Bastiat Collection


Frédéric Bastiat - 2007
    This restoration project has yielded a collection to treasure. After years of hard work and preparation, we can only report that it is an emotionally thrilling moment to finally offer to the general public. Claude Frédéric Bastiat was an economist and publicist of breathtaking intellectual energy and massive historical influence. He was born in Bayonne, France on June 29th, 1801. After the middle-class Revolution of 1830, Bastiat became politically active and was elected Justice of the Peace in 1831 and to the Council General (county-level assembly) in 1832. He was elected to the national legislative assembly after the French Revolution of 1848. Bastiat was inspired by and routinely corresponded with Richard Cobden and the English Anti-Corn Law League and worked with free-trade associations in France. Bastiat wrote sporadically starting in the 1830s, but in 1844 he launched his amazing publishing career when an article on the effects of protectionism on the French and English people was published in the Journal des Economistes which was held to critical acclaim. The bulk of his remarkable writing career that so inspired the early generation of English translators and so many more is contained in this collection. If we were to take the greatest economists from all ages and judge them on the basis of their theoretical rigor, their influence on economic education, and their impact in support of the free-market economy, then Frédéric Bastiat would be at the top of the list. These volumes bring together his greatest works and represents the early generation of English translations. These translators were like Bastiat himself, people from the private sector who had a love of knowledge and truth and who altered their careers to vigorously pursue intellectual ventures, scholarly publishing, and advocacy of free trade. The collection consists of three sections, the first of which contains his best-known essays. In That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, Bastiat equips the reader to become an economist in the first paragraph and then presents the story of the broken window where a hoodlum is thought to create jobs and prosperity by breaking windows. Bastiat solves the quandary of prosperity via destruction by noting that while the apparent prosperity is seen, what is unseen is that which would have been produced had the windows not been broken. The second section is Bastiat s Economic Sophisms, a collection of 35 articles on the errors of protectionism broadly conceived. Here Bastiat shows his mastery of the methods of argumentation, using basic logic and taking arguments to their logical extreme to demonstrate and ridicule them as obvious fallacies. In his Negative Railroad Bastiat argues that if an artificial break in a railroad causes prosperity by creating jobs for boatmen, porters, and hotel owners, then there should be not one break, but many, and indeed the railroad should be just a series of breaks a negative railroad. The third section is Bastiat's Economic Harmonies which was hastily written before his death in 1850 and is considered incomplete. Here he demonstrates that the interests of everyone in society are in harmony to the extent that property rights are respected. Because there are no inherent conflicts in the market, government intervention is unnecessary. Here we find a powerful but sadly neglected defense of the main thesis of old-style liberalism: that society and economy are capable of self-managing. Unless this insight is understood and absorbed, a person can never really come to grips with the main meaning of liberty.

The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market


Leah Mcgrath Goodman - 2011
    The Asylum is a stunning exposé by a seasoned Wall Street journalist that once and for all reveals the truth behind America’s oil addiction in all its unscripted and dysfunctional glory.In the tradition of Too Big to Fail and Liar’s Poker, author Leah McGrath Goodman tells the amazing-but-true story of a band of struggling, hardscrabble traders who, after enduring decades of scorn from New York’s stuffy financial establishment, overcame more than a century of failure, infighting, and brinksmanship to build the world’s reigning oil empire—entirely by accident.

