Anarchism

by Paul Eltzbacher, Steven T. Byington

Anarchism, is many of the old classic books which have been considered important throughout the human history. They are now extremely scarce and very expensive antique. So that this work is never forgotten we republish these books in high quality, using the original text and artwork so that they can be preserved for the present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Nook

About the author

Paul Eitzbacher was a lawyer, law professor, and later Bolshevik, whose doctoral thesis, focused on anarchism, is the work for which he is most remembered.

Reviews

[Zander Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translator states in their introduction that while the majority of readers will only find value in the book for its quotes, Eltzbacher's own writing also contains value. I am here to argue that while I appreciate his initial breakdown of law, the State, and property for what it is, I simply cannot help but deduct stars for how horrifically dry and repetitive Eltzbacher's own writing style is. I cannot personally speak to the quality of the original German, but in English his writing style takes on a consistency normally only found in the densest of legalese. He assumes the reader's inability to follow, and constantly repeats himself even within the same sentence as a result...which only serves to make what he is saying even more difficult to follow. I would argue that around 70% – or at least well over 50% – of the words he uses are superfluous in this way.
He does a great job of confining his disagreement with anarchism to the last chapter, and I give him kudos for that, but I just cannot get past his writing style.
Therefore, honestly, especially for those of us who are anarchism-favorable, this book is really only good for its quotes. Feel free to skip or skim Eltzbacher's written chapters entirely, you have my permission.