The Political Theory of Anarchism

April Carter

A slim book, but a very difficult read. Carter's survey of the anarchist movement over the past couple of hundred years isn't comprehensive, but it's enough to show even the casual reader that the image of the anarchist in the popular imagination is completely backwards. In fact, the vision of anarchy presented by the sources Carter gives us here (everyone from Marx to Bakunin) sounds quite a bit like hard-right American conservatism. Yes, go back and read that again, you heard me right. This book is a must-read for all true American conservatives (i.e., those who still believe in government decentralism and haven't fallen under the sway of the religious right). Many of the ideas here are more modern takes on those presented in Mill, de Tocqueville, and other writers who should inhabit the shelf of sacred writings for every conservative; the anarchists have already done much of the necessary work in updating them for a technological world, all you have to do is follow along for the ride and further modify them for the information age. Seek this out.