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In my opinion a great introduction to the history of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, of the different factions involved. More than that, this book is a colourful and hugely entertaining account of Orwell and his wife's personal experiences during the conflict

Occasionally, it's very funny. At one moment he is describing chasing a fascist soldier in the dark with a bayonet, and the image in your head is like something from a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Orwell comes across as charming and humble, and like a shrewd observer. Based on this book and from what I've read of his life, he's a historical figure who I would love to meet

Very easy read, great tale. Empowering book, would especially recommend it to young people and teenagers

I liked the way this book presents both social ideas with copious amounts of studies into the different patterns followed by the hugely diverse range of examples of Commons covered in their research

I'm active in a number of different Commons, and found this book to be very practically useful on a daily basis. I'd pair it with Nonviolent Communication by Rosenburg to help with conflict resolution, and I think it's a great basis to start organising well in cooperatives/grassroots organisations

I found myself constantly raising my eyebrows at Gelderloos points, which I found novel and unorthodox, but which he argues very convincingly

The most valuable thing about this book was in understanding how the debate around violence/non-violence is consciously used by the state (in coordination with their own violence) to divide social movements against state violence and to destroy them. Shortly after reading this book I came across Unicorn Riot's documentary "Black Snake Killaz", and it helped me to understand this exact practice unfurling in the US military's campaign against the "water-protectors" (the protestors campaigning against an oil pipeline in Dakota and the subsequent environmental catastophe)

I'd like to start by saying that I found the application of NVC in my life to be highly rewarding and highly recommend reading this book if you're not familiar with the practice

I found the chapter on political strategy naive and a bit reckless in the context of questions on the use of violence being the major dividing issue in social movements since at least the 50s. If you're open to reading a very comprehensive damnation of anti-violent strategy (in favour of a diversity of tactics), I recommend you Peter Gelderloos: How Nonviolence Protects the State

I'm normally a slow reader - I picked this one up, read it pretty quickly and have subsequently read everything else that Graeber published within about one year!

There's a 2,000 year old joke contained within that I've been retelling people since reading this

Concise history of the Golden Age of Atlantic Piracy

Fits nicely into the niche. For books about other ages of piracy: - Pirate Utopias (Hakim Bey) - Corsairs of the 1600s, particularly in Sale (Morocco) and Algiers, with some information on Irish pirates of the same time - Pirate Enlightenment (David Graeber) - the "Pirate Kingdoms" of Madagascar and their relationships to the Malagasy - Rubicon (Tom Holland) - a history of the Roman Republic which also covers their death-struggle with ancient pirates

For books about other ages of piracy - these are some good ones that I've read: - Pirate Utopias (Hakim Bey) - Corsairs of the 1600s, particularly in Sale (Morocco) and Algiers, with some information on Irish pirates of the same time - Pirate Enlightenment (David Graeber) - the "Pirate Kingdoms" of Madagascar and their relationships to the Malagasy - Rubicon (Tom Holland) - a history of the Roman Republic which also covers their death-struggle with ancient pirates