Showing posts with label kindle devices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindle devices. Show all posts

History of the American Economy (with InfoTrac College Edition 2-Semester and Economic Applications Printed Access Card) Review

History of the American Economy (with InfoTrac College Edition 2-Semester and Economic Applications Printed Access Card)
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History of the American Economy (with InfoTrac College Edition 2-Semester and Economic Applications Printed Access Card) ReviewThis is definitely the best introductory book there is on the subject. This was a supplemental book for an undergraduate class of mine, but I read it anyway. The authors lucid writing allows this book to be thoroughly understood by all readers despite their backround in economics. I truly believe that this book should be required reading for all history, political science, finance, sociology, and economics majors.
Unlike most books on the history of anything, this book starts from the beginning. The authors start off discussing explorers and empires and then go into colonization. Extremely informative on the economics of different regions in colonial America and the Industrial Revolution.History of the American Economy (with InfoTrac College Edition 2-Semester and Economic Applications Printed Access Card) OverviewTying America's past to the economic policies of today and beyond, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY 11e presents events chronologically for easy understanding. Get a firm foundation in the evolution of the American economy with this ever-popular classic.

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Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between Review

Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between
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Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between Review"Sweet Heaven When I Die" is, for the observer of American religion, either a shock or a relief. Thank God, I say--the American spiritual landscape is not, after all, captured in Gallup polls (much less Barna or Pew), in percentages of church (or other "places of worship") attendance, which are the preferred measurements of tone-deaf newspapers and political strategists. As he has been doing for well over a decade, but here better than ever, Jeff Sharlet shows that, and how, the heart of this country's spiritual life is in its supposed fringes. A New Age snake-oil saleswoman greases the engines of New York's high-end real estate market. A UFO enthusiast becomes one of Washington's chief fundamentalist power-brokers. A huge media monopoly corners the market on the underground punk scene. What do punks have to do with "faith"? By the time you get to them you'll know.
For the non-observer of American religion, however, "Sweet Heaven" is even better, because you won't be clouded by all the dumb hang-ups. This is, above all, a book of stories, and a book about people--mainly extraordinary "ordinary" people whom the author encounters by accident or intention. Each story holds its own, and where there are points to be made, they're made only by implication, through the lives of those we meet. It's about radical aspirations, and the creep of big money into small communities, and it's about music, frustration, land, and desire. Two chapter titles include the same expletive.
This book reminds me why, when I discovered Sharlet's first book, "Killing the Buddha," I was almost afraid to read it. He exposes us to ourselves in a way that's uncomfortably dead-on, yet also so pleasurable, and funny, that you'll want it never to end.Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between Overview
Linked narrative nonfiction from the best-selling author of The Family.
No one explores the borderlands of belief and skepticism quite like Jeff Sharlet. He is ingenious, farsighted, and able to excavate the worlds of others, even the flakiest and most fanatical, with uncanny sympathy. Here, he reports back from the far reaches of belief, whether in the clear mountain air of "Sweet Fuck All, Colorado" or in a midnight congregation of urban anarchists celebrating a victory over police.From Dr. Cornel West to legendary banjo player Dock Boggs, from the youth evangelist Ron Luce to America's largest "Mind, Body, Spirit Expo," Sharlet profiles religious radicals, realists, and escapists. Including extended journeys published here for the first time, Sweet Heaven When I Die offers a portrait of our spiritual landscape that calls to mind Joan Didion's classic Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

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Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play Review

Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play
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Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play ReviewIf you enjoyed listening to Bill White broadcast Yankee baseball you will want to read this book. If you are a baseball fan (or, for that matter, a follower of any sport) & want to get a better perspective on what life was like trying to break into the "big leagues" in the fifties & deal with the biases he faced... from the fans, other players as well as management you will love this book.
White, respected both as a unbiased broadcaster as well as a man with strong opinions, tells the story of his life & his story parallels many of the major changes in that occurred in American society in the 1950's & 1960's. When he left college to play minor league baseball in the south, blacks could not eat in restaurants, ride in the front of a bus nor attend schools with whites. Bill White gives the reader an idea of what life was like for him. It makes you realize that whatever he faced, blacks that lived in the south went through this everyday with little hope for improvement. He talks about how sports helped change our society and he was pleased to be a small part of some of these changes.
His stories on working for the Yankees as a broadcast partner of Phil Rizzuto brings some humor into the book and
the reader sees that Bill White does have a great sense of humor to go with his integrity. He discusses his role as National
League President and provides some insight into the inner workings of baseball. It is interesting to hear his thoughts and opinions on issues that arose and how his opinions sometimes differed with the majority opinion that we read about in the paper or saw on television.
This book is an easy read because White tells a story that, as Howard Cosell used to say "tells it like it is". It flows and
seems to be written from the heart. He pretty much leaves no stone unturned, yet it is a book that does not try to get back at anyone, but tells of the accomplishments of a very proud and honorable man...and along the way the reader is privy to a lot of interesting inside stories.
He seems to be the kind of person you would enjoy sitting down with and discussing anything and everything with over a nice long dinner.Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play OverviewThere are very few major personalities in the world of sports who have so much to say about our National Pastime. And even fewer who are as well respected as Bill White.Bill White, who's now in his mid 70s, was an All-Star first baseman formany years with the New York Giants, St.Louis Cardinals and PhiladelphiaPhillies before launching a stellar broadcasting career with the NewYork Yankees for 18 years. He left the broadcast booth to become thePresident of the National League for five years.A true pioneer as an African-American athlete, sportscaster, and top baseball executive, White has written his long-awaited autobiography in which he will be candid, open, and as always, most forthcoming about his life in baseball. Along the way, White shares never-before-told stories about his long working relationship with Phil Rizzutto, insights on George Steinbrenner, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Bob Gibson, Bart Giamatti, Fay Vincent, and scores of other top baseball names and Hall of Famers. Best of all, White built his career on being outspoken, and the years fortunately have not mellowed him. UPPITY is a baseball memoir that baseball fans everywhere will be buzzing about.

