The People’s Book Project has been in the works for a good deal of time. The Project consists of crowd-funding my efforts to do research and write a series of books analyzing historical and present institutions, ideologies and individuals of power and the processes of resistance to those power structures, in various political, economic and social realms. A modern history of ‘Power and People’, if you will. It’s not an easy endeavour, but with the funding – through donations – that have gotten me to the present point, an enormous amount of research and writing on a wide variety of subjects has been undertaken.
Currently, I am in the process of finishing off the research on the central banking/monetary system. Following this, I will accumulate the research I have done on several other issues and begin weaving it all together in a readable, coherent and concise framework to present the first volume of the People’s Book Project, focused on the global economic system. Included in this volume will be a look at the dynastic power structures of our economic system, largely resting in financial and corporate families; the power and function of banks and financial institutions; the development and spread of corporations; corporate and financial profits; global poverty and hunger; the destruction of the middle class; debt as a mechanism of control and domination; the global land grabs; global trade agreements; the global financial and economic crisis, it’s causes and effects; the central banking system and financial markets; debt crises, austerity, adjustment programs and the reshaping of the global order, guided by bankers, oligarchs and unelected technocrats. This volume aims to analyze and help others understand the nature of the global economic order: how we got here, where we’re going, and just perhaps, what we can do to change our path.
Now in terms of the research and writing I have done, all of which is still very rough in terms of drafts, here is a brief summary outlining how many pages of writing/research I have completed:
- the global financial crisis: 55 pages
- the European debt crisis: 300 pages
- central banking: 55 pages
- financial markets: 112 pages
- corporate power: 58 pages
- trade agreements: 58 pages
- global resources, food crisis, global land grabs: 50 pages
On top of that, I have over 100 pages more of dispersed research on several remaining topics. Now, this does not mean that I will be publishing an 800-page book. What this means is that – even as I have not yet finished my research on the central banking system – I will have roughly 800 pages of work to go through in order to put together the first official draft of the first volume for the People’s Book Project, tentatively entitled, “The Empire of Poverty.”
Now, before I go on to ask for money, I want to explain what I have been doing with my time, besides all of the above. I have not done any specific fundraising for the Book Project in a couple months, as I have not had the ability to dedicate as much time as I would like to work on the book specifically. Instead, I have been working on the following: doing research and writing for a continuous project for Occupy.com – the Global Power Project – examining the individuals who govern society’s major institutions and assessing their other institutional affiliations in an attempt to map the networks of influence wielded by global elites; starting a new continuous research project for Occupy.com – the World of Resistance Report – examining the instances and evolution of global protests, uprisings, revolts and revolution around the world; running the Geopolitics Division of The Hampton Institute – a new, up-and-coming U.S.-based think tank with a radical perspective on the world; doing weekly podcasts for BoilingFrogsPost; doing commissioned articles for various sites; and finally, working – with a few select friends – on starting up our own non-profit organization (on which I will be writing in more detail in the near future).
Now, fortunately for myself – and for those who have been consistent supporters of the Book Project – there has been a great deal of overlap between all these ventures: my research and writing for all these projects directly supports my work on the book. This is why I have avoided doing any specific fund raising for the book recently. However, I now have accumulated enough work and research to really push forward to the editing phase (once my work on central banking is complete, on which I will also be writing an exclusive article for a specific website). What I do need, at this point, is TIME: the time to spend adding the finishing touches to the research, and the time to read through, edit, and start putting together the first complete draft of “The Empire of Poverty.”
Unfortunately, in our present global economic order – of which I will provide much more elucidation in the first volume of the series – time… is money. I wish that I could manage to continue all my work for the other ventures (and thereby not be as reliant upon donations to survive), while also doing the work on the book, but I simply do not have enough time to do it all. Thus, I am undertaking a fundraising initiative to raise $2,500 to subsidize the time needed in order to dedicate my efforts to the book. I assure you, NO ONE is more interested in having this book completed than I am, and all the enormous support it has been given from around the world has been a wonderful – and surprising – gift; truly remarkable, and for which I am eternally grateful. But now I am also impatient. I want to be done, I need something to be completed. I have attempted to balance my time with all these new projects, but have been unable to put in the desired time and effort specifically for the book. Now, that time has come.
Please consider donating to – or spreading the word to others about – the first volume of The People’s Book Project: “The Empire of Poverty.”
Thank you, sincerely.
Andrew Gavin Marshall
