send a book to Jerry, just order it via the AK Press website and list him as the recipient. As with any order being sent to a prisoner, we will apply a 30% discount to your order after we receive it.
The books Jerry has requested so far are:
-Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism
-We the Anarchists: A Study Of The Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927–1937
-The Story of the Iron Column: Militant Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War
-Italian Anarchism 1864-1892
-Rage and Reason
Jerry’s address (to use on your order, or to send him other mail) is:
GERALD KOCH #68631-054
MCC NEW YORK
METROPOLITAN CORRECTIONAL CENTER
150 PARK ROW
NEW YORK, NY 10007
We are willing to post book lists for other political prisoners, as well—if you’re on a support committee or working with someone else who is locked up, please get in touch!
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Help us support the work of Upside Down World!
By Suzanne | May 17, 2013
Our friends at Upside Down World are celebrating ten years of reporting on social movements and politics in Latin America! And in order to ensure that they can keep doing what they’ve been doing for the last decade, they are running a fund drive to cover their operating expenses. We’ve come up with a way that we can all help them out—and you can pick up some new reading material in the process! From now through May 26, for each sale the following AK Press titles on Latin America (in either print or e-book format) through akpress.org, we’ll donate $5 to Upside Down World!
Titles included in this fundraiser are:
The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (Benjamin Dangl)
New social movements have emerged in Bolivia over the “price of fire—access to basic elements of survival like water, gas, land, coca, employment, and other resources. Though these movements helped pave the way to the presidency for indigenous coca-grower Evo Morales in 2005, they have made it clear that their fight for self-determination doesn’t end at the ballot box. From the first moments of Spanish colonization to today’s headlines, The Price of Fire offers a gripping account of clashes in Bolivia between corporate and people’s power, contextualizing them regionally, culturally, and historically.
Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements (Raul Zibechi)
“Emancipation,” argues Raúl Zibechi, “is not an objective but a way of life.” For the last half century, new and emancipatory social formations have worked to carve out their own territories in Latin America, experimenting in rural and urban settings with new forms of liberatory politics that challenge neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and the very basis of the state itself. Not limited to a single path, these “societies in movement” have adopted forms of communitarian relations that allow experimentation and innovation to flourish at a riveting pace. Blending case studies and history with social theory and analysis, Zibechi opens our eyes to the new world being born just outside our gaze.
A Poetics of Resistance: The Revolutionary Public Relations of the Zapatista Insurgency (Jeff Conant)
While much has been written on the history of the Zapatista insurgency and on the communiqués of Subcomandante Marcos, very little has been said about Zapatismo: the ideologies, organizing methodologies, and communications strategies of the movement. The appeal of the Zapatistas, and their survival, has as much to do with their goals as with the compelling and wildly effective language and aesthetics they’ve used to convey their vision. Jeff Conant offers an engaging and innovative tool for organizers and educators to understand how the Zapatistas’ strategy works, and to continue developing and refining their effective messages of participatory, bottom-up revolution.
Zapatista Spring: Anatomy of a Rebel Water Project & the Lessons of International Solidarity (Ramor Ryan)
Eight volunteers converge to help campesinos build a water system in Chiapas—a strategy to bolster the Zapatista insurgency by helping locals to assert their autonomy. These outsiders come to question the movement they’ve traveled so far to support—and each other—when forced into a world so unlike the poetic communiqués of Subcomandante Marcos—a world of endemic rural poverty, parochialism, and shifting loyalties to the movement. The quiet dignity of the local compañeros and echoes of B. Traven, Conrad, and Camus, round out this epic yarn.
More about Upside Down World, from their appeal for support:
“Ten years ago U
pside Down World began as a website with a small group of writers scattered around the hemisphere, reporting on the emerging leftist politicians and burgeoning social movements that would go on to reshape the region. Neoliberalism had dug its own grave, and grassroots struggles and socialist policies were paving a new path for Latin America. Foreign corporations were ousted in popular uprisings, and presidents were elected across the region on anti-imperialist, progressive platforms. Upside Down World was there from the beginning, reporting from the ballot boxes and inaugurations, and later when the celebratory confetti turned into teargas and protests. From the victories and failures of the left and the everyday struggles of social movements for a better world, Upside Down World has reported on the roller coaster of the past decade without stopping. And we need your help to continue the ride…
From the Andes Mountains to the shores of the Caribbean, Upside Down World works hard to bring you regular news and analysis on grassroots politics and social change across the hemisphere. Our reporters are based on the frontlines of struggles over mining, soybean cultivation and human rights. Our site breaks stories long before they hit the pages of the New York Times. And Upside Down World always puts the actions, demands and voices of social movements at the top of our concerns.”
You can read the whole appeal here.
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