📣 BACK IN STOCK!! — Modibo Kadalie's paradigm-shattering study of maroonage in North America: "Intimate Direct Democracy: Fort Mose, the Great Dismal Swamp, and the Human Quest for Freedom." 🤩 Kadalie's work surveys the convergence of African and Indigenous North American traditions of direct democracy within Afro-Indigenous anti-slavery and anti-colonial resistance movements from the 16th to the 19th centuries. This is probably the most popular book we've ever published and we're excited to have it in stock again. Order yours roday by following the "order books" links in our bio. 📚
From @andrew_zonneveld author of "All Will Be Equalized" : On May Day each year the world remembers Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adoplh Fischer, Louis Lingg, and George Engel — the anarchists of Chicago who were frame for murder, tried, convicted, and executed explicitly for their political beliefs in 1887. Four out of five of these men were poor immigrant laborers and craftsmen. The fifth, Albert Parsons, was a Southern white man who, after the Civil War, devoted his life to racial equality, economic equality, and human social freedom. All of them were anarchists. Together they challenged the bogus propaganda of the "American Dream" and fought for a world where everyone has what they need to survive and collectively govern their society. Their sacrifice became a rallying cry in the movement of labor against capital. Over the past 139 years, their story has frequently been co-opted by opportunists whose vision does not measure up, and is much more narrow, statist, or even authoritarian. So let us be clear: the Haymarket Martyrs went to their graves preaching anarchism: a vision for the world with no states and no capitalism, where all the political, social, and economic, decisions of society are made by ordinary working people in their own communities and workplaces. That is the revolutionary vision we celebrate today. In the immortal words that Engel and Fischer shouted from the gallows, "Hurrah Anarchy!"
We were delighted when Ole Birk Laursen (the biographer of Indian anarchist MPT Acharya) reached out to us with this project back in 2018. "Lay Down Your Arms" is a collection of essays from a diverse group of writers originally published in the Dutch anti-militarist journal, "De Wapens Neder" (1935). Through their writing, these anarchist and socialist writers from Europe, Algeria, India, Japan, and the United States connected the struggles against fascism and imperialism in East Asia and Europe with anti-colonial struggles in India and Africa and the African American civil rights movement in the United States. This fascinating collection highlights the international scope and reach of anarchist and socialist anti-militarism in the 1930s. This concise and affordable volume includes writings from Hendrik Jan Mispelblom Beyer, Magdeleine Paz, Saïl Mohamed, Lyonel Florant, Aron van Dam, Han Kuijsten, M. P. T. Acharya, and E. K. Nobushima. Cover design by Megan Leach. Order your copy at or follow the "order books" link on our linktree. 📚🏴
Preserving stories of under-appreciated working-class radicals has always been central to our mission. After reading Christian Hogsbjerg's short biography of Chris Braithwaite, which was originally published in the U.K., we reached out and asked if we could print a U.S. edition. Thankfully, he agreed, and even provided some new material!
Chris Braithwaite (aka Chris Jones) was a seafearer from Barbados who became a leading organizer of colonial seafearers in inter-war Britain. He played a critical role in the Pan-Africanist and wider anti-colonial movement alongside figures such as C.L.R. James and George Padmore. In response to Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, Braithwaite famously led the Colonial Seamen's Association in a September resolution for a workers' blockade, refusing to transport munitions to Italian forces. Reading Braithwaite's story is an opportunity to learn more about anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and anti-capitalist movements in the 1930s and 1940s.
Get your copy from oooabooks.org or by following the "order books" link in our linktree. 📚
If anarchists read ONE film history book, it should be this one! Shortly after we started publishing, we reached out to professor David Weir, author of the execllent book "Anarchy and Culture," and planted an idea. "If you ever write another book on anarchism, please consider us as a publisher." To our delight, he wrote back with great interest. He was in fact considering a book on anarchism—a analysis of the life and work of the late french filmmaker Jean Vigo.
The son of Miguel Almereyda, an anarchist activist who died in prison, Jean Vigo kept faith with the politics of his father through his art. One of the most influential filmmakers in cinema history, Vigo gave aesthetic expression to anarchist ideology in four films: the city symphony À propos de Nice (1930), the sports documentary Taris ou la natation (1931), the medium-length Zéro de conduite (1933), and the feature-length L’Atalante (1934), currently ranked by the British Film Institute as the twelfth greatest film of all time. Although his career was cut short by tuberculosis at the age of 29, Jean Vigo continues to be one of the most commanding figures in the history of cinema.
The book was reviewed by the eminent film professor J. Hoberman, who called it "the best book on Jean Vigo written in english."
