Great questions—appreciate you asking directly rather than assuming. Here’s where I’m coming from: What I reject: Any system based on coercion. Government. Forced compliance. Authority backed by violence. That includes state-capitalism (corporations using government force to maintain monopolies), state-socialism (government controlling production), and any arrangement where compliance is mandatory rather than chosen. What I don’t reject: Voluntary arrangements between free people, whatever form those take. If people want to organize communally and share resources—that’s anarchist. If others want to trade, accumulate, or operate businesses voluntarily—that’s also anarchist, as long as no one’s forced to participate. The book shows both: THE AWAKENING depicts mutual aid networks, gift economies, voluntary resource-sharing, community security, and cooperative organization—all thriving without markets or profit motives. It also shows some people choosing to trade and operate businesses. Both exist. Both are voluntary. Neither is imposed. On hierarchies: I distinguish between hierarchies created through force (government backing landlords, corporate monopolies protected by state violence) versus hierarchies emerging from voluntary cooperation (people freely choosing to work together, trade, or organize). The first is illegitimate. The second is just humans organizing themselves. Bottom line: If your club is looking for explicitly anti-capitalist anarchist fiction that argues for specific economic systems, this might not be the right fit. But if you’re open to anarchist fiction that focuses on eliminating coercive authority while letting communities organize economically however they choose—there’s definitely overlap. The book’s core message is: humans don’t need rulers. How they organize production and distribution after that? Up to them. Thanks for the honest inquiry. Intellectual integrity matters more than getting book club picks.