The readings listed below were chosen by Merrymeeting Community Shares to help one further understand the principles behind a "Local Services Exchange".
Click Here to see a listing of book sellers and sources in our local area.
Suggested Books
Alternative Economics
No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative - Edgar S. Cahn
Highly recommended reading.
This book is a bold, pragmatic strategy for change agents who seek to shape the future, convert failing social programs into catalysts for social justice, enlist "Throw-Away People" as partners in a shared mission, and create the world we want for our children.
The Grip of Death - Michael Rowbotham [1998]
A study of modern money, debt slavery and destructive economics. One of the best books ever written about what is wrong with our present money system. If you never read anything else on alternative economics, read this!
The Future of Money - Bernard Lietaer [2001]
Creating new wealth, work and a wiser world. A great introduction to local currencies worldwide. This book provides a road map for the monetary journey out of a decaying Industrial Age to an Information Age, where greater opportunities become available. It is also a discovery guide to the money system - the way money is created and managed in our society. (This book, published in 2001, is difficult to get hold of because it was originally scheduled to be published USA, but never was. Perhaps Bernard hit too close to the truth in his observations about the present money system we live within.)
The Soul of Money - Lynne Twist [2003]
Transforming your relationship with money and life. This compelling and funamentally liberating book shows us that examining our attitude towards money - earning it, spending it, and giving it away - can offer surprising insight into our lives, our values, and the essence of prosperity.
Time Dollars - Edgar Cahn & Jonathan Rowe [1992]
The new currency that enables Americans to turn their hidden resource - time - into personal security & community renewal. This is what Merrymeeting Community Shares is about.
The Growth Illusion - Richard Douthwaite [1992]
How economic growth has enriched the few, impoverished the many and endangered the planet.The idea that economic growth is necessary is deeply rooted in western culture and forms the basis of the economic strategies for developed and developing nations around the globe. A finalist in the GPA Book Award when first released in 1993, this book demonstrates why economic growth is a prescription for disaster and suggests how to redirect our capitalist system toward more positive ends. - Engaging, well-researched, and widely recommended.
Short Circuit - Richard Douthwaite [1997]
Strengthening Local Economies for Security in an Unstable World. Douthwaite is an economist living in Ireland who has thoroughly researched the role of the global market in the dissolution of local communities as well as the role of local currencies in strengthening community. In this book he combines a scholarly and critical review of classical and alternative economics with a "how to" approach to setting up a local currency system. This is an excellent book for those interested in a "thought piece" on modern life as well as those who are seriously interested in exploring and creating alternative economies.
The Cheating of America - Charles Lewis & Bill Allison [2001]
How tax avoidance and evasion by the super rich are costing the country billions - and what you can do about it. Charles Lewis, Bill Allison, and a team of researchers from the Center for Public Integrity - an organization that the National Journal called "a watchdog in the corridors of power" - investigated how millions of high-income adults and some major corporations cheat the government of billions through tax avoidance (legal), tax evasion (illegal), or tax "avoision" (catch me if you can).
Now Lewis and his team provide explosive revelations about who cheats and how they do it, from offshore banks to foreign "tax havens." Case studies of the most brazen dodgers will have taxpayers seeing red in this eye-opening report that puts the IRS on notice.
Democracy & Globalization
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins [2004]
"Economic hit men," John Perkins writes, "are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder." John Perkins should know - he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S. - from Indonesia to Panama - to accept enormous loans. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States government, World Bank, and other U.S. dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks - dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.
America Beyond Capitalism - Gar Alperovitz [2005]
Reclaiming our wealth, our liberty, and our Democracy. "America Beyond Capitalism comes at a critical time in our history-when we all know our system isn't working but we are not sure what can be done about it. This book takes us outside the confines of orthodox thinking, imagines a new way of living together, and then brings that vision back into reality with a set of eminently practical ideas that promise a truly democratic society."
-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism - John Grey [2000]
"A powerful analysis of the deepening instability of global capitalism. It should be read by all who are concerned about the future of the world economy." - George Soros A powerful and prophetic challenge to globalization from a former partisan of the New Right.
Older Reference Books
The Story of Money - Norman Angell [1929]
A history of money, beginning with the barter system in prehistoric times, to the first use of coins and paper money, to the development of the modern monetary system. "A windfall for whole-language classrooms and for nonfiction pleasure readers." - School Library Journal
The Banking Crisis of 1933 - Susan Estabrook Kennedy [1973]
On March 6, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt, less than forty-eight hours after becoming president, ordered the suspension of all banking facilities in the United States. How the nation had reached such a desperate situation and how it responded to the banking "holiday" are examined in this book.
The Breakdown of Money - Christopher Hollis [1934]
Explains how the banks create money out of nothing and then lend it to us at interest. Hollis has been ignored because he wrote the embarrasing truth about the money system, who creates money and how, and who benefits.
The Money Illusion - Irving Fisher [1928]
How money looses it's value as more is printed. Today this is called inflation and has become an accepted feature of the national money systems. The money in your pocket is worth less every day!
Booms and Depressions - Irving Fisher [1932]
How the money system creates the instability that economists euphemistically call "The Business Cycle" and how unecessarily destructive it is.
The Great Turning:
From Empire to Earth Community
by David Korten
The Great Turning is a work of amazing scope and depth. A wise and much needed book that shows we can create cultures where our enormous human capacities for joy, caring, and cooperation are realized.
The Bridge At The Edge Of The World
by James Gustave Speth
The Great Turning is a work of amazing scope and depth. A wise and much needed book that shows we can create cultures where our enormous human capacities for joy, caring, and cooperation are realized.
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