Books

Marjorie Kelly has written four books that trace the failures of the extractive economy and the emerging shape of a new democratic, sustainable economy. These books have been published in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, South Korea, China, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and elsewhere. Her latest book, Wealth Supremacy, builds on the analysis she began 20 years ago with The Divine Right of Capitalism, arguing that the bias toward is wealth woven into the very fabric of American capitalism and is damaging, people, the economy and the planet.
Her latest works examine the on-the-ground movement to build a democratic economy through public ownership, employee ownership, anchor procurement, commons governance, ethical finance, and other innovations.

A powerful analysis of how the bias toward wealth that is woven into the very fabric of American capitalism is damaging people, the economy, and the planet. Learn more.

As Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics, says, “If you want to understand the economy we’ve inherited and create an economy worth bequeathing to our children – read this book.”

Order now.

The Making of a Democratic Economy (with Ted Howard)

The Making of a Democratic Economy is a clarion call for a movement ready to get serious about transforming our economic system. Illuminating the principles of a democratic economy through the stories of on-the-ground community wealth builders and their unlikely accomplices in the halls of institutional power, this book is a must read for everyone concerned with how we win the fight for an economy that’s equitable, not extractive.

“It’s not enough to imagine another world is possible, we need to feel and taste it. Kelly and Howard give us the concrete stories we need to truly believe in this new world.”

— Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough, This Changes Everything, and No Logo  

“An insightful, moving, energizing book, just what America needs now more than ever. Kelly and Howard enable us to see that indeed there is life—good life—beyond our brutal form of capitalism, and it is already emerging. Bravo!”

— Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet and coauthor of Daring Democracy

“In the face of our climate crisis, dangerous levels of social inequity, and the loss of unimaginable biodiversity comes The Making of a Democratic Economy, a critically important book of hope, possibility, and solutions. Thorough, thoughtful, and full of essential insights, this timely guide is a must-read for all concerned about a better future.”

— Jeffrey Hollender, cofounder of Seventh Generation and Board Chair, American Sustainable Business Council

Owning Our Future

Winner of the 2013 Nautilus Silver Book Award

In her 2012 book, Kelly explores many experiments with new forms of ownership, which she calls generative: aimed at creating the conditions for life for many generations to come. To understand these emerging alternatives, Kelly reports from all over the world and finds the five essential patterns of ownership design that make these models work. She then explores how they may hold the key to the deep transformation that our civilization needs.

“Owning Our Future by Marjorie Kelly has for years been among my five top reads for rethinking economics because of its ambitious vision and incisive clarity.

— Kate Raworth, economist

“A friend handed me a copy of Marjorie Kelly’s new book Owning Our Future and said he thought it was so good that he had bought a case of them to share with colleagues and friends. By the time I was 50 pages into the book, I had a similar impulse to buy a case. This is one of those books that you read and from there forward, you see the world a different way.”

— Beth Tener, New Directions Collaborative

“This magnificent book is a kind of recipe for how civilization might cope with its too-big-to-fail problem. It’s a hardheaded, clear-eyed, and therefore completely moving account of what a different world might look like—what it already does look like in enough places that you will emerge from its pages inspired to get involved.”

—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

Divine Right of Capital

In this book, Kelly considers how corporations strive to make money for their shareholders regardless of the costs to society. Part 1 examines the structure of the public corporation and how it serves investors not employees or the community for which it was created. Part 2 argues for new set of paradigms and laws that would result in economic democracy, insuring that corporations exist for the public good. Named one of 10 Best Business Books of 2001 by Library Journal.

The Divine Right of Capital was widely excerpted and reviewed, in places as diverse as Harvard Business Review, Utne Reader, San Francisco Chronicle, Earth Island Journal, BusinessWeek online, and many others. It was selected as a recommended book by book clubs, Harvard Business School, Wharton@Work, and elsewhere. Now more than two decades old, the book is still used in a variety of MBA classes.

Read the introduction [pdf].

Kelly’s book will exhilarate you, because it is such a thorough de-masking of the indefensible.”

— Paul Hawken, Whole Earth

“This might just be one of the most important books of the past fifty years.”

— John Renesch, author of Getting to the Better Future: A Matter of Conscious Choosing

“Until I read The Divine Right of Capital, I never really entertained the thought that stockholders are not even the rightful owners of corporations. This is Kelly’s seditious claim. She delivers a provocative plea for a dialogue on ownership and the nature of the corporation, in the bracing tradition of Thomas Paine.”

— William Bole, America: The National Catholic Weekly

Reviews and Interviews