Nabat Books

Buying books from the anarchist book store AK press makes me uneasy, like my name's been recorded in an underground cave somewhere. But I hope it will be worth it. I ordered the Nabat series of books. I don't really know what the name represents, however, here's how the website describes the books:

"The "cult classics" of AK Press's publishing list, our Nabat Books series brings back forgotten memoirs by misfits, outsiders and rebels of all stripes. We hear from lots of readers who pick up one Nabat book and get so excited that they come back for the whole series. So you might as well save yourself some money and get them all now! Here are all seven books in the Nabat series (so far) , at almost $30 off their combined cover price (plus save on the cost of shipping—we'll only apply the single-item shipping cost). Makes a great gift, or a worthwhile investment for your own reading pleasure!

Titles included in the Nabat series:

You Can't Win, by Jack Black, is a journey into the hobo underworld—freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail, or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges. With an introduction by William Burroughs (this was his favorite book!).

Sister of the Road, by Ben Reitman, is a window into a wildly under-appreciated dropout culture that gets left out of the history books—Hobo jungles, bughouses, whorehouses, Chicago's Main Stem, IWW meeting halls, skid rows, and open freight cars, and other such haunts of the free thinking and free loving Bertha Thompson (a.k.a. "Boxcar Bertha").

BAD, the autobiography of James Carr, tells the story of a child prodigy of street crime whose career in armed robbery was cut short by arrest. In prison, he became a notorious rebel and a cunning thinker who manipulated the authorities and ultimately engineered his own release.

In Memoirs of Vidocq, Francois Eugene Vidocq (detective, master of disguises, accomplished thief, and eventually French chief of secret police) recounts his adventures playing both sides of the law—blurring the line between law enforcement and the criminals they pursue.

Beggars of Life, the classic hobo autobiography by Jim Tully, takes us across the seamy underbelly of pre-WWI America on freight trains and inside hobo jungles and brothels, while narrowly avoiding railroad bulls and the wardens of order.

Out of the Night, by Jim Valtin, is an intimate insider's account of the dramatic events of the 1920s and 1930s on the German Baltic coast—as told by someone who came of age as a bicycle messenger and later became a professional revolutionary, agitator, spy, and assassin.

Five Years in the Warsaw Ghetto tells the story of Bernard Goldstein, who joined the Jewish labor organization, the Bund, at the age of 16—and, after the Nazi invasion of Poland, went underground to organize support for people within the Jewish ghetto and develop a secret armed force to fight for a free Warsaw."
http://www.akpress.org/2009/items/nabatseries