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The Economics of Happiness

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You are here: Home / Action tools / Recommended Readings

Recommended readings

Below are some of the key books – both older classics and newer work – that have informed Local Futures’ perspectives on our central issues:

    • * thought-provoking explorations of localization alternatives;
      * hard-hitting critiques and analyses of globalization, corporate power and agribusiness;
      * cultural diversity versus monoculture; and more.

We hope you will find them equally rewarding reads. If you know of any additions that you feel should be included, please contact us.

Recommended readings - Local Futures

Recent additions

We Feed the World:
A Celebration of Smallholder Farmers and Fishing Communities

Author: The Gaia Foundation, Foreword by Shiva, Vandana
Publisher: The Gaia Foundation, 2020

Read more →

Energy Transition and Economic Sufficiency

Edited by: Hawkins Kreps, Bart and Cobb, W. Clifford
Publisher: Post Carbon Institute, 2021

Read more →

A Small Farm Future

Author: Smaje, Chris
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020
Read more here.

Read more →

Break ‘Em Up:
Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag,
Big Tech, and Big Money

Author: Teachout, Zephyr
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers, 2020

Read more →

We Feed the World:
A Celebration of Smallholder Farmers and Fishing Communities

Author: The Gaia Foundation, Foreword by Shiva, Vandana
Publisher: The Gaia Foundation, 2020

Read more →

Energy Transition and Economic Sufficiency

Edited by: Hawkins Kreps, Bart and Cobb, W. Clifford
Publisher: Post Carbon Institute, 2021

Read more →

A Small Farm Future

Author: Smaje, Chris
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020
Read more here.

Read more →

Break ‘Em Up:
Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag,
Big Tech, and Big Money

Author: Teachout, Zephyr
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers, 2020

Read more →

Browse by category

Challenging Consumerism

The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business
Author: Courtwright, David
Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2019


Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, and The Overworked American, and The Overspent American (reprint edition)
Author: Schor, Juliet B.
Publisher: Scribner, 2005

Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture
Author: Ewen, S.
Publisher: Basic Books, 2001


Confronting Consumption
Editor: Princen, Thomas
Publisher: MIT Press, 2002

The High Price of Materialism
Author: Kasser, Tim
Publisher: MIT Press, 2002


Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World
Author: Kasser, Tim and Kanner, Allen
Publisher: APA Books, 2004

Culture, Place, Philosophy

Craeft: an Inquiry into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts
Author: Langlands, Alexander
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019


Cultures of Habitat: On Nature, Culture and Story
Author: Nabhan, Gary, Paul
Publisher: Counterpoint, 1998


Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment and the Human Prospect
Author: Orr, David, Washington, D.C. and Covelo, California
Publisher: Island Press, 1994


Hind Swaraj and other writings
Author: Gandhi, Mohandas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; New Ed edition, 1997

Humankind
Author: Bergman, Rutger
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2020


A Language Older Than Words
Author: Jensen, Derrick
Publisher: New York: Context Books, 2000


Last Child in the Woods
Author: Louv, Richard
Publisher: Workman Publishing, 2008


Lost Connections
Author: Hari, Johann
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2018

The Practice of the Wild
Author: Snyder, Gary
Publisher: Counterpoint, 2010


Seeds of Peace
Author: Sivaraksa, Sulak
Publisher: Parallax Press, 1992


The Snow Leopard
Author: Matthiessen, Peter
Publisher: Penguin Books, 1978


Team Human (1st edition)
Author: Rushkoff, Douglas
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019


Walden: Or, Life in the Woods New Edition
Author: Thoreau, Henry David
Publisher: Dover Publications Inc, 1995

Critiques of Globalization

Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money
Author: Teachout, Zephyr
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers, 2020


Capitalist Globalization: Consequences, Resistance and Alternatives
Author: Hart-Landsberg, Martin
Publisher: Monthly Review Press, 2013


The Case Against the Global Economy: and For a Turn Toward the Local
Author: Mander, Jerry, and Edward Goldsmith (eds.)
Publisher: San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996


