In an effort to counter the argument that cities and communities are always powerless in the face of footloose corporations who think nothing of leaving localities in the lurch, "Unmaking Goliath" asks two key questions: What can localities do in the face of heightened capital mobility in order to retain an autonomy that furthers egalitarian social justice? And, how do we go about accomplishing this in practical terms? To answer these questions, DeFilippis analyzes four related matters: the feasibility of local autonomy in an era of mobile capital, whether local-control institutions improve the lives of ordinary citizens, whether local collective institutions provide more control to communities, and whether collective ownership at the local level has the potential to transform the larger American political economy. He shows that local institutions, if organized properly and guided by the right motives, can indeed foster autonomy within communities