PM Press
Encyclopedia
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. It has offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and West Virginia.
founder Ramsey Kanaan
and several other members of AK Press, including Craig O'Hara. Founder Ramsey Kanaan discussed his interests and involvement with AK Press and PM Press in a 2010 interview with Deric Shannon for Transformative Radio.
In their first year, they published Wobblies & Zapatistas, a synthesis of anarchism and Marxism by historian Staughton Lynd
and Balkans dissident Andrej Grubacic
; Chumbawamba
’s four-part harmonizing of the history of British dissent in English Rebel Songs: 1381 to 1984; The Big Noise production team's video magazine Dispatches; Lois Ahrens’ graphic depiction of the effects of mass incarceration in The Real Cost of Prisons Comix; Teaching Rebellion, the oral histories of the Oaxacan Uprising (also available in a Spanish-language edition); eco-philosopher Derrick Jensen
(How Shall I Live My Life? and Now This War Has Two Sides CD), and former Black Panther and freed member of the Angola 3
Robert King
(From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King); the activism of Staughton Lynd and IWW
Starbucks organizer Daniel Gross in Labor Law for the Rank and Filer, and the last three decades of struggle to free political prisoners, Let Freedom Ring.
In 2009, PM releases included a documentary history of the Red Army Faction
, a documentary on the 1970s British anarchist urban guerrillas The Angry Brigade
, a history of the struggles of incarcerated women in the U.S. written by Victoria Law, and My Baby Rides the Short Bus, an anthology of personal essays and stories about raising children with disabilities.
2010 saw an edition of Peter Marshall’s history of anarchism, Demanding the Impossible, a radical new examination of the politics of pirates by Gabriel Kuhn
, the first English-language edition of writings by German agitator and theorist Gustav Landauer, and Tunnel People by photojournalist Teun Voeten, as well as From Here to There: The Staughton Lynd Reader and anthologies of works by Paul Goodman
..
PM has also launched a noir imprint, Switchblade; a Spectacular Fiction imprint for science fiction
; Found in Translation featuring translations of fiction by Japanese author Tomoyuki Hoshino
, and Calling All Heroes by Mexican novelist Paco Ignacio Taibo II
; Spectre, a political economy imprint, and Tofuhound, an imprint founded by Vegan Freak authors Bob and Jenna Torres. The Outspoken Authors imprint of pocketbooks feature fiction writers with conversations on their work, politics, writing, and engagement—science fiction Terry Bisson
, Michael Moorcock
, Kim Stanley Robinson
and Elanor Arnason were among the authors featured; crime writer Gary Phillips
was the only non-SF author to have an Outspoken Authors title.
PM also published previously unpublished work on politics from Trinidadian revolutionary thinker CLR James, works by the London stencil artist Banksy
, healthy cooking from Bitch Magazine founder Lisa Jervis; Arena, a journal of anarchist arts and culture edited by Stuart Christie
; and a new imprint with DC’s Busboys & Poets.
History
PM Press was started in late 2007 by AK PressAK Press
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.-History:...
founder 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...
and several other members of AK Press, including Craig O'Hara. Founder Ramsey Kanaan discussed his interests and involvement with AK Press and PM Press in a 2010 interview with Deric Shannon for Transformative Radio.
In their first year, they published Wobblies & Zapatistas, a synthesis of anarchism and Marxism by historian Staughton Lynd
Staughton Lynd
Staughton Craig Lynd is an American conscientious objector, Quaker, peace activist and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including...
and Balkans dissident Andrej Grubacic
Andrej Grubacic
Andrej Grubačić is a US-based anarchist theorist, sociologist, activist and lecturer with a Yugoslavian background who has written on anarchism and the history of the Balkans...
; Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
’s four-part harmonizing of the history of British dissent in English Rebel Songs: 1381 to 1984; The Big Noise production team's video magazine Dispatches; Lois Ahrens’ graphic depiction of the effects of mass incarceration in The Real Cost of Prisons Comix; Teaching Rebellion, the oral histories of the Oaxacan Uprising (also available in a Spanish-language edition); eco-philosopher Derrick Jensen
Derrick Jensen
Derrick 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...
(How Shall I Live My Life? and Now This War Has Two Sides CD), and former Black Panther and freed member of the Angola 3
Angola 3
The Angola 3 are three men, Robert Hillary King , Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace, who were put in solitary confinement for decades in Angola Prison, Louisiana after the death of a prison guard....
Robert King
Robert Hillary King
Robert Hillary King, also known as Robert King Wilkerson, is a former member of the Black Panther Party who spent 32 years, 29 of them in solitary confinement, in Angola Prison, Louisiana. King first entered Angola at the age of 18 as the result of a robbery conviction...
