The FE BOOKSERVICE is located in the same place as the Fifth Estate newspaper, both of which are at 5928 Second, Detroit MI 48202—telephone (313) 831-6800. The hours we are open vary considerably, so it’s always best to give us a call before coming down.
HOW TO ORDER BY MAIL:
1) List the title of the book, quantity wanted, and the price of each;
2) add 10% for mailing—not less than $.63 U.S. or $.83 foreign (which is the minimum charge for 4th Class book rate postage);
3) total;
4) write all checks or money orders to: The Fifth Estate. Mail to Fifth Estate Books, 5928 Second Ave., Detroit MI 48202
EMMA GOLDMAN: Una Mujer en la Tormenta del Siglo by José Peirats
Feminista y militante libertaria, Emma Goldman tuvo una participacion activa en las luchas sociales de los Estados Unidos a comienzos de siglo y una presencia activa y critica durante los primeros años de las Revolución Rusa. Vinó a España en 1936 y 1937 y contribuyo poderosamente al movimiento de apoyo a la cause popular. José Peirats recoge el testimonio de la vida de esta mujer ejemplar y apasionadamente comprometida.
Editorial Laia 312 pp. $3.50
WALKING by Henry D. Thoreau
Thoreau’s classic exposition on the joys of walking through the countryside and how the imposition of civilization intrudes upon it.
Self-published 36 pp. $.50
NO MIDDLE GROUND: Anti-authoritarian Perspectives on Latin America and the Caribbean, No. 2 Fall 1983
Section on “Chile Ten Years Later,” a firsthand critical account of Nicaragua by a recent visitor, an analysis of Brazil, and the prospects for anarchism in Venezuela.
Information Network on Latin America $1.50
TELOS: A Quarterly Journal of Radical Thought No. 57 Fall 1983
Articles on “Israel and the Holocaust,” “Art & Industry,” “Rock Music and Consumerism” plus the peace movement debate continues, a report on “Anti-nukes in Soviet Societies,” and reviews and commentaries.
Telos Press 240 pp. $5.50
AGAINST HIS-STORY, AGAINST LEVIATHAN by Fredy Perlman
In a poetic style which leaves the terrain of history as it excoriates it, AGAINST LEVIATHAN traces the origins of the state, the destruction of myth-centered, communitarian, free societies by authoritarian machines and economic social relations, the varied forms of resistance to and flight from the state.
Black & Red 302 pp. $3.00
ZIONISM IN THE AGE OF DICTATORS by Lenni Brenner
One of the books at the heart of the debate on this issue’s Letters page. Brenner searches thru the Zionist record and finds evidence that it sought the patronage and benevolence of avowed anti-Semites and, ultimately, the collaboration of the Fascists and Nazis. Shatters many of the myths Zionism has created for itself and for its role in the establishment of Israel.
Lawrence Hill & Co. 277 pp. $7.95
FOUR ARGUMENTS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF TELEVISION by Jerry Mander
One of our favorite books which goes beyond its title and examines the entire spectacular nature of modern society. It argues that television is unreformable and that its problems are inherent in its technology—dangerous to health and sanity, to autonomous and democratic forms of life—that it must be eliminated entirely,
Morrow 371 pp. $5.95
THE IRRATIONAL IN POLITICS by Maurice Brinton
Subtitled “Authoritarian Conditioning (&) Sexual Repression,” this pamphlet is a good summary of theories of Wilhelm Reich and examines the mechanisms within society which make people characterologically incapable of revolt
Black & Red 95 pp. $1.00
THE MURDER OF CHRIST by Wilhelm Reich
After years of authoring books such as THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM and many others written in a scholarly and scientific style, Reich turns to allegory and a poetic-like presentation to condemn the “emotional plague of mankind.” Perhaps his most powerful work.
Touchstone 228 pp. $5.95
BACK ISSUES OF THE FIFTH ESTATE ON TECHNOLOGY AND PRIMITIVE SOCIETY: 50 cents each plus postage or with book orders.
Vol. 12, No. 3—”Indian Genocide—Brazil Has Its Custers Too,” “On Organization: Two Views,” “The Revolt Against Work.”
Vol. 12, No. 4—”More On Organization,” “More on the Revolt Against Work,” “Worker Revolts in China.”
Vol. 12, No. 7—”Nuclear Technology and the State,” “Organization,” “Everyday Love,” “Maoists Become Shrubs,” “Prisons.”
