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hoggboss's review
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
0.5
- so many typos, was the book just too long for any editor to want to read it?
- marshall attempts to make it seem like anarchism has a more universal origin than it actually does by including some seriously strained interpretations of taoism and buddhism in his "pre-history" section as if these religious movements were well known enough at the time in the west when the anarchist movement really started to come into existence to have any significant impact on the development of anarchist theory. you can just be honest mr marshall. you can just admit that anarchist politics largely grew out of 18th century western europe. marxists dont feel the need to make it seem like their political beliefs have a longer history than they actually do to give themselves "legitimacy", it's ok
- for the first 100 or so pages marshall is giving us the naturalistic fallacy by trying to link anarchism to nature, and imply that it's natural and biologically driven for humans to be anarchist. he eventually makes a mention of the naturalistic fallacy later on to criticize another anarchist thinker but his criticism ultimately goes nowhere and he just keeps doing it the rest of the way through
- a not-insignificant portion of the books he namedrops he's really obviously never read at all because he completely misrepresents or misinterprets them
- eventually it just devolves into name-calling other socialists he disagrees with
sorry to all the anarchists out there, I'm sure peter marshall is just an idiot all by himself but the fact that so many online anarchist communities recommend this as "essential reading" for anybody interested in anarchy really lowers my opinion of the political movement as a whole
oh yeah and on top of that the misogynistic language he uses in the only section about a woman, and the fact that he never bothers to go outside of the sphere of europe in this book except for the really tenuous links he attempts to make to taoism and buddhism. Of the 660 page section that is actual text and not bibliography or reference, 30 pages total is dedicated to latin america (mostly attributed to european immigrants) and asia, with 0 pages mentioning anywhere else (besides europe & the US)
panashe's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely authoritative book, I don't see how there could be a more comprehensive history of the subject. I learnt so much, and it was certainly an engaging read.
savaging's review against another edition
2.0
If this were subtitled "A History of European Anarchist Philosophy," I would be less disappointed in this book. The anarchist ideas and movements that are relevant to me hardly appear. Instead of the rich and lively anti-authoritarian experiments that have happened throughout the world, this book focuses on the intellectual Authorities, the big men with their big ideas, who -- surprise surprise --
at some point try to make themselves secret presidents of secret societies and betray the hope at the heart of anarchism.
Though Emma Goldman appears, she is called an "unoriginal thinker."
Proudhon believed that a woman equaled 8/27 of a man. Though Marshall takes him to task for his misogyny, I wish the book he wrote was at least 8/27 women. Also what about people of color, queer folks, and all the big wide rebellious world outside of those dusty white-man books?
at some point try to make themselves secret presidents of secret societies and betray the hope at the heart of anarchism.
Though Emma Goldman appears, she is called an "unoriginal thinker."
Proudhon believed that a woman equaled 8/27 of a man. Though Marshall takes him to task for his misogyny, I wish the book he wrote was at least 8/27 women. Also what about people of color, queer folks, and all the big wide rebellious world outside of those dusty white-man books?
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