Patriarchen. Zehn Portraits


Alex Capus - 2006
    Ten men of the 19th century, all inventors, pioneers and creative problem solvers, who significantly affected the world economy into the 20th century. Using material discovered in his in-depth research, the Swiss writer Alex Capus elegantly traces the life stories of these men. In 1886, mill owner Julius Maggi, who for years experimented with quickly prepared health foods, came up with a recipe for bouillon extract. To this day the recipe, unchanged and confidential, is known throughout the world as Maggi Wrze. Alex Capus follows the career of Julius Maggi from his beginning as a tirelessly working businessman up to his final years. Capus describes how the German Heinrich Nestle became the Swiss Henri Nestl, and how a pair of chic Parisian womens boots that Carl Franz Bally brought his wife in 1850 were the impetus for building the worlds largest shoe factory. The drug manufacturer Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche and the confectioner Rudolph Lindt all of them were impetuous, persistent and cosmopolitan. With a keen instinct for impending changes and innovation, they devoted their lives to a single idea and did not become discouraged by years of failure. They accepted no limits governmental, social or moral and never allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by politics, religion, or family. He writes subtly, wittily, and clearly, moving dextrously between personal circumstances, social conditions, business ventures and human adventures. What results is the panorama of an epoch in which freedom, curiosity andcourage triumphed over subjection, restriction, and timidity. Press Alex Capus possesses a wonderful dual talent: he not only researches accurately and in-depth, but he can also write incredibly well. Under his pen, dry biographical facts become people of flesh and blood. With quick yet precise strokes, he encapsulates in but a few paragraphs whole life stories and fates. Hessischer Rundfunk Alex Capus is a superior storyteller. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung Alex Capus is a wonderful writer for whom the world is something to read and everything has a story. Wherever Capus follows a clue, he finds something of significance, and then in a light and elegant manner, he relates his discovery to us. Sddeutsche Zeitung Capus is a very shrewd writer. One can read his book on Stevenson with pleasure and profit, even without needing to follow his thematic speculations. Neue Zrcher Zeitung What is typical Swiss? Alpenhorns, chocolate, Max Frisch, Friedrich Drrenmatt, and of course Alex Capus Buchkultur Wien Author Alex Capus, born in 1961 in France, studied history and philosophy in Basel. Today he is a journalist and author. Thus far he has had seven books published, all of them receiving high critical praise. Most recently published by Knaus is Travelling by the Light of the Stars Reisen im Licht der Sterne].

Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice


Rudolf Rocker - 1938
    Within, Rocker offers an introduction to anarchist ideas, a history of the international workers’ movement, and an outline of the syndicalist strategies and tactics embraced at the time (direct action, sabotage and the general strike). Includes a lengthy introduction by Nicholas Walter and a Preface by Noam Chomsky.“[Rocker’s] approach is far from ‘utopian’; this is not an abstract discourse but a call to action.”—Noam ChomskyRudolf Rocker (1873–1958) was a leading figure in the international anarchist movement for over 60 years.In Oakland, California on March 24, 2015 a fire destroyed the AK Press warehouse along with several other businesses. Please consider visiting the AK Press website to learn more about the fundraiser to help them and their neighbors.

The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time


Karl Polanyi - 1944
    His analysis explains not only the deficiencies of the self-regulating market, but the potentially dire social consequences of untempered market capitalism. New introductory material reveals the renewed importance of Polanyi's seminal analysis in an era of globalization and free trade.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed


Paulo Freire - 1968
    The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire's work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm. With a substantive new introduction on Freire's life and the remarkable impact of this book by writer and Freire confidant and authority Donaldo Macedo, this anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed will inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come.

Democracy and Education


John Dewey - 1916
    Dewey's ideas were seldom adopted in America's public schools, although a number of his prescriptions have been continually advocated by those who have had to teach in them.

The Soundscape: Our Environment and the Tuning of the World


R. Murray Schafer - 1977
    Beginning with the primordial sounds of nature, we have experienced an ever-increasing complexity of our sonic surroundings. As civilization develops, new noises rise up around us: from the creaking wheel, the clang of the blacksmith’s hammer, and the distant chugging of steam trains to the “sound imperialism” of airports, city streets, and factories. The author contends that we now suffer from an overabundance of acoustic information and a proportionate diminishing of our ability to hear the nuances and subtleties of sound. Our task, he maintains, is to listen, analyze, and make distinctions. As a society we have become more aware of the toxic wastes that can enter our bodies through the air we breathe and the water we drink. In fact, the pollution of our sonic environment is no less real. Schafer emphasizes the importance of discerning the sounds that enrich and feed us and using them to create healthier environments. To this end, he explains how to classify sounds, appreciating their beauty or ugliness, and provides exercises and “soundwalks” to help us become more discriminating and sensitive to the sounds around us. This book is a pioneering exploration of our acoustic environment, past and present, and an attempt to imagine what it might become in the future.

Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming


Andreas Malm - 2015
    How did we end up in this mess?In this masterful new history, Andreas Malm claims it all began in Britain with the rise of steam power. But why did manufacturers turn from traditional sources of power, notably water mills, to an engine fired by coal? Contrary to established views, steam offered neither cheaper nor more abundant energy—but rather superior control of subordinate labour. Animated by fossil fuels, capital could concentrate production at the most profitable sites and during the most convenient hours, as it continues to do today. Sweeping from nineteenth-century Manchester to the emissions explosion in China, from the original triumph of coal to the stalled shift to renewables, this study hones in on the burning heart of capital and demonstrates, in unprecedented depth, that turning down the heat will mean a radical overthrow of the current economic order.

