Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (08 May, 2001)
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Editorial Review

Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." --Sumi Hahn ... Read more

Reviews (416)

few tips
few tips about this book

first of all it is a great book (hilarious) but not profoundly funny just moist with stab in the belly punches to make you laugh. but you get snippets of the restaurant life which is really an insider's view. The biggest suggestion is that if you are going for a 5 hours flight then buy this book and take it. You will finish it in 5 hours and the plane journey will be worth.
To read this book you do not need idea of NY restaurants and food culture. So you do not need that dictionary that we use for James Joyce.
The problem of the book is the basic construction of the idea - there is none. It is more or less a series of information with untuned humor. Too much profanity sometimes bothered me so what - as a whole a quite entertaining book about the insides and entrails of the kitchen at New York city

Macho, macho chef
This is a fascinating, alternately hilarious and appalling account of one chef's career in the restaurant buisness.Bourdain, now the Executive Chefat Les Halles in New York, regales the reader witha behind-the-scenes look at the kitchens of"gourmet" restaurants he has worked and the characters he has known.To call his account(and his fellow workers) "colorful" is an understatement.

There is much to like in this book.Occasional insights into why ordering fish on Monday is not such a good idea (it's left over from Thursday's delivery) andthe logistics of running a major restaurant are fascinating.Also, the anecdotes about management style and successful vs. unsuccessful restaurants make for interesting reading.Bourdaindemolishesthe mystique ofcooking as an art to be mastered by only a few.From his perspective, cooking is a craft that can be learned through grit, endurance, and hard knocks.As he points out, the mainstays of his and many other kitchens are immigrants from Ecuador, Mexico, Bengal and elsewhere who are taught how to recreate consistently and under pressure dishes as directed by the chef.Restaurant work is not easy, and only the strong survive. It's a war out there--and the kitchen is the combat zone.

That said, "Kitchen Confidential" is an uneven book that should have had a good editing.The individual chapters have the feel of freestanding pieces, and some of their content is repetitious. Much of the jargon and some of the details of how a kitchen is organized aren't explained until late in the book, even though he's been referring to them from the beginning..By the time he finally does explain the slang and the esoteric details, the astute reader has already figured it out.

My major complaint about the book, however, is that the book seems to be as much about the author and his excesses as about the places he's worked.Bourdain was aheavy-duty heroin addict and coke sniffer during the 70s and 80s,and heconjures upthe craziness of the period with zest.He's always worked in kitchens where the culture was testosterone-drenched and the language beyond macho. Although I didn't find the coarseness particularly shocking considering the primarily male crew and the amount of pressure under which they work, it did get a little wearisome after awhile.Towards the end of the book, Bourdaingives examples of chefs and kitchens with entirely different ways of doing things.As he himself admits, his testosterone-drenched kitchens may be as much an offshoot of his own personality and experiences as restaurant culture itself.In the end, Bourdain comes across as a kind of kooky romantic--the kitchen staff is his family, albeit a dysfunctional one, and he loves their quirks and idiosyncrasies, even (and maybe especially) when they veer off into the criminal.

Overall, I can't say I disliked this book--in fact I enjoyed parts of it immensely--but Bourdain's "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" attitude began to lose its appeal toward the end.This is quick, revealingand at times funny read, but take it with a grain of salt (fleur de sel of course). 3.75 stars.

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll (and Food too)
For all those wannabe chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, or anyone involved or wanting to be involved in the restaurant business, please read this book. Anthony Bourdain takes you through a no nonsense tour of 27 years of life experience in the restaurant underworld. In his very peculiar style he depicts in detail the cruel reality of life in a professional kitchen, and the love for food that keeps him going in this very difficult career. This book is an eye-opener, a peek -through the hole - experience, a not to be missed read by anyone ever involved seriously with food. I personally loved it, but some may not. You would have to have the food "thing" in your veins to love this one. ... Read more

Isbn: 0060934913
Subjects:  1. Beverages - Wine & Spirits    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Bourdain, Anthony    6. Cooking    7. Cooking / Wine    8. Cooks    9. Essays    10. General    11. New York    12. New York (N.Y.)    13. New York (State)    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Shutterbabe : Adventures in Love and War
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (08 January, 2002)
list price: $13.95 -- our price: $11.16
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Reviews (75)

This is Feminisim?
I knew it. The title should have warned me. . . .I don't mind the autor talking about her sex life interwoven with her (incredibly brief) photojournalism gig. Good for her, right? It was really inspiring at first. But then about half way through I realized. . . .what self obssesion, what compelete lack of understanding- this women is incredibly privlaged white girl who travels to war torn countries and can find nothing to write about but her sex life? Then, just as her career is taking off, she decideds to stay at home and be full time mommy? Well, a harvard educated, privlaged mommy, who lives on the upper west side w/ a full time brown skinned nanny. IT'S INSULTING TO ME AS A WOMEN AND AS A MINORITY. It's the 21st century -how about a women who sticks it out, with no regrets? How about a Christine Amanpour? Why doesn't her husband stay home, and she continue her career? Plenty of women have done just that. She's really lucky to have that choice, and the oppurtunities she gave up. . . . it's sort of sad. Why do the people who publish the books continue to promote this myth- women can either have a fufilling home life or a great carrear, but not both? I reccomend this book for an exciting, vacation read- but not much else.

Honesty sells
A truly brave and honest first-person account of this woman's life as a photojournalist. The unique way she wove her story through the lenses of her lovers was a stroke of brilliance. And she has guts to say war is an adrenalin rush for journalists of all ilk and also is able to talk about men in a way that is refreshing and honest. This total warts and all account of a life lived without a lot of B.S. yet without resorting to becoming a jerk is truly a gem.

More exciting than enlightening
Shutterbabe is a quick and easy read. The prose is light and crisp--just right for those marathon sessions when you want to burn through a book in a day and a half. With considerable doses of bullets, blood and sex, 'Shutterbabe' is more exciting than enlightening. A page turner as Kogan relives her fast-paced life as a globe-trotting photojournalist and recommended for 20-somethings struggling to make the right early-career choices.
... Read more

Isbn: 0375758682
Sales Rank: 142738
Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Kogan, Deborah Copaken    7. News photographers    8. Photojournalism    9. United States    10. War photographers    11. Women    12. Women photographers    13. Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers    14. Reading Group Guide   

Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man
by Perennial
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 October, 2000)
list price: $16.00 -- our price: $10.88
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Editorial Review

Susan Faludi, author of the feminist bestseller Backlash, has done it again with an exhaustive report on the betrayals felt by working men throughout the United States. American men are angry and discontented, she argues in Stiffed, because their sense of what it is to be a man has been destroyed by everything from corporate downsizing and the shrinking military of the post cold war era to the increase in local sports teams leaving town. Whether she's interviewing the teenage male members of Southern California's infamous Spur Posse (who collected "points" for every female they had sex with), Cleveland football fans shaken by the departure of the Browns football team, militia movement activists, or Sylvester Stallone, Faludi seems stuck on the idea that American men today are man-boys, unable to completely grow up because they never received the nurturing they needed, and now constantly disappointed by life. Yet while many of the men Faludi interviews have real problems--bad luck and sad, troubled lives--somehow Stiffed still seems a bit whiny. Faludi's "travels through a postwar male realm" are a fascinating slice of male American life "under siege" at the end of the 20th century, even if she does finally leave us like the men she talked to--still wondering just what went wrong. --Linda Killian ... Read more

Reviews (112)

A moving analysis of masculine angst and masculine decadence
Some books surprise you. You would not have expected an analysis of men that is objective, critical, and sympathetic at the same time from one author.