(From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King); the activism of Staughton Lynd and IWW
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
Starbucks organizer Daniel Gross in Labor Law for the Rank and Filer, and the last three decades of struggle to free political prisoners, Let Freedom Ring.
In 2009, PM releases included a documentary history of the Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
, a documentary on the 1970s British anarchist urban guerrillas The Angry Brigade
The Angry Brigade
The Angry Brigade was a small British militant group responsible for a series of bomb attacks in Britain between 1970 and 1972.-History:During the summer of 1968 there were a number of demonstrations in London against the American involvement in the Vietnam War, centred on the American Embassy in...
, a history of the struggles of incarcerated women in the U.S. written by Victoria Law, and My Baby Rides the Short Bus, an anthology of personal essays and stories about raising children with disabilities.
2010 saw an edition of Peter Marshall’s history of anarchism, Demanding the Impossible, a radical new examination of the politics of pirates by Gabriel Kuhn
Gabriel Kuhn
Gabriel Kuhn is a political writer and translator based in Sweden.-Background:Kuhn lived in a variety of countries during his childhood and youth, including Turkey, England and the USA. Following post-secondary studies in Austria and the USA, Kuhn lived in the Middle East and the South Pacific...
, the first English-language edition of writings by German agitator and theorist Gustav Landauer, and Tunnel People by photojournalist Teun Voeten, as well as From Here to There: The Staughton Lynd Reader and anthologies of works by Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman (writer)
Paul Goodman was an American sociologist, poet, writer, anarchist, and public intellectual. Goodman is now mainly remembered as the author of Growing Up Absurd and an activist on the pacifist Left in the 1960s and an inspiration to that era's student movement...
..
PM has also launched a noir imprint, Switchblade; a Spectacular Fiction imprint for science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
; Found in Translation featuring translations of fiction by Japanese author Tomoyuki Hoshino
Tomoyuki Hoshino
is a Japanese writer. He was born in Los Angeles in 1965 and his family returned to Japan before he was three years old. He attended Waseda University and worked for a while as a journalist after graduating in 1988. He spent the better part of the years 1990-5 living in Mexico. He returned to...
, and Calling All Heroes by Mexican novelist Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II , is a Mexican writer and novelist....
; Spectre, a political economy imprint, and Tofuhound, an imprint founded by Vegan Freak authors Bob and Jenna Torres. The Outspoken Authors imprint of pocketbooks feature fiction writers with conversations on their work, politics, writing, and engagement—science fiction Terry Bisson
Terry Bisson
Terry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his short stories...
, Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
, Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
and Elanor Arnason were among the authors featured; crime writer Gary Phillips
Gary Phillips
Gary Phillips is a retired football goalkeeper who was last attached to Hemel Hempstead Town as manager.He started his career as a schoolboy at Southampton before moving to non-League Chalfont St Peter in 1978. He moved to Brighton & Hove Albion the same year. Phillips joined West Bromwich Albion...
was the only non-SF author to have an Outspoken Authors title.
PM also published previously unpublished work on politics from Trinidadian revolutionary thinker CLR James, works by the London stencil artist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, healthy cooking from Bitch Magazine founder Lisa Jervis; Arena, a journal of anarchist arts and culture edited by Stuart Christie
Stuart Christie
Stuart Christie is a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. Christie is best known for being arrested as an 18-year old while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related charges...
; and a new imprint with DC’s Busboys & Poets.
Notable books published by PM Press
- Lois Ahrens, The Real Cost Of Prisons Comix
- 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...
, How Shall I Live My Life? - Gilda Haas, Tomas Benitez, and Carol Wells (eds.) We Shall Not Be Moved: Posters and the Fight Against Displacement in L.A.'s Figueroa Corridor
- Robert KingRobert Hillary KingRobert Hillary King, also known as Robert King Wilkerson, is a former member of the Black Panther Party who spent 32 years, 29 of them in solitary confinement, in Angola Prison, Louisiana. King first entered Angola at the age of 18 as the result of a robbery conviction...
, From The Bottom Of The Heap: The Autobiography Of Black Panther Robert Hillary King - Staughton LyndStaughton LyndStaughton Craig Lynd is an American conscientious objector, Quaker, peace activist and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including...
and Andrej GrubacicAndrej GrubacicAndrej Grubačić is a US-based anarchist theorist, sociologist, activist and lecturer with a Yugoslavian background who has written on anarchism and the history of the Balkans...
, Wobblies & Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History - Staughton LyndStaughton LyndStaughton Craig Lynd is an American conscientious objector, Quaker, peace activist and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including...
and Daniel GrossDaniel GrossDaniel Gross is an American journalist and author, a former Senior Editor at Newsweek, and since September 2010 employed at Yahoo! Finance. A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Gross graduated from East Lansing High School and Cornell University , and holds an A.M...
, Labor Law for the Rank and Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law - Matt Meyer (ed.), Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners