A pioneering treatise on embracing cooperation and reciprocity to usher in a greener and more
inclusive world from the major anarchist thinker A Penguin Classic Welcome to the anarchist
history of the world. In this lively provocative work Peter Kropotkin argues that "mutual
aid" is a natural instinct in all of us animal and human. Cooperation reciprocity support:
these for Kropotkin are the overlooked foundations of our history. From the earliest days of
evolution through to artisanal guilds indigenous nomads and even the Royal National Lifeboat
Association it is a pragmatic mutually beneficial bond to our fellow humans that has allowed
us to survive. In this Kropotkin challenges all the major orthodoxies of his age from
individualism and social Darwinism to Marxist theories of the savior state. Instead these
essays insist that a better life for all of us--and our planet--begins when we reject
competition and embrace the local the mutual and the collective.
