Truly not for me, I love that Lackey was friends with Cherryh but these last two books held nothing for me

This book is a overview of early anarchism in the US and Europe, from its break with Marxism at the first international, to the early twentieth century. But the nature of anarchy means, you simply cannot explore the movement at any time without exploring the anarchisms that exists in South America, Asia and Africa. Even with a specific focus, Means and Ends continually expresses that anarchy itself is a global, interconnected movement. Always anti-state and anti-imperial.

Means and Ends focuses on the idea that, by exploring and understanding the roots of the early anarchist movement, we can gain an understanding of the world, state power and our own agency in order to take action. It focuses specifically on collectivist anarchism (rather than individualist anarchism, which shares more similarities with libertarianism). At it’s core, collectivist anarchism is about freedom, but a freedom that can only be achieved in and through society.

I really enjoyed this book. At the beginning, and in the conclusion, I thought it used clear language to make a very clear argument. For me, it dragged a bit in the middle, bogged down in theory as the author was delineating the different branches of anarchism (Insurrectionist anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, etc.) I understand why this kind of taxonomy is important, since it explores the actions early anarchists were taking, their desired outcomes, and the authors view of the results, but taxonomy is never not boring to me. I find it hard to hold all the details in my head, and the different categories can feel less than dstinct. I also wish I had more of an idea of the author’s personal beliefs, because I think they influence how she describes these different movements within anarchism, in both their aims and outcomes. Nevertheless, I think that the author gives a great overview of what historical anarchists thought to help modern workers develop their own ideas. The book provides a great overview of early anarchist thinkers like Bakunin, Malatesta, and Kropotkin among others.

I think this book is interesting especially becuase anarchism as a political philosophy has been mostly erased from the modern consciousness except as a stand in for bombs and chaos. Very few people know what anarchism is, or the role that anarchists played in so many powerful social movements of the modern world. This book is a good, if someone theory-heavy/dense introduction to the roots of modern collectivist anarchism.