Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (New York Review Books Classics)
by Alexander Berkman
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Read in August, 2004
In 1892, a Russian-born anarchist named Alexander Berkman walked into the office of Carnegie Steel executive Henry Clay Frick in Pittsburgh during the imfamous Homestead Steel lockout and tried to shoot Frick to death. His attempt failed, and Berkman eventually was sentenced to several years in prison in Pittsburgh. This piece of local history is fairly well known around here, but what is virtually unknown is the book Berkman wrote after his release from prison.
It is astoundingly good, soun...more
It is astoundingly good, soun...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone
This is popular anarchist philosopher Alexander Berkman's (Emma Goldman's lifelong best friend) account of what happened preceding his assassination attempt on Louis Frick (a greedy capitalist, who sicked Pinkertons on an innocent group of picketing workers, killing many of them) and takes you behind prison walls with him to confront the evils of incarcerated life, the guards and warden, as well as those within himself and his actions (mainly his failing to kill to Frick).
This book w...more
This book w...more
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Read in October, 2007
The book covered many topics with the central issue being the prison system. Berkman did a great job describing the prisoners, the prison system and his experience within this system as an anarchist. One of the disturbing things was that even though the book was written in the early 1900's there are many similarities with the way prisons are run now. The book takes a little while to get into but after the first quarter it is very interesting.
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Read in June, 2002
Ah, one of my favorite books! More fascinating if you look at it as an exploration of the way people can change over time than as a historical or political book. Berkman begins his "career" believing that any one human life is not as important as the grand idea of Anarchism. But during his fourteen years in prison, he comes to the realization of the value and potential of human life.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
masochists
The writing is mostly luke warm, unless he's talking about anarchism, then it gets blubbery. Read it for the fact that it is an interesting account of ole' prison life from an over-educated Russian radical.
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Erin Kathleen by:
anarchistsrecommends it for: anyone interested in the plight of mankind
this is the single most moving book i've ever read. it has had the greatest effect on me. it has given me something i'll never lose yet, upon finishing it, i feel as if i've gained and lost all at once.
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Incredibly depressing, but still inspiring example of what those who came before us had to go through (and, in may cases, still go through to this day).
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Read in October, 2008
only in prison and alot of time, can an anarchist be broken & turned into a scared man of society. j/k, crisp writings of the inhumanities of man...
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Read in January, 1998
Fascinating Glimpse of the mind of an extremist. Sensitive portrayal of life in prison.
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