Vigo's complete works are available from @criterioncollection and David Weir's "Jean Vigo and the Anarchist Eye," is available from oooabooks.org and by following the "order books" link in our linktree. 📚🏴
One of the coolest books we ever printed: "Workers Self-Management in the Caribbean" collects all the known writings of Joseph Edwards (real name George Myers, also known as Fundi, Montgomery Stone, or the Caribbean Situationist), one of the most remarkable labor activists and public intellectuals of the Caribbean New Left. Writing from Jamaica in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Edwards was a refrigerator mechanic and labor organizer who led workers' councils and advocated for a vision of socialism based on the direct self-organization of the working class. Edwards was influenced by anarchism and rejected all forms of state power (the last sentence of this book reads "burn all the flags"). He was a fierce critic of more mainstream socialist politicos whom he felt were out of touch with the revolutionary self-directed activity of the working class. This collection includes several pamphlets, articles reprinted from the "Abeng" newspaper, and transcriptions from a spoken-word LP. We were proud to reintroduce Edwards's work to a new generation back in 2014, and we feel strongly that his work remains equally relevant today. Order your copy of "Workers Self-Management In the Caribbean" from oooabooks.org or by following the link in our bio.
Kimathi Mohammed's "Organization and Spontaneity" was only the 3rd book we ever published. Our co-founder Modibo Kadalie was a close friend of Kimathi's. They both grew up in coastal Georgia under different names, but first met each other in Detroit as kindred Black Power revolutionaries. After Modibo was purged from the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) for advocating greater internal democracy, Kimathi authored the original "Organization and Spontaneity" pamphlet, which comprises the first half of this book. In his writing, Kimathi Mohammed analyzed the weaknesses of the dominant "vanguard party" model in Black liberationist organizing of the period (using the LRBW as a model) and advocated for a dialectical understanding between the necessity of building organizations and the spontaneous actions and new organizational forms that erupt from the bottom of society in times of crisis. The second half of this book, "Beyond Measure," documents the influence of CLR James on Detroit's Black Power movement in the 1960s and 1970s. James's criticisms of social movement hierarchies were a jumping off point for organizers like Modibo and Kimathi, and they built their anti-authoritarian vision upon a foundation laid in part by CLR James. Kimathi Mohammed died unexpectedly over 20 years ago. His friend Modibo Kadalie has since endeavored to make sure that Kimathi's work is remembered for it's wide influence and enduring significance. You can order your copy of Kimathi Mohammed's "Organization and Spontaneity" from oooabooks.org or follow the "order books" link in our bio's linktree. 📚🏴
In 2026 we recognize the passing of 500 years since the first recorded anti-slavery rebellion in North America. To commemorate this historic anniversary, we are producing an edited volume of historical and/or reflective essays about the uprising itself and the enduring tradition of maroon resistance that this rebellion inaugurated on this continent. While our official submission deadline passed last month, we are still accepting some last-minute submissions. If you're interested in contributing please email a proposal to [email protected] 📚 Cover deisgn by book editor @miyahnykoleowens
This masterpiece of Caribbean history, "Scars of Bondage: A First Study of the Slave Colonial Experienceof Africans in Guyana" was banned in its country of origin when it was first written. The authors Eusi and Tchaiko Kwayana were well-known critics of Guyana's rising dictator Forbes Burnham in the 1970s. As a result, the book went unpublished in the Caribbean until 1999, and we had the privilege of publishing the first North American edition in 2022.
The Kwayanas' work is essential for understanding the history of Atlantic slavery. Indeed, we cannot understand Black history in North America without first studying the Caribbean. The stories of these regions are inherently linked.
Order your copy of "Scars of Bondage" from the "order books" link in our bio's linktree or by visiting 📚
One of our most popular books and an underground classic of the 21st century: Modibo Kadalie's "Pan-African Social Ecology" collects speeches, interviews, and essays from lifelong revolutionary activist Modibo Kadalie. From the 1960s civil rights movement, to the Black Power, Pan-Africanist, and Social Ecology movements, Kadalie's life has been interwoven with many of the most radical social movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. This concise collection reintroduced his work to a new generation when we published it in 2019, and remains equally relevant today. Order your copy at the link in our bio or at oooabooks.org 📚🏴
The world is f**ked up—and to set things right for everyone, we must fundamentally transform how we understand politics. Yavor Tarinski's "Horizons of Direct Democracy" is the perfect place to start that journey. Featurinf collaborations with social ecologists like Modibo Kadalie and Eleanor Finley, Tarinski's work offers indispensable tools for understanding people's movements in the 21st century. Order online from oooabooks.org. or follow th link in our bio.
Thank y'all for making "All Will Be Equalized" the most popular @oooabooks title for two years running! 2025 has been the worst and hardest year of my life, so this little silver lining is deeply appreciated. Thank you thank you thank you! If you haven't read it yet, you can order your copy from @oooabooks or @akpressdistro or @breadrosespress or @firestormcoop or @community_books_ga or ask someone at your local independent/radical book store. Again, thank y'all so much for reading my work!! Love y'all 💖 #bookstagram #radicalbooks #georgiahistory #radicalhistory