The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets
Author: Hickel, Jason
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 2018

Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision and Human Scale
Author: Sale, Kirkpatrick
Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2000


Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (1st edition)
Author: Shiva, Vandana
Publisher: South End Press, 2005


Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century
Author: Petras, James and Veltmeyer, Herman
Publisher: Zed Books, 2001


Farewell to Growth
Author: Latouche, Serge
Publisher: Polity Press, 2009


Free Trade: Myth, Reality and Alternatives
Authors: Dunkley, Graham
Publisher: Zed Books, 2004

The No-Nonsense Guide to Globalization
Authors: Ellwood, Wayne
Publisher: New Internationalist Publications, 2011


They Rule: the 1% vs. Democracy
Author: Street, Paul
Publisher: Paradigm Publishers, 2014


There is an Alternative
Author: Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika, Faraclas, Nicholas and Von Werlhof, Claudia
Publisher: Spinifex Press, 2001


In the Wake of the Affluent Society
Author: Latouche, Serge
Publisher: Zed Books, 1993


When Corporations Rule the World
Author: Korten, David
Publisher: West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian Press, 1995

Localization: Alternatives to the Globalized Economy

Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible
Author: International Forum on Globalization
Publisher: San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, 2002


The Bioregional Economy: Land, Life and the Pursuit of Happiness
Author: Scott-Cato, Molly
Publisher: Routledge, 2013


Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up
Author: Flaccavento, Anthony – Foreword by Bill McKibben
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky, 2016


Green Alternatives to Globalization
Authors: Woodin, Michael and Lucas, Caroline
Publisher: Pluto Press, 2004


Happier People, Healthier Planet
Authors: Belton, Teresa
Publisher: Silverwood Books, 2014


Home Economics
Author: Berry, Wendell
Publisher: North Point Press, 1987


Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age
Author: Shuman, Michael
Publisher: New York: Routledge, 2000

Local is Our Future
Author: Norberg-Hodge, Helena
Publisher: Local Futures, 2019


Localism in the Mass Age
Authors: Mitchell, Mark T. and Peters, Jason
Publisher: Front Porch Republic Books, 2018


The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift
Authors: Young De, Raymond and Princen, Thomas
2019


Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
Author: Schumacher, E.F.
Publisher: New York: Harper and Row, and London: Blond and Briggs Ltd, 1973


Selling Local: Why Local Food Movements Matter
Authors: Robinson, Jennifer, M. and Farmer, James.R.
2017


Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economics for Security in an Unstable World
Author: Douthwaite, Richard.J.
1998


The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (2nd edition)
Author: Shuman, Michael
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007

The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalised Economy
Authors: Bennholdt-Thomsen Veronica & Mies Maria
Publisher: Zed Books, 1999


Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever
Author: Alexander, Samuel
Publisher: Simplicity Institute Publishing, 2015


Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming our Communities
Authors: Gibson-Graham, J.K. Cameron, Jenny. Healy, Stephen
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 2013


Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience (1st edition)
Author: Hopkins, Rob
Publisher: Green Books, 2008


True Wealth
Author: Schor, Juliet
Publisher: Penguin, 2011


The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays
Author: Berry, Wendell
Publisher: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005


What matters? Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth (first edition)
Author: Berry, Wendell
Publisher: Counterpoint, 2011


A Year of Living Locally (free to download)
Author: Gorenflo, Neal and Mitchell, Stacy
Publisher: Shareable, 2021

Local Food vs. Global Agribusiness

Agriculture and Food in Crisis: Conflict, Resistance and Renewal
Author: Magdoff, Fred and Tokar, Brian
Publisher: Monthly Review Press, 2010


Agroecology: Science and Policy
Author: Rosset, Peter and Altieri Miguel
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing, 2017


Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness
Authors: Norberg-Hodge, Helena. Merrified, Todd. Gorelick, Steven
Publisher: Zed Books (UK) and Kumarian Press (USA), 2002


