This book by one of the most prominent writers for the American anarchist movement presents the case for communist anarchism clearly and intelligently. Thorough and well stated, it is today regarded as a classic statement of the cause's goals and methods.

In a clear conversation with the reader, Berkman discusses society as it now exists, the need for Anarchism and the methods for bringing it about. Often mentioned in conjunction with his lover Emma Goldman, Berkman was a leading writer and participant in the 20th-Century Anarchist movement.

The young, idealistic Berkman practiced "propaganda by the deed," attempting to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892. While imprisoned, he wrote the classic tale of prison life, "Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist." After his release, Berkman edited "The Blast " and Goldman's "Mother Earth." Deported to Russia in 1919, he saw firsthand the failure of the Bolshevik revolution and dedicated himself to writing this classic primer on Anarchism.

In 1892, Alexander Berkman, Russian emigre, anarchist, and lover of Emma Goldman, attempted to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The act was intended both as retribution for the massacre of workers in the Homestead strike and as an incitement to revolution. Captured and sentenced to serve a prison term of twenty-two years, Berkman struggled to make sense of the shadowy and brutalized world of the prison--one that hardly conformed to revolutionary expectation.