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lain McKay, An Anarchist FAQ, Volume 1 Edinburgh: AK Press, 2008; 748 pages, £20 ISBN: 9781902393906
A lot of readers rightly complain at the cost of specialist books, especially those without access to university libraries or research budgets. At well over 550 doublecolumned pages, amounting to half a million words, the Anarchist FAQ delivers value for money. The Anarchist FAQstarted as an internet resource, produced by volunteers from many continents, but its primary contributor and editor is Iain McKay. This gigantic first volume provides a huge amount of well-sourced material to assist a general reader or researcher seeking an introduction to many of the main arguments and themes that have engaged, and continue to interest, anarchist scholars and activists.
McKay acknowledges that the FAQs approach to anarchism, with which I have the greatest sympathy, is a largely social (class-struggle) account, consistent with the main anarchist movements (pp.1-3). The volume does, however, give space to other variants of anarchism, although these are subject to more intensive critical examination. A particular focus of his critical attention is the misnomer 'anarcho-capitalism' which is subjected to a particularly thorough and welcome...