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Review
'Massive, scholarly, genuinely internationalist and highly enjoyable.’ David Widgery, Observer
'An exhaustive and authoritative study which is bound to become the standard account.’ John Gray, The Times
'Indispensable.' Richard Boston, Guardian
'This is the most comprehensive account of anarchist thought ever written. Marshall's knowledge is formidable and his enthusiasm engaging.' J.P. Pick, Scotsman
'Large, labyrinthine, tentative: for me these are all adjectives of praise when applied to works of history, and Demanding the Impossible meets all of them.’ George Woodcock, Independent
'I trust that Marshall's survey of the whole heart-warming, head-challenging subject will have a large circulation…It is a handbook of real history, which should make it more valuable in the long run than all the mighty textbooks on market economics and such-like ephemeral topics.' Michael Foot, Evening Standard
'Reading about anarchism is stimulating, funny and sad. What more can you ask of a book?' Isabel Colegate, The Times
'Interest in anarchy…was reawakened by the publication of Peter Marshall's massively comprehensive “Demanding the Impossible”, a brick-sized history that received rave reviews.' Peter Beaumont, Observer
The Times
'An exhaustive and authoritative study which is bound to become the standard account.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Peter Marshall covers the history and pre-history of anarchism from the ideology and spiritual teachings of the Taoist masters and the Stoics and Cynics of ancient Greece right up until modern day thinkers like Noam Chomsky and Murray Bookchin, encompassing everything inbetween from William Godwin to Peter Kropotkin, from the Diggers of the English Revolution to Emma Goldman in the first part of the last century.
Marshall shows how anarchism has been with us since the dawn of civilisation and even before, as the State is a relatively modern invention. He demonstrates how many of the revolutions in the past few hundred years, from the Mexican to the Spanish, from the Cuban to the Russian, have had anarchist undertones and aspirations. He covers libertarian thinkers like Rosseau, Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley and Edmund Burke, and many more.
Not only this, but Marshall explores the anarchist roots of the counter-culture movement of the sixties and seventies, the French Situationists, the Provos and Kabouters of Holland and the Sarvodaya movement in India, and covers the modern anarchist movements and thinkers in China, Japan and Korea. This book is truly comprehensive, written for the most part in an impartial, unbiased tone utilising many quotations from the writers and activists themselves.
This is a compendium of anarchism throughout the ages, and will leave the reader with much material to research. Excellent for those with more than a casual interest in anarchism and still highly useful for those long-acquainted, this book has something for everyone. For a short introduction to anarchism however, I would still recommend Malatesta's pamphlet, 'Anarchy.'
Marshall shows how anarchism has been with us since the dawn of civilisation and even before, as the State is a relatively modern invention. He demonstrates how many of the revolutions in the past few hundred years, from the Mexican to the Spanish, from the Cuban to the Russian, have had anarchist undertones and aspirations. He covers libertarian thinkers like Rosseau, Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley and Edmund Burke, and many more.
Not only this, but Marshall explores the anarchist roots of the counter-culture movement of the sixties and seventies, the French Situationists, the Provos and Kabouters of Holland and the Sarvodaya movement in India, and covers the modern anarchist movements and thinkers in China, Japan and Korea. This book is truly comprehensive, written for the most part in an impartial, unbiased tone utilising many quotations from the writers and activists themselves.
This is a compendium of anarchism throughout the ages, and will leave the reader with much material to research. Excellent for those with more than a casual interest in anarchism and still highly useful for those long-acquainted, this book has something for everyone. For a short introduction to anarchism however, I would still recommend Malatesta's pamphlet, 'Anarchy.'
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book covers a variety of thought, ranging from Taoism and the Stoics through to the anti-globalisation 'movement'.
For what it does, it is very good. But what it does is provide a broad-ranging survey of everybody who has a vaguely anti-authoritarian impulse. And so it includes people who upheld class society, who support the state and capitalism, whose politics are really just moralistic and focussed on living 'better' lives rather than changing society, etc.
