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Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism

To dissolve, submerge, and cause to disappear the political or governmental system in the economic system by reducing, simplifying, decentralizing and suppressing, one after another, all the wheels of this great machine, which is called the Government or the State. --Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution

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Location: Northwest Arkansas, United States

Monday, December 29, 2008

Organization Theory Book Now for Sale at Amazon

Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective

It's been almost four years work. I hope you like it. Thanks to Gary Chartier for the excellent job preparing the pdf for the publisher and designing the cover.

30 Comments:

Blogger Joel Schlosberg said...

Congratulations Kevin! I'm sure the book will have a huge impact and will be a libertarian and anarchist classic for years to come.

I know that I haven't offered you much feedback on the draft chapters and other stuff, but I have been reading them and will be doing my best to promote the book.

December 29, 2008 11:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for all your hard work Kevin. I'll be ordering it today!

December 29, 2008 12:51 PM  
Blogger Rafael Hotz said...

Kevin, is there any difference from the pdf drafts and the published version? thanks

December 29, 2008 3:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate the cover. Makes the work, which is great, look amateurish.

December 29, 2008 4:33 PM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

Thanks a lot, Joel and Anon 1.

Rafael: The pdfs are several weeks earlier than the final version of the text that went to the publisher. I edited out maybe 15-20% of the material to meet BookSurge's length restrictions.

Anon 2: Thanks for the feedback. All I can say is, the first time I saw that picture I seized on it as perfect for the message I was trying to convey in the book, and have visualized it on the front cover ever since. I'd like to think it appeals to people who've worked for pointy-haired bosses and suspected that pose was second nature to many of the the people running their organizations.

December 29, 2008 5:39 PM  
Blogger TGGP said...

Are you a reader of the OrgTheory blog? I'm dismissive of sociology, but it can be interesting.

December 29, 2008 7:20 PM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

I'm subscribed to it, as well as Peter Klein's Organizations and Markets blog. I highly recommend both.

December 29, 2008 7:29 PM  
Blogger William said...

Congrats! Thank you Kevin!

Re anonymous, I dislike the cover too, but the way I see it there'll be plenty of time to rectify this for the AK Press edition and finally the Prentice-Hall edition.

December 29, 2008 8:04 PM  
Blogger William said...

Oh, and a note for everyone visiting:

Remember that you can fill out request forms at your local library and have a very good chance of seeing them purchase it.

See http://www.crimethinc.com/books/intolibraries.html for advice.

December 29, 2008 8:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very much looking forward to reading this!

Although I also would like to express dissatisfaction with the cover. It's extremely silly, and actually pretty gross; amateurish. Possibly worse, I can imagine how easily it might be misinterpreted: how many people will glance at that cover and connect the image to the title in a way where it appears that the book is bashing libertarian organization theory rather than promoting it?

"Heheh, yeah - those libertarians really got their heads up their asses don't they?"

December 29, 2008 10:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent, I look forward to reading.

"I edited out maybe 15-20% of the material to meet BookSurge's length restrictions."

Just wondering, will there be a version released with this material that was edited out?

December 30, 2008 8:54 AM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

rj: I doubt there will be an alternative print version any time soon (and anyway, a lot of the culled material was bloat), but the online pdfs contain a fairly recent version before I pruned the text.

December 30, 2008 9:20 AM  
Blogger Matt Jenny said...

Great, congrats Kevin!

Do you know if there's any chance that Amazon.de is going to sell your book? That way, I would save a bunch of shipping costs.

December 30, 2008 10:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love the cover. It draws attention, can imagine people checking it out who normally would pass right by that kind of material. That gonna be on any shelves, or is it web sales only?

December 30, 2008 9:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did my comment from a couple of days ago get lost in the system, or what?

December 30, 2008 10:10 PM  
Blogger Sheldon Richman said...

Congrats, Kevin! I'm looking forward to reading it. I wish you great success.
Sheldon

December 31, 2008 7:49 AM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

Matt: I don't know about Amazon.de. I'll check with Booksurge.

b-psycho: It's nice to finally get some positive feedback on the cover. Of course being a self-styled Big Angry Negro, you've probably got some marketing problems of your own.

