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Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!

Fredy Perlman

4.22 · Rating details · 323 ratings · 42 reviews

Against His-Story, Against Leviathan! is a 1983 book by Fredy Perlman, for which he is best known. It is a personal critical perspective on contemporary civilization and society. The work defined anarcho-primitivism for the first time, and was a major source of inspiration for anti-civilization perspectives in contemporary anarchism, most notably on the thought of ...more

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Paperback, 302 pages

Published January 1st 2002 by Black & Red (first published 1983)

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Apr 14, 2008 Dylan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This is likely the only historical survey of western civilization that I'll ever read with genuine excitement and interest, and my most naive wish after reading it was that it could become a standard introductory text for students of world history.

It goes without saying that Perlman's essay is not "objective". In other words, it is no candidate for perpetuating the business of progress, which is the unspoken agenda of "objectivity". This account of His-Story is openly disparaging of the He's This is likely the only historical survey of western civilization that I'll ever read with genuine excitement and interest, and my most naive wish after reading it was that it could become a standard introductory text for students of world history.

It goes without saying that Perlman's essay is not "objective". In other words, it is no candidate for perpetuating the business of progress, which is the unspoken agenda of "objectivity". This account of His-Story is openly disparaging of the He's which constitute and write it as well as the Leviathans which they run. It is an account that is zealously life-affirmative. And it is written in conscious contrast to the libraries of historical literature that demean life and freedom by glorifying the abstract, artificial constructs of Progress, Civilization, and production.

Some readers might find the author's linguistic liberties and central analogy peculiar, but they are critical devices for shifting the reader's perspective outside the historical narratives we're accustomed to learning. He uses "Levaithan" prominently as a synonym for the state and civilization and "zek" (actual slang from The Gulag Archipelago for inmates in Soviet labor camps) for worker, slave, or proletarian. The Leviathan is depicted visually as a monstrous mechanical worm and conceptually as Thomas Hobbes's formulation of the state as a head (the king) and a body (the citizens), all zeks--human beings incorporated into the beast.

Compared to the somber prose of Frederick W. Turner's equally critical Beyond Geography, Perlman's is straightforward yet full of passion. Turner's style suits his tragic work, while Perlman wrote what feels like an unfinished hero story, the hero, Ahura Mazda, the light, life, community, and freedom struggling against Ahriman, darkness, death, hatred, and enslavement. This history is no uninformed polemic; it is a thorough, exhaustive, informative polemic that spans from the origin of the species to the present, looking forward to the end of Leviathan and the return of the light.

Despite my wish, although it is as valid as any standard account, I know that this book or one like it could never be accepted as a valid account of history anywhere Leviathan functions, which, at present, is the whole planet. If this account of history became widely accepted, Leviathan would face its end.

Check out the first chapter here ...more

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Jan 28, 2009 =====D rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, history, impracticalities

Don’t be misled by the poetic and mythologizing tone with which Fredy Perlman renders his epic Against His-Story, Against Leviathan! This is an exhaustively researched book. It is also profoundly philosophical, asking questions and suggesting answers you won’t find anywhere else. The fact that it is beautifully written in an accessible manner is highly appropriate to its message, as you will see below. The book’s style is very much the opposite of dry scientific writing. I think if readers have ...more

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Dec 19, 2008 Aonarán rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-more-than-once

I'd been told by a lot of close friends with good book tastes that I should definitely read this at some point, and had tried two or three times before but couldn't get past the first few pages (Perlman quotes yeats and blake and all these other poets, and try as I might throughout the years I've never really been able to understand most poetry). So I just skipped the first three pages worth of poems, and got into it pretty fast.

Perlman does get a little heavey into I'd been told by a lot of close friends with good book tastes that I should definitely read this at some point, and had tried two or three times before but couldn't get past the first few pages (Perlman quotes yeats and blake and all these other poets, and try as I might throughout the years I've never really been able to understand most poetry). So I just skipped the first three pages worth of poems, and got into it pretty fast.

