Gar Alperovitz

historian and political economist

Gar Alperovitz is a historian and political economist. He is the author most recently of \_What Then Must We Do?\_—a book about democratized economic institutions that suggest possibilities for transformative change. His most well-known historical works include \_The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and Cold War Essays\_. His political-economic books range from studies of localist economics (\_Making a Place for Community\_) and system-wide restructuring (\_America Beyond Capitalism\_) to theoretical work on distributive justice and technological change (\_Unjust Deserts\_). Alperovitz’s popular writings appear regularly in the \_New York Times\_, \_the Nation\_, and many print and online venues. A former Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and of Harvard’s Institute of Politics, he has served as legislative director in both Houses of Congress and as special assistant on UN matters in the Department of State. He is also co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative, an institute developing democratic ownership strategies. This past July he stepped down as Lionel R. Bauman Professor at the University of Maryland to co-chair with environmentalist Gus Speth \_The Next System Project\_, a new initiative involving current and recent presidents of several of the nation’s academic associations, along with labor, environmental, and other activist leaders. Alperovitz has appeared as a guest on \_Meet the Press\_, \_Charlie Rose\_, \_The O’Reilly Factor\_, and numerous other television shows.