[2] Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had previously worked at the International Socialist Review.

[3][4] Its first title was The Struggle for Palestine, a collection of essays by pro-Palestinian activists including Edward Said.

[4] The name of the publishing house refers to the 1886 Haymarket affair, in which a bombing and ensuing gunfire at a labor demonstration in Chicago resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.

[4] Notable Haymarket authors include Michael Bennett, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Eve Ewing, Naomi Klein,[7] Arundhati Roy, Rebecca Solnit, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Howard Zinn, and Dave Zirin.

In 2005 Haymarket published the sportswriter Dave Zirin's What's My Name, Fool?, a collection of essays on the relationship between sports and politics.