Amato's Published Books

As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader’s historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives us a witty, thoughtful critique of the American electoral system, as well as a powerful argument for opening up the contest as if people and their daily lives mattered.

You can read more about Theresa Amato's book, Grand Illusion, and purchase it here, or better yet, from Oak Park's award-winning "Fiercely Independent" Book Store, The Book Table.

"Theresa Amato takes the biggest swing - not a jab, but a roundhouse punch - at America's corrupt electoral system." - Phil Donahue

Childhood Abducted: Children Cutting Sugar Cane in the Dominican Republic

This 94-page paperback book, published as a report by Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) on May 1, 1991, was written by Theresa Amato and edited by William G. O'Neill. It tells the story of the Haitian child canecutters and their work on the sugar cane plantations or "bateyes" of the Dominican Republic to produce sugar for export to the United States. Amato wrote the book based on two fact-finding missions in 1990 and 1991 and numerous personal interviews conducted in Haiti and the Dominican Republic when she was 26 years old. In 1991 Amato accompanied ABC's Primetime Live in the Dominican Republic and it produced an Emmy-winning television expose based in part on the contents of her work. U.S. Congressional hearings were held after the show aired; the Deputy Director of the Lawyers Committee, William G. O'Neill testified based on the contents of this report, and a reform decree was passed in the Dominican Republic.

SKIRTING TRADITION, Women in Politics Speak to the Next Generation (The Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2004)

The Women's Leadership Project and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government have collected and edited essays from prominent women in politics to inspire young women to careers in politics. See Amato's essay entitled "Think Boldly" or "More Justice, Less Charity." Other contributors include Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Donna Brazile, Eleanor Clift, and Antonia Hernandez.

Amato elected to the American Law Institute in 2014.
A new book for The New Press in 2015.
Amato published in Italian Women in Chicago, Madonna mia! QUI debbo vivere?
Amato & Main, LLC host Bob Sullivan, co-author of The Plateau Effect, July 31, 2013.
Amato appears on The Stossel Show with John Stossel on Third Parties on Fox Business, Thursday, 9 p.m. ET, September 13, 2012.
Amato & Main, LLC host Joseph Costello, author of "Of, By For, The New Politics of Money Debt and Democracy," June 23, 2012.
Arab Spring in Oak Park! Amato & Main, LLC host Young Revolutionaries, Legislative Fellows, and Emerging Leaders from Egypt and Morocco visiting on a Heartland International Exchange Program, April 29, 2012.

Italian Women in Chicago, Madonna mia! QUI debbo vivere?
Only One Thing Can Save Us by Thomas Geoghegan.
The Third Coast by Thomas Dyja.
Keynes's Way to Wealth: Timeless Investment Lessons from the Great Economist, by John Wasik.
The Plateau Effect, a book by Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson.
Electoral Dysfunction, a book by Victoria Bassetti and the award-winning movie by Bennett Singer and others.
The Power of Habit, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, a book by Charles Duhigg.
Setting the Table, a book by Danny Meyer.
Elegy for Dead Languages, a book by poet, translator and new media artist, Francesco Levato.
World Wide Rebel Songs, by Tom Morello, The Night Watchman.