Publications

Books

November 9, 2010
Next Generation Democracy: What the Open-Source Revolution Means for Power, Politics, and Change; By Jared Duval; Read More; Tags: Expanding Civic Engagement

August 9, 2010

Fortunes of Change

The Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America

In his new book, Demos co-founder and senior fellow David Callahan contends that something big is happening among the rich in America: they're drifting to the left. When Callahan set out to write a book on the new upper class, he expected to profile a greedy and reactionary elite-the robber barons of a second Gilded Age. Instead, he discovered something else. While many of the rich still back a GOP that stands against taxes and regulation, liberalism is spreading fast among the wealthy.

Tags: Business & Industry | Business Ethics | Distribution of Wealth & Income | Philanthropy

March 10, 2010

A Presidency in Peril

The Inside Story of Obama's Promise, Wall Street's Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future

By Robert Kuttner

In this hard-hitting, incisive account, Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Robert Kuttner (author of the New York Times' Obama's Challenge Best-Selling) shares his unique, insider view of how the Obama administration not only missed its moment to turn our economy around-but deepened Wall Street's risky grip on America's future. Carefully constructing a one-year history of the problem, the players, and the outcome, Kuttner gives readers an unparalleled account of the president's first year.

More importantly, Kuttner shows how we could-with swift, decisive action-still enact real reforms, and how Barack Obama could redeem his promise.

Tags: Financial Reform | Market Economy | Wall Street

February 8, 2010

Creative Community Organizing

A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists, and Quiet Lovers of Justice

By Si Kahn

http://www.sikahn.com/

Why can't there be enough food, shelter, jobs, health care, homes, schools, education, safety and security for everyone? How can people work together to challenge the way things are, to help redistribute wealth and power, to create a more just and humane society?

The answer is Creative Community Organizing

January 11, 2010

Small Change

Why Business Won't Save the World

By Michael Edwards

http://www.futurepositive.org/

A new movement is afoot that promises to save the world by bringing the magic of the market to philanthropy. Nonprofits should be run like businesses, its adherents say, and businesses can find new sources of revenue by marketing goods and services that benefit society. Dubbed "philanthrocapitalism," its supporters believe that business principles can and should be the primary drivers of social transformation. What could be wrong with that? Almost everything, argues Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Michael Edwards.

Tags: Business & Industry | Business Ethics | Distribution of Wealth & Income | Market Economy

December 15, 2009

God's Economy

Faith-Based Initiatives and the Caring State

By Lew Daly

President Obama has signaled a sharp break from many Bush Administration policies, but he remains committed to federal support for religious social service providers. Like George W. Bush's faith-based initiative, though, Obama's version of the policy has generated loud criticism-from both sides of the aisle-even as the communities that stand to benefit suffer through an ailing economy. God's Economy reveals that virtually all of the critics, as well as many supporters, have long misunderstood both the true implications of faith-based partnerships and their unique potential for advancing social justice.

Tags: Religion

December 1, 2009

Inside Obama's Brain

By Sasha Abramsky

http://www.sashaabramsky.com

From the moment he burst onto the national political scene, Barack Obama has fascinated people more than any politician in decades. Many biographers have already retold his story, but no previous book truly explains how his mind works, what passions drive him, or what makes him such an effective leader.

This concise profile explores the ideas, inspirations, and experiences that have shaped the president. It quotes a wide network of sources, including many who broke long-standing vows of silence to offer their candid and surprising observations.

Award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky interviewed close to one hundred of Obama's current and former friends, colleagues, classmates, teachers, staff, mentors, basketball buddies, fellow Chicago activists, media consultants, editors, and even his next-door neighbors from Hyde Park. These people each know a part of Obama's life and career, which the author blends the pieces into a uniquely detailed analysis.

Tags: Inequality | Poverty

September 1, 2009

It Takes a Pillage

Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street

By Nomi Prins

Demos Senior Fellow Nomi Prins, a former Wall Street manager turned muckraking journalist, gets inside how the banks looted the Treasury, stole the bailout, and continued with business as usual.