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Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi Review

Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi
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Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi Review"Now I am, one might say, the last primary source -- and I don't like anything about it." Thus begins the memoir of Dean Faulkner Wells, the last direct inheritor of the genius that was William Faulkner, seen here as a talent among many in a distinctive American family. Dean writes with perspicacity, dry humor, and an accent that is also an inheritance -- idiosyncratic, educated, bemused and very southern.
Dean (named for her father) was not yet born when Dean Swift Faulkner, a barnstorming pilot, was killed in a flaming crash in an airplane given to him by his older brother, Bill. She would never know her father, and fate decreed that she would be raised by her mother Louise (Wese) and Uncle Bill, whom she called Pappy. Indeed, she was shepherded through life by the entire Faulkner clan and claims "there has never been a Poor Little Fatherless Child as spoiled as I." But her recollections of her lost father have the poignancy of Pappy's own voice, the child idealizing a beautiful man she could know only through the memories of others, a man who never needed a watch because he "lived every day of his life by the sun."
The author of other books about the Faulkner family, Dean runs Yoknapatawpha Press, dedicated to the work of southern writers. Her personal recollections stand as a testament to a way of life no longer possible and barely imaginable --- slow-paced, privileged and remarkably calm considering the dynamic characters who comprised her Oxford, Mississippi family.
It is also a portrait of the town, the site of Rowan Oak, the homestead Pappy established, and where Dean and the older generation and grandchildren communed in the warmth of heritage and tradition. Oxford latterly has become a haven for retirees, touted for its porches and southern charms; ironically, many fine houses were replaced, Wells tells us, with "McMansions." The town celebrated its most famous resident posthumously with a 500-pound statue, because they believed it would draw tourists to the town center. It was set in place by prison inmates, and Dean wryly observes, "I agreed with one of the inmates' observations that Pappy was one heavy mother."
The book inevitably recapitulates the life of Pappy himself. Through Dean's sharp eyes, we see the development of one of America's finest literary lights, who, after a brief obligatory stint in Europe, chose to go home and write about the people and the culture he knew best. He recreated Oxford and its surroundings as a humid, human fantasy of the Deep South and finally garnered a much-deserved Pulitzer. Pappy, known to the rest of the world as William, understood from an early age that writing was his destiny. He tried other work, often under duress, once working at his father's behest at the post office where he threw everything but first class letters in the trash and spent his time scribbling and ignoring the customers. He wrote AS I LAY DYING by hand in 47 days while working, nominally, as the night foreman at the university power plant. He was a notorious binge alcoholic who had to drink to the point of near-death whenever he finished a creative project. He was a lover of women and a trial to his spouse, Estelle.
But most importantly, he had a deep, grieved affection for the younger brother for whose death he felt responsible, and took his brother's only child, little Dean, under his wing. He saw her through childhood and her coming of age, led her down the aisle, and told his departed brother then that he had "done what I thought would please you, my brother."
--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi OverviewIn Every Day by the Sun, Dean Faulkner Wells recounts the story of the Faulkners of Mississippi, whose legacy includes pioneers, noble and ignoble war veterans, three never-convicted mur­derers, the builder of the first railroad in north Mississippi, the founding president of a bank, an FBI agent, four pilots (all brothers), and a Nobel Prize winner, arguably the most important Ameri­can novelist of the twentieth century. She also reveals wonderfully entertaining and intimate stories and anecdotes about her family—in particular her uncle William, or "Pappy," with whom she shared color­ful, sometimes utterly frank, sometimes whimsical, conversations and experiences. This deeply felt memoir explores the close re­lationship between Dean's uncle and her father, Dean Swift Faulkner, a barnstormer killed at age twenty-eight during an air show four months be­fore she was born. It was William who gave his youngest brother an airplane, and after Dean's tragic death, William helped to raise his niece. He paid for her education, gave her away when she was married, and maintained a unique relationship with her throughout his life. From the 1920s to the early civil rights era, from Faulkner's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature to his death in 1962, Every Day by the Sun explores the changing culture and society of Oxford, Mis­sissippi, while offering a rare glimpse of a notori­ously private family and an indelible portrait of a national treasure.

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Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America Review

Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America
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Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America ReviewWe have had the occasional flare-up of mass racial violence in the past few decades. We have had nothing like the summer of 1919, when there were riots and lynchings in many large American cities, and countless episodes of violence in smaller ones. They changed race relations and changed America forever, but perhaps because 1919 is now so far away, few recognize it as a time monumental in the history of American civil rights. Thus there are plenty of eye-opening revelations in _Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America_ (Henry Holt) by Cameron McWhirter, the first narrative history of that epochal year. McWhirter is a reporter for _The Wall Street Journal_, and much of the obviously extensive research he has done involves the way the newspapers covered the violence at the time. Not only does he give narratives of the causes and details of the riots in Chicago, Washington, Omaha, and other cities, he gives a broader picture of the reasons 1919 should have been a particular year for racial violence, and the changes the violence wrought.
Many Americans, and much of the world, were looking for 1919 to be a year of spreading peace and good will. Thousands of black soldiers returned from The Great War with higher expectations, and their families and communities shared the optimism that there would be change. White society was, to put it lightly, not ready for change, and was fearful that change might come. There was an upsurge in lynching, with NAACP files showing 52 black people being lynched during the year, and not just in the South. Much of McWhirter's book is distressing reading, describing the specific actions within the riots, and the torturing and lynching, and the government officials who were incapable or unwilling to put a stop to the rioting by whites. In all cases, the racial riots were started by whites massing against blacks (although there may have been some action by individual blacks that triggered the response). Typical of the reporting on the riots in Elaine, Arkansas, were leads delivered by whites in charge; a headline about the riots in _The Washington Post_ read in part, "Big Uprising Was Plotted," and in the _Los Angeles Times_, "Negroes Plot White Massacre." McWhirter says, "The narrative meshed with nationwide white fears of racial violence and radicalism: stored ammunition, passwords, `Paul Reveres' riding into the night, and a white socialist lawyer as a mastermind." The picture was completely false; there had been no black insurrection, only some black farmers organizing to make sure they were not bilked when selling their crops. The riot in Elaine, like many others described here, was simply a massacre of blacks; there was no forensic accounting afterwards, and probably a few hundred were killed, but no one knows even an approximate number. The lack of action by President Woodrow Wilson is a theme here. It is true that he was far more interested in working for his plan (eventually a failure) to have America enter a League of Nations, but he did nothing toward eliminating racial violence or even in prosecuting those who took part in lynch mobs. When asked for statements from black leaders, he had nothing to say. Congress followed Wilson's lead, saying little; legislation that was simply against lynching was introduced and could not get passed.
What did change was that blacks began to realize they did not have to take the abuse of rioters silently any more. As the summer of 1919 progressed, blacks were arming themselves; the resulting violence may have disgusted whites and blacks, but large-scale white violence was being met by large-scale black violence. This is one of the reasons that there were fewer such riots in subsequent years. Also blacks felt more reason to attempt to take control; there was more political action and registering to vote. Tens of thousands joined the NAACP, which because of the year's events, became the most powerful civil rights group for its time. Many of the whites who rioted during that year never came to justice, but also some of the blacks who had been arrested and even put on death row had their trials reviewed and the obvious unfairness reversed. Of course there was going to be more violence in the upcoming decades, but the brutality of 1919 was never repeated, and it inspired black Americans to strive for true equality. McWhirter writes, "Even a skeptic must conclude that American history, with all its violence and contingency, has progressed in extraordinary ways regarding race relations." That the Red Summer was a fundamental starter of that progress is the book's surprising and inescapable conclusion.
Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America OverviewA narrative history of America's deadliest episode of race riots and lynchingsAfter World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality. Black soldiers believed their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them rights they had been promised since the close of the Civil War.Instead, an unprecedented wave of anti-black riots and lynchings swept the country for eight months. From April to November of 1919, the racial unrest rolled across the South into the North and the Midwest, even to the nation's capital. Millions of lives were disrupted, and hundreds of lives were lost. Blacks responded by fighting back with an intensity and determination never seen before. Red Summer is the first narrative history written about this epic encounter. Focusing on the worst riots and lynchings—including those in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Charleston, Omaha and Knoxville—Cameron McWhirter chronicles the mayhem, while also exploring the first stirrings of a civil rights movement that would transform American society forty years later.

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Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Standard Volume Review

Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Standard Volume
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Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Standard Volume ReviewThis is an excellent compendium of the major subject areas
taught in a business law course. The book has a fair coverage
of legal rights, government regulatory processes,contracts,
personal property, sales, commercial paper, creditor rights,
agency and employment, partnerships, corporations, real property,
the Uniform Commercial Code and an index. The work presents
typical case studies utilizing the classic factual patterns and
the decision. There are important case studies contained
for student homework assignments and class participation.
The work is edited by some important CPA Review giants like
Dr. Fox -famous for his rendition of the CPA law review.
It is a worthy purchase for anyone studying business law or
sitting for the CPA Examination.
The work is easy to read considering the complexity of some
of the topics discussed. i.e. HDC (holder in due course)
The grammar and sentence structure are very readable for students.Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Standard Volume OverviewIn addition to preparing you to ace your business law course, ANDERSON'S BUSINESS LAW AND THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT, STANDARD VOLUME, 21st Edition, provides information and resources to assist you in studying for the CPA exam. A briefer version of the #1 summarized case business law text on the market today, this book helps you grasp key legal concepts and principles by reinforcing your understanding through applications and examples of real-world dilemmas, issues, and problems. Current, comprehensive, easy-to-understand and fascinating to read, ANDERSON'S BUSINESS LAW AND THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT will help you prepare you for class and give you all the resources you need to succeed in your business law course.

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Manana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans Review

Manana Forever: Mexico and the Mexicans
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Manana Forever: Mexico and the Mexicans ReviewThis book is the latest work in a pseudo-psychological/cultural genre popularized by Mexican writers who rely mostly on their imaginations and back their interpretations with little or no empirical data. These authors have taken great liberties in speculating that the violent Spanish conquest and subsequent 300-year colonial domination of Mexico left deep, seemingly never-healing wounds in the hearts and minds of Indians and mestizos. Supposedly a culture of victimization emerged among the citizenry, exemplified by the wearing of invisible personality masks to conceal pain, distress, and feelings of inferiority. Unhealthy and self-destructive attitudes and behavioral patterns purportedly became central to the Mexican character, a development that damaged Mexico's prospects for success.
Castañeda continues the tradition of attributing endless negative value orientations to Mexicans as he gives credence to highly-suspect and controversial views that are rejected by most economists and other social scientists. His conclusions cannot be taken seriously because they (1) rest on the extremely shaky supposition that negative personality traits are found throughout Mexico and among all social and economic groups; (2) disregard the fact that traits attributed exclusively to Mexicans are actually universally found throughout the world, especially among peoples who live in economic contexts that manifest dependence, colonialism, and social marginalization; (3) explicitly or implicitly erroneously assume that the prosperity of other countries such as the United States must rest on a national characters imbued with wholly-positive cultural traits, and that, because of prevailing healthy values, the governments of these countries function efficiently and, as a matter of course, promote the common welfare; and (4) confuse cause and effect, assuming that negative economic and politically-related value orientations result in underdevelopment, when in reality it is underdevelopment that gives rise to negative traits.
It is regrettable that a political scientist who should know better has resorted to highly questionable cultural interpretations to explain complex problems that beset Mexico. The Mexican people, and readers in general, are not well served by this book.
Manana Forever: Mexico and the Mexicans OverviewWhy are Mexicans so successful in individual sports, but deficient in team play? Why do Mexicans dislike living in skyscrapers? Why do Mexicans love to see themselves as victims, but also love victims? And why, though the Mexican people traditionally avoid conflict, is there so much violence in a country where many leaders have died by assassination? In this shrewd and fascinating book, the renowned scholar and former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda sheds much light on the puzzling paradoxes of his native country. Here's a nation of 110 million that has an ambivalent and complicated relationship with the United States yet is host to more American expatriates than any country in the world. Its people tend to resent foreigners yet have made the nation a hugely popular tourist destination. Mexican individualism and individual ties to the land reflect a desire to conserve the past and slow the route to uncertain modernity. Castañeda examines the future possibilities for Mexico as it becomes more diverse in its regional identities, socially more homogenous, its character and culture the instruments of change rather than sources of stagnation, its political system more open and democratic. Mañana Forever? is a compelling portrait of a nation at a crossroads.

