Run For Cover! Always interesting.
Is might right?
The latest book from our publishing imprint 29 Books is out now. It's the recently scarce cult classic Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard, an intriguing and very, yes, interesting political philosophy or satire -- depending on your view. But whatever
your view, it's at the bargain price of $13.95.
Subtitled "The Survival of the Fittest," "Might is Right" was first published in Chicago in 1896 and the identity of its pseudonymous author has been the subject of debate ever since -- indeed may never be known for sure. Some have argued that the book has the hallmarks of Jack London's early style, while others have pointed out that London did not read Nietzsche, whose influence pervades "Might is Right," until eight years later. Among other even less plausible candidates for authorship is iconoclast Ambrose Bierce.
Anarchist S E Parker agrees with those who think it was written by New Zealander Arthur Desmond -- though for literary rather than any other obvious reasons, since Desmond, of English and Irish parents, was a trade union organizer, radical publisher and writer who supported the Maori cause -- surely the antithesis of "Might is Right." Or could it be that this unapologetically racist, mysogynist, anti-Christian, anti-semitic, anti-everything book is in fact not to be taken at face value, but is really the bitterest of straight-faced satires on extremist and conservative thought? That is another question about this unusual book that may never be answered with certainty. Read it, and decide for yourself.
Above is our fab new 29 Books logo, which was dashed off for us in inimitable style by customer Ralph Steadman. Thanks, Ralph!
James J. Martin (left) with Harry Elmer Barnes in the backyard of Barnes's hunting camp, Redfield, NY, August 8, 1954.
The James J Martin Collection
April 2004 saw the death, aged 87, of the noted anarchist and revisionist writer and publisher James J Martin, author of Men Against the State, and The Man Who Invented Genocide, and editor of Benjamin R Tucker, Max Stirner, among many other works.
Although of course in one sense we would rather not have had the opportunity, we at Run For Cover! are delighted and honored to have acquired the more than 2,300 books of Dr Martin’s personal library, which we've brought from the house in Colorado Springs in which he lived for many years here to Brooklyn, in order to offer it for your perusal and purchase. We will be putting the books on the site gradually over the next several weeks, so please come back from time to time and see what’s new. For anyone interested in libertarian, anarchist and revisionist history, "Doc" Martin's library will make for an interesting browse.
James Martin was a disciple and friend of Harry Elmer Barnes, under whose influence he became interested in revisionist history, particularly the reexamination of 20th century American warmaking. Among Martin’s revisionist works on this subject are The Man Who Invented Genocide, The Saga of Hog Island, and An American Adventure in Bookburning. When Barnes died in 1968, Martin started his own publishing concern, Ralph Myles, to issue a hefty festschrift in his honor entitled Harry Elmer Barnes: Learned Crusader. All the books mentioned here, as well as others by Barnes like In Quest of Truth and Justice, are available from us in their original Ralph Myles imprints. (Other Barnes titles such as History and Social Intelligence are available in Gordon Press hardcovers.)
For the rest of our revisionist history collection, click here.
Unlike Barnes, who was an old-fashioned liberal who hoped by his writing to make government better, Martin was an anarchist who, while he said he did not write in order to change readers’ opinions, wanted no government at all. Most important of Martin’s work was his research into the neglected history of individualist anarchist thought in the United States, and his republishing, with intelligent new introductions and notes in his Libertarian Broadsides series, important short works by the likes of Benjamin R Tucker, Max Stirner, Lysander Spooner and others. Towering over all this was his ground-breaking history of American anarchism, Men Against the State, which began as his doctoral thesis and was first published in the 1950s, in a decade singularly inhospitable to it.
Click the names to visit the rest of our anarchist and libertarian collections.
Also note our collections on political science, Marxism, the "money problem," Fascism/Nazism, and "Jewish conspiracy," always being added to.
NEW! The Churchill Legend by Francis Neilson, 29 Books, $24.95. Reprint of the 1954 first edition, including Neilson's long critical reviews of Churchill's war memoirs. Click the image to buy!
Who are Run For Cover! ?
Run For Cover! offers a wide and constantly expanding array of new and used books on a variety of eclectic subjects, particularly in the various shades of politics, religion, history, biography and social sciences. These disparate topics may have little to do with one another, but the one quality they do share is that they are all interesting! The one thing you can rely on is that Run For Cover! is always interesting.
Run For Cover! is very much a mom-and-pop operation -- Paul Mann and Joanna Wissinger -- with a little help from our packers and shippers Ben and Andy. We are a small enough operation that when someone buys a book from us we follow the progress of their order individually, and if they email us or call us on the phone, we are able to give them personal attention. We aren't perfect -- being human, sometimes we do forget a buyer's name. But on the whole we are able to provide the sort of attentive, intelligent service that Amazon and Barnes & Noble simply cannot.
Who are 29 Books?
We have for a while been planning to begin publishing ourselves, and have recently started asking our customers if there are scarce and unavailable books that they would like to see us reprint. We have had many excellent suggestions which we will be working to bring into print in the coming months -- and welcome any new ideas you may have. The long out of print classic critique by pioneering revisionist historian Francis Neilson,
The Churchill Legend, is our first reprint under our publishing name, 29 Books.
Woodcut by Louis Moreau from
Muted Voices by Eugene Relgis, the first Gordon Press title, published in 1972.
Who are Gordon Press and Revisionist Press?
Over the past 30 years the Gordon Press (and its Revisionist Press imprint) developed a mystique. Their outlandish prices and erratic order fulfilment led some to believe that their esoteric list of titles was not intended for purchase at all, but was merely a device to gather the names of political subversives on behalf of the CIA!
Suffice to say there is no truth in this rumor, a mixture of a little knowledge and a lot of paranoia. "I wish it had been true about the CIA," says editor Herb Roseman today. "We might have made some money!"
In reality, the Gordon Press of Brooklyn, New York was a small family business with an eccentric owner. When it closed in 2001, Run For Cover! was delighted to take over the remaining inventory, full of interesting, provocative and indeed eccentric titles, few of which were printed in quantities greater than 200, and many of which are available nowhere else.
So now, for a limited time, you have the chance to own a piece of the mystique at a fraction of the original prices -- we won't tell the CIA if you don't!
Search us
Take a look at what we've got by using the Find a Book and Browse Our Stock options in the left-hand menu. If you can't find what you want, contact us with your request (see the Get a Book for Me! link on the left) and we will search other bookstores and book search services for you -- without obligation, of course. Or just send an email to orders@runforcoverbooks.com. We'll get right back to you! |
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