The Red Army Faction, A Documentary History, Volume 1: Projectiles For The People [review]

When old friend Ramsey Kanaan forwarded me a copy of one of his recent projects from his new publishing outfit, PM Press, I was intrigued. Kanaan is known to virtually everyone in the publishing world as the guy who founded AK Press and was its heart and soul for many years. When he left to start PM, with a broader vision but the same irascibile approach, a daring publisher was born. PM’s collection on the Red Army Faction is one example of such.

The book is entitled The Red Army Faction, A Documentary History, Volume 1: Projectiles For The People and it tells the story of the entangled German left and far left that gave rise to the Red Army Faction, an ultraleft guerrilla formation mostly associated with Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. Ron Jacobs, author of The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground, did a thorough review of this collection from the RAF’s heyday during which it committed sensational bombings aimed at challenging U.S. imperialism. But no review adequately can convey how important this book is to the progressive/radical history canon. Within English-language publishing, there are few works about the RAF, which alone makes this one the best book available. Full review.

Jul201029

ernesto

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