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Introduction To Christian Theology Review

Introduction To Christian Theology
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Introduction To Christian Theology ReviewBy far the most comrehensive Biblically sound single volume of Theological maxim ever published. This veridical compendium brings the intrasigent revelation of ADONAI down to the terrestrial wight with such ergonomic wisdom, that it is a must for all those seeking a better understanding of what it means to kneel at the Mercy Seat.Introduction To Christian Theology OverviewChristian doctrine for the laity of the church, as well as students in school.Presents the Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion fairly with evidence from the Bible.Cloth.

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The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder Review

The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder
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The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder ReviewNow having read an advanced copy of Louv's new book The Nature Principle, I am moved by his case for bringing nature into our urban centers. Louv is correct that adults need nature too...we need it to weave our affinity for nature together with our day-to-day surroundings. This book is the best overall summary of many different works, and does exceptionally well at revealing the growing body of research around the influence of nature on human health. His findings suggest that a lack of `nature nearby' may be associated with an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, asthma, behavior disorders, depression and a diminished sense of place and community. However, as Louv conveys in his book, he is optimistic the trend can be reversed if we bring nature back into our backyards, neighborhoods, and schools. This book is not simply to be read in passing, but incorporated into our daily experience of life.The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder Overview

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Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady (Modern First Ladies) Review

Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady (Modern First Ladies)
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Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady (Modern First Ladies) ReviewThis book includes a number of anecdotes and facts that were new to me despite the fact that I'd read much about Eleanor Roosevelt before--and all those details were well integrated into a good overview of her life. What I found especially interesting was the author's insight into Mrs. Roosevelt's attitudes towards what might be regarded as women's issues and women's role in society. She was an active advocate for social reforms without overtly challenging what the author describes as "the ideology of separate spheres" for men and women. In short, this book offers some new perspectives on this much-written-about woman.Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady (Modern First Ladies) Overview

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Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s Review

Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s
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Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s ReviewHunter Drohojowska-Philp has long been one of the most reliable and articulate sources of art history in Southern California. Not that her purview is limited to Los Angeles and environs: she has written extensively for the best art journals in the country as well as the books 'Full Bloom: The Art and Life of Georgia O'Keeffe' (the definitive biography of this enigmatic artist) and 'Modernism Rediscovered: The Architectural Photography of Julius Shulman'. There probably is no better or no more reliable art historian about the emergence of the West Coast prominence in American art.
In this fascinating book the author not only interviews or reflects on those artists from the 1960s who made art in somewhat of a visual art wasteland - artists such as Ed Ruscha, Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan, Larry Bell, David Hockney, John Baldessari, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Judy Chicago among others - but she also sets the stage for understanding that particular fermenting period in Los Angeles. She shares both the artistic trends coupled with the growth of galleries and the eventual rise of the major museums of our current time (MOCA, LACMA, Geffen Contemporary, Armand Hammer, Japanese American Museum, etc) as well as the clangorous and notorious atmosphere that could only be described as Los Angeles' gestation phase.
Some of the daring events and artists that she discusses with great elan include the Andy Warhol premiere exhibition, the magical wildness of Frank Gehry, the 'guys' of 'Easy Rider' fame and their influence on both the development and the subsequent important collections of their confreres, and many sidebars of the spirit of the times that resulted in Los Angeles becoming one of the more important epicenters of art in the world. It is a fast and at times noisy ride, but Drohojowska-Philp writes with such infectious style that this book in addition to a fine art history book becomes a memoir for a period that will always be imitated but never reproduced. This book will likely become a best seller! Hunter Drohojowska-Philp shares more secrets and scandals and treasureable information than any book in the recent past. Copiously illustrated! Grady Harp, July 11
Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s OverviewThe extraordinary story of the artists who propelled themselves to international fame in 1960s Los AngelesLos Angeles, 1960: There was no modern art museum and there were few galleries, which is exactly what a number of daring young artists liked about it, among them Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Judy Chicago and John Baldessari. Freedom from an established way of seeing, making, and marketing art fueled their creativity, which in turn inspired the city. Today Los Angeles has four museums dedicated to contemporary art, around one hundred galleries, and thousands of artists. Here, at last, is the book that tells the saga of how the scene came into being, why a prevailing Los Angeles permissiveness, 1960s-style, spawned countless innovations, including Andy Warhol's first exhibition, Marcel Duchamp's first retrospective, Frank Gehry's mind-bending architecture, Rudi Gernreich's topless bathing suit, Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, even the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Doors, and other purveyors of a California style. In the 1960s, Los Angeles was the epicenter of cool.

