Berkman’s classic introduction to anarchist thought, written as a plain-speaking argument against capitalism, the state, wage slavery, religious authority, prisons, militarism, and the whole machinery of domination that passes itself off as common sense.

Originally published as Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, it is less a dense theoretical tract than a patient, direct explanation of anarchism as a practical politics of freedom, mutual aid, workers’ control, and social transformation. There’s a particular force to Berkman’s style: argumentative, moral, accessible, written for readers rather than academics. He moves through poverty, law, government, socialism, revolution, violence, labour, and the difference between reforming capitalism and abolishing the conditions that make it necessary. A very useful entry point for anarchist theory, especially alongside Emma Goldman, Kropotkin, Malatesta, Graeber, and the broader AK Press / radical pamphlet tradition.

AK Press paperback, 2003, Working Classics Series no. 1. Good second-hand condition with light shelfwear, mild corner/edge wear, and some handling to the covers. Interior clean.