You Heard It Here First! A brand-new season of AK Press Books!
In the world of publishing, it’s sometimes kind of staggering to realize how far in advance we have to announce a new season of books. The book trade generally works 8 – 12 months in advance … which frequently requires a lot of creative thinking about how a list of books that’s going to be ready for printing might come together, and, frequently, a really big leap of faith, and a lot of crossed fingers, that a manuscript that is close to being finished will actually be finished on time. As you might have noticed on one or two occasions, we’re sometimes overly optimistic on that front!
Nonetheless! The collective agreed on an awesome list of books for the Fall 2010 season (books to be released between September 2010 & March 2011), and over the course of the past couple of weeks, Zach and Charles and I have been driving ourselves crazy pulling together covers, page counts, prices, release dates, and advance descriptions. And now you get to see it first! Even Amazon doesn’t have this info yet … don’t you feel special?
Seriously, some great books in here. We’re excited about the Fall season – and the rest of the Spring 2010 season! – so read on below, and be sure to keep an eye out for these titles as they become available throughout the year!
The AK Press Fall 2010 Season
Mountain Justice: Homegrown Resistance to Mountaintop Removal, for the Future of Us All, by Tricia Shapiro
Mountain Justice tells a terrific set of firsthand stories about living with MTR and offers on-the-scene—and behind-the-scenes—reporting of what people are doing to try to stop it. Shapiro lets the victims of mountaintop removal and their allies tell their own stories, allowing moments of quiet dignity and righteous indignation to share center-stage. Includes coverage of the sharp escalation of anti-MTR civil disobedience, with more than 130 arrests in West Virginia alone, during the first year of the Obama administration.
“Shapiro is one of the few writers on this subject that actually understands the strategy, the tactics, and the internal politics of a dynamic and growing movement. This is environmental journalism at it best.”—Mike Roselle, Earth First! founder and author of Tree Spiker
Tricia Shapiro has been closely following and writing about efforts to end large-scale strip mining for coal in Appalachia since 2004. She now lives on a remote mountain homestead in western North Carolina, near the Tennessee border.
September 2010 | 360 pages | $17.95
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“Yellow Kid” Weil: The Autobiography of America’s Master Swindler, by J.R. Weil
Bilked bankers, grifted gamblers, and swindled spinsters. Welcome to the world of confidence men.
You’ll marvel at the elaborate schemes developed by The Yellow Kid and cry for the marks who lost it all to his ingenuity—$8,000,000 by some estimations. Fixed horse races, bad real-estate deals, even a money-making machine, were all tools of the trade for the Kid and his associates: The Swede, The Butterine Kid, The Harmony Kid, Fats Levine, and others. The Sting (1973), starring Paul Newman and based largely on the story of the Yellow Kid is entertaining, but no match for the real deal.
The triumphant return of the much-beloved Nabat Series!
February 2011 | 352 pages | $17.95
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Flash: A Novel, By Jim Miller
“’This remarkable novel is nothing less than a secret history of Southern California—a radical past that might yet redeem our future.”—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz
A chance encounter with a faded Wanted! poster in a San Diego library sends journalist Jack Wilson on a wild adventure through southern California’s radical past. As Jack searches for the truth about I.W.W. outlaw Bobby Flash, he uncovers a hidden history of real-life revolutionaries … and learns a powerful lesson about the importance of family in the process.
The very first title in AK’s brand-new fiction line! Keep your eyes peeled for more great fiction titles coming your way in future seasons.
Jim Miller is a labor educator and activist in San Diego, California.
November 2010 | pages | $13.95
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Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, by Marshall “Eddie” Conway
In 1970, the feds framed Eddie Conway for the murder of a Baltimore City Police officer. He was 24 years old. They threw him in prison, took him away from his family, his friends, and his organizing, and tried to relegate him to a life marked by nothing but legal appeals, riots and lockdowns, transfers from one penal colony to the next. But they failed.
Forty years later, still incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, Eddie Conway continues to resist. Marshall Law is a poignant story of strength and struggle. From his childhood in inner-city Baltimore to his political awakening in the military, from the rise of the Black Panther Party to the sham trial, the realities of prison life, escape attempts, labor organizing on the inside, and beyond, Eddie’s autobiography is a reminder that we all share the responsibility of resistance, no matter where we are.
Marshall “Eddie” Conway is the former Minister of Defense of the Baltimore Black Panther Party. In 1969, he uncovered evidence of the FBI’s infiltration of the Panthers as a part of the COINTELPro initiative, and found himself locked away, just one year later, convicted of a murder he did not commit. Currently in his fortieth year of incarceration in a State of Maryland correctional facility, he has played a leading role in a variety of prisoner support initiatives, including the formation of the Maryland chapter of the United Prisoner’s Labor Union, and the ACLU’s Prison Committee to Correct Prison Conditions.