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Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It Review

Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It
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Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It ReviewIf Michael Pollan changed the way you think about food, let Amy Cortese change the way you think about finance.
Modern finance helps you invest in offshore drilling rigs 10,000 miles away within a matter of seconds but makes it nearly impossible to keep your favorite dive bar or local bakery from being shut down because they can't get the simplest of loans. It greases the wheels to turn your dollars into another Starbucks, but will stand in your way in keeping the corner coffee shop open. It strangles small businesses in their infancy and channels the world's financial resources towards the biggest and most well-connected companies. This senseless perversion of finance is the same reason that the recession shuttered independent store fronts across the country, while their chain-store counterparts never closed and even expanded into the very same empty storefronts, never to close. This fundamental misalignment is addressed head-on by Locavesting, which confronts Big Finance directly, with art and an intelligence that comprehends the big picture of modern finance (and its distortions), and opens the door to the solution: local investment, an option that provides a host of solutions, all ripe for the picking.
By way of background, I worked as a financial professional drafting and polishing financial disclosures for Fortune 500 companies and dabbling in the superstructure of Big Finance and feel like I have a good grounding in the world of finance. To that end, Cortese has clearly done her homework and has synthesized her deep understanding of the financial system to skillfully highlight the pressure points in the system, the bottlenecks preventing a more productive financial system and has clearly put her faculties to work in diagnosing the illness and prescribing the treatment. Yes, there are piles of brilliant books that tell you what went wrong with our financial system and what we should have done - but Locavesting tells us the way forward.
Even her unadorned statistics make for powerful arguments:
- Every dollar spent at a locally-owned business generates three times more direct, local economic activity than a dollar spent at a corporate-owned peer.
- Small businesses make up 99% of all U.S. companies, employ half of all private sector employees and contribute half of private GDP, yet of the $26 trillion held in public securities, not a penny goes to local business.
- Of all of the money that flows through our stock markets, 1 percent goes to productive use and the other 99 percent is trading and speculation.
We recognize that buying products is a vote -- whether commodity corn or sweatshop sneakers. We should equally recognize that an investment dollar is also a vote -- whether it goes to big box retailers and feedlots or your community bookstore and butcher. It is astounding that local finance, such a simple concept, has been so lost in the financial casino that its re-introduction feels like a revolution. We want our food to be local, we buy local to support our communities, we wax nostalgic about the un-defining of our distinctive communities, yet we still funnel all of our money into the hands of a few financial institutions (who, incidentally, recently threw themselves into chaos, took a buzzsaw to our economy and promptly continued on their merry way). Locavesting is a powerful call to re-imagine the meaning of investment and to reconsider what it means to invest -- that a thriving community and the preservation of local identity and independence can itself be a return on investment.
If you know nothing about finance or are a steely-eyed vet of the financial services industry, I would suggest that you take the time to consider the revolutionary (and ironically historical) option of investing locally, where you live. We all have to make choices and Locavesting is an indispensable tool to begin thinking about how to make those choices.Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It OverviewHow individuals and communities can profit from local investing
In the wake of the financial crisis, investors are faced with a stark choice: entrust their hard-earned dollars to the Wall Street casino, or settle for anemic interest rates on savings, bonds, and CDs. Meanwhile, small businesses are being starved for the credit and capital they need to grow. There's got to be a better way.
In Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It, Amy Cortese takes us inside the local investing movement, where solutions to some of the nation's most pressing problems are taking shape. The idea is that, by investing in local businesses, rather than faceless conglomerates, investors can earn profits while building healthy, self-reliant communities.
Introduces you to the ideas and pioneers behind the local investing movement
Profiles the people and communities who are putting their money to work in their own backyards and taking control of their destinies
Explores innovative investment strategies, from community capital and crowdfunding to local stock exchanges

With confidence in Wall Street and the government badly shaken, Americans are looking for alternatives. Local investing offers a way to rebuild our nest eggs, communities, and, just perhaps, our country. Q&A with Author Amy Cortese What is locavesting? Locavesting is a term I came up with to describe the emerging local investing movement. Most of us are familiar with the term locavore, which refers to the growing number of people that try to eat a diet sourced within a 100-mile or so radius. Locavestors are people who want to invest that way. The idea is that you can earn a profit while supporting your community. Why should we invest locally? From an economic perspective, small businesses - which, by definition are mostly locally owned - create more than two out of every three jobs. They also benefit their communities in ways that big corporations do not. Studies have shown that a dollar spent at a locally owned business generates three times more direct economic benefits to the community, measured in wages and local spending, than a dollar spent at a corporate-owned chain. And that gets to an important point. So many of our iconic corporations are no longer connected to any place at all, they are global, they produce in overseas factories, and they employ more people outside the U.S. than within. Local business owners, in contrast, have a stake in their communities - they live there, after all - so they make decisions in a different way than a corporation that is solely interested in maximizing profit. From an investment perspective, local businesses can be quite successful. They're not just mom and pops; they can be established, growing multi-million dollar enterprises. I would also argue that their proximity and familiarity makes them a less risky investment than, say, sinking money into a company halfway around the world whose business you don't understand, or investing in a seemingly safe company like AIG or Lehman Brothers or BP. That said, no one is suggesting that everyone go out and invest all of their money in the local hardware store. But local businesses can be part of a smart diversification strategy. And here's why it's important. These firms - the ones that create jobs and contribute to a vibrant local economy - need capital to grow like any business. But they've been largely abandoned by Wall Street and traditional funding sources. Think about what life would be like without these businesses. So why aren't more people investing locally? Well, it's actually not that easy to do. Our securities laws, which were crafted nearly 80 years ago, make it very difficult for investors who are not super wealthy to put money into private businesses, and for those businesses to reach out to their communities. It's easier for most people to invest in a company half way around the world than one in their own backyard. And that's a shame. But it can be done. I wrote the book to highlight the different ways that people are coming up with to put money into their local businesses. And there is a groundswell of activity in this area.Give me some examples.There is an amazing amount of activity going on across the U.S. and in other countries. Some of my favorite examples are the ad-hoc community capital deals, where residents become investors in a beloved business. In Brooklyn, where I live, two-dozen residents of Fort Greene lent a total of $70,000 to help a new neighborhood bookstore open, and a year later it is thriving. Nine cops in Clare, Michigan pitched in to buy a 111-year old bakery that was about to be shuttered. Instead of another vacancy on their main drag, the new bakery has helped revitalize downtown Clare. In the area of food, Slow Money is a cool organization that is creating new ways of financing sustainable food and agricultural enterprises. There are other models as well. Crowdfunding sites like Kiva and Kickstarter have showed that aggregating small sums from many people can be a successful way to fund a venture. But they are either donations or interest-free loans. Now crowdfunding is being applied to equity and debt investments in businesses that earn profits for investors. Direct public offerings, which are like IPOs but conducted without a Wall Street middleman, allow companies to reach out directly to their most loyal customers and supporters to raise funds. And local stock exchanges are making a comeback. Can you talk more about local stock exchanges? Sure. Many people don't realize that less than 100 years ago, we had dozens of regional stock exchanges across the country that fueled their local economies. Baltimore, Buffalo, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Wheeling, W. Virginia - they all had their own stock markets. That changed, of course, with advances in communications technology. The local exchanges gradually died out or merged. Today, our stock markets are global and efficient, but they facilitate speculation over productive investment. And escalating costs have made it prohibitively expensive for many deserving firms to go public. According to one study (by Grant Thornton), the capital markets are effectively closed to 80% of companies that need them. That's why we're seeing a revival of the local stock exchange idea. There are initiatives underway in places as varied as Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Cleveland, and Toronto to recreate the local exchanges that once served their areas so well.These exchanges would provide an important source of liquidity for many locavesting models. Did you come across anything surprising through the course of researching your book? Well, I've been struck by how strongly people feel about their local businesses, and the yearning out there for an alternative to the winner-take-all ways of Wall Street, for solutions that promote a more inclusive and broadly shared prosperity. Just as every purchase you make is a vote, every investment dollar sends a deeper message about what kind of society we want to live in.And people are starting to get that.

