Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy

Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy is the first full account of Ward’s life and work. Drawing on unseen archival sources, as well as oral interviews, it excavates the worlds and words of his anarchist thought, illuminating his methods and charting the legacies of his enduring influence. Colin Ward (1924–2010) was the most prominent British writer on anarchism in the 20th century. As a radical journalist, later author, he applied his distinctive anarchist principles to all aspects of community life including the built environment, education, and public policy. His thought was subtle, universal in aspiration, international in implication, but, at the same time, deeply rooted in the local and the everyday. Underlying the breadth of his interests was one simple principle: freedom was always a social activity. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and general readers with an interest in anarchism, social movements, and the history of radical ideas in contemporary Britain.

Introduction 1. The Forward View 2. Sapper Ward 3. The Freedom Press Anarchists 1936–1945 4. Building and People 5. The Social Principle 6. Domestic Anarchy 7. Autonomy 8. A Journal of Anarchist Ideas 9. Liberal Studies 10. The Drone’s Tale 11. Ramshackle Independence 12. Categorically Ward Afterword: The Everyday Anarchist

Sophie Scott-Brown is a Lecturer in the Humanities at the University of East Anglia, UK.