Perlman does get a little heavey into the-world-was-a-wonderful-utopia-before-civilzation talk every now and again and his willingness to get so far into the back-when-women-healers-were-in-charge-everything-was-perfect gets a little obnoxious from time to time too - not to mention surprising coming from someone so into situationist ideas, like the totality.

About 1/3 to 1/2 through the book it gets kind of repetitive and formulaic, but if you can make it to about half way when the vikings, frankish knights and muslim merchants are all twisted together, it gets pretty sweet.

This book also talked about some concepts in a way I'd never thought of before and was surprised by that. For example, Perlman talks about until Rome, most deity-based states actually believed in their gods, something I'm not 100% in agreement with, but the idea of it does make me think. He also says that until the Frankish Knights most Europeans were not interested in commerce, that exchanging surplus (commodities) was only really done in terms of pillaging and plundering - in the form of spoils - and that rulers may enslave people to the fields, but the thought of making them work hard enough to produce an abundance of something like cloth is something one would only do to one's enemies. I would just never think of history in those terms.

It really is an amazing step by step narrative of the birth and development of civilization, written back before this sort of story was so over-told and cliche. Perlman also does a wonderful job talking about some of the more complex situationist ideas in a real down to earth, understandable way. ...more

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Dec 16, 2018 Dave rated it liked it

This book is considered a "must read" by most anarcho-primitivists, and it's not hard to see why. Before you even open it up, it's got a very indie/anti-corporate/punk rock look to it. The writing itself is focused almost entirely on rebellion against authority. He also romanticizes indigenous cultures and oversimplifies the history, basically just telling his audience what they want to hear. The general theme isn't bad but even when I agree with his messages I feel like they're being presented This book is considered a "must read" by most anarcho-primitivists, and it's not hard to see why. Before you even open it up, it's got a very indie/anti-corporate/punk rock look to it. The writing itself is focused almost entirely on rebellion against authority. He also romanticizes indigenous cultures and oversimplifies the history, basically just telling his audience what they want to hear. The general theme isn't bad but even when I agree with his messages I feel like they're being presented in misleading ways. When he talks about the possible reasons why Native Americans were more successful at keeping "leviathan" at bay than the Eurasians were, he focuses on cultural issues. There actually are better explanations though, like the things Jared Diamond discusses in Guns, Germs and Steel: the advantage Eastern empires had in spreading east and west through similar climates and environments, as opposed to the north and south orientation in central America, as well as easier animals to domesticate and probably some other resource advantages as well. He makes it clear himself that "heathens" in Europe resisted civilization as long as they could. Those people had similar beliefs to Native American cultures so it doesn't really make much sense for him to come to that conclusion. The message is still okay, the idea that cultures can be designed to be more resistant to exploitation and to growing into leviathans themselves, but it's not presented very well. James C. Scott's work on that subject is a lot more interesting.

He tries cramming so much into this book that a lot of it reads more like a list. It actually gets pretty tedious. Yet it still feels kind of obscure and poetic rather than scholarly. I don't remember seeing a single date in the entire thing. When I first started reading it, I thought it might read more like a religious text, like he was trying to imagine how an elder of a future tribe of surviving humans would pass on the history through word of mouth, and in a way that people who've never seen a computer screen or modern textbook could understand, leaving out trivial details and focusing only on themes. Had he done that I might have actually liked it more than I did. It'd be interesting to think how the general understandings of the cosmos, evolution, ecology, human history, etc. could be somewhat preserved in a simplified story like that. If a new religion was designed by modern scientists, what would their warnings and commandments be? In my opinion, something like that would have worked better for this sort of flowery, metaphorical writing style.