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Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped Review

Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped
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Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped ReviewThis is the first truly comprehensive look at the history of the billion dollar concert ticketing industry, and should deservedly be the first go-to book for anybody ever doing work on the subject.
I worked in the ticket industry for about 13 years, so I've seen most of the changes the author describes. Stub Hub, the now-ubiqutous ticket marketplace, used to call our office years ago and explain what a great idea they had about a national format - and we laughed, and laughed.
Most importantly, though, the stories Budnick and Baron tell happened the way they tell it. I can speak to their credibility, at least as far as their stories on Stub Hub, Tickets Now, and other ticket brokers.
No question they put in every bit of detail they could get their hands on. That is one of the flaws of the book, that they put in so much that it's sometimes difficult to tell what facts are most important, and where the reader's focus should really be. This book takes some work - it's not a beach read. You have to be prepared to pay attention, read things again, and then re-read. There is a lot of business discussion, and dollar figures, and other small details that require a lot of the reader's attention.
A big flaw is the lack of specific ticket prices. Only a few times do the authors actually say what a concert costs, and since the entire book is on the notion that the public is getting 'scalped,' it's hard to see exactly HOW, without seeing the increase in price.
I know that the Rolling Stones, for example, charged $60 for their best field seats for their 1997 tour - and $450 in 2005. Awful, right? But even though the Rolling Stones are a major part of the book, the authors never use any specific ticket prices - they talk about fan club prices, but not tickets. I wish the authors had used more specific price examples to both horrify and educate the reader about the much higher prices they are now paying. And, the impact of the Internet - where ticket broker prices suddenly became public knowledge - isn't highlighted quite well enough.
But as far as what the author's include, it really shows how distant the idea of concerts has gotten from the "old days" when it was about the music. Now, concerts are just one more product that companies provide as a way to get a captive audience that they can then sell other products too. It will make a reader very cynical. The stories about the Grateful Dead's mail-order ticket system, and Pearl Jam's lawsuit (although they aren't the heroes they presented themselves to be) against Ticketmaster are among the most interesting, well-detailed sections.
So, the book is very detailed and infomative, but often hard to follow and requires very close attention. But I can speak to the credibility of at least some of it, so I think the rest of it is equally accurate.Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped OverviewTicket Masters chronicles the as-yet-untold story of the modern concert industry, revealing the origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketmaster, Live Nation and StubHub and the efforts of numerous independent competitors. With over 100 exclusive interviews along with many previously unreleased documents, this character-driven book explores the actions and impact of the iconoclasts guiding these companies while folding in related tales of scalping syndicates, old-school music promoters and would-be Internet tycoons along with the bawdy business decisions of such world-renowned groups as the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and the Rolling Stones.Like no other previous book, Ticket Masters sheds light upon the complex relationships between artists, promoters, ticketing agents and the public. Whether it's Michael Cohl nabbing the Stones from Bill Graham, Ticketmaster's defeat of Pearl Jam or the silent efforts of music superstars to mark up their ticket prices for complicit websites, Budnick and Baron examine the pivotal developments that have shaped the industry as we know it.Yet, Ticket Masters is also a personal story for the millions who purchase tickets, as it addresses the often-asked (but unanswered) questions: How and why do concerts sell out so fast? Why do service fees vary on tickets to the same event? Why isn't Ticketmaster considered an illegal monopoly? Is it worth joining a band's fan club to qualify for a pre-sale? How do ticket broker websites like StubHub get all their tickets? And (deep breath), just how did ticket prices get so high, anyway?

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Pujols: More Than the Game Review