What is striking about this book is both its honest sense of inquiry and its balance. Faludi, clearly knows and acknowledges the decadence of men. As a feminist and the author of Backlash, where she critiqued the power-maintaining reactions of men, she is quite correct in identifying how and why men go wrong. Yet hers is a very empathatic and synmpathetic inquiry. And no critique of masculinity has tried to understand what masculinity is, what is wrong about it and what is right about it, as well, as this one.

Men may be too self-justificatory or too self-pitying, if they were to analyze their own predicament. Those who believe that all ill stems from the masculine approach to life can hardly understand men either. Only an objective outsider could have come up with this deeply moving picture.

This book analyzes the disintegration of the American man and discuses it in the context of American Post-War History. But much of what it analyzes and describes holds true even in a very different context like that of India.

Vietnam may be a very American wound, but corporatization, consumerism, the culture of ornamentalism, cosmetics, industrial crises, rising unemployment levels etc., make both men and women anywhere in the world today weaker than they were a few decades ago.

Unfortunately, Faludi dealt with Backlash and Stiffed as two books rather than as one. A synthetic reading of both side-by-side would perhaps allow men and women to learn how to break free from the enslaving demons of society and culture and re-define their selves and their relationships, based on existential, political and humanitarian ideals.

Just read it.....not the reviews
I put off reading this book so long because I listened too much to the reviews. Actually, it was a review by Katha Pollitt, a writer I admire immensely that precipitated my reading of the book... my thanks be to her for that.

There is so much written about this book on this site that it often obscures the true value of the book. Most of the negative reviews are prickly and leave one wondering if the reviewer has read the book. Much of the focus of the anti reviews seem to be self defensive at best and often anti-feminist and oftentimes an excuse to mount their particular hobby horse of women being the reason for all bad things.

This is a valuable, even-handed book. Faludi delineates the quandary of the modern man with sensitivity and insight, just as many first generation feminist writers did the same for women. I won't go into the meat of the book as so many of the other reviewers, both pro and con, have done this. It is perhaps overlong but the message is so important this is a trivial caveat.

An important book and highly recommended.

Excellent!!!
I was very impressed with Susan's fair and balanced portrayal of men being held accountable by women for power they never had, especially the children of the WWII veterans and subsequent generations. It shows how men feel punished(ands rightfully so) by women on a number of levels. What Susan does is shed great insight from firsthand interviews and background research on how all this has been unfair to men and resulted bitterness towards women.

Though a totally solid solution is absent, this will go a lonngggg way to explaining why the war between men and women in society began and is still taking place to the unhappiness and detriment of both. ... Read more

Isbn: 0380720450
Subjects:  1. Feminism & Feminist Theory    2. Gender Studies    3. Masculinity    4. Men    5. Men's Studies - Masculinity    6. Psychology    7. Social conditions    8. Sociology    9. United States    10. Reading Group Guide   

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by Metropolitan Books
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (08 May, 2001)
list price: $23.00 -- our price: $15.64
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Editorial Review

Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.

As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.

So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed ... Read more

Reviews (798)

Now you know. (more)
Finally someone speaks up as to the disgusting conditions the lower class have to put up with in the work place, and the inadequate sums they are paid.
It's like this in EVERY job hovering around the minimum wage mark.
The treatment by superiors is maddening and humiliating.
It is exhausting to go through this existance.I'm glad for the author that she had a way out after her research was all finished up.
Most of us don't.
There's something wrong in this country.We have the largest income gap of any industrialized nation in the world.The only thing that keeps the poor from revolting is that, like the author alludes to, most believe in the "promise" of a better future.They've been fed the line that "if you just work hard everything will turn out all right"....I don't think a better line of propaganda exists in this life.(Which is probably so effective because it wasn't originally intended as such.At one time it was actually true, or so I'm told)It keeps the have-not's docile.For a few more generations at least.
Read the book and maybe you'll understand why your waitresses eye twitches when you throw a hissy over an overcooked steak.Or why you just don't always get "service with a smile":The employee helping you hates his job and subsequently; you.(Logical or not.It's an anger induced by a hopeless situation, and your presence and expectations only exacerbate the issue.)So next time you think about complaining to management because the guy in the polo shirt "didn't act very friendly", just remember:Paroxysms of rage aren't restricted only to Postal workers.

Memory Lane
I personally know how accurate Mrs./Ms. Ehrenreich is! I was homeless after losing an average paying job in New England and eventually had to settle at a major retailer NOT Walmart!

More affluent people might be inclined to blame me 100% for my experiences,butI tried everything, including proposals for free work in exchange for skills upgrades and positive references and there were no takers. I went to college for 20 years to get a degree.

I have found in my work experience that there is a grand illusion of an abundance of good jobs when in fact good,decent jobs are very scarce and most of us have to settle for jobs essentially run by some benevolent but most NOT,dictatorships operating as corporations. For me, America has not been ripe with opportunity,rather 1-step from being homeless nearly my whole working life.After 20 years of working several simultaneous jobs,sometimes up to 4(2 FT/2 PT)to pay for school and "get ahead", the end result is a retail job working for a company that blasts the airways with wholesome,friendly,warm imagery and happy,healthy employees who look taken care of. The reality is I have not had health insurance for a decade, have little or no ability to increase income through such vehicles as overtime and find an abundance of employers who don't know me but judge me and will not offer me an opportunity to help them and myself. Where were all the opportunities and jobs when i needed it? Would any of the personnel managers who dutifully sent me a rejection letter feel bad if they knew i became homeless when all I asked for was a job with a liveable wage?

A Broader Horizon
Nickel and Dimed is the insightful product of Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment in journalism.She took it upon herself to set out and try to live on minimum wage (just slightly more than), in order to gain first hand knowledge about plight of the poor. For a year, Ehrenreich gave up her comfortable, established, upper-crust life, and ventured into three different regions of the country to try her hand as an unskilled laborer. Cushioned only by her car, laptop, and $1000 start-up allowance per move, she headed for Key West, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis. On her journey, three guidelines Ehrenreich set for herself were that she not rely on her higher education, never become homeless, and always take the highest-paying job available. She ended up working various stints from waitressing to housekeeping to retail at Wal-Mart.

Through her own experiences, Ehrenreich attempts to paint an honest picture of the lives of the working poor. Although it's a great challenge to be able to do this in a relatively short time (and with "emergency funds" to fall back on), she does get her message across. She concludes that it's next to impossible to survive on minimum wage. At times having to take on two jobs at once, imagine having to provide for a family in addition to taking care yourself. A serious impediment too is that these workers often can't afford medical coverage.

As Ehrenreich experienced first hand, living a day-to-day existence puts incredible strain on both the mind and body (not to mention spirit), which is thoroughly exhausting, even if you're "lucky" enough to have a "sit-down" job. This and other points in the book help dispel misconceptions that the poor are lazy and that they can always find a better job. However, as Ehrenreich discovered, even "unskilled" work, requires some set of skills, and not everyone has them.

I think this is a book that everyone will benefit from. It's a quick and easy read. Ehrenreich's humor always comes through (I love the parrot), keeping this serious subject from becoming too weighty. It definitely sheds light on a realm that largely goes unnoticed and unappreciated, in the shadows of society. We could all use a healthy dose of humble-medicine.