It's understandable why so many radicals love this book. There really isn't much else out there for primitivists to choose from. The vast majority of environmental books, even pretty good ones, chicken out when they get to the conclusion, basically telling us to just vote democrat and buy solar panels. It's always a relief to find writers like Derrick Jensen, John Zerzan and Fredy Perlman, as flawed as they may be in their own ways, since they at least admit that the root of the problem is deeper than modern capitalism. A few years ago, I actually got sick of trying to find new books I could agree with and decided to try writing my own ( http://aproposalforprimitivism.blogsp... ). Even though Perlman is one of a small handful of truly primitivist writers, I still can't really give this a good review because it's so overly romanticized, full of questionable history and so lacking in useful solutions. It really bothers me that so many people spend their time reading stuff like this. And especially praising stuff like this! Since it does at least criticize the things that everyone else tends to glorify it's kind of hard to hate it but I honestly can't say that I recommend it either. There's just not much here that's actually useful. ...more

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Nov 16, 2008 Jay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

if you want to understand the "splinter in your mind"---this is the red pill.

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Jun 14, 2019 Benjamin rated it it was ok

Shelves: resistance

You aren’t going to convince people like Fukuyama with this ranty screed. Jumping to conclusions as a way to show how the enemies of freedom — whatever that means — are also jumping to conclusions doesn’t impress me. Maybe in 1983 when this was written and we are on the brink of nuclear war because the greedheads were so ideological, maybe then but in the meantime I am sure there are better histories out there, more liberatory, more feminist, and definitely more accurate. I also have to say You aren’t going to convince people like Fukuyama with this ranty screed. Jumping to conclusions as a way to show how the enemies of freedom — whatever that means — are also jumping to conclusions doesn’t impress me. Maybe in 1983 when this was written and we are on the brink of nuclear war because the greedheads were so ideological, maybe then but in the meantime I am sure there are better histories out there, more liberatory, more feminist, and definitely more accurate. I also have to say there were more than a few points where the book just bored me. The author thinks he is being so shocking! But again, I think in the intervening years the idea, for example, that Eurocentric worldviews are a cul de sac, that the colonized were the civilized people and the colonizers were barbaric, etc, etc, not so new... As for whether the peoples you meet in classic anthropological ethnographies are “in a state of nature” or live in “the Golden age” ... there are certainly more detailed and considered analyses for a variety of conclusions beyond the “noble savage” vs “nasty, brutish and short” crap we’ve been arguing back and forth for hundreds of years.

Frustrating. Frustrating to slog through 6000 years of bad news, and frustrating to get it all from the kind of guy one suspects is critical of any victory short of we all head into the woods and learn how to forage.

Yet at the same time he imagines that every new nationalist movement and every new religious movement and every peasant uprising is at least initially on the side of goodness and light — he actually references Zoroastrian names for goodness and light — and I find that a bit dangerous. I see where he’s coming from, but I also see how the alt-right and old school fascists could run with that idea in the wrong direction, even if the author makes it clear that these movements fail when they become Leviathans themselves. Couple that with his Worm and Octopus metaphors and it starts to feel on the edge of antisemitism or only a few degrees away from David Icke and InfoWars. Then he goes off for a few pages on Cohn, the author of books about Millenniarians and other similar uprisings, saying that Cohn is on the side of Leviathan and therefore sees all these uprisings as bad and their visionary leaders as crazy. Well, that’s not how I remember it. Cohn is conservative, sure, but I did think he was sympathetic to these movements in his treatment but he also points out their antisemitism and maybe pushed the idea that fascism has its roots in these same movements. “Against Leviathan” is too quick to dismiss those criticisms and accuses Cohn of making arguments he didn’t make, actually writing, ‘Cohn doesn’t have to say it, because it’s just understood...’ So again, that makes me uncomfortable. There were also references to things I know were hoaxes, like the Lenni Lenape having a written document detailing their journey over the ice bridge.

Claiming that a more scholarly approach is automatically siding with “worldeaters” is just a cop-out, man.

