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Goldman
1910
The case for anarchism, made by the woman America called its most dangerous.
Anarchism and Other Essays
Emma Goldman · 1910
In 1910, Emma Goldman gathered the lectures that had gotten her arrested, shadowed by federal agents, and denounced in the press as "Red Emma" — and set out, essay by essay, exactly what she believed and why. Anarchism and Other Essays is not a manifesto of chaos; it's a sustained argument that the state, the prison, the patriotic school lesson, and the legal marriage all coerce in the name of order — and that a freer, more voluntary life is possible instead. She wrote before women could vote in most of the country, was deported eight years later for opposing the draft, and remains one of the most quoted and least read radicals in American history. Read the essays themselves before the caricature.
13 chapters · 57,342 words · ~4.3 hr read
Contents
Anarchism & the State
What anarchism actually claims, and why Goldman holds every form of government coercive.
Violence, Prisons & Patriotism
The psychology behind political violence, the prison system's failure, and patriotism as manufactured loyalty.
Culture, Education & Puritanism
Francisco Ferrer's modern school and the hypocrisy of Puritan sexual morality.
Women, Marriage & the Drama
The traffic in women, suffrage's limits, the unfinished work of women's emancipation, marriage versus love, and the modern drama as a vehicle for radical thought.