Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist - Softcover

Berkman, Alexander

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849352526 ISBN 13: 9781849352529

Publisher: AK Press, 2017

Synopsis

"A book of rare power and beauty, majestic in its structure, filled with the truth of imagination and the truth of actuality, emphatic in its declarations and noble in its reach."—Bayard Boyesen, Mother Earth.

"No other book discusses so frankly the criminal ways of the closed prison society."— Kenneth Rexroth

In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for the latter's role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike. Berkman's attempt was unsuccessful. Berkman spent the next fourteen years in Pennsylvania's Western Penitentiary. Upon release, he wrote what was to become a classic of prison literature, and a profound testament to human courage in the face of oppression.

This new edition of his account of those years is introduced and fully annotated by Barry Pateman and Jessica Moran, both former associate editors of the Emma Goldman Papers at the University of California Berkeley. Their efforts make this the definitive version of Berkman's tale of his transformation within prison, his growing sympathy for those he'd considered social parasites, and the intimate relationships he developed with them. Also includes never-before-published facsimile reprints and transcriptions of the diary Berkman kept while he wrote this book, conveying the difficulties he had reliving his experiences.

Alexander Berkman (1870–1936) was a leading writer and militant in the anarchist movement and author of the classic primer What is Anarchism?

Barry Pateman was associate editor of Emma Goldman: A Documentary History, and editor of Chomsky on Anarchism. He is a historian and member of the Kate Sharpley Library collective.

Jessica Moran, was an assistant editor of Emma Goldman: A Documentary History. She is a member of the Kate Sharpley Library collective and is an archivist currently living and working in New Zealand.

About this title

About the Author:

Alexander Berkman: Alexander Berkman was a leading writer and participant in the 20th century Anarchist movement. The young, idealistic Berkman practiced "propaganda by deed" attempting to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892. While imprisoned, he wrote the classic tale of prison life Prison Memoirs of and Anarchist. After his release, Berkman edited Emma Goldman's Mother Earth and his own paper The Blast!. Deported from New York City to his native Russia in 1919, were he saw first hand the failure of the Bolshevik revolution and dedicated himself to writing the classic primer on Anarchism, What is Anarchism?.

Barry Pateman was associate editor of Emma Goldman: A Documentary History, and editor of Chomsky on Anarchism. He is a historian and member of the Kate Sharpley Library collective.

Jessica Moran, was an assistant editor of Emma Goldman: A Documentary History. She is a member of the Kate Sharpley Library collective and is an archivist currently living and working in New Zealand.

Review:

Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is above all else the story of the education of one man.... [We] watch Berkman become humanized, tolerant, able to sympathize with the most diverse and antagonistic individuals.... No other book discusses so frankly the criminal ways of the closed prison society, its homosexuality or extortion. No other political prisoner even remotely approaches Berkman's sympathy for what most of the revolutionaries refer to contemptuously as common criminals. -- Kenneth Rexroth

[Berkman's] prison memoirs are fantastic.... They are absolutely extraordinary. -- Kay Boyle

About this edition

• Publisher: AK Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1849352526
• ISBN 13: 9781849352529
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 550