This inspiring biography explores the life and work of the land trust pioneer, peace activist, and father of the relocalization movement.

Robert Swann was a self-taught economist and a tireless champion of decentralism, promoting community resilience and food independence. A conscientious war resistor imprisoned for his beliefs, Bob Swann engaged in lifelong nonviolent direct action against war, racism, and economic inequity. His legacy is a vision of a life-affirming, alternative economy based on land and monetary reform.

Swann’s story is also the untold history of decentralism in the United States. He forged tools to build productive, resilient local and regional economies. He associated with a constellation of vital, intelligent, independent authors and activists, and ultimately co-founded the Schumacher Society based on the philosophies of Small Is Beautiful author E. F. Schumacher.

Now as global industrial civilization flails in the throes of ecological and economic crisis, Swann’s innovations are at the ready to help neighborhoods, local entrepreneurs, and willing communities rebuild at appropriate scales.