Difference between revisions of "AK Press"

Revision as of 22:17, 6 November 2008

AK Press is a worker-run^[1] book publisher and distributer that specializes in anarchist publications. It is organized as an anarchist collective,^[2] its members work together without relying on internal hierarchies, without corporate structure, without bosses and without managers. Its website states, "We’ve replaced hierarchy with cooperation, accountability, and responsibility of our individual members."^[1]

Overview

AK Press is one of world's largest distributors and publishers of anarchist and left-wing books.^[3] Established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1990,^[2] it distributes more than 100,000 books per year.^[3] U.S. branch of the AK Press was opened in 1994. It has doubled the number of units it sells over the past decade and grossed $1.4 million in 2007.^[2] AK Press publishes an estimated fifteen new titles each year.^[4]

According to Craig O'Hara, who handles East Coast sales, one-third of AK Press' revenue comes from selling books direct to customers through mail order and the Internet. Today it reaches out to the book trade for its own list through Consortium. It also sells to other wholesalers and booksellers on behalf of the 100 exclusive distribution publishers (about 40 to 50 active clients) it represents. Don Allen, general manager of Busboys & Poets in Washington, D.C. said, "There's no better source for books on anarchy. When we opened our store in Virginia, we used AK Press for a high percentage of our inventory." He turns to AK Press for books which are not easily available from other presses. More than 50% of AK Press' distribution clients are one-book publishers or organizations.^[2]

Distributors and wholesalers which sell titles published by the AK Press are Last Gasp in San Francisco, California, Ingram Book Group in La Vergne, Tennessee, Baker & Taylor in Charlotte, North Carolina, Profane Existence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Disticore in Canada, Jura Books in Australia, Virus in Spain, Microcosm, Consortium, No Idea and Tree of Knowledge.^[5]

Authors

AK Press has published books by many well-known and lesser known authors. Some of the famous authors who's books have been published by the AK Press are Noam Chomsky,^[6] Ward Churchill,^[7] Arundhati Roy,^[8] Daniel Cohn-Bendit,^[9] Paul Avrich,^[10] Howard Zinn,^[11] Derrick Jensen,^[12] Fredy Perlman,^[13] John Zerzan^[14] etc.

Some notable publication

Some of the notable books published by the AK Press are:

• Joel Andreas (2004). Addicted to War, ISBN 9781904859017.^[15]
• Alexander Berkman (2003). What is Anarchism?, ISBN 9781902593708.^[16]
• Steven Best and Nocella, Anthony J. (2006), Igniting A Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth, ISBN 9781904859567.^[17]
• Noam Chomsky (2005). Chomsky on Anarchism, ISBN 9781904859208.^[6]
• Ward Churchill (2003). On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, ISBN 9781902593791.^[7]
• Daniel Cohn-Bendit (2001). Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative, ISBN 9781902593258.^[9]
• Norman Finkelstein (2005). An Issue Of Justice: Origins Of The Israel/Palestine Conflict, ISBN 9781904859239.^[18]
• Agustin Guillamon (1996). The Friends Of Durruti Group: 1937-1939, ISBN 9781873176542.^[19]
• Derrick Jensen (2006). Endgame Volume I: The Problem Of Civilization, ISBN 9781583227305^[12] and Endgame Volume II: Resistance, ISBN 9781583227244.^[20]
• Fredy Perlman (2002). Against His-Story, Against Leviathan, ISBN 9780934868259.^[13]
• Rudolf Rocker, with an introduction by Noam Chomsky (2004). Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice, ISBN 9781902593920.^[21]
• Edward Said (Contributor), Norman Finkelstein (Contributor), Jeffrey St. Clair (Editor), and Alexander Cockburn (Editor) (2003). The Politics Of Anti-Semitism, ISBN 9781902593777.^[22]
• John Zerzan (2005). Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections, ISBN 9780922915989.^[14]

References

Further readings

• Tobias Carroll, I've got a name: Music, Radical, Politics, and AK Press

External links

• Official Website