Two Forgotten Historians of American Anarchism
From Anarchistories by Tom Goyens
It is perhaps not surprising that before 1939, few serious studies on American anarchism by scholars outside the movement existed. By “serious,” I mean an effort to move beyond sensationalist accounts and a recognition that anarchism—its movement and its thought—deserves to be studied on its own terms. Not a single paper on anarchism was presented at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association during this period. The movement itself was in decline during the 1920s and 1930s, a development that certainly contributed to a broader climate of disinterest and amnesia. Yet even in this inhospitable intellectual landscape, several scholars—now entirely forgotten—made genuine attempts to treat anarchism with the rigor it deserved.