Anthropology, Ecology, and Anarchism: A Brian Morris Reader

Over the course of a long career, Brian Morris has created an impressive body of engaging and insightful writings--from social anthropology and ethnography to politics, history, and philosophy--that have made these subjects accessible to the layperson without sacrificing analytical rigor. But until now, the essays collected here, originally published in obscure journals and political magazines, have been largely unavailable to the broad readership to which they are so naturally suited. The opposite of arcane, specialized writing, Morris's work takes an interdisciplinary approach that moves seamlessly among topics, offering up coherent and practical connections between his various scholarly interests and his deeply held commitment to anarchist politics and thought.

Approached in this way, anthropology and ecology are largely untapped veins whose relevance for anarchism and other traditions of social thought have only recently begun to be explored and debated. But there is a long history of anarchist writers drawing upon works in those related fields. Morris's essays both explore past connections and suggest ways that broad currents of anarchist thought will have new and ever-emerging relevance for anthropology and many other ways of understanding social relationships. His writings avoid the constraints of dogma and reach across an impressive array of topics to give readers a lucid orientation within these traditions and point to new ways to confront common challenges.

Brian Morris is professor emeritus of anthropology at Goldsmiths College, London. He is the author of The Anarchist Geographer: An Introduction to the Life of Peter Kropotkin; Bakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom; Ecology and Anarchism: Essays and Reviews on Contemporary Thought; Kropotkin: The Politics of Community. Peter Marshall is a philosopher, historian, biographer, travel writer, and poet. He has written 15 highly acclaimed books, including the landmark history of anarchism Demanding the Impossible. His circumnavigation of Africa was made into a six-part TV series and his voyage around Ireland into a BBC Radio series.