Summary: | In a new examination of Peter Kropotkin's thought, this book rebuts the persistent misrepresentation of anarchism as a utopian creed or a recipe for social chaos and political disorder. Jim Mac Laughlin moves beyond previous accounts, providing a sustained and critical reading of Kropotkin's extensive writings on the social, historical, scientific, and philosophical basis of modern anarchism. The book examines key themes in Kropotkin's philosophy of anarchism, including his concerted efforts to provide anarchism with a historical and scientific basis; the role of mutualism and mutual aid in social evolution and natural history; the ethics of anarchism, and the anarchist critique of state-centred nationalism and other expressions of power politics. -- from back cover.
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