Despite all these things that I didn’t like, there were bits that I did enjoy. It’s like hanging out with a cranky old comrade who is incredibly well read, outspoken and prickly. That can be amusing in small doses. ...more

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Sep 14, 2018 Bart Everson rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: radicals, anarchists, historians, earth-loving pagans, indigenous activists

A radical history of civilization. Basically, he's against it. No spoiler, that: it's right there in the title. For what is history, as we usually think of it, as we're usually taught it, if not a patriarchal story of conquest and domination in service of empire building? This author makes the case that most everything we laughingly call "civilization" is in fact systematized oppression of humanity and ecological rape of Mother Earth.

It's bracing worldview, to say the least. I think it's just A radical history of civilization. Basically, he's against it. No spoiler, that: it's right there in the title. For what is history, as we usually think of it, as we're usually taught it, if not a patriarchal story of conquest and domination in service of empire building? This author makes the case that most everything we laughingly call "civilization" is in fact systematized oppression of humanity and ecological rape of Mother Earth.

It's bracing worldview, to say the least. I think it's just relatable enough that most people — those who aren't blinded by allegiances to nation-state or religion or ideology — would agree with the basic premise. Most people would agree, that is, if we stopped to question the fundamental premises of the society in which we live. Reading the book makes me realize just how rare it is to hear this perspective so consistently and unwaveringly spelled out, page after page, century after century.

This book is highly idiosyncratic, to say the least. It's unlike any history I've ever read. (That's because it's not a history, check the title!) The author starts in ancient Sumeria and takes us all the way to Marxist revolutionaries in the course of just 300 pages, as a more or less continuous narrative. He uses quirky terminology, employs unique metaphors, and never cites a single year. It's not an academic text per se, which I'm sure is a point of pride, but neither is it an easy read. (Personally I would have appreciated some chapter headings. An index would have been nice. How about a bibliography? Nope, there's not a single citation.) Nevertheless it's a very scholarly work, in the sense that Perlman is clearly well-read and possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of human history. More importantly, perhaps, he has heart. The text demonstrates great empathy for the human condition and respect for those who resist oppressive systems.

I found this book hugely compelling and affecting in a way that is difficult to overstate. It has truly transformed my understanding of the world. At the end, I find myself questioning so much of what I have held to be valuable about civilization. It's a lot to assimilate. I'm not even saying I buy it all, at least not just yet, but he makes a powerful case. I've got to ponder it a while longer. ...more

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Mar 11, 2018 Victor rated it really liked it

Shelves: theory

Such a frustrating work in so many ways. This is a work of impressive erudition and understanding regarding world history and civilization with a particularly strong focus on what laughingly used to be called "Western Civilization." Perlman has written an anarchist polemic, however, not a textbook or even a piece of critical theory, which is fine (I'm an anarchist and I agree with most of his perspectives throughout the essay), but the writing style is less stirring than navel gazing, is filled Such a frustrating work in so many ways. This is a work of impressive erudition and understanding regarding world history and civilization with a particularly strong focus on what laughingly used to be called "Western Civilization." Perlman has written an anarchist polemic, however, not a textbook or even a piece of critical theory, which is fine (I'm an anarchist and I agree with most of his perspectives throughout the essay), but the writing style is less stirring than navel gazing, is filled with somewhat pointless neologisms (even for the era in which it was written), and comes across as a weak attempt at Nietzsche's style in bad English translation more often than not. You should understand, I have a LOT of respect for the ideas in this book as well as for the author, who was a vital activist and publisher for more than a generation, and who published much better written work in his life. Saying this about his most famous work kinda hurts me if I'm being really open here, but it's as kind a public judgment I can express on this book.