Climate: A New Story
Author: Eisenstein, Charles
Publisher: North Atlantic Books, 2018


Eating Tomorrow:
Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food

Author: Wise, A. Wise
Publisher: Small Planet Institute, 2019


The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community and the Land
Author: Wirzba, Norman
Publisher: Counterpoint Press, 2004

The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Author: Kimbrell, Andrew (ed)
Publisher: Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2002


Farming While Black
Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land

Author: Penniman, Leah
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018


Food
Author: Clapp, Jennifer
2020


Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community
Authors: Desmarais, Annette. Wittman, Hannah, Kay. Wiebe, Nettie
Publisher: Food First Books, 2010


Food Town USA
Author: Winne, Mark. 2019.
Publisher: Island Press, 2019
Read more here


Food Sovereignty, Agroecology and Biocultural Diversity
Author: Pimbert, P. Michel
Publisher: Routledge, 2017


Formerly Known as Food
Author: Lawless, Kristen
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 2018


From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture
Author: Norberg-Hodge, Helena. Goering, Peter. Page, John
Publisher: Local Futures/International Society for Ecology and Culture & Zed Books, 2000

The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming
Author: Weis, Tony
Publisher: Zed Books, 2007


Local: The New Face of Food and Farming in America
Author: Gayeton, Douglas
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, 2014


The New Agrarianism: Land, Culture and the Community of Life
Authors: Freyfogle, Eric
Publisher: Island Press, 2001


A Small Farm Future
Authors: Smaje, Chris
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020


Selling Local: Why Local Food Movements Matter
Author: Robinson, Jennifer, Meta and Farmer, James, Robert
Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2017


Tending the Earth: Traditional, Sustainable Agriculture in India
Author: Pereira, Winin
Publisher: Bombay. Earthcare Books, 1993


The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
Author: Berry, Wendell
Publisher: San Francisco. Sierra Club Books, 1977


We Feed the World:
A Celebration of Smallholder Farmers and Fishing Communities

Author: The Gaia Foundation, Foreword by Shiva, Vandana
Publisher: The Gaia Foundation, 2020

Rethinking Development, Progress and Economics

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
(main edition)
Author: Zuboff, Shoshana
Publisher: Profile Books, 2019


Beyond Developmentality: Constructing Inclusive Freedom and Sustainability
Author: Deb, Debal
Publisher: Routledge, 2009


The Breakdown of Nations and the Overdeveloped Nations (new edition)
Author: Kohr, Leopold
Publisher: Green Books, 2001


Carbon Metrics, Global abstractions and ecological epistemicide
Authors: Moreno, Camila and Speich Chassé, Daniel and Fuhr, Lili.
Volume 42 of the Publication Series Ecology. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation
2015


Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India
Authors: Kothari, Ashish and Srivastava, Aseem
Publisher: Viking India, 2012


Climate: A New Story
Author: Eisenstein, Charles
Publisher: North Atlantic Books, 2018


Consuming Cultures: Globalization and Local Lives
Author: Seabrook, Jeremy
Publisher: New Internationalist Publications Ltd, 2004


Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture
Author: Pascoe, Bruce
Publisher: Magabala Books, 2018


Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era
Author: D’Alisa, Giacomo, Demaria, Federica and Kallis, Giorgos
Publisher: Routledge, 2014


The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power
Author: Sachs, Wolfgang (ed.)
Publisher: London and New Jersey. Zed Books, 1992


Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World
Author: Escobar, Arturo
Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2011


Energy Transition and Economic Sufficiency
Edited by: Hawkins Kreps, Bart and Cobb, W. Clifford
Publisher: Post Carbon Institute, 2021


The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality
Author: Heinberg, Richard
Publisher: Clairview Books, 2011

Exploring Degrowth:
A Critical Guide

Author: Liegey, Vincent. Nelson, Anitra
Publisher: Pluto Press, 2020


The Good Life Beyond Growth
Author: Hartmut Rosa (ed.)
Publisher: Routledge, 2019


