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Dear all Apologies for cross posting and for self promotion. Those of you interested in the 'alternative economic spaces' debates may be interested in the following which has just been published: Alternative Currency Movements as a Challenge to Globalisation? A Case Study of Manchester's Local Currency Networks Peter North Ashgate Economic Geography Series Readers attached to universities might want to order it for their libraries, but as it is published at the monetarily indefensible price of $99.95/£50.00, it's beyond the range of those without institutional support. That said, I have a number of free copies which I would be happy to send to anyone interested in seeing it who helped me with the research, anyone who has a track record developing alternative currencies, or anyone else really nice who will be able to make it available to others to read. Please let me know if you would like a free copy and I will post it out to you. I'll see who requests a copy and make a decision about how to divvy them up then. Pete Details: (see <https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%204591%206> Over the past 15 years, local money networks, which are essentially trading networks using a community-created currency, have emerged in countries as far apart as Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and the US, continental Europe and Japan. They range from Local Exchange Trading Schemes (UK), to Time Dollars (US), Green Dollars (New Zealand, Australia and Canada), Trading Circles (Hungary), Barter Networks (Argentina) and Talents (Germany). Drawing on an ethnographic case study of alternative currency movements in Manchester, UK, this book provides an analysis of the motivations, aims, successes and failures of alternative currency networks. It also raises questions such as the contribution of the alternative currency movement to current debates about alternatives to neoliberalism. While it is theoretically informed, critical and grounded in fieldwork, it is also sympathetic to the political aims of the protagonists and cognisant of the non-economic benefits that arise from their development. Contents Introduction: money only has the value we give it? Context and Theoretical Background: Developing a toolkit for understanding LETS: social movement approaches; Investigating social movements; 'Dirty old Town': urban change in Manchester. Manchester's Alternative Currency Networks: LETS in Manchester; The politics of LETS; Self Analysis: do members see LETS as a social movement?; Transformation: LETS and economic development; LETS and the inner city; Explorations in Heterotopia: the micropolitics of money, work and community. Conclusions: Conclusions: the long term trajectory of LETS; Index. Reviews 'This in-depth analysis of the potential of alternative currencies as a way of contesting neoliberal globalization goes beyond the original hopes and dreams of those who set them up to explore the lived experiences of participants. This book reveals how localization is being put into practice in everyday life and provides a thoughtful reflection on the possibilities for imagining and enacting real-life alternatives to the global free market.' Professor Colin C. Williams, University of Leicester, UK 'All economies/economic geographies are heterogeneous, although much economic theory and policy likes to assume otherwise. Peter North's study of local currencies is based on deep immersion in the LETS movement and its divergences as well as in a critical understanding of social movements. The book offers a decade-long assessment of LETS and their vital contribution to the ways in which we must rethink money and economic practice.' Roger Lee, Professor of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, UK About the Author/Editor Peter North is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Liverpool, UK. Further Information Affiliation: Peter North, University of Liverpool, UK Illustrations: Includes 2 b&w illustrations ISBN: 0 7546 4591 6 Publication Date: 02/2006 Number of Pages: c. 260 pages Binding: Hardback Peter North Department of Geography University of Liverpool