This is often thought of as a foundational anarcho-primitivist text, which makes sense, as it's a essentially a long chronological list of the mistakes made in the name of progress from the beginning of his-story (told with a strong dose of Bachtofen-flavored matriarchal spin, filtered through an anti-civilization perspective) through the colonization of the Americas with a strong comparison throughout with the Original Affluent Society, Neolithic hunter-gatherer life. However, this historical perspective also doesn't push any sort of anarcho-primitive praxis in contemporary life like the work of John Zerzan or even Derrick Jensen, for which I, at least, am grateful, as while I agree with the historical and contemporary criticism usually brought by anarcho-primitivist writers, their solutions for the circumstances they so ably describe are generally unrealistic in my opinion. This book has, essentially, none of that and I like it more for its lack of such paper-wasting twaddle.

I also love the narrative of ancient and medieval history and Perlman's consistent focus on the most interesting and liberational movements throughout as well as how they often are recuperated by anti-liberational movements or cultures. There's little depth or individuation to Perlman's narrative of oppositional groups (though he does make a worthwhile effort) and in the earlier sections of the book he mainly focuses on building his narrative of civilizational development as a series of conceptual enclosures and physical exploitations to the overall benefit of the book. There's some iffy scholarship in here, too, mostly to do with Native American materials (anything Barry Fell touches is factually inaccurate no matter how entertaining it might be, y'all), but most of that's covered in other reviews here.

Really, the most disappointing part of reading this for me is that, for me, there's really nothing new here, though Perlman does manage to find and delineate patterns of belief amongst widely different groups that I'm already familiar with. That, combined with the writing style (particularly the annoying neologisms), makes the work as a whole pretty mediocre for me. However, as I was thinking about this review, I also realized that I'm not sure I'm aware of any one book that contains all or even most of the history found here in a single volume, which meant that my review stays at four stars. Despite its flaws, this is a good and worthwhile, if somewhat annoying, read. ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 Tommy rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, anarchy

An odd overview of world history that doesn't take into consideration that primitives might not all have been nice people. It may initially come off as just another addition into the "all white men are racist" variety of historiography but there's a lot more worth criticizing here. This is definitely on the ground floor of the emerging hegemonic anti-civilizational pro-ethnic tribalism narrative.

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Nov 01, 2011 Ty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Holy hell. This is a fucking wild romp.

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Apr 04, 2012 wombat rated it really liked it

It took me a year and a half but I finally finished Against His-Story!! Now I need to re-read it 3 times or so.

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Oct 05, 2008 Ryan Mishap rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, anarchy

This anthropological/historical breakdown of Leviathan (power, control) is unique and amazing. Anarchist writing at its best.

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Jul 10, 2017 Evelyn R rated it it was ok

Unfortunate disappointment. Still has a few solid ideas mixed into the dross, but I had a few huge issues:

1. A fetishization of purity and wholeness that never existed and cannot exist
2. Maternal metaphors for nature that align neatly with #1 and that are often used in a patronizing and Romantic way.
3. Central metaphors of Leviathan, etc., never really move beyond misty abstractions that make for engaging poetry here and there but don't succeed in making the point he wants to.

Read Haraway, read ...more

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May 05, 2019 Andrea Mastromatteo rated it really liked it

I only give this book 4 stars because not everyone appreciates looking up so many references. In my mind an alternative title could be "A People's History of The Occident and Middle East" It is truly enlightening, and will leave you hungry for more knowledgeable about past peoples, empires, & the origins of what we misguidedly call Western Civilization.

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Mar 18, 2018 theodora nil rated it it was amazing

A poetic anti-history, horrific at times, but offering an alternative mythos for our despondent world.

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Jan 13, 2020 Matthew Read rated it it was amazing

A very interesting take on everything you thought you knew about history.

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Jun 12, 2019 Zuhri rated it it was amazing

I will try to read this amzing book

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Jan 27, 2008 Shaun added it

Most of the time I was reading this, I felt like I was just pulling myself through the text because I had told myself that I would finish it. By the time I did finish it, I didn't regret the time spent - but I put it down twice as I succumbed to the allure of books with more immediate intrigue (actually I put it down the first time almost nine years ago). Overall this was a haunting essay, but one that I at least appreciated for it's voice.