August 4, 2009

Searching for Whitopia

An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America

By Rich Benjamin

Between 2007 and 2009, Rich Benjamin packed his bags and embarked on a 26,909-mile journey throughout the heart of white America--some of the fastest-growing and whitest locales in the nation. Benjamin calls these enclaves "Whitopias" (pronounced: "White-o-pia"). This is his story.

Tags: Middle Class | Inequality | Race | Housing Market

August 1, 2009

Women Lead the Way

Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World

By Linda Tarr-Whelan

http://www.lindatarr-whelan.com/

Distinguished Senior Fellow Linda Tarr-Whelan marshals eye-opening facts and figures to decisively dispel the myths that still hold women back and shows women how to build their confidence and skills to pioneer a distinctive approach to leadership, one that emphasizes collaboration, communication and consensus.

Tags: Women's Leadership Initiative

March 24, 2009

Breadline USA

The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger

By Sasha Abramsky

View the PNG (To Download, right click and 'save link as')

http://p3books.com/

Trapped in a triangle of the housing market collapse, rising energy costs, and an increasingly dysfunctional healthcare system, America's working poor are now battling an even more formidable enemy: hunger.

Tags: Inequality | Distribution of Wealth & Income

February 10, 2009

Keeping Down the Black Vote

Race and the Demobilization of American Voters

By Lorraine C. Minnite

& Frances Fox Piven, Margaret Groarke

http://www.thenewpress.com

Today, over forty years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 demolished bars to voting for African Americans, the effort to prevent black people—as well as Latinos and the poor in general—from voting is experiencing a resurgence. A myriad of new tactics, some of which adopt the mantle of “election reform,” has evolved to suppress the vote.

November 19, 2008
Unjust Deserts: How the Rich are Taking our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take it Back; By Lew Daly; & Gar Alperovitz; http://www.unjustdeserts.com/; The 2008 presidential campaign ended with a sharp moral debate about the distribution of wealth in the United States. In a timely and provocative work of empirically-grounded social criticism, Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly provide powerful new ammunition in that debate.; Read More; Tags: Business & Industry | Distribution of Wealth & Income

September 23, 2008

The Samaritan's Dilemma

Should Government Help Your Neighbor?

By Deborah Stone

http://www.samaritansdilemma.com

"The Samaritan's Dilemma" documents Americans' everyday altruism in all its rich variety and emotional force, and shows why taking altruism seriously is the first step to reviving American democracy. In doing so, writes Stone, we can restore our faith in the quest for social justice, freedom and equality through government and remind ourselves of America's promise.

Tags: Role of Government and the Public Sector | Values & Politics

September 15, 2008

Obama's Challenge

American's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency

By Robert Kuttner

http://www.obamaschallenge.com

In this urgent and important book, Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Robert Kuttner, co-founder of The American Prospect, explains what a President Obama must do to solve America's economic crisis--the gravest since the Great Depression--and, in the process, become a truly transformative leader.

August 15, 2008

America Votes!

A Guide to Modern Election Law and Voting Rights

By Steven Carbo Brenda Wright

View the PDF (To Download, right click and 'save link as')

The Democracy Program's Brenda Wright and Steven Carbo contributed a chapter on the promise of Election Day Registration, which covers the history and benefits of EDR, as well as a rebuttal of voter fraud arguments and the results of surveys of election administrators, in this important new book on election law, published by the American Bar Association.

Tags: Same Day Registration/Election Day Registration | Voter Registration

April 18, 2008

Just Another Emperor?

The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism

By Michael Edwards

http://www.justanotheremperor.org

A new movement is afoot that promises to save the world by revolutionizing philanthropy, making non-profit organizations operate like business, and creating new markets for goods and services that benefit society. Nick-named "philanthropcapitalism" for short, its supporters believe that business principles can be successfully combined with the search for social transformation. Just Another Emperor? (published in collaboration with the Young Foundation in the UK) is the first book to take a comprehensive and critical look at this vital new phenomenon.

March 28, 2008

The Bridge at the Edge of the World

Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability

By James Gustave "Gus" Speth

With mounting evidence that global warming, natural resource depletion and other effects have ramped up in with Americans' need to constantly consume, even active environmentalists like Gus Speth can't seem to do enough to stop the earth's rapid destruction. In his latest book, A Bridge at the Edge of the World, Speth posits that, in order to sustain a livable environment for generations to come, our culture of rabid consumerism must change.

