RPS/2044: An Oral History of the Next American Revolution
by Michael Albert
(Z Communications, £11)

MICHAEL ALBERT has long had the ability to simplify very complex systems of inequality and, in doing so, unveil their most regressive absurdities. But what really sets him apart is that he goes beyond complaining about how terrible things are today.

As in his book Parecon, he has the courage to propose participatory models as a starting point to build on. And RPS/2044 is exactly that.
An “oral history,” it looks forward to 2044, when the US people have begun building a new society. The Revolution for a Participatory Society is blossoming from the sort of campaigns familiar today and, rather than simply striving for justice, equality, peace and a liveable environment in small local groups, people have overcome their differences and come together to release an unstoppable wave of progress. Thus Albert's book is both a catalyst for change and a reflection of the role that each of us are already playing within it.