February 2011 | 232 pages | $15.95
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We Are an Image from the Future: The Greek Revolt of December 2008, edited by A.G. Schwarz, Tasos Sagris, and Void Network
On December 6, 2008 the city of Athens exploded as people took to the streets to demonstrate their rage over the murder of fifteen-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, bringing business as usual to a screeching, burning halt for three breathtaking weeks. This is the first book to delve into the Greek December and its aftermath, in the words of those who witnessed and participated in it. Interviews and personal reflections run alongside the communiqués and texts that circulated through the networks of revolt, shedding much-needed light—and dispelling destructive myths—on the real fabric of the Greek left that made December possible.
Note that this book will actually be available in just a few short weeks … and is available for preorder on our website! But, it’s officially a part of our Fall 2010 season.
March 2010 | 360 pages | $17.00
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Fear of an Animal Planet: The Secret History of Animal Resistance, by Jason Hribal
“Until the lion has his historian,” the African proverb goes, “the hunter will always be a hero.” Jason Hribal fulfills this promise and turns the world upside down. Taking the reader deep inside the circus, the zoo, and similar operations, it provides a window into hidden struggle and resistance that occurs daily. Chimpanzees escape their cages. Elephants attack their trainers. Orcas demand more food. Tigers refuse to perform. Indeed, these animals are rebelling with intent and purpose. They become true heroes and our understanding of them will never be the same.
The latest title in the ever-popular CounterPunch Series at AK Press.
Jason Hribal is an independent historian and adult educator.
December 2010 | 280 pages | $15.95
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Uses of a Whirlwind: Movement, Movements, and Contemporary Radical Currents in the United States, edited by Team Colors Collective
From housing struggles to food politics, from poor people’s movements to radical art projects, from the Right to the City Alliance to the U.S. Social Forum, Uses of a Whirlwind explores the current composition of social movements in the United States. With equal emphasis placed on movement history and movement-building, Whirlwind is a call to action for a new decade of organizing. Contributors include Robin DG Kelley, Grace Lee Boggs, Michael Hardt, Chris Carlsson, Take Back the Land, Domestic Workers United, the Starbucks Workers Union, Brian Tokar, Dorothy Kidd, and Ashanti Alston.
The book launches this June at the US Social Forum in Detroit!
Team Colors is a geographically-dispersed militant research collective. The present collection is edited by Craig Hughes, Kevin van Meter, and Stevie Peace.
June 2010 | 352 pages | $19.95
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Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures , 1960s to Now, edited by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee
Drawn from an exhibition at NYC’s Exit Art, Signs of Change is a visual archive of more than 350 posters, prints, photographs, films, songs, and ephemera from over twenty countries. From the rise of the reproducible poster to today’s digital instantaneity, it tackles the themes and representation of international struggles for equality, democracy, and freedom—as well as basic human rights, like food and shelter—and illustrates the incredible aesthetic range of radical movements over the past 50 years.
Long-awaited! Signs of Change won’t dissapoint …
Dara Greenwald is a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Josh MacPhee is the editor of Realizing the Impossible.
September 2010 | 178 pages (full-color!) | $28.95
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Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader, edited by Chris Wilbert and Damian White
“Britain’s leading anarchist philosopher.” —Anne Power, London School of Economics
Drawing inspiration from the everyday creativity of ordinary people, Colin Ward long championed a unique social and environmental politics premised on the possibilities of democratic self-organization and self management from below. This collection provides a wide-ranging overview of Ward’s earliest journalism, with seminal essays, extracts from his most important books as well as examples of his most recent work.
Chris Wilbert is a Lecturer in Geography / Tourism at Anglia Ruskin University.
Damian F. White is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Rhode Island School of Design.
January 2011 | 375 pages | $21.95
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Property is Theft!: A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Reader, edited by Iain McKay
More influential than Marx during his lifetime, Proudon’s work has been long out of print or unavailable in English. Iain McKay’s comprehensive collection, is a much needed and timely historical corrective.
“An indispensable source book for anyone interested in Proudhon’s ideas and the origins of the socialist and anarchist movements in nineteenth-century Europe.” —Robert Graham, editor of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas
“Iain McKay’s introduction offers a sure-footed guide through the misconceptions surrounding Proudhon’s thought.”— Mark Leier, author of Bakunin: The Creative Passion
Published in honor of the 170th anniversary of Proudhon’s first use of the term “anarchist”!
Iain McKay is the author of An Anarchist FAQ.
December 2010 | 670 pages | $24.95