... Read more

Isbn: 0805063889
Subjects:  1. Government - U.S. Government    2. Labor    3. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    4. Minimum wage    5. Politics - Current Events    6. Poverty    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Social Theory    10. United States    11. Unskilled Occupations    12. Unskilled labor    13. Wages    14. Working poor    15. Political Science / Economic Conditions   

True Grip 88439446Insulated Gloves, Large
by True Grip
Average Customer Review:
Tools & Hardware
list price: $34.96 -- our price: $12.99
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Editorial Review

If you're looking for a work glove that's rugged and warm, yet flexible enough to allow you to do your job effectively, give the insulated True Grip glove a try. The True Grip is designed to withstand the rigors of the work site, with added reinforcement where you need it most. Special insulation makes the True Grip warm, without making it bulky, and a solid grip means you don't have to worry about tools slipping out of your hands while you're wearing these gloves. --Carl Thress ... Read more

Features

• Secure adjustable cuffs
• Fully insulated for cool weather performance
• Reinforced material at wear points with tough Kevlar patches
• Absorbent terry cloth on back of thumb for wiping brow
• Machine-washable material

Reviews (18)

Work ? Gloves
Nice fit and style.
I was pleased until I wore them to work.
After 1 day the seams on the fingers were blown out in 2 places.
Bad/lightweight stitching.
If I'd worn them for a week they'd been a safety hazard with shredds hanging.
And I was just handling wood frame stock.
Not tuff enough for everyday use.
I returned mine.

don't buy
I Live in Michigan and it gets pretty cold. I run a rough framing crew, so I put them to the real test.These gloves are a great idea, but take them back to the drawing board.The gloves fell apart after I used them for two weeks.I would not tell anyone who works in real conditions, to get a part.

Poor Quality, ill fitting
I'm a carpenter in Michigan. I need a glove that allows me to pick up a nail and manipulate it, and keep my hands warm. The reinforcing patches on the finger tips are stiff and restrictive. Also the stitching began to unravel after one day on the job. The only good thing I can say is that they are warm, except the area on the back where they leave your skin exposed. You would be better off buying two pairs of mechanics gloves for the price, and keep one pair warmed up. ... Read more

Asin: B00005RKNT
Subjects:  1. Safety Equipment    2. Gloves    3. Work Wear    4. Clothing    5. Landscaping Tools    6. Clothing & Gear   

Essence
by Lost Highway
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (05 June, 2001)
list price: $13.98 -- our price: $9.99
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Editorial Review

Few artists in recent memory have been able to wring more from less than Lucinda Williams. The hauntingly beautiful, wistful, and often breathtaking Essence is another case in point of how far raw emotion and honesty can carry an artist. Williams's singing is at its paralyzing best throughout 11 bare originals, an incredibly affecting vocal performance by a woman who was not blessed with exceptional tone, range, or pitch. Throughout, her voice is incredibly naked, vulnerable, and wrought with feeling. "Blue" and "Broken Butterflies" are gorgeous anti-lullabies whose simple melodies belie their poignant ruminations. The title track is a sultry and susceptible sex-as-drug come-on while "Reason to Cry" has all the hallmarks of a classic country lament. The only departure from the subdued mood is "Get Right with God," a rousing gospel tune that practically begs for salvation through punishment and is the rare acknowledgement of a world beyond Williams's own fears and desires. More meditative than the personal narratives found on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence is ultimately more powerful. Williams wallows in sorrow and weakness, and the result is moving and disarming. --Marc Greilsamer ... Read more

Reviews (168)

Gonna have to steal your love...
Considering the masterpieces that bookend it, Essence should look like the giant failure of Lucinda Williams's career - it's often inconsistent, features some of her weakest songs ("Reason to Cry" especially), and gravely misses the grand cohesion that makes Car Wheels and World Without Tears the accomplishments they are.The album, though, is something pricklier, and, ultimately, nearly as rewarding as those records.She pares down her production and, for maybe the first time, allows lyrics and poetry guide her wherever they may take her.That leads to the proof that Lucinda's without a doubt the greatest songwriter of the generation - "I Envy The Wind" and "Blue" take you to the darkest places of interpersonal torment and set up camp, letting every tremor of voice and phrase reveal more humanity than you'd ever think possible.It's a weaker album, to be sure, but with material this powerful, it's a glorious step back.

Lucinda Williams is cookin'. . .
Like "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," this CD takes us on a journey, slowly but definitely surely... these are more road songs, to me, while they may not reference highways and byways. Halfway thru - or maybe later - we are invited into a Bob Marley-type trance, swaying back and forth to Williams' drunken lyrics... but mostly, this is a low-key, slow-burning simmer of great strength and spice. Just keeps us hot - doesn't try to cook us, boil us or stir us. Lucinda lets us be hot. Go for it.

Sweet Alt-Country at its best
"Essence" is a little slow filled with sweet Alt-Country ballads, pure and essential.
This CD highlights Lucinda's edgy voice and of course her superb songwriting. From the first song "Lonely Girls" to "Envy the Wind" and onward through various songs, the mood stays pretty much the same and once you arrive at "Bus to Baton Rouge" -- a song I once listened to some 20 times in a row -- you realize that you've just listened to some of the best Alt-Country creations out there. Anyway, it makes sense to listen to the album several times as I have listened to it at least 50-60 times by now and you always discover something new: a slide/steel or dobro guitar here and there and just another touch of emotion in that part. It's an excellent CD! ... Read more

Asin: B00005B8GS
Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Alternative Country-Rock    3. Alternative Folk    4. Americana    5. Contemporary Folk    6. Folk-Rock    7. Pop    8. Rock    9. Singer/Songwriter   

The Mansion on the Hill : Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (31 March, 1998)
list price: $15.95 -- our price: $10.85
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Editorial Review

If you wanted to write the definitive history of rock music, you'd need three things: a deep appreciation of the music, an understanding of business, and a journalist's skills and instincts. Fred Goodman has all three, and The Mansion on the Hill is a must-read for anyone interested in how a counter-cultural phenomenon with moral overtones became--in a mere thirty years--a multibillion-dollar business. Goodman, a former editor at Rolling Stone, traces the arc of this weird transformation by focusing principally on the stories of a handful of key artists and their managers--Bob Dylan and Albert Grossman, Neil Young and David Geffen, and Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau--but the book is richly populated with others, famous and not-so-famous. Goodman makes good use of his extensive research (he conducted 200 interviews over three years), and admirably balances reportorial analysis with a certain passion for the values that rock music once stood for--and sometimes still does. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

How Rock n' Roll Became Big Business -Should we revolt?
I found this book fascinating - a concise history of the growth of rock from the folk era to Bruce Springsteen.I remember seeing Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor and many others on their first concert tours through Detroit. Sure we loved their music and counter-culture sensibilities; it was the end of the sixties. We loved local hero Bob Seger too and hoped he would make it big someday. He did. "Like a Rock!"

Should we blame David Geffin and other businessmen for enjoying music, recognizing talent, nurturing it, and marketing it to reach a wider, generationally-Woodstock targeted audience?I think not. Business is an art too, taking risks, making investments, helping products find customers. Most artists (except, maybe Dylan according to Goodman) don't want to be bothered with the business side of things but discovered they had to be. Is that so wrong?Heck, even Jerry Garcia has a line of neckties out. Does it matter if Cher is an artist or a product. Perhaps, the blurring of that distinction bothers some people more than others. After all, Kurt Cobain took his artistic integrity to the grave.

Rolling Stone magazine has had great articles on how the Rolling Stones and other groups mount tours using a 5-year business plan. Mick didn't go to the London School of Economics for nothing. The Stones develop a business plan for investors and execute it to the tee. Guess what, you don't have to buy concert tickets if you think that's selling out.They're making a living, a very profitable one at that.

But, think of the sacrifices that artists make - subjecting themselves to long, lonely road trips, the ravages of drugs and alcohol, and hot sex with groupies. It's a hard knock life, just watch VH1's "Behind the Music."Would you trade your nice suburban home, your SUV, wife, and kids for all that grief?

The counter-culture has evolved and a pop culture business model prevails. A counter-culture still exists; they're called accountants and they count the money.