I've been trying to wrap my head around Perlman's text Most of the time I was reading this, I felt like I was just pulling myself through the text because I had told myself that I would finish it. By the time I did finish it, I didn't regret the time spent - but I put it down twice as I succumbed to the allure of books with more immediate intrigue (actually I put it down the first time almost nine years ago). Overall this was a haunting essay, but one that I at least appreciated for it's voice.

I've been trying to wrap my head around Perlman's text for awhile, while immersed in it and in the aftermath of finishing it. The book's major failing for me is that it gives one the feeling you might get from reading a phonebook: a continual stream of names and references with very little context except within assumed relation to each other by categorization (alphabetization or, in the case of AHAL, chronology). Rather than ebb and flow with revelations, key points, rehashing of original points to create a flow, and maybe an illustrative anecdote here or there, AHAL is kind of like riding a slow rollercoaster down a continual grade with the brakes on. It's slow going, and when Perlman does hit the nail, the experience is almost buried in a mulch largely generated from his own metaphorical vernacular. It has been suggested that perhaps the bulk of the book wasn't accessible to me because I lack a particular education in older civilizations, which is fairly true. This could explain why the tail end of the book picked up a little bit for me - maybe I just understood the references better as the book approached the last 300 years or so.

Perlman pulls out a lot of questions early on about the very nature of what we assume to be the intentions or lives of past peoples through our current framework of (Civilization-justifying) historiography and (grave-robbing) archaeology - and this is still my favorite part of the whole text. Despite feeling like I was dragging myself through the book much of the time, what I enjoyed about AHAL is that it IS different from the relatively focused, anecdotal history I usually read, where microcosmic stories are told that extrapolate upon much more epic themes - AHAL, in simple terms, is the opposite. History is shared in many different ways, and a river of facts and relational information is only one way of history-telling (usually the other ways get dismissed as Mythology). In AHAL, Perlman tells the history of the slow grind of civilization as a weird, partially metaphorical rant, wherein a faceless, emotionless tide of ancient names with redundantly greedy (but very occasionally not) motivations drives his point home to the reader in a style that I can only assume was fueled by his intense passion. My guess is that Perlman was talking about the most horrible of monsters in as calm a manner as he may have been able to. If his intended follow-up to this book had ever been finished, I would tackle it. ...more

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Oct 11, 2015 UNMENSCH rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-books, display, favorites

One of those books that completely changes the way you conceptualize things, in this case the narrative of western civilization and progress which completely pervades our understanding of ourselves and our time. Perlman moves in a linear fashion through western history, beginning with the Sumerians and finishing with the eradication of the last free peoples in the Americas. Throughout, the focus is on the development of the monstrous Leviathan, which Perlman figures for civilization (after ...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Lyle rated it liked it

The book unfolded for me in three distinct sections. First, the author examines concepts of wilderness, freedom, and existing in a "state of nature". He asserts definitions for these which gave me pause and made me examine my own notions about these concepts, and I arrived at different definitions than he did. So far so good; the best type of disagreement is the kind that prompts you to discover more about your own ideas. The book goes on to introduce the overriding metaphor which will frame the ...more

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May 25, 2007 Sarkastodon rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: most intelligent people

Perlman retells history in terms of Hobbesian "leviathan," beginning in acient Sumer, going into serious detail about the various forms of assimilation of cultures into these Leviathans (e.g. nearly every ancient civilization you can think of, from the Hittites, Phoenecians, Assyrians, etc. through the Scythians, Romans, Arabs, etc.). Particular focus is on various outcast, maroon and pirate utopia societies which existed outside the domain of certain leviathans and governmental orders (e.g. the ...more

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Dec 09, 2014 Zac rated it really liked it

