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David Graeber: Direct Action (2009, AK Press) 5 stars

Direct Action: An Ethnography offers a lengthy, traditional anthropological account of anarchist organizing efforts, with …

Review of 'Direct Action' on Goodreads

5 stars

Very readable account of Black Bloc / anarchist protest actions in the early 2000s, primarily leading to the Quebec G20 summit of 2000. Consists of Graeber's personal involvement, notes, minutes, and summaries of many public meetings in preparing for the summit; analysis of the nature of non-violence and civil disobedience in America post-1990s (in light of the Zapatistas, Earth First!, and Seattle WTO 1999); detailed thoughts on the consensus decision process as exercised particularly by the Direct Action groups in NYC between Seattle and Montreal and as later seen by most of us in the OWS councils; and the relation of these protest groups to challenges of minority and feminist representation. "The internet is great for disseminating information and useless for making decisions." Absolutely 5+ stars.