Vol. 12, No. 10—”Back to the Stone Age?” “Ten Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats,” “Culture Shock: Detroit,” “Anti-Nuke Demo.”
VOL 14, No. 3—”20th Century Technology Presents: Mega-Death,” (poster), “The Original Affluent Society,” “Jr. Cops and AntiNukers,” “Interview With Abbie.”
Vol. 15, No. 2—”U.S., U.S.S.R. Prepare for Doomsday,” “The Refusal of Technology,” “Poland: Triumphs and Defeats,” “Salamanders for Allah.”
Vol. 15, No. 3—”Readers Debate Technology,” “Saturn & Scientism,” On the Future of the Earth,” “Against Civilization,” “Poland on the Edge,” “Jerk the Dog.”
Vol. 15, No. 4—”More on Technology,” “The Land: The Need for Roots,” “Hungry? Eat Leaden Death,” special poster supplement on Iran: “America’s Incredible Day: Hostage Plane Crashes Into Inaugural Ceremony—No Survivors,” “Truth Takes a Beating,” “What a Day It Wasn’t.”
Vol. 15, No. 5—Special Issue on Technology: “Against the Megamachine,” “Marxism, Anarchism and the New Totalitarianism,” “Indigenism and Its Enemies,” “Technological Invasion,” “Community, Primitive Society and the State.”
Vol. 15, No. 6—”Uncovering a Corpse: A Reply to the Defenders of Technology,” “Aversion and the Dynamo,” “The Pull-Back from Armageddon,” “Poland at the Crossroad,” “A Challenge to the Prison Movement.”
Vol. 17, No. 1—”Gift Exchange and the Imagination,” “What Next for Solidarity?” “Draft Law at Standstill,” “Nuclear War Erupts.”
Vol. 17, No. 2—”The Nuclear Freeze: Why We Didn’t Sign Your Petition,” “More Debate On Technology,” “Dismantling the Nuclear Society,” “Anti-Work and the Struggle for Control,” “The Collapse in Poland,” “Falklands/Malvinas Hoax.”
Vol. 17, No. 4—”Against Leviathan” (preliminary sections of the book), “Societies on the Brink,” “The Pain of America and the Tylenol Killings,” “Norman Mayer and the Missile X.”
Vol. 18, No. 1—”Fifth Estate Tool of the Year: The Sledgehammer,” “Pentagon War Plans On Automatic,” “Notes on ‘Soft Tech,’ ” “Primitive vs. Civilized War: Some Contrasts,” “Year of the Bible or Year of the Computer: Choose Your Poison,” “A Family Quarrel.”
Vol. 12, No. 8—”Work?! This Is Your Ear!” “The Cucumber Quotient (Whereby It Is Possible to Determine to What Extent You Have Become a Vegetable Through Work, Study and Sacrifice),” “The Black Rose Affair,” “The ‘Uses’ of Terrorism,” “Whales:”
The FE Newsletter & Foreign Papers
Each book order we receive is sent out accompanied with a copy of the Fifth Estate Newsletter, a xeroxed inter-issue publication, containing updates, just received information and recently received books. It also has reprints from other publications and leaflets which we have been sent.
We also try to include as much free material as we have on hand up to the postal weight division. If you would like any foreign language publication, please indicate the country of interest and if available, it will be sent with your order.
Books on the Spanish Revolution
VISION ON FIRE: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution edited by David Porter
VISION ON FIRE is a carefully chosen collection of Emma Goldman’s significant, yet largely unpublished writings from the tumultuous final four years of her life. It is a powerful sequel to LIVING MY LIFE, her well-known autobiography published in 1931. Frankly revealed are her struggles with the deep contradictions of the Spanish Revolution of the late 1930s, her efforts to maintain personal integrity and vision within the heat of passionate involvement. Sexism, violence, a hostile international context, leftist vanguards, common front strategies, creating the new society, and movement organization—all are basic political issues Goldman faced in Spain. Each of them still confronts those today who seek to achieve a new anti-authoritarian society.
Commonground Press 346 pp. $7.50
ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH REVOLUTION by Jose Peirats
Written by a participant in the events of the 1930s, this volume traces the history of the anarcho-syndicalist union, the CNT, from its origins through to the Revolution. Not an apology or glorification, but a thoroughgoing analysis of the successes and failures of the anarchist movement.
Self-Published 400 pp. $3.50
A NEW WORLD IN OUR HEARTS: The Face of Spanish Anarchism, edited by Albert Meltzer
The collected essays offer a brief history of Spanish anarchism during the Civil War years and through to the present.