Written only a couple of years before Fredy Perlman’s death, ‘Against His-story…’ provides a simple account of the rise and fall of civilisations from the beginnings of recorded history until around the mid-19th century. With every new culture that emerges, something familiar (e.g. institutions, religion, art) appears in the world until we more or less end up with something resembling our current state. The whole narrative unfolds with a simplicity and logic that is quite tragic. However Perlman ...more

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Apr 06, 2014 Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy, history, non-fiction, anthropology, political-philo

Arduous...satisfying. Dense, but textured and sensual...beautifully written, a vibrant panoptic account of civilization. Although centered in Eurasia, Perlman remembers to check in with how the east evolves. His heavily-researched story-line--which features constant demonstrations of historical counter-attacks to Leviathan,woven in with the mournful drama of gods, spirituality, art, and mythology--has creates a tangible story...one that has recalibrated my sense of where I stand in the history ...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Abby rated it it was amazing

So it's got no bibliography, and I can't say much for the layout. Get over it. This book was pretty rad. It's definately been awhile since I read it, so reviewing it is a tad hard. I don't think that necessarily any one person let alone group of peoples experiences can be compared, in fact I think that is a bit of a dangerous thing to do, but we can definately access similarities and patterns throughout. We can see the points at which this monster has accelerated and we can see the many and ...more

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Jul 26, 2015 yarrow rated it it was amazing

Anybody who knows me knows that this is my favorite book of all time. Yes, it has pretty serious problems (gender essentialism, romanticism for prelapsarian cultures, etc), but if you're willing to set that aside for a moment, this is one of the most singular and visceral tales of the rise of civilization. The scathing criticisms of Marxism, science, anthropology, religion, militarism and his-story are somehow both nuanced and extremely lucid. Most people I know have struggled to get this book ...more

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Oct 29, 2009 Matt rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone

Absolutely one of my top 5 books of all time. This should be used as a supplement in high school or college-level world history courses, to give a different (often more accurate) interpretation of how the world developed. While I don't agree with every jot and tittle of Perlman's manifesto (particularly his Leviathanic interpretation of the Old Testament), he puts much of global his-storical development into a simple framework that allows the true reasons for it to "shine through" - that is, for ...more

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Jan 05, 2008 Burkey rated it really liked it

i enjoyed this book, kind of. i think the imagery and style of writing, writing a stylized history in the vein of oral traditions, is an interesting idea. it is at times extremely laborious, but does include a blake lithograph at the beginning of each chapter, which at least proves good taste. if you arent already interested with this whole anti-civ argument, this probably is not the place to start. if you are, you may want to add it to your list.

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Nov 17, 2007 Graham rated it it was ok

Maybe I am not familiar enough with ancient civilizations to 'get' this book, but as far as i can tell, an argument against agriculture can be made in much less space. I found this to be poorly written and at times extremely dull. Anyone can go on and on about the problems that plague civilization and the modern world, but people who do it well do it with wit, something that this author seems incapable of. I never liked a guru and this guy is one of the worst.

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Jan 27, 2008 Artnoose McMoose rated it really liked it

I can see why a lot of people I know couldn't get through this book. There are a lot of references to ancient history, and if you for example don't remember from high school history who the Etruscan were, or why there were at one time two Popes, or where the Byzantium Empire was, you might get lost.

If you've tried to read this and haven't finished, try again.

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May 27, 2014 Jeffrey Bumiller rated it really liked it

My only problem with this book is that it contains no references. What's up with that? It's a difficult book, unless you are an expert on ancient civilizations, and more importantly, those who resisted against them.

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About Fredy Perlman

Fredy Perlman

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Fredy Perlman (August 20, 1934 – July 26, 1985) was an author and publisher. His most popular work, the book Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!, is a major source of inspiration for anti-civilisation perspectives in contemporary anarchism.

Childhood and youth

Perlman was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He emigrated with parents to Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1938 just ahead of the Nazi takeover. The Fredy Perlman (August 20, 1934 – July 26, 1985) was an author and publisher. His most popular work, the book Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!, is a major source of inspiration for anti-civilisation perspectives in contemporary anarchism.

