Books

Direct Action: an Ethnography

David Graeber undertakes the first detailed ethnographic study of the global justice movement. The case study at the center of Direct Action is the organizing and events that led to the one of the most dramatic and militant mass protests in recent years—against the Summit of the Americas in Québec City. Written in a clear, accessible style (with a minimum of academic jargon), this study brings readers behind the scenes of a movement that has changed the terms of debate about world power relations. From informal conversations in coffee shops to large “spokescouncil” planning meetings and tear gas-drenched street actions, Graeber paints a vivid and fascinating picture.
First published 2009 Translations: English, German, Italian

Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Violence, Art, and Imagination

In this collection of essays, David Graeber examines the unraveling of capitalism and the seeming lack of alternatives, arguing that perpetual growth on a finite planet is unsustainable. While many cling to the current system out of fear of worse alternatives, David suggests the political imagination is not as limited as it seems. Drawing from politics, art, and creativity, he explores new possibilities for redefining common sense and reimagining what people can expect from the world and each other.
First published 2009 Translations: Czech, English, French, Greek, Norwegian, Turkish

The Democracy Project

In this book, David takes readers on a journey through the idea of democracy, provocatively reorienting our understanding of pivotal historical moments, and extracts their lessons for today—from the birth of Athenian democracy and the founding of the United States of America to the global revolutions of the twentieth century and the rise of a new generation of activists. Underlying it all is a bracing argument that in the face of increasingly concentrated wealth and power in this country, a reenergized, reconceived democracy—one based on consensus, equality, and broad participation—can yet provide us with the just, free, and fair society we want.
First published 2012 Translations: Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), English, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish

The Utopia of Rules

Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? Why do we spend so much time filling out forms, and is it really a cipher for state violence? David Graeber explores these questions in The Utopia of Rules, revealing how bureaucracy shapes our lives in ways we might not notice. Combining social theory with popular culture, Graeber offers a powerful and entertaining analysis, challenging us to rethink the institutions that rule us and imagine a freer world.
First published 2016 Translations: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual

The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual is a comprehensive guide for understanding and combating exploitative debt. It offers strategies and resources for dealing with credit card, medical, student, and housing debt, as well as navigating personal bankruptcy. The book provides practical tips for protecting yourself from credit reporting agencies, debt collectors, payday lenders, and more. Written by activists, writers, and academics from Occupy Wall Street, it also addresses tax and sovereign debt, the debt-climate relationship, and a vision for mass debt resistance.

Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in the Syrian Kurdistan

Revolution in Rojava, foreword by David Graeber, tells the story of Rojava's groundbreaking experiment in what they call democratic confederalism, a communally organized democracy that is fiercely anti-capitalist and committed to female equality, while rejecting reactionary nationalist ideologies. This first full-length study of democratic developments in Rojava tells an extraordinary and powerfully hopeful story of a little-known battle for true freedom in dark times. 

The Occupy Handbook

Analyzing the movement's deep-seated origins in questions that the country has sought too long to ignore, some of the greatest economic minds and most incisive cultural commentators - including Paul Krugman, Robin Wells, and David Graeber - capture the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon in all its ragged glory, giving readers an on-the-scene feel for the movement as it unfolds while exploring the heady growth of the protests, considering the lasting changes wrought, and recommending reform.

Toward An Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams

Now a widely cited classic, this innovative book is the first comprehensive synthesis of economic, political, and cultural theories of value. David Graeber reexamines a century of anthropological thought about value and exchange, in large measure to find a way out of ongoing quandaries in current social theory, which have become critical at the present moment of ideological collapse in the face of Neoliberalism.
First published 2002 Translations: Croatian, English, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish

Lost People: Magic and the Legacy of Slavery in Madagascar

Betafo, a rural community in central Madagascar, is divided between the descendants of nobles and descendants of slaves. Anthropologist David Graeber arrived for fieldwork at the height of tensions attributed to a disastrous communal ordeal two years earlier. As Graeber uncovers the layers of historical, social, and cultural knowledge required to understand this event, he elaborates a new view of power, inequality, and the political role of narrative. Combining theoretical subtlety, a compelling narrative line, and vividly drawn characters, Lost People is a singular contribution to the anthropology of politics and the literature on ethnographic writing.

Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

Everywhere anarchism is on the upswing as a political philosophy, except the academy. Anarchists repeatedly appeal to anthropologists for ideas about how society might be reorganized on a more egalitarian, less alienating basis. Anthropologists, terrified of being accused of romanticism, respond with silence . . . . But what if they didn't? This pamphlet ponders what that response would be, and explores the implications of linking anthropology to anarchism. Here, David Graeber invites readers to imagine this discipline that currently only exists in the realm of possibility: anarchist anthropology.
First published 2004 Translations: Chinese (Simplified), Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovene, Spanish, Turkish

Possibilities

In this collection, David Graeber revisits questions raised in his popular book, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Written in an unpretentious style that uses accessible and entertaining language to convey complex theoretical ideas, these twelve essays cover a lot of ground, including the origins of capitalism, the history of European table manners, love potions in rural Madagascar, and the phenomenology of giant puppets at street protests. But they’re linked by a clear purpose: to explore the nature of social power and the forms that resistance to it have taken, or might take in the future.
First published 2007 Translations: English, French, Greek, Korean