Pujols: More Than the Game
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Pujols: More Than the Game ReviewI am a baseball fan for the sake of baseball, not too interested in the big names (or salaries) that so often accompany winning teams. I have attended more baseball games than I can count, and as it turns out, probably watched my brother play baseball against Albert Pujols in high school (just didn't realize what he would become!).
While this book advertised Pujols's faith in God as the key component to his life, I was skeptical that it would pan out. (Like most, I'm pretty weary of the constant attention paid to "celebrity" athletes, actors, and the like.) But by page 6, when the authors are describing Pujols's performance during a "Buddy Day" game, I had tears in my eyes, and I knew that he was serious.
The book is heavy on sports action and stats; it is also heavy on faith. (As the book is published by Thomas Nelson, I would expect the second.) It is also immensely readable. I snuggled up on the couch the night the book arrived in the mail, and finished it in a single sitting.
The book should appeal to any true baseball fan, Pujols fan, and young athletes hoping to "make it big" while maintaining a focus on and relationship with God. It is reassuring to hear an athlete speak so clearly about his faith.
[Please note, while it did not affect my review of this book, I received this book for review purposes at no charge from BookSneeze.com.]Pujols: More Than the Game OverviewAfter a decade starring for the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols is already compared with names in the highest reaches of baseball's pantheon: Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Mays.Authors Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth spare no tale of this growing baseball legend, all the while accentuating "the unseen hand of divine providence" that has shaped the man Albert Pujols has become.From the foreword by Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated: How does Pujols find ways to keep getting better? Some of the secrets are in this fine book by Lamb and Ellsworth.MikeHuckabee, 44th Governor of Arkansas:One thing about Pujols--he matches in his personal life the excellence that hedemonstrates on the diamond. You will love this book and will love Pujols ifyou don't already. You may never love the Cards like I do, but there's hope foryou!TommyHerr, St. LouisCardinals' 2nd baseman, 1979-1988: As a part of the great tradition of St.Louis Cardinals baseball, it is very gratifying to me to see a man of Albert'scharacter enjoy the success that he has achieved. His dedication to his craftand to God makes him the ultimate Hall of Famer.DerrickGoold, baseball writer for the St.Louis Post-Dispatch: Lamb and Ellsworthpeek behind the box scores, scrape beneath the statistics, and illuminate notjust what drives Pujols in the batter's box, but what inspires him beyond it.FrankPastore, former pitcher for Reds and Twins: Ellsworth and Lamb do a greatjob exposing the wonderful man beneath the uniform. Even if you're not abaseball fan, you can't help but fall in love with this quality guy.MarvinOlasky, Editor-in-chief, World: ...lucidly describes both theseason-by-season baseball exploits of Pujols and the impact he's having on somelives for eternity.FLAME,hip-hop artist: You will walk away from this book encouraged in your faithas you read of Pujols' steadfast commitment to God in the midst of obstacles.LesSteckel, veteran NFL coach and Pres./CEO, Fellowship of Christian Athletes:... delivers a home run in this fascinating and well-documented story of ayoung boy who began playing baseball using milk cartons for baseball gloves andnow uses his platform as baseball's greatest player to proclaim the joy andstrength he receives in walking with the Lord.

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Grand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City Review

Grand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City
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Grand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City ReviewThis was not what we thought it would be, but it had other attributes that make it a good book. I was looking for more photos, more splash -- and was inititally disappointed. Then as I explored it (there are great photos) and realized the last half of the book gives the maker's marks and a history, even if brief, of SO MANY small and large companies -- we realized it is a find we will use again and again. A good reference book for dealers and designers; not a coffee table bookGrand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City OverviewGrand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City is the first major history to be published about the place that once crowned itself "The Paris of Furniture Design."Over 200 photos illustrate the lively text by Christian G. Carron, curator of one of the nation's largest furniture collections.The story begins in the 1830's with the region's first cabinetmakers, and covers designs from Victorian and Modern through Reform and Revival to the high-tech office furniture of the late twentieth century.Delving deeper than forms and ornamentation, this volume includes anecdotes and insights from four of the most knowledgeable experts on the Grand Rapids furniture industry.The detailed manufactures directory lists more than 800 West Michigan furniture makers past and present, including company names, locations, designers, and product descriptions.Never-before-published hints for identifying Grand Rapids furniture complement more than 400 maker's marks and labels, to make this an important resource for every reference shelf.

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The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve Review

The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve
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The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve ReviewThere are people on the national scene who think that that giving kids a head start on school is a bad idea. They should be made to read Peg Tyre's "The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve." They won't, of course, but if you have young children or have children who have young children, I hope you will --- it's a chatty, non-theoretical story of how our schools got to be testing-machines-so-the-states-get-federal-education-money and how, despite that, you can help your offspring acquire some book learning.

As Tyre tells it, early childhood education is a recent phenomenon. In the 1830s, an influential education warned that the "mental excitement" would over-stimulate children. In l930, only .09 per cent of young children attended nursery school. As late as the 1950s, only 16 per cent left their homes for school experiences.

It's now generally agreed that, as Tyre writes, "the central building blocks of literacy must be laid down before kindergarten." Interestingly, that means talking to kids --- and having kids talk back. A four-year-old from a family of involved, professional parents has heard 45 million words. A working class kid: 26 million words. A welfare kid: 13 million. (Thanks to handheld devices, this is changing. And not for the better. So if you're texting away while your kid tries to tell you something certain to bore you --- put the thing down!!!)

What's more important --- a good teacher or a small class? Are audiobooks ok? Why are Asian kids such high-achievers? (Answer: It's not because they're smarter.) How much time in a school day is actually devoted to learning? Does recess matter? Why is education so much better in South Korea and Finland? "The Good School" will tell all.

Peg Tyre is a mother. (Her last book, The Trouble With Boys, is a smart blend of research and hard-won personal knowledge.) She's not a professional educator. She's as much of a resource as a great librarian or that teacher you'll never forget. Use her.
The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve OverviewAward-winning education journalist Peg Tyre mines up-to-the-minute research to equip parents with the tools and knowledge necessary to get their children the best education possibleWe all know that the quality of education served up to our children in U.S. schools ranges from outstanding to shockingly inadequate. How can parents tell the difference? And how do they make sure their kids get what's best? Even the most involved and informed parents can feel overwhelmed and confused when making important decisions about their child's education. And the scary truth is that evaluating a school based on test scores and college admissions data is like selecting a car based on the color of its paint. Synthesizing cutting-edge research and firsthand reporting, Peg Tyre offers parents far smarter and more sophisticated ways to assess a classroom and decide if the school and the teacher have the right stuff. Passionate and persuasive, The Good School empowers parents to make sense of headlines; constructively engage teachers, administrators, and school boards; and figure out the best option for their child—be that a local public school, a magnet program, a charter school, homeschooling, parochial, or private.

