Description
1958 First printing. Former library book has some markings and labels from the library. No dust jacket. Summaries written on the missing dust jacket have been taped into the inside cover. Hardcover has some minor wear along the sides, scuffs and marks. Spine has some wear on the top and bottom. Pages are clean and the binding is secure.
This rare first edition of “The Capitalist Manifesto” by Louis O. Kelso is a seminal work that introduced the concept of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and the idea of democratizing capital ownership. Published in 1958, at the height of the Cold War, Kelso’s book challenged both capitalism and socialism, proposing a “third way” that would enable workers to become owners of productive capital through innovative financing techniques.
Kelso’s ideas were influential in shaping policies that encouraged broad-based capital ownership, including legislation passed during the Reagan administration. This copy’s provenance as a former library book speaks to the intellectual curiosity and engagement with Kelso’s revolutionary ideas in its time. Despite its well-worn condition, the clean pages and secure binding ensure that this groundbreaking work can still be read and studied by scholars, economists, and those interested in the evolution of economic thought and policies.
