Join the Anarchist Book Club, where Danny Evans and Jim Yeoman discuss radical history and politics
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In this episode we’re delighted to be joined by Maurice J.Casey, a research fellow at Queens University Belfast and author of Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals , which was published by Footnote in 2025. Hotel Lux is a fascinating, moving account of the lives of women and men who travelled to Moscow in the 1920s to work for the Comintern. We really enjoyed both…
In this episode we’re discussing Tomas Rothaus’s Another War is Possible (PM Press, 2025) an account of the movement against capitalism over the turn of the 21st century, written by an anarchist participant in the events. You can listen to an interview with Rothaus on Last Straw Radio here: Militant Anarchist Experiences in the Antiglobalization Era | The Final Straw Radio Podcast…
In this episode we’re discussing Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant, published in 2023 by Little, Brown and Company. Blood in the Machine is an account of the Luddite rebellion in early 19th century England. Merchant's engaging study draws parallels between this account and contemporary questions about the effects of automation, big tech and AI, as well as efforts to resist and challenge the…
In this episode, we’re delighted to be joined by Andy Durgan, a historian who has lived in Barcelona since 1982, and author of several books about the revolutionary left and International volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, including Voluntarios por la revoución , which will be published in English later this year. We spoke to Andy about his role as historical advisor to Ken Loach’s film Land and…
In this episode we are joined by Carolyn Eichner, Professor of History and Women's and Gender Studies at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, to discuss her brilliant book The Paris Commune: A Brief History (Rutgers University Press, 2022). We hope you enjoy this conversation, which ranges from the origins of the Commune to its legacy in France and the contemporary world, and includes discussion of…
In this episode we are discussing Cybernetic Revolutionaries by Eden Medina (MIT Press, 2011), which examines the effort to create a cybernetic system of communication and industrial management during the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile, from 1970 to 1973. Medina uses this fascinating case study to explore the relationship of two utopian visions: one socialist, and one…
In this episode we discuss Christopher Hill’s The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution , originally published in 1972. This book is widely regarded as a seminal work of history from below, which popularised the concept of the English Revolution and helped to establish the ideas of the Levellers, Diggers, Seekers and Ranters as a key part of the radical tradition in…
THIS IS THE CORRECT AUDIO, PLEASE IGNORE EARLIER VERSION OF EPISODE 39 In this episode we discuss The Fall and Rise of the British Left (Verso, 2019) by Andrew Murray. We originally intended this episode to coincide with the UK General Election in July 2024, seeing this as a good moment to reflect on the electoral turn of the left in Britain in the 2010s. While this scheduling didn't quite work…
In this episode we discuss M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi’s speculative fiction Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 (Common Notions Press, 2022). We both really enjoyed this slight departure from our usual reading choices for the podcast, which provoked and stimulated how we think about history, and the experience and nature of post-revolutionary society.…
In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr Alexandra Paulin-Booth, to discuss her book Time and Radical Politics in France , published by Manchester University Press in 2023. Alex’s work treats the conception of time as both a window and a key into the left and right in France, during the turbulent period between the Dreyfuss Affair and the First World War. You can see Alex’s profile and…