I'm told the #1 selling record in 1951 was "On Top of Old Smokey," imagine that! Think of "Your Hit Parade" or Mitch Miller sing-a-longs instead of rap music, for instance. For those of us who were present at the creation of rock n' roll -Bill Haley & the Comets, Chuck Berry, Elvis, the Everly Brothers, and Buddy Holly - the problem is that music seems to have lost its artistic integrity while continuing to refine its commercial interests.

(Q: What's the diffence between Dick Clark on American Bandstand introducing us to Fabian and Simon Cowell on American Idol introducing us to Rueben? A: About 50 years of marketing prowess.)

The downside of the music industry is that for us old foggiesthe Backstreet Boys will never replace the Beach Boys in our hearts. Nick and Jessica (Newlyweds) will never be as interesting as Ike and Tina (or Sonny and Cher, for that matter). Although I must admit, the Spice Girls were more interesting to watch than the Lennon Sisters.

Want to see a sell out?How about the Prince of Heavy Metal Ozzy Osbourne's tv show? His marketing-savy wife has paraded him around like a chimpanzee at the circus. That's the curse of the collision of rock and commerce if you ask me.

Great book though, read it and re-evaluate music history if you are not revolted by rock as an "Entertainment BUSINESS."

A review by a Springsteen fan
My motivation for purchasing this book was my belief, based on other reviews, thatit would present some new unbiased insights into the work of my favorite artist Bruce Springsteen and add some balance to the what I've read over the years from the Dave Marsh and Jon Landau propaganda machine. Although it did provide this, unfortunately (for me), very little of the book was actually devoted to Springsteen and the other artists mentioned in the title. The book is more a history ofthe record industry, chronicling its rise from its roots in the underground music scene of the mid to late sixties, to it's present form as multi-national conglomerates. It presents the story as a morality tale of a sixties paradise lost and it's consumption by the dark forces of capitalism .

The author while having researched his material very well, brings some biases into his work, typical of his generation. These biases become glaringly obvious when reading the book. One of these is his implication that someone like Springsteen, because he has maintained a consistently high level of commercial success over the years, is a sell-out, and a manufactured creation of his manager. Whereas someone like Neil Young, because he hasn't been ashamed to release some real crap, is an artist of integrity, who won't give in to crass commercialism, by always giving his fans music that they will actually enjoy.

I will agree with the author to some extent, that Jon Landau as manager and producer has had a huge influence on Springsteen. However, by using this to tear down the integrity of the artist himself, he better be prepared to do the same to the Beatles, The Stones and Elvis, all of whom had managers and/or producers that influenced them and pushed their work and careers in directions they would not have gone in, on their own.

If you, like the author, finds the business deals, managers and record company executives more fascinating than the artists themselves, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If however you're like me, and are more interested in the music and the musicians themselves, you'll find yourself skipping over large portions of the book in order to get to the more interesting parts on the MC5, Dylan, Young and Springsteen.

The rock business is even worse than you think
I bought this book because I was mildly interested but before long I was sucked into the tale about how the money talked louder than any musician's ability.

This is story of how several clever people took the talent-driven music of the mid to late sixties and gradually turned this into a money-driven enterprise where all the artist needed to do was keep the gullible public into believing that "it's all about the music, man!"

The book covers some of the major players like Bruce Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, and record mogul David Geffen, along with the artists they were involved with like Dylan, Neil Young, the Eagles, and plenty more. The book shows how the industry evolved from Warner Brothers execs (in WB blazers) signing the Grateful Dead (and being scared to death of being given LSD) - to the CBS policy of the mid-eighties of taking acts that the company wanted to succeed and have them make a few low-selling albums and play live gigs so they would have more credibility with record buyers.

The execs were every bit as exotic as the artists they represented, and thought nothing about double-dipping their clients' earnings even though they were already assured of millions. I was astounded to learn that at the height of the Eagles' success they went out on tour and got NINETY-SEVEN AND A HALF PERCENT of the receipts, leaving the venue with just two and half percent.

Essential reading for anyone interested in the music industry, especially people trying to break into the scene. Check your integrity at the door, because it will just be an impediment otherwise. ... Read more

Isbn: 0679743774
Subjects:  1. Business Aspects    2. Economic aspects    3. Genres & Styles - Rock    4. History & Criticism - General    5. History and criticism    6. Music    7. Rock music    8. United States    9. Music / Business Aspects   

Contraband: The Best of Men at Work
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (02 April, 1996)
list price: $11.98 -- our price: $10.99
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Reviews (26)

Vegemite Music
In the early years of MTV Men at Work was a phenomenon.They had creative videos and unique, catchy music.The group launched a string of hits in 1982 and 1983, with their success finally winding down with the release of the 1985 album "Two Hearts," which yielded no bona fide hits.The group's success and popularity well exceeded their three album release, and those of us who were there when MTV launched remember them fondly.

The group actually released only three albums, "Business as Usual," in 1981, "Cargo," in 1983, and "Two Hearts," in 1985.In 1998, two of the original members of Men at Work released "Brazil," a live album that contains some different music from their original three albums.

The music on this CD is a "best of" rather than a "greatest hits."The name is appropriate given that the group hardly had enough hits to scrape together a greatest hits collection.However, the music on this CD is typically very good, with only a few lesser works.The best music is generally the music released as singles and a few others."Who Can it Be Now," "Down Under," "It's a Mistake," "Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive," and "Overkill."Several other songs are of a quality similar to these, "Underground," "Upstairs in My House," "Be Good Johnny," and "Down by the Sea."The remaining seven songs are of varying quality, depending on your personal taste.

Others have recommended "The Essential Men at Work" over this collection.However, that CD is missing "Down by the Sea" and "Upstairs in My House."Conversely, that album has "Blue for You," "I Can See It in Your Eyes," and "Everything I Need."The result is that it is impossible to find a single CD that contains the best music of Men at Work, so you are left with the less desirable choice of having to procure several collections, particularly if you are going to get such obscure songs as "Shintaro."

I was a big fan of Men at Work, and loved each of their videos.The group had a lot of energy, and was very creative.The video for "Down Under" had a Monkees quality to it."Who Can It Be Now?" was presented as a paranoid's nightmare."It's a Mistake" takes place in a war room, where someone has accidentally pushed "the button."If you find you like Men at Work's music, I urge you to consider buying their videos.

Men at Work have long faded from the music scene.That is unfortunate because they had a unique style.However, their music is readily available in collections and re-releases of their original three albums.I believe this collection is one of the better collections for Men at Work, in spite of the lack of some songs, and recommend it as your first choice for music representative of the group.

Good Tunes BAD Sound Quality
This is a decent collection of tunes by the band (I might have picked some others though). The sound quality is very bad though. This CD was mastered in such a way that there is extensive digital clipping (i.e. distortion) that is very noticable (especially on some of the drum beats).

If you care about sound quality then I would pass on buying this CD and look at the other releases by this band.

I Come From The Land Down Under
Not really but i must say that this CD should be known for all the great songs that the MAW released instead of being over shadowed by Who could it be now and Down Under.Theres so much great music on this CD i must recomen it. ... Read more

Asin: B000002ABO
Sales Rank: 3272
Subjects:  1. New Wave    2. Pop    3. Pop/Rock    4. Rock   

The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers (14th Edition)
by University Of Chicago Press
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 September, 1993)
list price: $45.00
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Editorial Review

What can we say? This weighty tome is the essential reference for all who work with words--writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, publishers, and students. Discover who Ibid is, how to deftly avoid the split infinitive, and how to format your manuscripts to impress any professor or editor (no, putting it in a blue plastic folder is just not enough). ... Read more

Reviews (35)

Prescriptionist McKinnon is off base

Arlo McKinnon writes, "Many of the 'rules' expounded in the Chicago Manual of Style are in direct contradiction to accepted convention; to name just two examples, the placement of a serial comma before the 'and' and the addition of an 's' following the apostrophe in a possessive already ending in "s.'"
McKinnon's ignorance regarding the serial comma rule certainly calls into question his authority as an editor. The only place I've seen this so-called convention of omitting the comma is in the AP Manual--not an authority to be relying for serious editorial work, I think. Besides, how well would McKinnon's blind obedience to this so-called convention apply in the possibly apocryphal book dedication, "I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God"? Aren't editors supposed to improve the flow and logic of writing, not force it into some straitjacket of rigid rules that only exist inside the editor's head?
People seeking editorial advice would be better off with the Chicago Manual than they would be with a hyperbolic prescriptionist like McKinnon. My office has both the 14th AND 15th editions on the shelf, and they get used--usefully--every single week.