If you are looking for a history of anarchism, rather than a mismatch of things vaguely enthused with a libertarian spirit (which is that Demanding the Impossible offers), then I highly recommend Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism. This book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Flame-Revolutionary-Syndicalism-Counter-Power/dp/190485916X) charts anarchism as a coherent political and economic movement originating from within the First International, as well as challenging the view that it was only in Spain that anarchism flourished.
However, this book is good and I found it very interesting, but really its definition of anarchism is one that renders the word practically meaningless - much to the frustration of anarchists like myself.
For what it does, it is very good. But what it does is provide a broad-ranging survey of everybody who has a vaguely anti-authoritarian impulse. And so it includes people who upheld class society, who support the state and capitalism, whose politics are really just moralistic and focussed on living 'better' lives rather than changing society, etc.
If you are looking for a history of anarchism, rather than a mismatch of things vaguely enthused with a libertarian spirit (which is that Demanding the Impossible offers), then I highly recommend Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism. This book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Flame-Revolutionary-Syndicalism-Counter-Power/dp/190485916X) charts anarchism as a coherent political and economic movement originating from within the First International, as well as challenging the view that it was only in Spain that anarchism flourished.
However, this book is good and I found it very interesting, but really its definition of anarchism is one that renders the word practically meaningless - much to the frustration of anarchists like myself.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This vast compendium dumps the novice directly into the flow of anarchist theory. And what a refreshing thing it is too! Here we have Chinese monks, Russian princes, Irish playwrights, English poets, French revolutionaries, American gun-nuts, Spanish militias and German students. The author has cast his net wide and drawn together a wide group of individuals whose only common ground is their willingness to be in control of their own lives. It creates the idea that anarchism is an ancient philospohy, protean and mercurial and as a result you are left wondering just what you have read. Because there is no consolidated philosophy here - which makes sense as to lay down rules would be against the principles of Anarchy. Bored with conventional wisdom? Try this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
All you ever wanted to know about Anarchism
This is a history of anarchism (albeit sometimes defining anarchism in a fairly broad way) and anarchist thought from the origins of Taoism to the present day, but concentrating on... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Woolgatherer
Great reference book
Hard going at times with sometimes overly long pieces on various anarchist thinkers. That said if you can't read it in one go, and I could not, I found it great for dipping into... Read more
Published 22 months ago by matt
Broad and overlong in places.
A good read for anyone interested in radical history, however... did we really need such long chapters on Murray Bookchin, Leo Tolstoy et al? Read more
Published 22 months ago by G. J. Marsh
Only the Brave
The definitive guide to a river of thought running as an alternative to the vast swathe of pressure placed on the individual to adhere to mass belief. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
Unscholarly tome on a futile politics
On p. 442, Marshall writes, "Georges Sorel, inspired by by Proudhon and the syndicalists, maintained in his Reflections on Violence (1908) that class war invigorates society. Read more
Published on 6 May 2010 by William Podmore
comprehensive, a little dry...
All, or most, of the information is here, but I found this book less exciting than I expected, given the subject. Read more
Published on 4 May 2010 by wordparty
Encyclopedia Anarchica
There are many books on the subject of anarchist theory and history, this is easily the most comprehensive and extensive. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2008 by Mr. Julian W. Gibson
When you've learnt how to read, Read this book -The best book on...
I always lend people my favourite books and this is one of them. I love this book. Not only is it brilliant on anarchism, but it's an excellent, passionately argued history book... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2006 by A. Tatton
An enlightening and attractive study of anarchism
I was new to the philosophy of anarchism when I bought this book...but not any more. This book contains a vast ocean of knowledge (with over 700 pages! Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2001
A good primer on an under researched subject
I have a number of problems with this book in terms of some of the figures included, such as Ghandi, Tolstoy etc. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2001
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