Libertie's Staff Picks
A story about robots starting a worker co-op?! Can our lovable cast overcome capitalist abandonment, climate chaos, and human prejudice to achieve their dreams? Only by working together in this ode to delicious noodles from one of my favorite science/fiction authors.
A brilliant, gut-punch of a book exploring 100+ years of forceful Black resistance! In this genre-blurring history lesson, Ben Passmore is an involuntary time traveler, dragged skeptically through the past by their activist father. Eschewing easy answers, the author demands that we grapple with a lineage of resistance to white supremacy while keeping a critical eye on narratives of progress, leadership, and sacrifice. Black Arms is a dense and exquisitely crafted invitation to study and struggle.
A finale to the fantastic Danielle Cain series, this book packs three intense story-within-a-story-s into a hundred pages. And while heavy themes of aging, lost fights, and lost comrades are a departure from the prior two novellas, The Immortal Choir blends Margaret's signature dark fantasy, wry humor, and earnest reflections on friendship, self-discovery, and trying to change the world.
I initially only picked this up to read Ben Passmore's piece on MOVE—which is definitely a highlight artistically and narratively—but eventually I read the whole book, and I'm glad I did! The cover could suggest a focus on christo-fascism, but I found the many pieces about Leftist cults to be most interesting, illustrating the ways in which familiar idealists (including anti-fascists, feminists, and animal liberationists) have been vulnerable to capture by charismatic sociopaths and authoritarians.
An unyielding and unsentimental interrogation of the colonial and supremacist logic at the core of so many feminisms—and mainline feminism itself. Sophie has undertaken the unwelcome work of unearthing "our" monsters and also complicating the legacies of some of our darlings (I found myself frequently wincing). The result is the bitter but necessary medicine feminists need to expel our "bad kin" and infuse our worldmaking with solidaristic possibility.
This beautiful assemblage of contemporary reflections dives deep into the diverse practices of anarchist feminism. Contributors from across the Americas and Europe eschew definitions, blueprints, and easy answers, instead sharing honest stories of experimentation rooted in fierce resistance, care practices, and collective resilience. I'm honored to have been included in the conversation!
Created by longtime prison book program activists as a movement resource and source of abolitionist inspiration, this museum quality book deserves a place on every radical's bookshelf. The fact that the editors and multiple contributors have called Asheville home—weaving local stories into the collection—only makes me adore it more!
My new favorite book by Margaret Killjoy! The dialog is quippy and the story is tightly paced with well-played twists. An anarchic spirit flows through the whole story, celebrating the lives of common folks, underdogs, and pranksters in a world where the one thing nearly everyone agrees on is that the kingdom doesn't need another monarch. Don't miss this if you're looking for a smart fantasy with YA-crossover coming-of-age vibes, casual queerness, a well-written trans femme protagonist, ace/demi representation, and a little romance as a treat!
Cox is a masterful storyteller whose writing is humorous and unsentimental. Framed as the riveting story of a revolutionary—from the founding of the Panther's San Francisco chapter, to gun running and guerrilla attacks, to exile and the establishment of the Panther's International Section in Algiers—Cox offers an inspiring call to action coupled with a searing indictment of unchecked power. As a member of the Black Panther Party's Central Committee, Cox offers a uniquely credible examination of the Party's many mistakes, including its disastrous turn towards Leninism.
A combination of scholarly research, cultural criticism, and political commentary, this book reads like An Indigenous Peoples' History in reverse. Chapters are devoted to the successive waves of migrants and arrivants who complicate the narrative of a liberal multiculturalism that emerged in response to the Civil Rights Movement. Dunbar-Ortiz offers sharp criticism of those on the Left who have promoted a "friendly" nationalism that wallpapers over the genocidal settler colonialism at the core of Americanism. The extensive treatment of "self-indigenization," including settler claims to indigeneity and the appropriation of anti-colonial discourse in Appalachia, was particularly interesting!
An impassioned and accessible contribution to the radical catalog, drawing from queer theory, feminism, and abolitionism. Practical Anarchism serves as both an introduction to anarchy and an argument for the relevance of anarchist ethics in daily life, from relationships and workplaces to art and economics.
This is the first book-length history of ARA, the massive network of grassroots activists who confronted Nazis, the Klan, Cops, and the Christian Right in the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Three of the four authors are ARA veterans, but they approach the material with a commitment to sober assessment, celebrating the wins while highlighting the shortcomings. I'm typically a slow reader, but I plowed through the text in three sittings, driven by the energetic storytelling and keen insights. Highly recommended!