A Cancer upon American Letters
Knowing that I go against the current strain of popular thought, I am writing to urge people not to buy this error-laden work of fools.The Chicago Manual of Style has done more to devalue American writing than anything other than the educational cutbacks initiated in the early 80's by the Reagan administration.Many of the "rules" expounded in the Chicago Manual of Style are in direct contradiction to accepted convention; to name just two examples, the placement of a serial comma before the "and" and the addition of an "s" following the apostrophe in a possessive already ending in "s."

I have served as an editor to writers in such diverse venues as concert program notes, grant proposals, fiction and books on history.Invariably, those who rely upon the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) are the ones whose work requires the most revision.There is a lugubrious clumsiness to writing infected with CMSisms.It should be a cause for concern to anyone who cares about American prose of any kind that such a muddle-headed embarrassment is becoming the law of our letters.

There are numerous excellent guides available for reference.Traditionally, I have recommended Turabian.However, I am dismayed to note that the editor of the most recent edition of that book has chosen to "conform" it to the Chicago Manual of Style, the exact opposite of what should be done.So get an earlier edition of Turabian, or use Strunk.Best of all, read a lot of great prose and model your own prose on what you encounter therein.

I feel obliged to state that I am not opposed to evolution in language.English is among the most vital and vibrant of languages, and thus most subject to change.What I oppose is change that diminishes rather than enhances.The Chicago Manual of Style diminishes English.It deprives English of its elegance, concision and effectiveness.Please do not waste your money on this travesty.

Putting the Exceptions Where they Belong
As a freelance editor and typesetter, I find myself using CHICAGO nearly every day. At first, I thought it was unnecessarily thick and dense, but as I compared it to other style manuals, I found CHICAGO to be more comprehensive, thorough, and well-organized than others.

As with any reference of this type, it will take the reader a little time to become accustomed to the order. A first-time user will swear at it, but after repeated use, the user becomes more familiar with the how and why of this work.

Things that at first I found frustrating I now realize could NOT have been handled in a better or more efficient way. There is often no obvious place to put exceptions or obscure rules, and the editors pick a likely location. For example, suppose that while editing, I encounter a situation which doesn't quite fit a standard rule. At first, I think that this exception obviously belongs in Location A in CHICAGO, and wonder why the editors did not put it there. However, a month later, I may encounter a similar exception, but believe now that it obviously belongs in Location B in CHICAGO, and wonder why the editors did not put it there. Later, I realize that I have now thought that the same exception belonged in two different locations -- obviously, the editors can't just keep putting the same exceptions in every possible tangential location. As I gained familiarity with the book, I came to understand why certain exceptions or certain obscure rules were placed where they were -- and I came to agree that they were generally placed in the best location.

That said, there are still a few things I haven't found, but those generally involve simultaneous applications of multiple rules. Each rule is covered, but sometimes, it is unclear how multiple rules intersect.

I am entirely unwilling to trade it my CHICAGO for AP, MLA, Turabian, Strunk & White, or any other style manual. ... Read more

Isbn: 0226103897
Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - Academic    3. Composition & Creative Writing - General    4. Editing    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Printing    9. Publishers and publishing    10. Publishing Guides    11. Reference    12. Style manuals    13. Writing Skills    14. Reference / Writing Skills   

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged
by Merriam-Webster
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (January, 2002)
list price: $129.00 -- our price: $81.27
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Editorial Review

If big is better, the unabridged Webster's Third New International Dictionary is among the best. Weighing 12.5 pounds and measuring 4 inches thick, its 2,662 pages define more than 450,000 words spanning "a" to "zyzzogeton," including words ("disselboom" for instance) not found in other dictionaries, plus clear definitions, comprehensive etymologies, interesting asides, literary usage quotes, and a comfortable typeface. More than 150 years of accumulated scholarship helped collect the 10,000,000 usage examples that accurately provide definitions, and $3,500,000 went into producing this impressive volume. With Webster's Third you get a lot of dictionary for your money. ... Read more

Reviews (46)

what a piece of junk!
Something tells me you wouldn't be on this page, reading these reviews, unless you shared an acute and probably pedantic interest in words and their meanings.I ain't no different.

For about a decade now, I have been using Random House's Unabridged, which is equally weighty and was minted in 1987. I've been looking for something newer, and I thought the time had come when Webster's came out with this monster, late in the fall of 2000.

Although I was intent on buying the book, standing in the checkout line, I asked if I might not be permitted to open and examine it, just for larks.

Imagine my suprise on discovering that this book was actually printed in 1961, and is in fact almost entirely the same text! The typeset hasn't been touched since then! Folks, it's merely a re-issue of their 1961 edition.

Yes, they did add an absorbing "Special Addenda Section of New Words" toward the front of the dictionary (80-100pp, I'm guessing), but they couldn't be bothered to include these neologisms in the main text, presumably because resetting the 1961 proofs would have been too much work for Webster & co . . . ?

And if Webster & Co. couldn't be bothered to alphabetize these news words into the main body of this dictionary, I'm guessing the poor overworked editors were too busy to correct errors and typos in the main text either! Why? What is Webster's doing now? Have they started a chain of hotels or something?

I SOOOOO wanted to buy and love this book, and was SOOOOO angry to find it a con. I couldn't believe it!

Admittedly, the neologism section was VERY interesting, but you're basically paying all that moolah for that, you should understand. Perhaps you should buy the book, photocopy this section, then return the book for a full refund the next day.

Although this would be unethical, it was equally unethical, I feel, for Webster's to have grandly let on like they had drafted a completely new dictionary, when in fact they had done nothing of the kind.

Another consideration for the prospective buyer is that ideas about readability (i.e. the use of fonts, boldface, and italics to make the text more negotiable) were a lot more primitive in 1961, and, naturally, nothing has been done about that, either. In other words, the columns are very hard on the eye.

Until somebody comes along with another giant dictionary like this, but one that reflects true work and revision, I'm sticking with my old Random House.

A classic: treat it as one
All dictionaries are out of date when they are published.

This is a flaw to some, and a delight to others.

Despite what some reviewers here claim, no dictionary in the last 100 years set out to be prescriptive, that is, to include the words considered good and exclude the words considered bad. Prescriptive lexicography went to its grave about the same time as Queen Victoria did (in 1901).

People _believe_ that dictionaries are prescriptive, because (despite the inconvenient stuff in the preface that says otherwise) generations of English teachers have browbeaten their charges into writing they way their parents would have done, by saying "That's not a word, it's not in The Dictionary."

False, on two counts. False first, because the teacher should have said (with a glance at the title verso), not "That's not a word", but "That wasn't a word in 1961." No teacher today would ever say that, of course. Most of them weren't born in 1961. False second, because it is an _argumentum e silentio_, an argument from silence. This is a fallacy because you are assuming the compilers of the dictionary omitted the word on purpose, when in fact, if you read what they said in the preface, they probably omitted it through lack of evidence, or lack of time, or -- most likely -- lack of opportunity.

