View source for Anarchy Alive!

{{Short description|2007 book by Uri Gordon}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = Anarchy Alive!
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = Anarchy Alive! cover.png
| caption       = First edition cover
| author        = Uri Gordon
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      =
| series        =
| subject       = [[Anarchism]]
| genre         = [[Political philosophy]], [[sociology]]
| publisher     = [[Pluto Press]]
| pub_date      = November 2007
| media_type    =
| pages         = 183
| isbn          = 0-7453-2683-8
| dewey= 320.5/7 22
| congress= HX833 .G626 2008
| oclc          = 154769337
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}
[[File:Uri Gordon 2010 (cropped).jpg|thumb|The author in 2010]]
'''''Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory''''' is a book by [[Uri Gordon (anarchist)|Uri Gordon]] that investigates [[anarchist]] theory and practice.<ref name=ajoda>{{cite journal |url=http://www.anarchymag.org/node/45 |author-link=Lawrence Jarach |last=Jarach |first=Lawrence |title=An Academic Shines |journal=[[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]] |access-date=2008-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201115733/http://anarchymag.org/node/45 |archive-date=2008-12-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An expanded reworking of the author's [[PhD thesis]] at the [[University of Oxford]], the book was released by [[Pluto Press]], a [[London]]-based radical publisher, in November 2007.<ref name=self/><ref name=negations/> It is presented as "an anarchist book about anarchism",<ref name="self"/> and assumes some background knowledge and sympathy for anarchism on the part of the reader.<ref name=newint/> Gordon considers his approach in the book to have many commonalities with that of anthropologist [[David Graeber]], author of ''[[Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gordon|2007|p= 7}}</ref>
== Contents ==
''Anarchy Alive!'' was not designed to further debates about the finer points of [[anarchist theory]] within academia, nor as a [[history of ideas]], but rather to serve as a tool for activists trying to engage with theory—leading anarchist scholar Alex Prichard to characterise it as "a user’s manual for anarchist activism".<ref name=as/> It is divided into six chapters, addressing anarchism as a [[political culture]], anarchism as an [[ideology]], anarchist forms of organisation and [[power (sociology)|power]], [[anarchism and violence]], [[anarchism and technology]], and [[anarchism and nationalism]] (through the case study of the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]).<ref name=self>{{Harvnb|Gordon|2007}}</ref>
== Reception ==
''Anarchy Alive!'' was favourably reviewed in journals including ''[[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]]'', ''[[New International (journal)|New International]]'' and ''[[Anarchist Studies]]''.<ref name=ajoda/><ref name=as>{{cite journal|first=Alex |last=Prichard |volume=16 |issue=1 |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |url=https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchist-studies/16-1 |title=Reviews |access-date=2008-11-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview12 |last=Poole |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Poole |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=March 22, 2008 |title=Rock, race and riots|access-date=2008-11-11}}</ref><ref name=lpi>{{cite news|title=El Anarquismo Judío de Hoy en Día|work=La Palabra Israelita|first=Joanna|last=Wurman|access-date=2008-11-11|url=http://www.lapalabraisraelita.cl/2008/enero_11_08/7_11.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707011532/http://www.lapalabraisraelita.cl/2008/enero_11_08/7_11.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-07|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=lbr>{{cite web|url=http://www.londonbookreview.com/lbr0045.html |work=London Book Review|access-date=2008-11-11|title=Anarchy Alive! |first=Pan |last=Pantziarka |date=February 19, 2008}}</ref><ref name=negations>{{cite web|title=The Past, the Future, and Around the World: Four New Books about Anarchism |date=August 23, 2007 | last=Morse |first=Chuck |author-link=Chuck W. Morse|access-date=2008-11-11|url=http://www.negations.net/the-past-the-future-and-around-the-world-four-new-books-about-anarchism/}}</ref> Reviewing the book in ''Anarchist Studies'', Alex Prichard predicted that "not only will ''Anarchy Alive!'' become required reading in the anarchist movement, but it will have a sizeable impact on the academy … this will be a defining text in anarchist circles for the next few years at the very least".<ref name=as/> Richard Swift, in a review for ''New International'', called the book "a short and thoughtful account", and granted it a four-out-out-of-four [[star rating]].<ref name=newint>{{cite journal|url=http://www.newint.org/columns/media/books/2008/07/01/anarchy-alive/|title=Anarchy Alive! |date=July 2008|issue=413 |first=Richard |last=Swift |journal=[[New International (journal)|New International]]|access-date=2008-11-11| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081122093618/http://www.newint.org/columns/media/books/2008/07/01/anarchy-alive/| archive-date= 22 November 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> The [[CrimethInc.]] collective recommended the work for its analysis of [[Power (philosophy)|power]] and [[authority]] in an anarchist context.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2009/09/03/new-sticker-power-vs-authority/|title=New Sticker: Power vs. Authority |author=b. traven |work=CrimethInc. Far East Blog |publisher=CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective |date=September 3, 2009 |access-date=September 3, 2009}}</ref> ''[[Freedom (British newspaper)|Freedom]]'' reviewer Tom Jennings dissented, calling into question the theoretical coherence of the book.<ref>{{cite news|title=Reviews: Anarchy Alive! |pages=15–16 |work=Freedom |date=February 13, 2009 |publisher=[[Freedom Press]]|last=Jennings |first=Tom |url=http://libcom.org/library/anarchy-alive-anti-authoritarian-politics-practice-theory-uri-gordon |access-date=May 30, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090515215616/http://libcom.org/library/anarchy-alive-anti-authoritarian-politics-practice-theory-uri-gordon| archive-date= 15 May 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> Another critical view came from the ''[[Socialist Standard]]'', which although conceding that the book was "well-written and can be read on a know-your-opponent basis", denounced the book for its anarchist critique of [[representative democracy]].<ref name=ss>{{cite journal |url=https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2008/2000s/no-1243-march-2008/book-reviews-104/ |journal=[[Socialist Standard]] |author=ALB |title=Anarchists against democracy |access-date=2024-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021151624/https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2008/2000s/no-1243-march-2008/book-reviews-104/ |archive-date=21 October 2021 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
== See also ==
*[[List of anarchist books]]
*[[Issues in anarchism]]
*[[Prefigurative politics]]
{{clear}}
== Citations ==
{{reflist|2}}
== References ==
*{{cite book |last=Gordon |first=Uri |url=https://files.libcom.org/files/anarchy_alive.pdf |title=Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory |publisher=Pluto Press |location=Sydney |year=2007 |oclc=154769337 |isbn=978-0-7453-2683-2}}
== External links ==
*[http://anarchyalive.com/ AnarchyAlive.com blog]
{{anarchism}}
[[Category:Books about anarchism]]
[[Category:2007 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Pluto Press books]]