AK Press
Encyclopedia
AK Press is a worker-managed
independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left
and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.
by Ramsey Kanaan
in 1987 as a small mail order outlet, named after his mother Ann Kanaan. The project soon expanded, venturing into independent book publishing, and AK Press also now has a branch in Oakland, California
. Kanaan and several other members of AK Press left in 2007 to form a new radical publishing company PM Press
. AK Press is organized as a workers' co-operative, which means that it is owned by all members of the collective and works without bosses, every member having equal say and equal pay. It operates online through http://www.akpress.org in the United States, and http://www.akuk.org in Europe
. In the US its bookmobile travels around the country (to protest
s, activist conferences, etc.; mostly by request). In the United Kingdom
, they run stalls at similar events. Its books - on topics including anarchism
, globalization
, and animal rights
, among others - are often difficult to find through mainstream outlets. Works published by AK Press include reprints of radical classics as well as original works (see list below).
It also sells clothing, buttons, stickers, and various "anarchist props" like an upside down map of the world and the red and black flag of anarcho-syndicalism
. AK Press has released spoken word
albums by distinguished radicals such as Noam Chomsky
, Howard Zinn
, Jello Biafra
, Arundhati Roy
and Mumia Abu-Jamal
and music by artists including David Rovics
and Utah Phillips
.
Workers' self-management
Worker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left
Radical left
Radical left is a term used in the names of several political movements:* Det Radikale Venstre, a social-liberal party in Denmark* Radical Party of the Left , a social-liberal party in France...
and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.
History
AK was originally founded in Stirling, ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
by Ramsey Kanaan
Ramsey Kanaan
Ramsey Kanaan is a Lebanese-Scottish singer and publisher of anarchist literature, best known as the founder of AK Press, one of the largest distributors of anarchist and left-wing books in the world, named after his mother Ann Kanaan. He left AK in 2007 to found a new radical publisher PM Press...
in 1987 as a small mail order outlet, named after his mother Ann Kanaan. The project soon expanded, venturing into independent book publishing, and AK Press also now has a branch in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. Kanaan and several other members of AK Press left in 2007 to form a new radical publishing company PM Press
PM Press
PM Press is an independent publisher that specializes in radical, Marxist and anarchist literature, as well as crime fiction, graphic novels, music CDs, and political documentaries...
. AK Press is organized as a workers' co-operative, which means that it is owned by all members of the collective and works without bosses, every member having equal say and equal pay. It operates online through http://www.akpress.org in the United States, and http://www.akuk.org in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In the US its bookmobile travels around the country (to protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
s, activist conferences, etc.; mostly by request). In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, they run stalls at similar events. Its books - on topics including anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, among others - are often difficult to find through mainstream outlets. Works published by AK Press include reprints of radical classics as well as original works (see list below).
It also sells clothing, buttons, stickers, and various "anarchist props" like an upside down map of the world and the red and black flag of anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
. AK Press has released spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
albums by distinguished radicals such as Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
, Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
and Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
and music by artists including David Rovics
David Rovics
David Rovics is an American indie singer/songwriter. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization and social justice issues. Rovics has been an outspoken critic of former President George W...
and Utah Phillips
Utah Phillips
Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist...
.
Notable books published or distributed by AK Press
- Martha A. Ackelsberg - Free Women Of Spain: Anarchism And The Struggle For The Emancipation Of Women
- Joel Andreas - Addicted to WarAddicted To WarAddicted to War, subtitled Why The US Can't Kick Militarism, is a 77 letter-sized page "illustrated exposé" by Joel Andreas published by Frank Dorrel with AK Press in 2002...
: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism, an illustrated exposé - Agent Apple - Pie Any Means Necessary: The Biotic Baking BrigadeBiotic Baking BrigadeThe Biotic Baking Brigade is a loosely connected group of activists famous for throwing pies in the faces of such figures as Bill Gates, San Francisco mayors Willie Brown, and Gavin Newsom, anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps, economist Milton Friedman, Swedish King Carl Gustaf, former Canadian Prime...
Cookbook - Paul AvrichPaul AvrichPaul Avrich was a professor and historian. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for most of his life and was vital in preserving the history of the anarchist movement in Russia and the United States....
