Bookstore

Welcome to Democracy Unlimited's online bookstore, specializing in books about creating genuine democracy in the US, and dismantling corporate rule. We've created our bookstore in partnership with 100Fires Books - an independent online bookstore owned by Paul Cienfuegos (one of our founders).

10% of every purchase you make will be donated back to Democracy Unlimited - even books not featured in our bookstore.

100fires.com specializes in a wide range of issues including Corporate Rule vs Democracy, Greening Cities, Feminism, Indigenous Peoples, Labor Rights, Nature Conservation & Restoration, Spirituality, Racial Justice, Media, Kids, Food and Agriculture, and more! The store has even been endorsed by Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky!

You couldn't ask for a more convenient way to donate to our work!

Remember, you must enter the 100Fires bookstore via THIS web page for Democracy Unlimited to get its share of your purchase.

Essential Books on Democracy & Corporate Rule

Gaveling Down the Rabble: How "Free Trade" Is Stealing Our Democracy Jane Anne Morris (2008) In 'Gaveling Down the Rabble', author/activist Jane Anne Morris explores a century and a half of efforts by corporations and the courts to undermine local democracy in the United States by using a "free trade" model. It was that very 19th century model that was later adopted globally by corporations to subvert local attempts at protecting the environment and citizen and worker health.

'Gaveling Down the Rabble' is essential reading for understanding the background of the current struggle for U.S. democracy - local, state and national - against growing corporate power and how we can challenge it.

 

Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad
Frances Moore Lappe (2007)
Frances Moore Lappe - author of fifteen books, including three-million-copy bestseller 'Diet for a Small Planet' - distills her world-spanning experience and wisdom in a conversational yet hard-hitting style to create a rare "aha" book. In nine short chapters, Lappe leaves readers feeling liberated and courageous. She flouts conventional right-versus-left divisions and affirms readers' basic sanity - their intuitive knowledge that it is possible to stop grasping at straws and grasp the real roots of today's crises, from hunger and poverty to climate change and terrorism.

 

Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy: A Book of History and Strategy
Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD), Dean Ritz, editor. (2001)
This is the primer of our grassroots democracy movement. A large number of our reprint articles are contained in this book of essays. A great introduction!

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Power and Profit
Joel Bakan (2004)
Outlines how a corporation has the behvior of a psychopath. This is the book that led the the award-winning documentary film of the same name (that features the work of Democracy Unlimited!)

A People's History of the United States 1492-Present
Howard Zinn (2001)
The history of the people of the US that most of us never learned in school. A MUST read for all Americans!

When Corporations Rule the World (2nd edition)
David Korten (2001)
An easy to read overview of the immensity of global corporate power and influence over the law, the economy and culture.

Radical Democracy
C. Douglas Lummis (1996)
A profoundly insightful book that thinks deeply about what democracy could really mean!

Challenging Corporate Rule: The Petition to Revoke Unocal's Charter as a Guide to Citizen Action
Robert Benson. Foreword by Ronnie Dugger (1999)
The story of the action to revoke the charter of Unocal Corp in 1998--the most recent popular charter revocation attempt in the United States.

Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy
Ted Nace (2003)
An excellent overview of corporate power in the United States. Easy to read with lots of specific examples.

Myth America: Democracy vs. Capitalism
William Boyer (2003)
Exposes the inherent conflict between the forces supporting growing corporate power and the needs of a democratic society.

 

History & Law

Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions
Jerry Fresia (1998)
The true story of the "founders" of the United States government and the US Constitution. Fresia makes the case that we have yet to have an American revolution that rejects the Constitution.

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
Charles Beard (1986)
First published in 1913, this radical volume sparked a deep historical debate that has not abated about the Founders and the Constitution.

The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord
Ray Raphael (2002)
A fascinating story of the 1774 popular rebellion in which our REAL founding fathers seized the colony of Massachusetts--without leaders or bloodshed! This book turns the myth of the American Revolution on its head. A story told nowhere else.

 

A People's History of the American Revolution
Ray Raphael (2002)
The first major effort to tell the history of the American Revolution from the often overlooked standpoints of its everyday participants, 'A People's History of the American Revolution' is a highly accessible narrative of the wartime experience that brings in the stories of previously marginalized voices: the common people, slave and free, who made up the majority in eighteenth-century America.

The Transformation of American Law - Vol. One: 1780-1860: Studies in Legal History
Morton Horwitz (1986)
These two volumes offer an in-depth explanation and history of the takeover of the US legal system by corporations.

The Transformation of American Law - Vol. Two: 1870-1960: The Crisis of Legal Orthodoxy
Morten Horwitz (1994)
These two volumes offer an in-depth explanation and history of the takeover of the US legal system by corporations.

The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America
Lawrence Goodwyn (1978)
The largest mass movement in the US to work for participatory democracy and which refused to concede power to corporations.

The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916
Gabriel Kolko (1977)
How the rise of regulatory law/agencies accompanied the rise to power of big corporations and big government, leading to the decline of the rights of working people and small business.


A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution
Peter Irons (1999)


Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress' 1864 Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant
Derrick Jensen, George Draffan, John Osborn (1995)



Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
Thom Hartmann (2002)
The entire story of corporate personhood - including model anti-corporate personhood amendments for each state constitution.


Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy
William Greider (1992)

Corporate Rule

The Elite Consensus: When Corporations Wield the Constitution
George Draffan (2000)
A retitled 2nd edition of, “The Corporate Consensus.” Offers a concise catalog of the institutions that help drive corporate capitalism domestically and internationally.

The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy (2nd edition)
Marjorie Kelly (2003)

Tyranny of the Bottom Line: Why Corporations Make Good People Do Bad Things
Ralph Estes (1996)

Corporation Nation: How Corporations Are Taking Over Our Lives and What We Can Do About It
Charles Derber (2000)

Corporations are Gonna Get Your Mama: Globalization and the Downsizing of the American Dream
Kevin Danaher (1996)

Silent Coup: Confronting the Big Business Takeover of Canada
Tony Clarke (1997)

Plundered Promise: Capitalism, Politics, and the Fate of the Federal Lands
Richard Behan (2001)


The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization, and High Finance Fraudsters
Greg Palast (2002)


Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back
Jim Hightower (2003)


The Last Stand: The War Between Wall Street and Main Street Over California's Ancient Redwoods
David Harris (1996)


The Free Trade Area of the Americas: The Threat to Social Programs, Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice
Maude Barlow (2001)


Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke (2002)


Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
Vandana Shiva (2002)

Corporate Culture & Consumerism

No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
Naomi Klein (1999)

Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America
Kalle Lasn (1999)


Toxic Sludge is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
John Stauber, Sheldon Rampton (1995)

Media

Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda vs. Freedom and Liberty
Alex Carey (1997)
Exposes the inherent conflict between the forces supporting growing corporate power and the needs of a democratic society.


Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
Noam Chomsky (1989)


Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky
Interviews by David Barsamian (2001)

The Media Monopoly (7th edition)
Ben Bagdikian (2004)


Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate Media
Robert McChesney, John Nichols, Forewords by Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Ralph Nader (2002)

Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy
Robert McChesney (1997)

Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times
Robert McChesney (2000)

Labor

Building Unions: Past, Present and Future
Peter Kellman (2001)
This booklet details what corporate power means for workers. Useful for both unionized and non-unionized working people.



Labor's Untold Story: The Adventure Story of the Battles, Betrayals and Victories of American Working Men and Women
Richard Boyer & Herbert Morais (2000)
A reminder that the rise of corporations was achieved only at a tremendous cost and against a valiant and persistent resistance.


Pain on Their Faces: Testimonies on the Paper Mill Strike, Jay, Maine, 1987 - 1988
Jay-Livermore Falls Working Class History Project; Peter Kellman, Coordinator; Foreword by Carolyn Chute (1998)

Fear at Work: Job Blackmail, Labor and the Environment
Richard Kazis & Richard Grossman (1991)

Education

Campus, Inc.: Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower
Geoffry White Ph.D. Flannery Hauck, editors (2000)
How corporate power impacts students and academics.

Agriculture

The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Andrew Kimbrell (2002)

Resistance & Alternatives - the Movement for Global Justice

One No, Many Yeses: A Journey to the Heart of the Global Resistance Movement
Paul Kingsnorth (2003)
A manifesto, an investigation, a travel book: an introduction to the new politics of resistance which shows there's much more to the anti-globalization movement than trashing Starbucks. Features the work of Democracy Unlimited!


The War Against Oblivion: The Zapatista Chronicles, 1994 - 2000
John Ross (2000)



Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings of Subcommandante Marcos
Subcommandante Marcos (2001)

 

The Case Against the Global Economy and For a Turn Toward the Local
Jerry Mander (1996)
A comprehensive point-by-point analysis of the workings of the global economy, its premises, and its dire implications told by more than forty of the world's leading social, environmental, and economic thinkers from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.


A Time for Choices: Deep Dialogues for Deep Democracy
Michael Toms (2002)

Property and Values: Alternatives to Public and Private Ownership
Charles Geisler, Gail Daneke, editors (2000)

Whose Common Future?: Reclaiming the Commons
The Ecologist (1993)


Reclaiming Capital: Democratic Initiatives and Community Development
Christopher Gunn & Hazel Dayton Gunn (1991)

Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age
Michael Shuman (2000)

The Home Town Advantage: How to Defend Your Main Street Against Chain Stores... and Why It Matters
Stacy Mitchell (2000)
From local zoning ordinances to federal antitrust policy, 'The Home Town Advantage' provides a comprehensive guide to reviving the homegrown economy.


Localization: A Global Manifesto
Colin Hines (2000)

A World That Works: Building Blocks for a Just and Sustainable Society
Trent Schroyer (editor) (1997)
Offers a rich menu of alternative ideas and experiences that are moving us toward a more just and sustainable future.


Globalizing Civil Society: Reclaiming Our Right to Power
David Korten (1998)


Spaces of Globalization: Reasserting the Power of the Local
Kevin Cox (editor) (1997)


Taking Back Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance
Ellen Schwartz, Suzanne Stoddard (2000)

 

Democracy Skills

Democracy in Small Groups: Participation, Decision-making and Communication
John Gastil (1993)
Offers a variety of solutions to the problems commonly faced by small, democratic groups.


In the Tiger's Mouth: An Empowerment Guide for Social Action
Katrina Shields (1991)

The Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision Making (new edition)
Sam Kaner, Lenny Lind, and others (2007)
Provides the tools to put our democratic values into practice in groups and organizations. It is a fabulous how-to manual designed to help groups increase participation and collaboration, honor diversity, and make effective, participatory decisions.