Tags: Market Economy | International Environmental Policy | Sustainable Development

March 11, 2008

Up to Our Eyeballs

How Shady Lenders and Failed Economic Policies are Drowning Americans in Debt

By Tamara Draut Jose Garcia James Lardner

& Cindy Zeldin

http://www.uptooureyeballs.com

Up to Our Eyeballs is a lively and timely exploration of the causes and consequences of the explosive rise in consumer debt, and of the fast-spreading financial and economic crisis. Woven together with insightful analysis and a menageries of personal accounts, Up to Our Eyeballs offers both a recipe of and prescription for the economic malaise facing today's average families.

January 1, 2008

10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes

By Miles Rapoport Stuart Comstock-Gay Michael Lipsky

& New Press Contibutors

Paying taxes. It's something almost everyone loves to hate. 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes makes the case for thinking about taxes in a fresh and progressive way and offers plenty of material for anyone interested in countering the conservative anti-government, anti-tax agenda.

November 6, 2007

The Squandering of America

How Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity

By Robert Kuttner

http://www.squanderingofamerica.com

Distinguished Senior Fellow Robert Kuttner demonstrates how the American economy is shaped by financial elites and their speculative excesses. He debunks alarmist claims about federal expenditures on programs like Social Security and Medicare and exposes the genuine dangers: unchecked deregulation, hedge funds and private equity abuses of the market, and America's dependence on foreign central banks.

Tags: Financial Reform | Market Economy | Lending Industry

August 7, 2007

Falling Behind

How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class

By Robert Frank

Although middle-income families don't earn much more than they did several decades ago, they are buying bigger cars, houses, and appliances. To pay for them, they spend more than they earn and carry record levels of debt. In a book that explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today, Demos Senior Fellow Robert Frank explains how increased concentrations of income and wealth have set off "expenditure cascades" that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class.

Tags: Middle Class | Inequality

April 10, 2007

SICK

The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis--and the People Who Pay the Price

By Jonathan Cohn

http://www.sickthebook.com

In a compelling work of original reportage, Senior Fellow Jonathan Cohn travels across the United States to investigate the reasons behind the country's health care crisis and its impact on individual Americans.

The only country in the developed world that does not guarantee access to medical care as a right of citizenship, the United States is home to millions of people who are struggling to find affordable care.

Tags: Healthcare

March 19, 2007

Consumed

How Markets Corrupt Children, Infamtilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole

By Benjamin R. Barber

http://www.benjaminbarber.com/

Distinguished Senior Fellow Benjamin R. Barber offers a provocative and compelling look at the ways in which capitalism is consuming U.S. society. Bringing together extensive empirical research and original theory, Barber seeks to understand how the global economy overproduces goods and targets citizens from the point of childhood, creating a new culture of consumerism.

Tags: Interdependence and Global Governance | Market Economy

February 13, 2007

American Furies

Crime, Punishment and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment

By Sasha Abramsky

http://www.americanfuries.com

Extensively researched and told with illuminating detail, American Furies is a dramatic examination of US penitentiaries and their surrounding communities. Senior Fellow Sasha Abramsky explains how prisons are no longer motivated by goals of rehabilitation, but rather are driven by political concerns and marked by a movement towards vengeance.

Tags: Incarceration

September 29, 2006

Momentum

Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age

By Allison H. Fine

http://www.momentumthebook.com/

How can we move from serving soup until our elbows ache to solving chronic social ills like hunger or homelessness? How can we break the disastrous cycle of low expectations that leads to chronic social failures? The answers to these questions lie within Momentum, a fresh, zestful way of thinking about and organizing social change work.

Tags: Expanding Civic Engagement

September 14, 2006

Jacked

How "Conservatives" Are Picking Your Pocket (Whether You Voted for Them or Not)

By Nomi Prins

http://www.nomiprins.com/index.html

Author, journalist, and Wall Street expert Nomi Prins examines the effects of Conservative policies, scandals, and blunders by conducting a guided tour of a typical American wallet.

