Northshire Bookstore Event: Will Patten on “Rescuing Capitalism: Vermont Shows a Way” with the Manchester Business Association and the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce

(Manchester Center, VT) On Wednesday, September 17 from 5:30-7 pm, the Northshire Bookstore will host author Will Patten, who served as Director of Retail Operations for Ben and Jerry’s, to discuss his book – which describes how Vermont businesses have been thriving financially while innovating solutions to social and environmental problems.

America’s fragile environment is in danger; her social fabric is unraveling. One man believes that Vermont offers the country a way to avoid catastrophe. Retired business executive Will Patten places the blame for our dire condition on the supply-side economics experiment that for 40+ years has encouraged a singular focus on maximizing corporate profits without considering the impacts on natural and human resources. In his book, Rescuing Capitalism: Vermont Shows a Way, Patten recounts that Vermont has never participated in the supply-side experiment. Instead, Vermont businesses have been thriving financially while innovating solutions to our social and environmental problems. He describes a democratic capitalism that still exists in Vermont, a fractious balance between public and private interests.

The author presentation will be followed by a mixer co-hosted by the Manchester Business Association and the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Light refreshments will be served, and there will be a cash bar. 

After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, Will Patten headed to California to begin graduate studies in American diplomatic history. It was 1967 in Berkeley California and a cultural revolution was well underway. Big business, it seemed to him, was running and ruining the country. But he missed the four seasons of his native Vermont and returned home in 1970. He opened a small café that served as a gathering place for like-minded people living in the hills of Rutland County. He traveled the world helping Ben & Jerry scoop shop operators bring the company’s 3-part mission to life, retiring as Director of Retail Operations in 2007.

The Manchester Business Association was formed in early 2017 to promote and market the Town of Manchester, Village of Manchester, its member businesses, and the surrounding area. 

The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce promotes, leads and advocates a unified effort, on behalf of its members, to maintain and improve a healthy business climate and rewarding quality of life for the entire Shires of Southwestern Vermont region. 

For more information on this or other events, email events@northshire.com, or visit the Northshire Bookstore website at www.northshire.com.

Northshire Bookstore, originally founded in 1976, has locations in Manchester, Vermont and Saratoga Springs, NY as well as at Northshire.com. Our large but intimate general bookstores carry the largest selection of categories and genres including new & used fiction, history, cooking, arts and rare author-signed editions. We also have entire floors devoted to Children’s Books and toys, a full line of stationery, magazines, music, cards, calendars, locally-sourced foods and many fine gifts from clothing to jewelry. Open to the public daily from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM and 24/7 online with free shipping at www.northshire.com