The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
Author: Polanyi, Karl
Publisher: Beacon Press, 2002


Happier People Healthier Planet: how putting wellbeing first would help sustain life on earth
Author: Belton, Teresa
Publisher: Silver Wood Books Ltd, 2014


The Inner Level: Howe More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone’s Wellbeing
Author: Pickett, Kate and Wilkinson, Richard
Publisher: Allan Lane, 2018


Less Is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness
Author: Andrews, Cecile and Urbanska, Wanda
Publisher: New Society Publishers, 2009


Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
Author: Hickel, Jason
Publisher: Penguin, 2020


Local Dollars,  Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity
Author: Shuman, Michael H.
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012


Myth of the Machine
Vol 1 & 2

Author: Mumford, Lewis
Publisher: Mariner Books, 1971


The New Peasantries: Rural Development in Times of Globalization
Author: Van der Ploeg, Jan Douwe
Publisher: Routledge, 2018


The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crises
Author: multiple (with essay by: Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, and more)
Publisher: Cascade Books, 2021


Planet Dialectics: Explorations in Environment and Development
Author: Sachs, Wolfgang, 2015


Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary
Author: Kothari, Ashish et al
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront, 2019

The Post-Development Reader
Author: Rahnema, Majid (ed.)
Publisher: London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1997


Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (reprint edition)
Author: Jackson, Tim
Publisher: Routledge, 2011


Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia
Author: Stoll, Steven
Publisher: Hill & Wang, 2017


Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel: The Paving of Paradise and What You Can Do to Stop It
Author: McLaren, Deborah
Publisher: West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1998


Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Society in the Age of Transition
Author: Eisenstein, Charles
Publisher: Evolver Editions, 2011


Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World
Author: Yunkaporta, Tyson
Publisher: Harper One, 2020


Seeing Like a State
Author: Scott. James, C.
Publisher: Yale University Press, 1999


Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure, and Joie de Vivre
Author: Andrews, Cecile
Publisher: New Society Publishers, 2006


Speed Limits: Where Time Went and Why We have so Little Left
Author: Taylor, Mark C.
Publisher: Yale University Press, 2014


Stone Age Economics
Author: Sahlins, Marshall
Publisher: Aldine Transaction, 1974


Tools for Conviviality, and Deschooling Society
Author: Illich, Ivan
Publisher: Marion Boyars, 2001


The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (new edition)
Author: Winner, Langdon
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1988


Victims of Progress (5th edition)
Author: Bodley, John H.
Publisher: AltaMira Press, 2008


Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World
Author: Galeano, Eduardo
Publisher: St. Martins’s Press, 2001

About Ladakh - India

Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
Author: Norberg-Hodge, Helena
Publisher: Local Futures, 1991 (updated in 2016)

Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia (2nd edition)
Author: Rizvi, Janet
Publisher: Delhi: Oxford India Press, 1998

Trekking in Ladakh (3rd edition)
Author: Loram, Charlie
Publisher: India Trekking Guides, a Trailblazer publication, 2004

Further resources

Organizations
for change

There is a flourishing of organizations everywhere working to create a better world. Search our list of organizations for change to discover, support, and possibly join some of them!

Films
for change

Browse through our collection of interesting films and documentaries about the food industry, capitalism, fast fashion,
including our film ‘The Economics of Happiness’.

Maps of
alternatives

Find here a list of maps from different organizations to help visualize the many initiatives around the world seeking both to halt the destructive economy and build local alternatives.

Read more →
Read more →
Read more →

Organizations for change

There is a flourishing of organizations everywhere working to create a better world. Search our list of organizations for change to discover, support, and possibly join some of them!

Read more →

Films for change

Browse through our collection of interesting films and documentaries about the food industry, capitalism, fast fashion,
including our film ‘The Economics of Happiness’.

Read more →

Maps of alternatives

Find here a list of maps from different organizations to help visualize the many initiatives around the world seeking both to halt the destructive economy and build local alternatives.

Read more →

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