- The Modern SchoolModern School (United States)The Modern Schools, also called Ferrer Schools, were United States schools, established in the early twentieth century, that were modeled after the Escuela Moderna of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, the Catalan educator and anarchist...
Movement: Anarchism And Education In The United States - Dan Berger - Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity
- Alexander BerkmanAlexander BerkmanAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
- What is Anarchism?Now and AfterNow and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism is an introduction to the principles of anarchism and anarchist communism written by Alexander Berkman... - Steven BestSteven BestSteven Best is an American animal rights activist, author, talk-show host, and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso...
and Nocella, Anthony J. Igniting A Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth - Hakim Bey - Immediatism
- Jack BlackJack Black (author)Jack Black, born 1871 in Vancouver but raised from infancy in Missouri, was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West. He wrote You Can't Win a memoir or sketched autobiography describing his days on the road and life as an...
- You Can't Win - Murray BookchinMurray BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics,...
- Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm, The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936, To Remember Spain: The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936, Which Way For The Ecology Movement - A.J. Brigati (ed.) - The Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist writer and feminist. She was a prolific writer and speaker, opposing the state, marriage, and the domination of religion in sexuality and women's lives. She began her activist career in the freethought movement...
Reader - Maurice BrintonMaurice BrintonMaurice Brinton was the pen name under which Christopher Agamemnon Pallis wrote and translated for the British libertarian socialist group Solidarity from 1960 until the early 1980s....
, David Goodway (ed.) - For Workers' Power - Mat CallahanMat CallahanMat Callahan is an American musician, author, songwriter, activist, music producer and engineer.-Early life:...
- "The Trouble With Music" - Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
- Chomsky on Anarchism, At War With Asia: Essays On Indochina, others - Ward ChurchillWard ChurchillWard LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
- On the Justice of Roosting ChickensOn the Justice of Roosting ChickensOn the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality is a 2003 book written by Ward Churchill and published by AK Press. The "Roosting Chickens" of the title comes from a 1963 Malcolm X speech about the John F...
, Life in Occupied America, others - Daniel Cohn-BenditDaniel Cohn-BenditDaniel Marc Cohn-Bendit is a Franco-German politician, active in both countries. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and he was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge...
- Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative - Harry CleaverHarry CleaverHarry Cleaver is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, where Cleaver teaches Marxism and Marxist economics. He is best known as the author of Reading Capital Politically, an autonomist reading of Karl Marx's Capital. Dr...
- Reading Capital Politically - Dark Star Collective - Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader
- Guy DebordGuy DebordGuy Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International . He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.-Early Life:Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931...
- Complete Cinematic Works - Norman FinkelsteinNorman FinkelsteinNorman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University...
- An Issue Of Justice: Origins Of The Israel/Palestine Conflict - Benjamin Franks - Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporary British anarchisms
- Yves Fremion - Orgasms of History: 3000 Years of Spontaneous Revolt
- David GraeberDavid GraeberDavid Rolfe Graeber is an American anthropologist and anarchist who currently holds the position of Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was an associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, although Yale controversially declined to rehire him, and his...
- Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire - David GraeberDavid GraeberDavid Rolfe Graeber is an American anthropologist and anarchist who currently holds the position of Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was an associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, although Yale controversially declined to rehire him, and his...
and Stevphen Shukaitis - Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigation, Collective Theorization - Daniel GuérinDaniel GuérinDaniel Guérin was a French libertarian and author, best known for his work Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, as well as his collection No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism in which he collected writings on the idea and movement it inspired, from the first writings of Max Stirner in the...
- No Gods, No Masters (1 volume edition; and a 2 volume edition); - Agustin Guillamon - The Friends of Durruti Group: 1937-1939
- Ann HansenAnn HansenAnn Hansen is a Canadian anarchist and former member of Direct Action, a guerrilla organization famous for the 1982 bombing of a Litton Industries plant, which made components for American cruise missiles. She was sentenced to life in prison, but was released after eight years. Hansen wrote of her...
- Direct Action: Memoirs Of An Urban Guerilla - Derrick JensenDerrick JensenDerrick Jensen is an American author and environmental activist living in Crescent City, California. Jensen has published several books questioning and critiquing modern civilization and its values, including A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame. He holds a B.S...
