Anarchist & Radical Book Club discussion

While folks are still debating the April/May books Crack Capitalism and Anarchy in Action, who's got book ideas, authors, or topics for the next few months?

I'm embarking on a short study of recent Guatemalan history right now in time for the genocide (re?)trial. I have a list of books recommended to me, and would love to read one with the group if anyone else was interested.

* Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror, and Hope
* Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala
* The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?

Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala one strangely doesn't seem to have a Goodreads page, but could be a prescient history to give context to the more recent CIA assassinations, drone strikes, and torture in Pakistan.

On that Latin American kick, I've also got copies of Trails of Hope and Terror: Testimonies on Immigration and The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place recommended to me from a friend who just spent several months on the US/Mexico border volunteering with No More Deaths. Any of these interest y'all?

Paradise in Ashes is an amazing book. I actually lived in the town in Guatemala where it takes place and got to know some of the people in the story. Their stories of survival are incredible.

Has anyone read Dancing With Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America?

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Dynamit...

(How do you add links?)

Dan wrote: "How do you add links?"
To link to a book on GR, there's a button above the comment box that says "add book/author." Click that and a popup allows you to search for the book or author, and on the bottom of that popup you can choose to add the cover photo instead of the text for the link. This adds the book to the 'Book mentioned in the topic' list on the right hand column of the page.

To link elsewhere, use the html code "< a href=www.yourlink.com >Text for the link < / a>" but take out the spaces.

I'm halfway through Paradise in Ashes. It's really good scholarship (and a great way to present history-- focused on the one town but using that case to teach the larger conditions in Guatemala as a whole), and very, very intense subject matter. I can't believe you've been to that town.

Dancing with Dynamite looks like it could lend some insights to the discussion going on about Crack Capitalism, actually.

Almost, Tina. I'll leave extra spaces (ALL spaces except the one in front of href must be deleted for the link to work) as you did:

< a href="www.yourlink.com" > Text for the link < / a>

The link has to be in quotes and there has to be a slash before the final a. The first time I posted this it came out the same as yours, so I added some more spaces.

Tinea wrote: "I'm embarking on a short study of recent Guatemalan history right now in time for the genocide (re?)trial. I have a list of books recommended to me, and would love to read one with the group if an..."

I definitely recommend Bitter Fruit. Is very good on the US involvement/shaping of the coup, banana republic and everything that came after. Would love to hear thoughts on the other books.

Since you people seem to be more into praxis over theory. You guys oughta give Partha Chatterjee's The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World a try. Great insights from grassroots movements in India, which he over the course of the book connects with the empire ala Negri. But it's certainly a very beautifully written book.

It would also interest anyone who's into Gramsci as such. Chatterjee's reworking of the civil society and political society and his analysis of various paralegal interactions between the population and the power structure is of great insight to theorize on grassroots movements in interaction with the global economy.

Dan, as a companion to Dancing with Dynamite I would recommend Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements by Raul Zibechi.

I also highly recommend Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements.

This is a little off topic, but there's a documentary on youtube called, "A Place Called Chiapas." It has to do with the Zapatista uprising. It's within the geographical proximity so I thought it might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TffwE...

Any last suggestions or 'seconds' before I put up a poll with

Paradise in Ashes
Dancing with Dynamite
Bitter Fruit
Territories in Resistance

Was there a 'second' or another person who wants to read The Politics of the Governed?

Poll is up!