Childhood and youth

Perlman was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He emigrated with parents to Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1938 just ahead of the Nazi takeover. The Perlman family came to the United States in 1945 and finally settled in Lakeside Park, Kentucky.

In 1952 he attended Morehead State College in Kentucky and then UCLA from 1953-55. Perlman was on the staff of The Daily Bruin, the school newspaper, when the university administration changed the constitution of the newspaper to forbid it from nominating its own editors, as the custom had been. Perlman left the newspaper staff at that time and, with four others, proceeded to publish an independent paper, The Observer, which they handed out on a public sidewalk at the campus bus stop, since they were forbidden by the administration to distribute in on the campus. {Source: Loud Bark and Curious Eyes, by George Garrigues at [2]).

In 1956-59 he attended Columbia University, where he met his life-long companion, Lorraine Nybakken. He enrolled as a student of English literature but soon concentrated his efforts in philosophy, political science and European literature. One particularly influential teacher for him at this time was C. Wright Mills.

[edit] Travel and study

In late 1959, Perlman and his wife took a cross-country motor scooter trip, mostly on two-lane highways traveling at 25 miles per hour. From 1959 to 1963, they lived on the lower east side of Manhattan while Perlman worked on a statistical analysis of the world's resources with John Ricklefs. They participated in anti-bomb and pacifist activities with the Living Theatre and others. Perlman was arrested after a sit-down in Times Square in the fall of 1961. He became the printer for the Living Theatre and during that time wrote The New Freedom, Corporate Capitalism and a play, Plunder, which he published himself.

In 1963, the husband and wife left the U.S. and moved to Belgrade, Yugoslavia after living some months in Copenhagen and Paris. Perlman received a master's degree in economics and a PhD at the University of Belgrade's Law School; his dissertation was titled "Conditions for the Development of a Backward Region," which created an outrage among some members of the faculty. During his last year in Yugoslavia, he was a member of the Planning Institute for Kosovo and Metohija.

[edit] Professional life

During 1966-69 the couple lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Perlman taught social science courses at Western Michigan University and created outrage among some members of the faculty when he had students run their own classes and grade themselves. During his first year in Kalamazoo, he and Milos Samardzija, one of his professors from Belgrade, translated Isaac Illych Rubin's Essay on Marx's Theory of Value. Perlman wrote an introduction to the book: "An Essay on Commodity Fetishism."

In May 1968, after lecturing for two weeks in Turin, Italy, Perlman went to Paris on the last train before rail traffic was shut down by some of the strikes that were sweeping Western Europe that season. He participated in the May unrest in Paris and worked at the Censier center with the Citroen factory committee. After returning to Kalamazoo in August, he collaborated with Roger Gregoire in writing Worker-Student Action Committees, May 68.

During his last year in Kalamazoo, Perlman had left the university and together with several other people, mostly students, inaugurated the Black and Red magazine, of which six issues appeared. Typing and layout was done at the Perlman house and the printing at the Radical Education Project in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In January 1969 Perlman completed The Reproduction of Daily Life. While traveling in Europe in the spring of 1969 ...more

Books by Fredy Perlman

Worker-Student Action Committees: France, May '68

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Quotes from Against His-Story...

“The Romans learn Art from their Greek slaves, but they learn reluctantly. They are almost Modern in their reluctance; they are almost ready to say that a killing machine is beautiful if it works. They are not quite that modern, and they let Greek craftsmen conceal the brutal militarism with Architecture, Sculpture and Painting. They learn Aesthetics, that strange ability to see in blood gushing from a wound only the beauty of the shape and color.” — 3 likes

“The darkling plain is here. This is the waste land: England, America, Russia, China, Israel, France....

And we are here as victims, or as spectators, or as perpetrators of tortures, massacres, poisonings, manipulations, despoliation.” — 0 likes

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