A couple of weeks ago, a wonky data visualization became a viral sensation. Titled "Wealth Inequality in America," it provided a stark illustration of the distribution of wealth in this country. While many of us already know that this country's wealth is tilted in one direction, it's even more shockingly skewed than we thought. To date, the video has received more than 4.3 million views on YouTube.

The data in the video wasn't news to Gar Alperovitz, an economist, historian and prolific writer on alternatives to capitalism. The 76-year-old University of Maryland professor wears many hats as a teacher, researcher, activist and filmmaker. His most well-known book, America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy, lays out the remarkable array of grassroots ownership strategies that local communities can pursue. Many of them are already familiar, such as food co-ops, and others, like credit unions, have become newly valued in the wake of Occupy Wall Street....