People believe that Websters Second (W2) was prescriptive (=good) and Websters Third (W3) was descriptive (=bad) because W2 more or less ignores informal English, and W3 covers it in detail. But this is not the dictionaries' doing. Lexicographers describe the language they see. And lexicographers glean much of their contemporary language citations from newspapers.

What many people do not take into account is the revolution in journalism that took place in the 30s, when the "write as you speak" movement swept away a whole formal style of writing that now seems to us quaint and stilted. If you turn up a leader column or opinion piece from 75 years ago, you may well find it nearly unreadable. Even many of Ambrose Bierce's funny columns from 100 years ago can now seem as hard to read as something written in 1750.

Several reviewers have noted that a Merriam-Webster 4 is long overdue. That is true. If you went around speaking the English that is described in W3, very shortly there would be soft-spoken but burly men in white coats coming to take you away. That dictionary says "a video" means "a tv set".That dictionary says that "email" is "a kind of enamel".

There is no news of a W4, and I believe the publishers are hesitant to spend the vast amounts of money required to produce a modern dictionary. Why should they? Much of Middle America wants a prescriptive dictionary, but no lexicographer of any standing would produce one. Considering the scorn, much of it ignorant, that was heaped on W3 in 1961 (a much more liberal time), it would be a brave, perhaps even foolhardy publisher that would launch a new dictionary on the US market now.

W3 is a fine dictionary. Its style of definition writing (consistent throughout) is exemplary, though today it sounds a little stiff. It swept away rubbish contributed by the technical advisers to W2 (such as "dord"). It is the first dictionary I consult about food (next stop: Larousse Gastronomique).

But it does describe American English of 1959, because in those days of manual typesetting and galley proofs it took about 2 years for a dictionary to get from manuscript to book. That makes it a museum-piece. It does not describe the English you speak. It describes the English your parents (or maybe grandparents) were speaking on their first date. That is, of course, what makes it valuable to teachers. If they say "Don't say that, it's a horrible slangy word", that is a 'value-judgement', which is of course not allowed. But they can say, "Don't say that, it's not a word, it's not in the dictionary." That is not a value-judgement, it's an objective criticism, which is allowed. There is slang in W3, but it is 50s slang, and has now entered the standard language or is forgotten, so it doesn't matter.

In the absence of a scholarly modern American dictionary, you may have to content yourself with a European one. Europeans tend to complain about contemporary words and senses being left out, whereas Americans almost invariably complain about them being put in. And, despite what you may think, we do know about American spelling. How could we not? it is the majority dialect.

Missing pages
I love my Webster's and have used it for several years. However, my eleven year old just discovered I'm missing 19 pages -pages 1353-1372. Don't know if that's just my volume or if anyone else discovered a similar problem. I plan to buy the 2 vol Oxford English Dictionary set to compliment my Webster's; however, one OED reviewer mentioned he found several pages printed upside down! ... Read more

Isbn: 0877792011
Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. Dictionaries & Terminology    3. Dictionaries - General    4. English language    5. Reference   

Dirty Work
by Mgm/Ua Studios
Average Customer Review:
DVD (14 August, 2001)
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $13.46
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Features

• Color
• Closed-captioned
• Widescreen
• Dolby

Reviews (95)

www.this movie was awesome.com
Recently on 'The Conan O'Brien Show', Bob Saget had a mental break down. He spoke of how he has never sucked penile for coke and that his directorial debut of 'Dirty Work' sucked.Okay Saget, give your head a shake. What's with all these good comedians falling apart because.....I don't know, maybe they're too emotional. Did Norm and Saget hear some frat boy say that Dirty Work sucked and decide to give up on life.FOOLS! Meanwhile the world has to suffer through movies like......XXX3:Revenge of Vin Diesel (which is in pre production).

Norm MacDonald Is A Genius At Revenge
If you have not seen this movie, turn off your computer, get off your ass, start the car and drive to the video store now. Get yourself a copy of this DVD, as you will not be let down. The part that cracks me up is when Mitch (Norm) and Sam are working at the movie theatre and put in a movie reel called "Men In Black...Who Like To Have Sex With Each Other". The only reason this is funny is because Mitch says, "Note to self...Sam just looked at the screen." Anyways, you will want this movie. Chris Farley also makes a cameo appearance in it as well.

This is the same movie as Happy Gilmore
This movie is a retread of Happy Gilmore. You have Christopher McDonald once again playing the same jerk bad guy, this time Norm will use his powers of revenge, instead of hockey skills, to pay for the operation to save his dad, instead of getting the money to save grandma's house. You have a Traylor Howard playing the same part that Julie Bowen played in Gilmore. Same story arc, comeback at the end. Still very funny and worth watching though. ... Read more

Asin: 0792842162
Sales Rank: 4735
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-drama   

The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles
by Solano Pr
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 May, 1997)
list price: $28.95
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Reviews (10)

Fulton's Folly
Bill Fulton is often lionized by planning "professionals" and students for his writing in this book but the truth is that his foray into the application reality of his theory has Ventura on the ropes.Fulton is the architect of several local no-growth initiatives such as Save Our Agricultural Resources (SOAR) as well as spearheading a housing development-blocking effort a couple of years ago for Ventura hillsides. What has since happened as any college freshman taking Econ 101 would understand, is that the supply of housing has constricted as demand increased and resulted in the skyrocketing price of local housing.Fulton did nothing after pushing these no-growth initiatives to stoke the fires of development that is required to prevent this housing supply constipation.

Fulton has now gotten himself elected to the Ventura City Council and it has become easy to see his political agenda that before has been hidden and masquerading as thoughtful intellect.This guy is no responsible academic or planning God but merely another no-growth advocate pushing a political agenda.Don't waste your time reading his stuff unless you have nothing else with which to stock your water closet area.

The joke in Los Angeles
The joke in Los Angeles is 'I've never been to downtown Los Angeles'. This is book that tells all about the decentralization of LA. Unlike most cities in America, Los Angeles' decentralization is a product of the explained 'growth machine'. One of the most unique cities in America and possibly one of the most depressing. I would have given this book 5 stars but i award 5 stars to inspirational books. The politics of Los Angeles makes me want to curl into a ball and shove myself into a dark corner (no worries though, it's perpetually sunny here).

So that's how it really is...
This book is a must read for anyone willing to expose themselves to the stories behind the stories of Los Angeles.The stories reveal the apathetic and self-centered nature of some Los Angeles citizens (who will never really admit they are from "Los Angeles"), and sets the stage for an entire change of mindset among Los Angelenos.This mindset is one that takes notice of the community, and the larger metropolis that communities make up.For a graduate city planning student as I, these stories help shape some basic values of mine regarding the nature of cities and communities.I strongly recommend this book. ... Read more

Isbn: 0923956220
Sales Rank: 1015074
Subjects:  1. California    2. Case studies    3. City Planning & Urban Development    4. Community development    5. Los Angeles Metropolitan Area    6. Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (Calif.)    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Social Science    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - Urban    11. United States - State & Local    12. Urban Planning    13. Urbanization   

Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way
by Shambhala
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (20 October, 1998)
list price: $12.00 -- our price: $9.60
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Editorial Review

Like Stephen Mitchell,acclaimed author and poet Ursula K. Le Guin has attempted a nonliteral, poetic rendition of the Tao Te Ching. She brings to it a punctuated grace that can only have been hammered out during long trials of wordsmithing. The wisdom that she finds in the Tao Te Ching is primal, and her spare, undulating phrases speak volumes.By making the text her own, Le Guin avoids such questions as "Is it accurate?" By making it her own, she has made it for us--a new, uncarved block from which we are free to sculpt our own meaning. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Not a translation at all....
If she had a genuine interest in translating the Tao Te Ching one would think that Ursula LeGuin would have learned Chinese and studied the Tao Te Ching in depth.She has done neither, and the "translation" shows this, making some very horrible distortions of the original text that are indeed well written, but have nothing to do with Taoism.

