From Urbanization to Cities

360 pages

English language

Published Dec. 31, 2021 by AK Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-84935-438-7

(1 review)

From Urbanization to Cities is a sweeping history of the city, not as a destination for capitalist exchange and individual gratification but as a locus for directly democratic politics. Just as ecosystems rely on participation and mutualism, so must cities—and their citizens—rediscover these qualities, establishing harmonious and ethical social relations. Democratic municipalism is an emancipatory philosophy of self-determination, where politics becomes an everyday act in which ordinary people and local communities take the power of decision making into their own hands. From the Paris Commune to the Kurdish-led revolution in northeast Syria, democratic municipalism is a tool for wresting power from the nation-state, allowing capitalist urbanization to give way to humanly scaled, ecological, and egalitarian societies. Includes a new introduction by Sixtine van Outryve d’Ydewalle.

1 edition

Baltipink reviewed From Urbanization to Cities by Murray Bookchin

Review of 'From Urbanization to Cities' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Well. I'm annoyed. This book was a real rollercoaster - vascilating between interesting and insufferable. You know how in high school "world" history is taught as beginning with Greeks and then moving to the English and then following the anglo men as they inhabit an america that centers on northeastern puritans? Well this is basically that history except with more complicated narratives that include a larger group of white men. Asia doesn't exist. Africa doesn't exist. Most egregiously, given the US focus, indigenous ppl don't exist. Women barely exist to note their absence. Patriarchy is in quotes. Debunked theories of how gun technology defeated indigenous ppl are stated as fact. And lord don't get me started on the Greek chapter. That said, I do appreciate the more complex picture of the European middle ages. The subtle and not so subtle digs at Marxists are hilarious. And there is much to …

Well. I'm annoyed. This book was a real rollercoaster - vascilating between interesting and insufferable. You know how in high school "world" history is taught as beginning with Greeks and then moving to the English and then following the anglo men as they inhabit an america that centers on northeastern puritans? Well this is basically that history except with more complicated narratives that include a larger group of white men. Asia doesn't exist. Africa doesn't exist. Most egregiously, given the US focus, indigenous ppl don't exist. Women barely exist to note their absence. Patriarchy is in quotes. Debunked theories of how gun technology defeated indigenous ppl are stated as fact. And lord don't get me started on the Greek chapter. That said, I do appreciate the more complex picture of the European middle ages. The subtle and not so subtle digs at Marxists are hilarious. And there is much to agree with in the overall criticisms of the state and the municipalist vision. This is a book I might recommend to a white dude who has a school taught idea of anglo American history and a spark of leanings toward direct democracy, but probably not anyone else.