- Endgame Volume I: The Problem Of Civilization and Endgame Volume II: ResistanceEndgame (Derrick Jensen books)Endgame is a two-volume work by Derrick Jensen, published in 2006, which argues that civilization is inherently unsustainable and addresses the resulting question of what to do about it. Volume 1, The Problem of Civilization, spells out the need to immediately and systematically destroy civilization... - Albert MeltzerAlbert MeltzerAlbert Meltzer was an anarcho-communist activist and writer.-Early life:Meltzer was born in London, and attracted to anarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking boxing lessons . The Labour MP for Edmonton, Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors at...
- Anarchism: Arguments For and Against, I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels: Sixty Years of Commonplace Life and Anarchist Agitation - Craig O'Hara - The Philosophy of Punk: More Than Noise!
- Anton Pannekoek - Workers' Councils
- Barry Pateman (ed.) - The Blast: Complete Collection Of The Incendiary San Francisco Bi-Monthly Anarchist Newspaper From 1916-1917 That Gave Voice To The Worldwide Anarchist Movement
- Fredy PerlmanFredy PerlmanFredy Perlman was an author, publisher and activist. His most popular work, the book Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!, details the rise of state domination with a retelling of history through the Hobbesian metaphor of the Leviathan. The book remains a major source of inspiration for...
- Against His-Story, Against Leviathan - Rudolf RockerRudolf RockerJohann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
, with an introduction by Noam Chomsky - Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice - Penny RimbaudPenny RimbaudJeremy John Ratter , better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.-Biography:Rimbaud Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943,...
- Shibboleth: My Revolting Life, The Diamond Signature - Ramor Ryan - Clandestines
- Roy San Fallipo (ed.) - A New World In Our Hearts: 8 Years of Writings from the Love and RageLove and RageThe Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation was formed in the United States in 1993 out of the remaining groups in the Love and Rage Network.-Background:...
Revolutionary Anarchist Federation - Valerie SolanasValerie SolanasValerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer, best known for her attempted murder of Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which called for male gendercide and the creation of an all-female society.-Early life:Solanas was born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, to Louis...
- SCUM Manifesto - Jeffrey St. ClairJeffrey St. ClairJeffrey St. Clair is an investigative journalist, writer and editor. He is the co-editor, with Alexander Cockburn, of the political newsletter CounterPunch, and a contributing editor to the monthly magazine In These Times. He has also written for The Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, The...
and Alexander CockburnAlexander CockburnAlexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
(eds.) - The Politics Of Anti-SemitismThe Politics of Anti-SemitismThe Politics of Anti-Semitism is a book edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair and published by AK Press in 2003.Contributors include former U.S...
, others - Antonio TellezAntonio TéllezAntonio Téllez Solá was a Spanish anarchist, journalist and historian.He fought on the Republican side against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. At the war's end in 1939, he went into exile in France...
- Sabate: Guerilla Extraordinary - Various - 2/15: The Day The World Said NO To War
- Gee VaucherGee VaucherGee Vaucher is a visual artist who was born in 1945 in Dagenham, East London.Her work with Anarcho-punk band Crass was seminal to the 'protest art' of the 1980s. Vaucher has always seen her work as a tool for social change. In her collection of early works Crass Art and Other Pre Post-Modernist...
- Crass Art and Other Post Modern Monsters - Ziga Vodovnik (ed.), with introductions by Naomi KleinNaomi KleinNaomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
and Noam Chomsky - YA BASTA!: Ten Years Of The ZapatistaZapatista Army of National LiberationThe Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
Uprising - Writings Of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos - John ZerzanJohn ZerzanJohn Zerzan is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of prehistoric humans as an inspiration for what a free society should look like...
- Elements Of Refusal - John ZerzanJohn ZerzanJohn Zerzan is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of prehistoric humans as an inspiration for what a free society should look like...
- Against Civilization: Readings and ReflectionsAgainst Civilization: Readings and ReflectionsAgainst Civilization: Readings and Reflections is a book edited by John Zerzan. The book provides an insight on the harmful effects of civilization and describes the ideas that have given the rise to anarcho-primitivism....
External links
- AK Press
- Revolution by the Book, AK Press blog
- AK Press UK
- Author Ward Churchill
- Radical Bookshop in Edinburgh
- "Anarchy Reigns at AK Press", Publishers WeeklyPublishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...