CrimethInc.

Like most anarchist thought, a combination of sensible and foolish, cynical and naive, silly jokes and deathly seriousness, inspiring and frustrating. Who is to say which is which? Worth a read for sure but you'll find yourself shouting at some bits and applauding at others - and I suspect that the authors would want that.

Work is a lucid and thoughtful analysis of capitalism, work, and economics. Its strengths come from its its readability, its perspective, and, most importantly, its timing.

The authors of Work have a pretty amazing ability to explain the complicated concepts upon which our economy rests in just a couple of pages. The authors have engaged the hundreds of years of study of and resistance to capitalism that the working class and its allies have put forward, and done a great job of packaging show more that knowledge into a readable and exciting primer.

The book was written from the perspective of someone who wants to understand capitalism and their place underneath it. It is not for the captains of industry or the state policymaker. It is written as a dishwasher, a serviceworker, a proletarian who occupies a low rung of the corporate ladder. It is an explanation why going to work every day is such a terror, and why the only thing worse than this work is not having access to it while still living in this system. But it also explores areas of the terrain that are out of reach to the proletariat (such as the stock market, dividends, finance) and exposes the spell that it casts on its participants, how murderers are literally grinding up our bodies to push this machine forward at all cost (to us, to the planet, to themselves).

The timing of the book is great. When the markets are crashing all around us and capitalism seems in peril, this book comes out at a very strategic time. People are being evicted from their houses, fired from their jobs, or worse, have long been fired or evicted, and are starting to doubt the firmness of ground beneath them. This book describes the problem of capitalism, the false solutions and why they are false, and outlines some of the first steps of a real resistance to it.

One of the final segments of the book ("Fight Where You Stand") was so right on that I almost cheered aloud while reading it.

Recommended to: people just starting to see the cracks in the wall, those who want to smash it down show less

This was a sweet if meandering tale of backpacking and squatting through Europe. The trajectory of the plot is entirely internal, which is rough, since it mainly consists of adjustment to and acceptance of the lifestyle of travel itself. The experiences recounted in the book ask questions of the radical lifestyle--how does one build a welcoming radical space? Where can it be done? How can sexism and prejudice be reduced or removed in interactions with strangers?--but do not answer these show more satisfactorily. I did enjoy that it ended before they returned to America; that felt more genuine than a circular journey would have. Felt like a conversation rather than a book, which is an understandable mood for a zine, as I understand this was originally published. show less

"Homelessness. Unemployment. Poverty. If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right."

Rootlessness. Unaccountability. Privilege. If you unapologetically wallow in all three, you aren't a revolutionary.

This book wouldn't be so thoroughly annoying if it wasn't widely promulgated when I was first getting into anarchism as a book about "how to be an anarchist." In fact, it's largely entertaining for its own sake. But the amount of influence it had on late 90s//early 00s anarchists is show more depressing. And this coming from a straight-edge, vegetarian, anarchist punk who eats trash to keep living costs down. Imagine what people who are not knee deep in the subcultural ghetto of punk that this kid is up to his nose in think about it.

Recommended for: the dumpster show less