Reflections on the Revolution in France


Edmund Burke - 1790
    Written for a generation presented with challenges of terrible proportions--the Industrial, American, and French Revolutions, to name the most obvious--Burke's Reflections of the Revolution in France displays an acute awareness of how high political stakes can be, as well as a keen ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory.

Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism


Richard D. Wolff - 2012
    This book is required reading for anyone concerned about a fundamental transformation of the ailing capitalist economy."—Cornel West“Richard Wolff’s constructive and innovative ideas suggest new and promising foundations for a much more authentic democracy and sustainable and equitable development, ideas that can be implemented directly and carried forward. A very valuable contribution in troubled times.”—Noam Chomsky"Probably America's most prominent Marxist economist."—The New York TimesCapitalism as a system has spawned deepening economic crisis alongside its bought-and-paid-for political establishment. Neither serves the needs of our society. Whether it is secure, well-paid, and meaningful jobs or a sustainable relationship with the natural environment that we depend on, our society is not delivering the results people need and deserve.One key cause for this intolerable state of affairs is the lack of genuine democracy in our economy as well as in our politics. The solution requires the institution of genuine economic democracy, starting with workers directing their own workplaces, as the basis for a genuine political democracy.Here Richard D. Wolff lays out a hopeful and concrete vision of how to make that possible, addressing the many people who have concluded economic inequality and politics as usual can no longer be tolerated and are looking for a concrete program of action.Richard D. Wolff is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently a visiting professor at the New School for Social Research in New York. Wolff is the author of many books, including Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He hosts the weekly hour-long radio program Economic Update on WBAI (Pacifica Radio) and writes regularly for The Guardian, Truthout.org, and MRZine.

Stick It Up Your Punter!: The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper


Peter Chippindale - 1990
    The classic account of modern British journalism, now updated and re-issued.

Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Part 1, 1927-1930


Walter Benjamin - 2005
    Volume 2 of the Selected Writings is now available in paperback in two parts.In Part 1, Benjamin is represented by two of his greatest literary essays, "Surrealism" and "On the Image of Proust," as well as by a long article on Goethe and a generous selection of his wide-ranging commentary for Weimar Germany's newspapers.Part 2 contains, in addition to the important longer essays, "Franz Kafka," "Karl Kraus," and "The Author as Producer," the extended autobiographical meditation "A Berlin Chronicle," and extended discussions of the history of photography and the social situation of the French writer, previously untranslated shorter pieces on such subjects as language and memory, theological criticism and literary history, astrology and the newspaper, and on such influential figures as Paul Valery, Stefan George, Hitler, and Mickey Mouse.

Ecology (Modern biology series)


Eugene P. Odum - 1963
    The pictorial models are useful in understanding relationships. The models also abound in descriptive detail.

My Father, the Captain: My Life With Jacques Cousteau


Jean-Michel Cousteau - 2004
    In the life and career of underseaexplorer Jacques Cousteau, that legacy beats in the heart of the sea and inthe heart of his son, Jean-Michel, the noted French environmentalist,educator and documentary film producer who has spent most of his adult lifenurturing the work of his famous father.In My Father, The Captain, Jean-Michel Cousteau takes an open and intimate look at the life he shared with his father, and the legend he has taken itupon himself to carry. In so doing, he hopes to shed new and meaningfullight on the life and work of a man who inspired millions to reconsider ourrelationship with the sea and its creatures-and, in the process, tounderstand a little more about himself and his family as well."Captain Cousteau was a complicated man," the younger Cousteau writes. "Hewas a man of many different personalities, many different moods. But thisis how it is with all great men, yes? We know the public mask, but it isthe private face that reveals a man's true character. It is the man weknow when the cameras are not filming."My Father, The Captain is shot-through with new material and fresh insight"into the life and mind of a man who helped to jump-start a globa"conservation effort that continues to flourish. Jean-Michel Cousteau an"his collaborator, New York Times best-selling author Daniel Paisner, offe"an intimate reappraisal of the many touchstone moments Jean-Michel share"with his father, as well as the seminal moments from his father's life tha"have become part of the Cousteau family lore and legend.