Murray Bookchin

In this far-reaching work, social ecologist and historian Murray Bookchin takes the reader on a voyage through the evolution of the city. Cities are not just monumental social and political facts, they are tremendous ecological facts as well. Far from seeing them as an inherent adversary of the natural world, though, Bookchin uncovers a hidden history of cities as “eco-communities” that fostered diversity and interconnection, living in balance with and awareness of nature. Just as ecosystems rely on participation and mutualism, so must cities—and their citizens—rediscover these qualities, establishing harmonious, ethical social relations as a basis for a healthy ecological relationship to the natural world. Published for the one hundredth anniversary of Murray Bookchin’s birth, From Urbanization to Cities is the first in a series of his books that AK Press is reprinting and bringing to a new audience.

"City air makes people free." With this adage Murray Bookchin begins a remarkable essay on the evolution of urbanism. With a wealth of learning and a depth of passion, Bookchin convincingly argues that there was once a human and progressive tradition of urban life, and that this heritage has reached its "ultimate negation in the modern metropolis". 

In this series of essays, Murray Bookchin balances his ecological and anarchist vision with the promising opportunities of a “post-scarcity” era. Technological advances during the 20th century have expanded production in the pursuit of corporate profit at the expense of human need and ecological sustainability. New possibilities for human freedom must combine an ecological outlook with the dissolution of hierarchical social relations, capitalism and canonical political orientation. Bookchin’s utopian vision, rooted in the realities of contemporary society, remains refreshingly pragmatic. “Book-chin makes a trenchant analysis of modern society and offers a pointed, provocative discussion of the ecological crisis.”—Library Journal Murray Bookchin has been an active voice in the ecology and anarchist movements for more than 40 years. In Oakland, California on March 24, 2015 a fire destroyed the AK Press warehouse along with several other businesses. Please consider visiting the AK Press website to learn more about the fundraiser to help them and their neighbors.

An astute observer of the theoretical and practical limitations of the traditional left, Murray Bookchin sought to develop a refreshingly new political framework. Developing from his earlier works on social ecology—which combined ecological principles with the abolition of social hierarchy and economic inequality—Communalism is a fascinating blend of libertarian municipalism with the best of the anarchist and Marxist traditions. These essays, collected for the first time, represent the final works of Murray Bookchin, co-founder of the Institute for Social Ecology and the author of dozens of articles and books. Eirik Eiglad is the editor of the journal Communalism.

"The very notion of the domination of nature by man stems from the very real domination of human by human." With this succinct formulation, Murray Bookchin launches his most ambitious work, The Ecology of Freedom. An engaging and extremely readable book of breathtaking scope, its inspired synthesis of ecology, anthropology, and political theory traces our conflicting legacies of hierarchy and freedom, from the first emergence of human culture to today's globalized capitalism, constantly pointing the way to a sane, sustainable ecological future. On a college syllabus or in an activist's backpack, this book is indispensable reading for anyone who's tired of living in a world where everything is an exploitable resource.

From Athens to New York, recent mass movements around the world have challenged austerity and authoritarianism with expressions of real democracy. For more than forty years, Murray Bookchin developed these democratic aspirations into a new left politics based on popular assemblies, influencing a wide range of political thinkers and social movements.With a foreword by the best-selling author of The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Next Revolution brings together Bookchin’s essays on freedom and direct democracy for the first time, offering a bold political vision that can move us from protest to social transformation.

The seminal history of Spanish anarchism: from its earliest inception to the organizations that claimed over two million members on the eve of the 1936 Revolution. Hailed as a masterpiece, it includes a new prefatory essay by the author."I've read The Spanish Anarchists with the excitement of learning something new. It's solidly researched, lucidly written, and admirably fair-minded... Murray Bookchin is that rare bird today, a historian." —Dwight MacDonald"I have learned a great deal from this book. It is a rich and fascinating account... Most important, it has a wonderful spirit of revolutionary optimism that connects the Spanish anarchists with our own time." —Howard ZinnMurray Bookchin has written widely on politics, history, and ecology. His books To Remember Spain: The Anarchist And Syndicalist Revolution Of 1936, The Ecology of Freedom, Post-Scarcity-Anarchism, The Ecology of Freedom, and Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm—are all published by AK Press.

The city at its best is an eco-community. Urbanization is not only a social and cultural fact of historic proportions; it is a tremendous ecological fact as well. We must explore modern urbanization and its impact on the natural environment, as well as the changes urbanization has produced in our sensibility towards society and toward the natural world. If ecological thinking is to be relevant to the modern human condition, we need a social ecology of the city. This book attempts to lay the groundwork for such a social ecology. It tries to develop a concept of the city in those participatory terms that are uniquely characteristic of all 'ecosystems'. It relates ecology's participatory sensibility to the city in all its forms over the course of history, partly to show that the city was a social eco-community at various times insofar as it fostered diversity, mutualism, and connectedness. In applying a participatory sensibility to the city, I have been obliged to take the reader on a voyage into the evolution of the city. What I wish to do is redeem the city, to visualize it not as a threat to the environment but as uniquely human, ethical, and ecological community that often lived in balance with nature and created institutional forms that sharpened human awareness of their sense of natural history.