September 12, 2006

The Moral Center

How Progressives Can Unite America Around Our Shared Values

By David Callahan

http://www.moral.com

In The Moral Center, Callahan articulates a vision for progressives, offering an escape from the dead-end culture war. With insights garnered from in-depth research and interviews, he examines some of our most polarized conflicts and presents unexpected solutions that lay out a new road map to the American center.

Tags: Values & Politics

June 7, 2006

Stealing Democracy

The New Politics of Voter Suppression

By Spencer Overton

http://www.stealingdemocracy.com/

While politicians spew shallow sound bites that describe a "free" American people who govern themselves by selecting their representatives, in reality politicians from both parties maintain control by selecting particular voters. Incumbent politicians maintain thousands of election practices and bureaucratic hurdles that determine who votes and how votes are counted--such as the location of election district boundaries, long lines at urban polling places, and English-only ballots.

Tags: Voter Fraud, Voter ID and Election Integrity | Felon Disfranchisement | Voter Registration | Election Administration | Other Election Issues

April 27, 2006

CONNED

How Millions Went to Prison and Lost the Vote

By Sasha Abramsky

http://www.connedthebook.com

Award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky takes us on a journey through disfranchised America, detailing the revival of antidemocratic laws that came of age in the post-Civil War segregationist South, and profiling Americans who are fighting to regain the right to vote.

Tags: Felon Disfranchisement

January 14, 2006

Strapped

Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead

By Tamara Draut

http://www.strappedthebook.com

Former Economic Opportunity Program Director Tamara Draut offers a groundbreaking look at the new obstacle course facing young adults as they try to build careers, buy homes, and start families. As Draut explains, various economic and social trends over the last thirty years, as well as adverse government policies, have conspired to alter dramatically the process of becoming an adult.

Tags: Economic Challenges of Young People

October 14, 2005

Inequality Matters

The Growing Economic Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences

By Miles Rapoport James Lardner Robert Kuttner

http://www.inequality.org

Barbara Ehrenreich, Meizhu Lui, Robert Franklin, William Greider, Robert Kuttner, David Cay Johnston, Betsy Leondar-Wright and Jim Wallis, among others, sound a cry of alarm against the growing concentration of wealth, income, and economic and political power. Co-edited by Senior Fellows James Lardner and David A. Smith. Foreword by Bill Moyers.

Tags: Inequality | Distribution of Wealth & Income

October 27, 2004

Freedom Reclaimed

Rediscovering the American Vision

By John Schwarz

Has the nation's infatuation with the free market warped the true meaning of American freedom by its emphasis on the self-serving individual in a "looking out for Number One" world? Freedom is America's most treasured value.

In Freedom Reclaimed, Distinguished Senior Fellow John E. Schwarz examines the profound implications of the difference between the vision of American freedom that the Founders enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the free-market idea of freedom that is ascendant today.

Tags: Distribution of Wealth & Income | Market Economy | Values & Politics

October 4, 2004

Other People's Money

The Corporate Mugging of America

By Nomi Prins

http://www.nomiprins.com/

As Senior Fellow Nomi Prins shows in this devastating expose, the much-publicized corporate malfeasance of recent years resulted from deregulation that trashed the rules of responsible corporate behavior. Faced with increasingly absent regulatory agencies, toothless legislation, and an utter lack of accountability, the stock market roared on the back of phony balance sheets while the executives made out like bandits.

Tags: Business Ethics | Business & Industry | Market Economy | Wall Street

January 1, 2004

The Cheating Culture

Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Do Well

By David Callahan

http://www.cheatingculture.com

Your next-door neighbor offers to hook you up with free cable television. Or, when you unexpectedly owe hundreds of dollars in taxes, your accountant advises you to make up deductions, since "the IRS doesn't audit anyone." Do you do it?

David Callahan thinks many of us would. And we wouldn't be alone. While there have always been those who cut corners, cheating has risen in the last two decades: corporate scandals, doping in sports, plagiarizing by journalists and students. Even ministers have been caught stealing sermons off the Internet. Why all the cheating? And why now?

Tags: Business Ethics | Values & Politics