Colin Ward

What do anarchists want? Can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is anarchism more 'organized' and 'reasonable' than is currently perceived? Colin Ward explains what anarchism means and who anarchists are in this illuminating and accessible introduction to the subject.

Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction

With chapters on the family, topless federations, schools, housing, crime, employment, welfare, deviancy, planning, and more, this is probably the best practical example of anarchist ideas in action. As he writes in his introduction "This book is not intended for people who had spent a lifetime pondering the problems of anarchism, but for those who either had no idea of what the word implied or knew exactly what it implied and rejected it, considering that it had no relevance for the modern world. My original preference as a title was the more cumbersome but more accurate 'Anarchism As A Theory Of Organization' because, as I urge in my preface, that is what the book is about. It is not about strategies for revolution and it is not involved in speculation on the way an anarchist society would function. It is about the ways in which people organize themselves in any kind of human society, whether we care to categorize those societies as primitive, traditional, capitalist or communist...

Anarchy in Action

Drawing inspiration from the everyday creativity of ordinary people, the late Colin Ward long championed a unique social and environmental politics premised on on the possibilities of democratic self-organisation and self-management from below. This colllection gives a wide-ranging overview of Ward's earliest journalism, with seminal essays, extracts from his most important books and examples of his most recent work, much of which considered the problems of housing and education and how they can be better organised.

The Colin Ward Reader

Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility

The argument of this book is that an anarchist society, a society which organizes itself without authority, is always in existence, like a seed beneath the snow, buried under the weight of the state and its bureaucracy, capitalism and its waste, privilege and its injustices, nationalism and its suicidal loyalties, religious differences and their superstitious separatism. Anarchist ideas are so much at variance with ordinary political assumptions and the solutions anarchists offer so remote, that all too often people find it hard to take anarchism seriously. This classic text is an attempt to bridge the gap between the present reality and anarchist aspirations, “between what is and what, according to the anarchists, might be.” Through a wide-ranging analysis—drawing on examples from education, urban planning, welfare, housing, the environment, the workplace, and the family, to name but a few—Colin Ward demonstrates that the roots of anarchist practice are not so alien or quixotic as they might at first seem but lie precisely in the ways that people have always tended to organize themselves when left alone to do so. The result is both an accessible introduction for those new to anarchism and pause for thought for those who are too quick to dismiss it. For more than thirty years, in over thirty books, Colin Ward patiently explained anarchist solutions to everything from vandalism to climate change—and celebrated unofficial uses of the landscape as commons, from holiday camps to squatter communities. Ward was an anarchist journalist and editor for almost sixty years, most famously editing the journal Anarchy. He was also a columnist for New Statesman, New Society, Freedom, and Town and Country Planning.

Peter Kropotkin

His classic vision of a new world, updated by Colin Ward.

Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow

David Goodway

Talking Anarchy

The Child in the City

Housing an Anarchist Approach

Reprints from the highly regarded magazine, edited by Ward, with contributions from most of the famous spods of the 60s, from Alex Comfort to Jock Young.

Selections from the Monthly Journal Anarchy

A Decade of Anarchy 1961-1970

The word 'anarchism' tends to conjure up images of aggressive protest against government, and - recently - of angry demonstrations against bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But is anarchism inevitably linked with violent disorder? Do anarchists adhere to a coherent ideology? What exactly is anarchism? In this Very Short Introduction, Colin Ward considers anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers from Kropotkin to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of 'no compromise' with the apparatus of political decision-making. Among the questions he ponders are: can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more 'organized' and 'reasonable' than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after reading this book. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Alice Savage

Trio Writing is a three-level course that helps beginning English students develop their writing skills through step-by-step instruction.

Trio Writing Level 3 Student Book with Online Practice

Tim Ward

Images of Childhood in Old Postcards

New Towns are no longer new: their pioneer settlers are grandparents, and New Towns have becmoe home towns for two generations. This book traces the origins of the New Towns in the Garden City movement, judges their performance, and asks if we need a new generation of New Towns.

The Lessons of Experience

New Town, Home Town

Of all political views, anarchism is the most ill-represented. For more than 30 years, in over 30 books, Colin Ward patiently explained anarchist solutions to everything from vandalism to climate change - and celebrated unofficial uses of the landscape as commons, from holiday camps to squatter communities. In Talking Anarchy he discusses the ups and downs of the anarchist movement during the last century, including the many famous characters who were anarchists or associated with the movement, including Noam Chomsky and George Orwell.

Describes how the lives and work of the following people have influenced the author's thinking - William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (education), Alexander Herzen (politics), Peter Kropotkin (economics), Martin Buber (society), William Richard Lethaby and Walter Segal (architecture).

Voices of Creative Dissent

Influences

Ten lectures. Endless variations on a few simple but neglected truths. From An Anarchist Approach To Urban Planning, to Do-It-Yourself New Towns.

Ten Lectures

Talking Houses

Mary and the Bible

David Crouch

Allotment gardens (or community gardens as they are called here) are taken for granted as party of the everyday scene on the fringe of very city, town and village. This unique and fascinating book explores the culture and landscape of the allotment and the part it has played in Britain for 150 years. The old mental image of the cloth-clapped plot-holder, sitting in his shed on a Sunday morning and pedaling home with a bunch of carrots over his handlebars is no longer valid. Recent research is showing that more and more plot-holders are young, or women. However, the allotment is under threat and long-held sites have been taken over. A new introduction describes these changes. Rich in local history and anecdote, The Allotment explores regional variations like pigeon-fancying and leek competitions, as well as alternative uses and international comparisons. Are allotments simply a recreation like tennis or golf, or the last precious vestige of everyone's natural right to a patch of land to produce food?

Its Landscape and Culture

The Allotment

“[60 Kinesthetic Grammar Activities contains] a wide range of practicable activities that, in the words of the authors, ‘connect language in our head to our arms and legs, eyes and ears.“ — Scott Thornbury, Author of How to Teach Grammar and Grammar Uncovered from the Foreword Language is more than words. But too often, we teach grammar as a set of boring rules, best practiced by filling out worksheets. 60 Kinesthetic Grammar Activities by Alice Savage and Colin Ward bursts this myth with a collection of activities that get students out of their seats and learning in a dynamic and active classroom. The benefits of kinetic language learning activities are many: teach gesture and nonverbal communication activate our embodied mind make grammar memorable change the dynamics of the classroom build community and raise students’ moods. This book contains everything you need to practice 60 common grammar points in a dynamic and active way! All the activities inside are all low-prep or no-prep, easy to adapt to your classroom, and flexible enough to work with a variety of target language features.

Colin Ward

Books

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