John Curl has been a member of Heartwood Cooperative Woodshop in Berkeley for over thirty years, and has belonged to numerous other cooperatives and collectives. His historical writings includes History of Work Cooperation in America (1980). Memories of Drop City (2007) is his memoir of the 1960s commune movement. He is a translator and biographer of Inca, Maya and Aztec poets in Ancient American Poets (2006). His seven books of poetry include Scorched Birth, Columbus in the Bay of Pigs, and Decade: the 1990s. He is a longtime boardmember of PEN, chair of West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies, a social activist, and has served as a city planning commissioner. He is a professional woodworker, and resides in Berkeley, CA.
For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America, 2nd Edition
SKU: 9781604865820
Author: John Curl • Introduction by Ishmael Reed
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781604865820
Published: 7/2012
Format: Paperback, ePub, PDF, mobi
Page count: 608
Size: 6 x 9
Subjects: History, Political Science
Praise
“It
is indeed inspiring, in the face of all the misguided praise of ‘the
market’, to be reminded by John Curl’s new book of the noble history of
cooperative work in the United States.”
—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States
“John Curl’s book For All the People
is a one-of-a-kind gem. He has done what no one else has by exploring
the various permutations of ‘cooperation’ as a value system and as a
movement throughout American history. He also makes clear that the
cooperative alternative to wage-labor and exploitation still offers hope
to those of us who want to see democracy permeate the world of work.”
—Steve Leikin, author of The Practical Utopians: American Workers and the Cooperative Movement in the Gilded Age
“The self-destroying
machine of industrial consumer capitalism lurches toward its collapse,
and those who come after will need the information and inspiration in
this marvelously detailed book. It will suggest other and better ways of
organizing society and its productive resources as we ultimately move
toward a sustainable future.”
—Ernest Callenbach, author of Ecotopia and Ecotopia Emerging
“For the past two
decades John Curl has been my favorite guide to Anarchism and
Collectives in America. His passion for describing living models of face
to face mutuality is a major contribution to the hidden history of
cooperatives in the U.S.”
—David J. Thompson, author of Weavers of Dreams: The Founding of the Modern Cooperative Movement and 2010 inductee into the Cooperative Hall of Fame
“Written with integrity, intelligence, passion, and commitment, For All the People draws on deep experience and, if we read it well, provides a road map to the future.”
—Malcolm Margolin, author of The Ohlone Way and publisher of Heyday Books
“For historians,
Curl’s book is a must. For young women and men considering the idea of
starting a business they own and manage…. And for the philosophers
among us, Curl does not ignore the theoretical threads.”
—Frank T. Adams, co-author of Putting Democracy to Work
“This
new edition is greatly welcome, because we need a cooperative movement
and spirit more than ever before. Curl surveys all, and explains much.
New generations of readers will find this a fascinating account, and
aging co-opers like myself will understand better what we did, what we
tried to do, where we succeeded and where we failed. Get this book and
read it, Curl will do you good.”
—Paul Buhle, coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the American Left, founding editor of Radical America (SDS).
Book Events
april, 2024
No Events
Reviews
- Lessons for Building a Cooperative Movement: An Interview with John Curl
- For All the People in Science and Society
- Cooperatives and Community Work Are Part of American DNA
- P2P Foundation Review of For All the People
- For All The People Reviewed in The Berkeley Daily Planet
Interviews
- Interview with KALW Radio City Visions
- Listen to John Curl on Clearing the Fog Podcast
- A Znet Interview with John Curl: Interview by Gabriel Kuhn
- Watch John Curl Interviewed about For All the People