Promotional Information

A fascinating and comprehensive history, 'Demanding the Impossible' is a challenging and thought-provoking exploration of anarchist ideas and actions from ancient times to the present day.

About the Author

Peter Marshall is a historian, philosopher, biographer and travel writer. He has written fifteen books, has taught at several British universities and occasionally works in broadcasting. He lives in Devon.

Reviews

'Massive, scholarly, genuinely internationalist and highly enjoyable.' David Widgery, Observer 'An exhaustive and authoritative study which is bound to become the standard account.' John Gray, The Times 'Indispensable.' Richard Boston, Guardian 'This is the most comprehensive account of anarchist thought ever written. Marshall's knowledge is formidable and his enthusiasm engaging.' J.P. Pick, Scotsman 'Large, labyrinthine, tentative: for me these are all adjectives of praise when applied to works of history, and Demanding the Impossible meets all of them.' George Woodcock, Independent 'I trust that Marshall's survey of the whole heart-warming, head-challenging subject will have a large circulation!It is a handbook of real history, which should make it more valuable in the long run than all the mighty textbooks on market economics and such-like ephemeral topics.' Michael Foot, Evening Standard 'Reading about anarchism is stimulating, funny and sad. What more can you ask of a book?' Isabel Colegate, The Times 'Interest in anarchy!was reawakened by the publication of Peter Marshall's massively comprehensive "Demanding the Impossible", a brick-sized history that received rave reviews.' Peter Beaumont, Observer

The goal of an egalitarian, communal society has always united Marxists and leftist socialists, some of the latter (often if not always described as anarchists) refusing any truck with centralized power At various times, such ideas have found relatively wide appeal, and this era is one-expressed for instance in the antiglobalization movement's emphases on local control and direct democracy-making Marshall's comprehensive treatment a timely read. Newly revised and updated, this indispensable history of social libertarian thought now reaches into the 21st century-touching upon themes echoed in other recent titles, including Raj Patel's The Value of Nothing. Marshall casts a wide net, gathering all traces of antiauthoritarian socialist thought in works from Lao Tzu through Noam Chomsky, social ecology, and the Zapatistas. Readers will be repeatedly rewarded by Marshall's judiciousness and close readings of both the great names in anarchist history-Proudhon, Kropotkin, and Tolstoy-and less expected contributors-Rousseau, Swift, and Burke. Blowing away cobwebs of misunderstanding and misrepresentation, this is a stimulating portrait of a highly varied but distinctive political ideal, tradition, and practice arising from the enduring human impulse to be free. (June) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.