AK Press

AK is awesome for a number of reasons: They’re worker-​owned, they support a wide range of left and anarchist politics, countless events take place at their warehouse, and their prices are fair and reasonable, to name just a few.
The Friends of AK program is great too. Get all their published stuff for a low, monthly subscription. And they throw hella fun parties throughout the year, including Fuck the 4^th!
Basically, just get out there and support AK.

I love AK Press, they have all the classics in all areas of politics and even some literature classics, plus t-​shirts, DVD’s, etc.
Bookstores/​Press co. like this are what are keeping some people from slipping into complete complicity, stupidity complacently, and total subservience to «authority».

Love.
Amazing worker-​owned radical book publisher. I’m so thrilled they are in the Bay Area; we’re so lucky to have them. They have awesome events and movies and speakers and author readings at their warehouse space, and are also generous enough to let local groups hold meetings there. The seasonal sales (and their discounts) will make you a believer. Pretty neat stuff.
Go AK!!!

Maybe it’s just because I live in their warehouse and we’re neighbors that I’m biased, but AK not only has awesome books, but they have nice employees too. We all live together in a big old brick building that used to be an armory, across the street from the Saint Vincent De Paul free lunch counter.
You should definitely come to their seasonal sale where they open up their storage and let you sift through the treasure trove of literature. They also have tables with good books for under five bucks. That’s right folks, there something for everyone. From cookbooks, to communist manifestos, from zines, to parenting lit, if it’s socially conscious and worth reading, AK will probably have it.
They also have some pretty cool educational and community events (that happen outside my door) from time to time, you should check their calendar and come visit our armory.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I hit up the (as I understand it to be) seasonal sale at their warehouse. It’s was so rad there are hardly words. I could have died and been oh-​so-​happy: surrounded by for the most part highly attractive revolutionary thinkers and thousands upon thousands of revolutionary books, some of them for only a dollar? Fabulous! Plus, free (with suggested donation, which I of course happily gave) wine, crudite, and VEGAN DONUTS.
5 super-​rad AK press books for under $ 20 + neat space with kitchen and weight room + collectively owned + attractive punks + free wine and donuts = super happy Rose.

Several years ago, Brooklyn rapper MC Paul Barman wrote two songs called, ‘The Anarchist Bookstore’ which were probably about some place in Williamsburg. Anyway, he could have easily been discussing this place when he said;
She carried Clandestine two dollar mescaline in her blue collar mess tin
Plastered with stickers that said food not bombs, sex not proms, critical mass
That bastard, voice talent snickered
Nice graphics but that’s just half assed agitprop to piss off a traffic cop
Aww shucks, can it be I’m too lazy for pot lucks
If not my friends, who am I willing to cook for
And they’re chilling at the anarchist bookstore.
Oh yeah, and the Patton Oswalt event was off the chain!!!

I was taken here this afternoon by the gorgeous, brilliant, talented, having-​of-​no-​apparent-​birth-​defects-​but-​shockingly-​still-​single, joy m., who promised me a tea party with Patton Oswalt (KING OF QUEENS! or um, i mean, KING OF QUEENS IS EASILY FORGETABLE WHEN YOU SEE HIM DO HILARIOUS STAND UP AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT RENO 911!) and my all time most hot favorite hot comedian, the hot very hot funny hot, Arj «you kidding me?» Barker. hot.
I didn’t know what to expect as I drove the silver bullet into a shady mc shadyston area of Oakland and parked next to a lady who was posted up on the corner balancing two newspapers on her head and talking to some dude named, «tiger», who only one of us could see. I gave the lady some money and asked her to watch my mini-​van (i.e. please don’t break in and take a nap in it. or do. fuck it, i don’t care. have you seen the silver bullet? you all may laugh and cast judgments upon me because of the state of my vehicle but you know what? when the big one comes and you’re all fucked like, «woe is me in my shiny new lexus that’s all clean and doesn’t have mountains of sweet life sustaining crap like laura b.‘s silver bullet and now i have to eat my own arm for nutrition! oh boo hoo!» and i’m all kicking it in the silver bullet with my 20 packets of vegan top ramen and a half eaten tub of red vines being all, «life is sweet!» WHAT THEN!!! ***sorry, i’m on the new crazy drugs! i’m less depressed and more like, «what is up with this bitch???”***) after all that goes down in my head, i meet up with joy m. and we walk into what appears to be an abandoned red-​brick warehouse but in actuality is the red-​brick warehouse/​office/​home of AK Press.
AK Press is a worker run book publisher and distributor organized around anarchist principles. Anarchy. Cool. I immediately felt like Lisa Simpson blindly drooling over that cute environmental activist boy. Like, I’m not sure what you stand for but let’s fuck now and you can let me down in the morning. SO YOU SEE IT IS JUST LIKE THAT SIMPSONS EPISODE. We made our donation at the door and headed in amongst the scenesters and other squalid liberal arts degree having coffee shop workin’ folk. This event was small… maybe 60 people… which was cool because they didn’t really advertise it. I guess Patton Oswalt was trying to see how many people he could reach through alternative media outlets (i.e. blogs and pod casts). It was announced just on the AK Press website and on a couple of podcasts. (
oh wait. that is of no use to you because it is in fact, too late for you to go. aww, that’s sad!)
Before the show, we looked around and I noticed that wow, I actually share some very similar sensibilities with the anarchist kids. i’m vegan and i hate the president, let’s fuck! they have an excellent vegan section with many hard to find vegan cook books. they also had books on everything from starting a pirate radio station to starting a rebel party in bolivia. i mean, really. some good reading, folks. there was also a book about the CIA planting crack in the poorer areas of the U.S. as a way to keep people down. I’m all about conspiracy theories so bring it on… plus, that doesn’t sound that far fetched. i mean, i planted ONE marijuana plant in Humboldt and look where we are now. HA CHA CHA! when you add in the funny, insane t-​shirts for sale with the general theme of «fight the power», you have yourself a good hour of browsing and buying. BUY BUY BUY CAPITALISM SPEND MONEY BUY BUY BUY SHIT NOW!!! I mean, that’s what they’re all about, right?
Anyway, this place is definitely worth checking out. and the show was awesome. And Arj was hot super hot funny hot. hottt.

Publisher of radical books, their warehouse is located in oakland. Its open for business for you to poke around and buy books as well as being a distribution center. Its a worker owned cooperative to boot. There are seasonal sale events with light refreshments and discounts. There are also often speakers and authors reading from their books. Another essential resource in the bay area.