The Way of Being. Outstanding Book
Ursula K. Le Guin did a remarkable job in bringing us her translation of this magnificent book that will lift your heart, bring more understanding to your mind, free your ego from its grip on your life, and bring your soul peace from the ancient and extraordinary verses in this book.

This is one book that would bring harmony to anyone, when taken into the depths of consciousness. It will show you the way of being. It will help you live with what IS, and that alone will help free you from pain.

Highly recommended for its profound truth, and the extraordinary difference this truth can make in your life. Deserves 10 Stars.

Le Guin's work is natural, simple, straightforward.
There are many 'translations' of Lao Tsu's words.Which is the best?Perhaps it is not measured by the literal accuracy of the translation, or the poetic artestry of the word, but by it's ability to help the reader gain the perspective that Lao Tsu envisioned as the Tao.A translation that works for one, may not yield the same result for another.

Le Guin's rendition of Lao Tzu's 'Tao te Ching' was, for me, a good addition to my understanding.I have many copies.I almost always compare one with another when I sit down to think.Some 'translations' are better than others for different passages, or moods.With more than 15 years of experience in Asian cultures, primarily Japanese, and many years of contemplating Lao Tzu's writings, I recognize that some translations rely more heavily on a broader asian perspective than others.What seems natural or obvious to one steeped in asian culture may be contradictory or even 'silly' to a westernerThis doesn't mean the message is wrong, but that the wording is not suited for that reader.One interpretation alone was insufficient to help me comprehend the simple nature of the Tao.

Once I began to see my world from within the understanding of the Tao, rather than see the Tao from the outside through others' words, I found a new enjoyment in seeing how others perceive the Tao.This is why I enjoyed Ursula K. Le Guin's approach immensely. Clearly, Ms. Le Guin feels the awe and wonder of the simple way, as I am beginning to enjoy it.

Hers is not as literal or as historically steeped as some, and not as contemporary as others (Stephen Mitchell).Not a hard-hitting philosophical analysis (Wing-Tsit Chan), nor an obscure or remote work [Asian feeling] (Gai-Fu Fen/Jane English).Her words invited me to enjoy the comprehension of the simplicity of it all.

Her approach was natural, simple, straightforward.In her fresh wording, I saw an elegence in the principles, a form of beauty.Her words reminded me of how I felt when I began to understand.

Thank you, Ms. Le Guin, for your contribution to my enjoyment of the Tao. ... Read more

Isbn: 1570623953
Subjects:  1. Eastern - General    2. Philosophy    3. Religion - World Religions    4. Taoism    5. Religion / Taoism   

Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920's (Americans & the California Dream)
by Oxford University Press
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 March, 1990)
list price: $43.00 -- our price: $43.00
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Reviews (2)

Starr Hits His Stride...
Starr hits his stride in this, his third in his epic series on the history of California.At last, Starr is free to focus on the subject that any reader can tell is "near and dear" to his heart: The emergence of Los Angeles as a full blown titan of a city.Although the subtitle to this book is "Southern California Through the 1920's", once again, it would be be more appropriate to hone in on the main subject and retitle the book "Los Angeles and Two Chapters on Santa Barbara Through the 1920's".

Again, not that I'm complaining.Perhaps because of Starr's intent focus on a single city, his talent really shines in this volume.This is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in the last year.

The first section of the book deals with Southern California and Water.His sub chapter on the Imperial Valley is a real barn burner.I've never read such a complete account of the events in Imperial Valley in the early 20th century, and I would recommend the book for that reason alone.

The second and third sections tackle the emergence of Los Angeles society.Here, Starr goes on the offensive, tackling the idea that L.A. is a cultural wasteland.You can almost hear the voice of a professor lecturing undergraduates.Starr starts at economic institutions, discusses the people of Los Angeles and ends with a discussion of cultural institutions.The end of the third section deals with the "Santa Barbara" alternative.

For me, these two chapters were the least enjoyable in the book.
Fortunately, Starr rebounds with his treatment of literary and "biblio" society in LA.These chapters make for fascinating reading, and were a high point of the entire series.I certainly did not know that LA was a center of the rare book trade!

Vibrant and detailed analysis of the rise of institutions
I was a student of Dr. Starr's in the USC Master of Real Estate Development program in the early 1990's.Dr. Starr's analysis of California during the period is both thorough and enlightening.Dr. Starr gives particular emphasis to the Los Angeles element of California growth, with particular analysis of the Department of Water and Power, the Los Angeles Police Department, and, perhaps not coincidentally, the University of Southern California and its training of careerist professionals rather than academics.I highly recommend this work, and by linkage, any of Dr. Starr's works ... Read more

Isbn: 0195044878
Sales Rank: 528286
Subjects:  1. California, Southern    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Los Angeles (Calif.)    6. United States - State & Local - General   

Oxford Fowler's Modern English Usage Dictionary
by Oxford University Press
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 April, 1983)
list price: $15.95
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Editorial Review

A guide to precise phrases, grammar, and pronunciation can be key; itcan even be admired. But beloved? Yet from its first appearance in 1926, Fowler's was just that. Henry Watson Fowler initially aimed his Dictionary of Modern English Usage, as he wrote to his publishers in 1911, at "the half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities who wants to know Can I say so-&-so?" He was of course obsessed with, in Swift's phrase, "proper words in their proper places." But having been a schoolmaster, Fowler knew that liberal doses of style, wit, and caprice would keep his manual off the shelf and in writers' hands. He also felt that description must accompany prescription, and that advocating pedantic "superstitions" and "fetishes" would be to no one's advantage. Adepts will have their favorite inconsequential entries--from burgle to brood, truffle to turgid. Would that we could quote them all, but we can't resist a couple. Here Fowler lays into dedicated:

He is that rara avis a dedicated boxer. The sporting correspondent who wrote this evidently does not see why the literary critics should have a monopoly of this favourite word of theirs, though he does not seem to think that it will be greatly needed in his branch of the business.

Needless to say, later on rara avis is also smacked upside the head! And practically fares no better: "It is unfortunate that practically should have escaped from its true meaning into something like its opposite," Fowler begins. But our linguistic hero also knew full well when to put a crimp on comedy. Some phrases and proper uses, it's clear, would always be worth fighting for, and the guide thus ranges from brief definitions to involved articles. Archaisms, for instance, he considered safe only in the hands of the experienced, and meaningless words, especially those used by the young, "are perhaps more suitable for the psychologist than for the philologist." Well, youth might respond, "Whatever!"--though only after examining the keen differences between that phrase and what ever. (One can only imagine what Fowler would have made of our late-20th-century abuses of like.) This is where Robert Burchfield's 1996 third edition comes in. Yes, Fowler lost the fight for one r in guerrilla and didn't fare too well when it came to quashing such vogue words as smear and seminal. But he knew--and makes us ever aware--that language is a living, breathing (and occasionally suffocating) thing, and we hope that he would have welcomed any and all revisions. Fowlerphiles will want to keep their first (if they're very lucky) or second editions at hand, but should look to Burchfield for new entries on such phrases as gay, iron curtain, and inchoate--not to mention girl. --Kerry Fried ... Read more

Reviews (14)

The standard to which all the others are compared
It is somewhat amazing that this book, first published in 1926, is still in print.The language has changed quite a bit since then; thousands of words have been added, hundreds have gone obsolete, and hundreds more have had their meanings shaded; and of course many of Fowler's pronouncements are now merely echoes of battles long lost or won.Not only that, but two newer editions of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage have been published, the excellent second edition edited by Sir Ernest Gowers in 1965 (now ironically out of print while the original finds yet another printing), and the not so entirely well-received (but underrated in my opinion) third edition, edited and revised by R.W. Burchfield in 1996.