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The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water Review

The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water
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The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water ReviewAs an editor in the pulp and paper industry, I'm aware of what our own industry is doing to use less water and recycle and reuse the water that it does use. But this book has given me a much broader view of the water issue thanks to Mr. Fishman's clever writing, excellent research, and fascinating stories drawn from his global travels. He has achieved the seemingly impossible by writing an entire book about the single topic of water, and making it fascinating reading. I'll never look at or think about water the same way again, and I've already found myself looking for little ways in which I can reduce my use of this precious resource.
This should be required reading for everyone.
Glenn Ostle
Editorial Director/Associate Publisher
Paper360 magazineThe Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water Overview

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The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth Review

The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth
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The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth ReviewThe author, Matthew Algeo, a reporter for public radio, and probably not well known in historian/academic circles, and not a Medical Doctor, has yet, brought us a thoroughly researched and noteworthy book about Grover Cleveland's secret oral surgery. I especially liked this book because the author, a reporter, has written about another reporter (E.J. Edwards) who broke the story about Grover Cleveland's surgery, but was castigated by other reporters and publishers, until the lead Doctor, W.W. Keen, decided to write the definitive medical story himself, and contacted that reporter, who had had his reputation previously ruined. Algeo also gives excellent background of the historical period, including the desperate economic times, the labor and union movement, and the Silver vs. Gold standard controversy. This provides an excellent contextual background for the author's discussion of the oral surgery, and why Cleveland wanted it kept secret.
As an academic, I wished the author had included footnotes for the voluminous quotes made throughout the book. But the Acknowledgements section shows that Mr. Algeo has done his homework on this well-researched book. The only other drawback was the advertisement pages following the Index, somewhat reminiscent of the old Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books of the 20th century, which included like-advertisements about forth-coming books in the series. In this case, Algeo has included 5 1/2 pages of advertisement for his other noteworthy book, "Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure." He has even included an excerpt from the Truman book. While I commend the author for the Truman book, it is a distraction from the Cleveland work. Otherwise, the Cleveland book is filled with pictures, diagrams, new information about the oral surgery, it's result, and the subsequent forensic testing of the material which was removed from his mouth. I especially appreciated Algeo's full treatment of what happened to the principal characters in the case. A page-turner which I highly recommend.
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth OverviewOn July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland vanished. He boarded a friend's yacht, sailed into the calm blue waters of Long Island Sound, and--poof!--disappeared. He would not be heard from again for five days. What happened during those five days, and in the days and weeks that followed, was so incredible that, even when the truth was finally revealed, many Americans simply would not believe it.
The President Is a Sick Man details an extraordinary but almost unknown chapter in American history: Grover Cleveland's secret cancer surgery and the brazen political cover-up by a politician whose most memorable quote was "Tell the truth." When an enterprising reporter named E. J. Edwards exposed the secret operation, Cleveland denied it. The public believed the "Honest President," and Edwards was dismissed as "a disgrace to journalism." The facts concerning the disappearance of Grover Cleveland that summer were so well concealed that even more than a century later a full and fair account has never been published. Until now.

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Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America Review

Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America
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Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America ReviewFinally, an environmental book that offers a clear alternative to misty-eyed, ain't-that-wondrous, nature books and apocalyptic, end-of-the-world environmental wake-up calls. As well laid-out as a textbook, it describes five regions of the country in various stages of environmental decay, the pragmatic steps taken to restore them, the political forces at play, and the actual results of the efforts.
Non-ideological in tone, the book draws the reader into each situation by describing the environmental stakes, but the real payoff is the fascinating details about how major environmental advances are actually put together. One of the surprises for this reviewer is the ambivalent role played by environmental groups, who appear often as antagonists to the final deal; another was the minimal amount of criticism of the current administration, with even that amount given with more sorrow than venom. But perhaps I should have expected that; the author is too busy convincing us of his vision of ecosystem management using Federal land-use policy to be distracted by cheap score-settling. And lest phrases like "Federal land-use policy" make this book sound like a think-tank report, the sweeping descriptions of our American lands and how we use them were gorgeous, and reminiscent of the best writings of Aldo Leopold.
There were a few topics I wish the author could have covered. His book illustrates again and again the importance of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in motivating land-use agreements; more discussion of the growing property rights movement and its attempts to change the ESA would have been topical. And given the ambivalent role played by environment groups, discussion of the best and worst of them, and how they could better achieve their goals, would have been useful. But overall, it was a great and refreshing read; it's about time for an environmental book to offer us, not just a tour of the troubles, but a clear and compelling path to get beyond them.Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America Overview
In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in.

We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world--or hope that a patchwork of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development.

In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. This is no call for developing a new federal bureaucracy; Babbitt shows instead how much can be--and has been--done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place.

Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal- state partnerships and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country.

In this inspiring and informative book, Babbitt offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.


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Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale Review

Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale
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Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale ReviewFor me this was a very exciting and entertaining read. Not only is it very often laugh out loud funny at Buddy's sense of humor, it also takes you inside his very exciting and eventful life. You learn so much from this book about insider politics and politicians both good and bad along the way. People I work with want to read this book simply from hearing me laugh out loud so often while reading it.
Over the years I watched the news, read the papers, read the books, and listened to talk radio all hammer the Mayor relentlessly and I always wanted to hear the other side of the argument. Something just never seemed to add up to me. There always seemed to be inconsistencies in the reporting as if they all had a vendetta against him or some sort of jealousy or ulterior motive. Certain judges rulings in the court case perplexed me as so very unfair and seriously biased. FINALLY you get to hear the other side of it, and it's revealed in a very witty and interesting story.
I never lived in Providence but followed Buddy's life through the media and watched firsthand the transformation of the city from the time I was a teenager, clubbing and taking advantage of its nightlife, up until today, over 30 years later. Arguably the result of Buddy's vision and tenacious resourcefulness the city today bares no resemblance to the dull gray lifeless place it used to be. In his book he'll let you in on the iron will and determination it took to make this transformation happen. I loved this book, it was so much fun to read.Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale Overview

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