Kristian Williams

The new issue of Socialism and Democracy includes a review I wrote comparing two recent books from AK Press: Classic Writings in Anarchist Criminology: A Historical Dismantling of Punishment and Domination and Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement.  One is anarchist-focused, rooted mainly in the nineteenth century, and mostly theoretical.  The other is feminist-focused, contemporary, and practical.  The two books could not be more different — which, I suggest, is something of a problem.

(The review is behind a paywall, but you can see the first page here.)

More fully uniting theory and practice – by pointing out how they have become misaligned – is adrienne marie brown’s We Will Not Cancel Us (also from AK Press).  The book constitutes a feminist reconsideration of cancel culture.  I reviewed it for the IAS website.

I was on Breakthrough News recently, discussing the Chauvin verdict and the history of policing.  Unfortunately, it ends rather abruptly, when I get cut off mid-sentence.  Technology seems miraculous right up until the moment it fails.  Alas.

I have a new essay at Truthout about what the government’s crackdown on the right likely means for the left, and the broader problems with framing political violence as “extremism.”

On the whole, I am not feeling optimistic.

The people at the Platypus Review interviewed me about my pamphlet Whither Anarchism?  Usually this would have been in the print edition, but thanks to the pandemic, you can read it online.

In contrast, the G&LR reviewed my Wilde book, Resist Everything Except Temptation, but it is behind a paywall.  You can get a taste on their website, but not even enough to know whether they liked it.