Cienfuegos Press 100 pp. Hardcover $5.00
Lessons of the Spanish Revolution by Vernon Richards
Just reprinted by Freedom Press, this edition contains new footnotes by the author and a review of Hugh Thomas’ THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR. Richards’ critical views of the revolution, the role of the CNT and FAI, and libertarian tactics, makes it as controversial and valuable as it was when the first edition was published 30 years ago. Highly recommended.
Freedom Press 256 pp. $5.75
FASCISM/ANTI-FASCISM by Jean Barrot
“There is no revolution without the destruction of the state.” Using this as a guide, Barrot constructs a devastating critique of revolutionary movements which defend “democratic” forms of the State against right-wing variants.
Black Cat Press 37 pp. 75 cents
BEYOND GEOGRAPHY: THE WESTERN SPIRIT AGAINST THE WILDERNESS by Frederick Turner
Traces the “spiritual history” that led up to the European domination and decimation of aboriginal cultures as rich in mythic life as the West was barren. Beginning with the first separation from the wilderness in the days of the Israelites, and thus from the myths that had nurtured them and connected them with the land, and ending with Buffalo Bill’s hollow triumphs over his “Wild West,” Turner follows the unconscious desire in the Western invaders for the spiritual contentment they sensed in those “primitives” they encountered in their invasions.
Rutgers U. Press 329 pp. $10.95
FOR A CRITIQUE OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE SIGN by Jean Baudrillard
Attempts an analysis of the sign form in the same way that Marx’s critique of political economy sought an analysis of the commodity form: as the commodity is at the same time both exchange value and use value, the sign is both signifier and signified.
Telos Press 214 pp. $5.50
PEOPLE WITHOUT GOVERNMENT: An Anthropology of Anarchism by Harold Barclay; preface by Alex Comfort
Anarchy, in fact, has characterized much of the human past. This book describes the anarchic political structures of a number of these societies. Special attention is given to the techniques of leadership, maintaining order and decision making. The dynamic between freedom and authority is considered, particularly the apparent tendency of anarchic polities to degenerate into states with government and for organizations to become oligarchies.
Cienfuegos Press 150 pp. $8.00
LIKE A SUMMER WITH A THOUSAND JULYS
An in-depth analysis of the riots which swept England last year and the potential they contain for a generalized revolt. Considerable detail is given to the different social forces at work to either expand or contract the upsurge—the rastas and skinheads, unions and punks, cops and corporations are all covered.
BM Blob 8.5 X 11 55 pp. $2.00
SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL
SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY Edited and translated by Ken Knabb
Contains over eighty texts—leaflets, articles, internal documents, film scripts, etc. With notes, bibliography and index.
Bureau of Public Secrets 406 pp. $10.00
OTHER SITUATIONIST BOOKS
SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE by Guy Debord
Newly reprinted by Black & Red, this major situationist work traces the process in modern societies whereby all that was once lived directly has now moved into a representation.
Black & Red 221 Theses $2.00
THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE by Raoul Vaneigem
A long out-of-print Situationist International (SI) classic recently re-issued by Rebel Press in England and Left Bank Books of Seattle. This edition has a new translation approved by the author. Vaneigem was one of the founders of the SI and this book was published in 1967; the same year as Guy DeBord’s SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE; the two works were meant to complement each other. “Written in the street cafes of Paris between 1963 and 1965, THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE seemed to reflect exactly the mood of the revolutionaries of May ’68.” (From the jacket.)
Rebel/Left Bank 216 pp. $6.66
ON THE POVERTY OF STUDENT LIFE by Situationist International
Translated from the 1966 French edition, and subtitled “Ten Days That Shook the University,” this attack on student life and the academy foreshadowed the larger revolts which shook France two years later. Accused of misusing student funds for publishing the pamphlet, a judge charged the authors with “Rejecting all morality and restraint, these cynics do not hesitate to commend theft, the destruction of scholarship, the abolition of work, total subversion, and a world-wide proletarian revolution with ‘unlicensed pleasure’ as its only goal.” The students denied none of the charges.
Black & Red 24 pp. $.50
ON THE POVERTY OF BERKELEY LIFE and the Marginal Stratum of American Society in General by Chris Shutes
The examination of Berkeley, Calif. as the prototype of life on the margins of capitalist society. An exposure of self-delusion about work, “hip” business, and consumption. Cruel, but fair. Ends with a fairly hopeful chapter on events in South Africa.
Self-published 52 pp. $2.50