The ups and downs of the anarchist movement during the last century is discussed in this introduction to anarchist thought. Of all political views anarchism is the most ill-represented. For more than 30 years, in more than 30 books, Colin Ward has been patiently explaining anarchist solutions to everything from vandalism to climate change—as well as celebrating unofficial uses of the landscape as commons, from holiday camps to squatter communities. In this discussion with David Goodway, the many famous characters who were anarchists, or associated with the movement, are explored, including Herbert Read, Alex Comfort, Marie Louise Berneri, Paul Goodman, Noam Chomsky, and George Orwell.

Colin Ward was Britain's foremost anarchist writer. He was the editor of Freedom newspaper and Anarchy magazine, and is the author or coauthor of more than 30 books, including The Allotment, Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction, Anarchy in Action, Arcadia for All Talking Green, and Cotters and Squatters. David Goodway is a British social and cultural historian who has written principally on anarchism and libertarian socialism. He is the author of Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward and is the editor of For Anarchism, Herbert Read Reassessed, The Letters of John Cowper Powys and Emma Goldman, and collections of the writings of Alex Comfort, Herbert Read, Maurice Brinton, and Nicolas Walter.