Anarchism

Paul EltzbacherProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 566K words
Chapters: 57

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Anarchism by Paul EltzbacherAuthor: Eltzbacher, Paul, 1868-1928,Language: English, Class: HX: Social sciences: Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, Release Date: Jul 10, 2011

Editor's review

Paul Eltzbacher's Anarchism is a work that organizes anarchist thought through classification and comparison; its call number HX places it in the social sciences alongside socialism, communism, and anarchism. Its value lies in the fact that it is not a propaganda pamphlet but an attempt to arrange and assess the various schools of anarchism as objects of study, making it suitable for readers who wish to understand this political-intellectual lineage. The original English text is freely available from Project Gutenberg, with no modern introduction or notes, so some background in the history of political thought is helpful. It can serve researchers as a primary source showing how a European scholar in the early twentieth century viewed anarchism; for general readers it offers a relatively systematic entry point, though its period-specific perspective should be kept in mind.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and researchers of the history of political thought and social movements
Readers seeking a systematic overview of the doctrines of various anarchist schools
Academic readers needing early twentieth-century primary sources for textual analysis
General readers interested in the relationship between socialism and anarchism

Not a good fit for

Readers with no foundation in the history of political thought encountering the field for the first time
Readers expecting a contemporary critical perspective or an up-to-date research review
Radical readers interested only in action programs and propaganda slogans

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents to grasp how the author divides chapters by figure or school before entering the main text.
Keep pen and paper at hand to map each school's core claims alongside the author's evaluative stance as you read.
Read alongside a general history of political thought to fill gaps in period context.
After finishing, revisit the introductory chapters to check whether your understanding of the book's classificatory framework is accurate.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a propaganda work in support of anarchism?

Judging from the title and classification, it is closer to a work that organizes and assesses anarchist thought than to an agitational pamphlet. The author approaches the various schools as a scholar, but readers should still be alert to the limitations imposed by the period and the author's own stance.

Can I understand it without a background in political science?

It is readable, but demanding. The book discusses many thinkers and schools, and without background knowledge it is easy to confuse them. It is advisable first to gain a basic grasp of nineteenth-century European social movements, or to read alongside an introductory work on the history of political thought.

Why is it recommended to read alongside a general history?

This is a public-domain e-book with no modern editorial introduction or notes, and it was written long ago. A general history of political thought supplies period context, biographical information, and subsequent influence, helping readers situate the book's classificatory framework within its historical setting.

Comments

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About the author

Paul Eltzbacher Author · German · 1868–1928

Paul Eltzbacher (1868–1928) was a German jurist. He is known for his work Anarchism, which offers a systematic review of the doctrines of various anarchist schools and reflects the organizing and comparative perspective of a legal scholar. As far as publicly available sources show, details of his life are limited; his education, positions, and academic activities are not sufficiently documented, so they cannot be described in detail. The library holds one work by him, Anarchism. In terms of subject matter, his writing tends to combine intellectual history with legal analysis, focusing on summarizing and assessing doctrines themselves rather than making simple political statements. The book is often mentioned as a reference for Chinese-language readers seeking to understand the positions of various anarchist schools.