PML: I've published your comment on the C4SS paper, and your response to Iain. Was there another one since?

Sheldon: Thanks a lot!

December 31, 2008 11:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Regarding the cover, there are worse things in this world than looking "amateurish." And besides, isn't the cult of "professionalism" part of the enemy? Let's deschool society already, people.

Also, even if it seems a little crude or blunt, it is a pretty apt image for the book's subject matter.

Finally, "Organization Theory" isn't exactly the snappiest title, so the cover might clue people in that they're about to read a visceral critique of modern managerial society, and not a mountain of sociological postmodern blather about interstitial lacunae and shit.

Can't wait to read the whole thing, btw. I've skimmed the pdfs but I just can't look at a computer screen for that long.

December 31, 2008 4:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I posted on this thread, basically asking if there was a practical way to get the book and/or anything else of yours for cash here in Melbourne (Australia), maybe through a book shop, also asking about pricing etc. and suggesting that your publisher might have that information. On line methods aren't realistic for me as I have a conscientious objection to credit cards (there is a Tragedy of the Commons in their typical fee structure).

December 31, 2008 5:06 PM  
Blogger Baltimore City Teaching Resident said...

I can't wait to read your book. I'm a huge fan of organization theory, specifically around non-profit issues.

Congrats.

December 31, 2008 9:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm excited that your new book is out and I hope that it has a strong enough reception that you will consider a second printing with a traditional publisher! As a worker-owner in a cooperative bookstore, it is disappointing that we cannot stock your work. BookSurge does not make wholesale titles available at a reasonable price (5% off cover instead of the industry standard of 40%).

January 01, 2009 2:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The picture might work better if you had it redone by an artist in the style of a 19th century political cartoon, or maybe an old hand-drawn diagram. Label the guy "Standard Business Practice" or something. Just a thought.

January 03, 2009 9:32 AM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

PML: Do you have any objection to using a debit card?

Matt: Amazon.co.uk now lists the book, so I assume it's eventually to be listed on other national subsidiaries. If not, ordering it from the UK should lower the shipping charges considerably, shouldn't it?

January 03, 2009 10:17 PM  
Blogger Matt Jenny said...

Kevin: Thanks for the pointer. I'll wait a bit longer to see if Amazon.de is going to list it too or else I'm going to order it through Amazon.co.uk.

January 04, 2009 3:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Josh: if "deschooling society" and challenging the "cult of 'professionalism'" means ending the publik skool monopoly and eliminating the various professional licensing cartels, I'm all for it. But you can oppose these monopolies, can't you, while also valuing standards of quality. Just because professions aren't protected by a state monopoly doesn't mean everyone's an amateur or a generalist: I benefit because there are people who care about the craft involved in beautiful design work, for instance, and I don't want the difference between their work and that of people who think owning a desktop publishing program and a laser printer makes you a designer. Can't we move beyond the monopolies and cartels and still find ways of supporting and affirming quality work?

January 04, 2009 8:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From wikipedia on debit cards, "...the merchant may have to pay a fixed amount to the bank... Visa and MasterCard, for instance, prohibit minimum and maximum purchase sizes, surcharges [emphasis added], and arbitrary security procedures on the part of merchants". So yes, the same problem occurs with debit cards, and it would be prohibitively difficult for me to find one that didn't have it. The problem that comes up is that fees are spread among users independently of usage, and even onto non-users - and it is represented as a benefit.

January 04, 2009 4:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suppose it's a bit late, but you might find this article and book on perversion in corporate culture interesting:
http://business.theage.com.au/business/blame-perversity-for-the-meltdown-20081029-5bi2.html

January 04, 2009 7:47 PM  
Blogger Larry Gambone said...

Congratulations, Kevin. I will be looking forward to reading it!

January 10, 2009 10:43 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Any chance that you'll make this available for the Kindle?

February 03, 2009 11:16 AM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

Unfortunately, conversion to Kindle costs money and I don't know if there'd be enough sales in that format to pay back the outlay.

February 03, 2009 11:25 AM  

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