How to account for this phenomenon?Part of it is because Fowler's reputation only grew after his death as several generations of writers sang his praises and adhered to, or sometimes fussed about, his many dicta on usage questions both great and small.And as the years went by, and as the pages of his masterpiece gave way to wine stains and silverfish or the few remaining copies disappeared from libraries, he himself became a legend.Not everything he wrote is considered correct today, nor was it then.And sometimes the succinct yet magisterial little essays he wrote were followed by other little essays that were all but impenetrable, obtuse and somewhat overbearing.No matter.The good greatly outweighed the occasional misjudgment, and the education he afforded us remains.

Another part of the story is that there is something very properly English and wonderfully nostalgic about the man himself.He was a bit of a character who lied about his age and joined the army when he was 56-years-old to fight the Germans in the Great War (only to faint on the parade grounds), a man who earlier gave up a teaching career because he did not feel it was his responsibility to prepare a student for the seminary.More than anything, though, the fact that this book is still in demand is a testament to the high regard and affection felt by the literate public toward Fowler himself.

What Fowler knew and preached was that before we could presume to be literary artists or journalists or even authors of readable letters we must of necessity, if we are to be effective, be craftsmen.Central to his purpose was the belief that the right word in its proper place and context constituted the backbone and much of the muscle and sinew of forthright and effective writing.That belief along with Fowler's celebrated passion for the concise and the correct, and his intolerance of ignorance and humbug, coupled with his sometimes incomparable expression, long ago won him the undying respect and admiration of careful writers of the English language the world over.

But this is something of a problem.Since Fowler last set pen to page some seventy-one years ago (he died in 1933), the English language has changed and grown enormously.What was correct and effective then, as well as what was ineffective, offensively brash or downright ugly has in some cases become acceptable and even felicitous.So, like it or not, Fowler had to be updated, and of course there was no shortage of lexicographers, linguists, grammarians, journalists and others looking to do the job.Furthermore, the "Great Divide" between American English and British English needed to be explained, recorded, and codified.Some of the people who have joined in this enterprise over the years have been H. L. Mencken, Jens Jespersen, Margaret Nicholson, Dwight MacDonald, Bergen and Cornelia Evans, and more recently, Bryan A. Garner and R.W. Burchfield, and many others.I think all of them, if they looked over their shoulder would see upon the wall an especially sober portrait of Fowler passing silent judgment upon their protracted labors.Certainly on their desks would be this book.

So I recommend that you buy that very impressive book by Garner (Garner's Modern American Usage), especially if you are an American, or splurge for a copy of that underrated third edition edited by Burchfield, and that you consult them as well as this venerable authority.As you use the books you may compare and contrast and get a nice feel for where the language has been and where it is headed.

A great reference but not for the faint of heart
This work is witty and nearly unassailable, but I can't say that the uninitiated will find it accessible or as wine drinkers may say approachable.If you take pride in careful usage and want to make your writing precise, you can't go wrong here.If you've ever wondered how the words residence and residency both made their way into the language, the answer awaits you within these pages.

This isn't the place to get started with learning to write though.For those whose primary endeavor is not writing Strunk and White's Elements of Style or The Practical Stylist by Sheridan Baker will offer much to you on the practice of writing.These titles will also offer you many tips on constructing a piece of writing that you won't find in Fowler.

For those interested in a thorough treatment of usage and language you can't go wrong with Fowler though.

The classic usage guide; everyone should have one
Together with his and his brother's "The King's English," Fowler's "Modern English Usage" is the classic guide to writing good English. Those that say that Fowler is overly prescriptive are wrong; on the contrary, Fowler thinks less ill of split infinitives and prepositions-at-end than many more "modern" usage know-it-alls. I think that Fowler approaches writing in the English language as an engineer approaches designing a machine. The idea is "get the job done"---"how can I say this in the fewest words with the least ambiguity?" And that is what he teaches. Split infinitives aren't bad because they don't introduce ambiguity. The fused participle, on the other hand, introduces ambiguity, and should be avoided. "Good" Fowler English isn't just "proper" English, but English that is unambiguous and to the point.

Everyone that writes should have a copy of Fowler. But please, don't buy the "Third Edition," which isn't really Fowler. The second edition (edited by Gowers) is OK, but the first is really the nonpareil. The first edition is still in print (Wordsworth or a special Oxford reprint?) or you can buy it used---there are
lots of original Oxford University Press hardbacks floating around used here on Amazon[.com] that were pulled off high school shelves years ago. ... Read more

Isbn: 0192813897
Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. Dictionaries - Synonyms/Antonyms    3. English Grammar    4. English language    5. General    6. Grammar    7. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    8. Reference    9. Usage   

Collected Poems
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 October, 1993)
list price: $18.00
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Reviews (21)

Funny, sad poetry.
Larkin's poetry is laser precise: he writes fine, delibrate phrases with strict rhythm, never indulging in broad ambiguity. He writes what he means, usually meditations on his being a misfit. He's grumpy, regretful, selfish, stubborn and prone to pursuits of the flesh. He's also completely owns up to all his faults and writes these trim, funny little confessionals, to the benefit of anyone who speaks English and reads poetry.

The Least Deceived
'Hours giving evidence
Or birth, advance
On death equally slowly.
And saying so to some
Means nothing; others it leaves
Nothing to be said.'

If you were to look for a central theme in Larkin's poetry, these lines might be it. Larkin constantly grapples with the tragedy of everyday existence and the final inevitability of death, not with rebellion, but with a quiet and honest acceptance. I think this is what sets his poetry apart, that he never shies from unpleasant reality or rebels against it with false bluster or bravado. Larkin constantly comes across in his poems as an old or aging man, but one who with his experience can see the world stripped of all false hopes and illusion. This clarity of observation and expression gives his poetry its power.

Major difference between two editions
As often happens, Amazon's practice of cross-posting reviews and information specific to _one_ edition of a book on all the webpages for _all_ of that book's editions causes confusion. There are in fact significant differences between the 2004 paperback edition of this superb poet's collected work and the earlier edition of 1989/1993 (hardcover/paperback). Each edition has its merits.

The earlier edition was more comprehensive, including many poems unpublished during Larkin's life. Some of those unpublished poems were inferior to Larkin's previously published work; perhaps half of them were not. (Many of the unpublished poems' states of completion are difficult to determine, a fact acknowledged by the editor.) The poems in the earlier edition are sequenced chronologically in two sections, a primary section of poems written after Larkin began publishing, followed by a smaller section of early poems.

The newer edition eliminates many of the less satisfying of the poems unpublished by Larkin. Strikingly, the newer edition also has been rearranged to reflect the orderings Larkin chose for his few collections. (Notes in the back of the older edition listed by title the order of poems in each prior collection.) These changes make the newer volume better for the casual reader of Larkin, but less useful for the student. ... Read more

Isbn: 0374522758
Sales Rank: 332078
Subjects:  1. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    2. Poetry    3. Poetry / General   

Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community
by Simon & Schuster
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (07 August, 2001)
list price: $16.00 -- our price: $10.88
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Editorial Review

Few people outside certain scholarly circles had heard the name Robert D. Putnam before 1995. But then this self-described "obscure academic" hit a nerve with a journal article called "Bowling Alone." Suddenly he found himself invited to Camp David, his picture in People magazine, and his thesis at the center of a raging debate. In a nutshell, he argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families, neighbors, communities, and the republic itself. The organizations that gave life to democracy were fraying. Bowling became his driving metaphor. Years ago, he wrote, thousands of people belonged to bowling leagues. Today, however, they're more likely to bowl alone:

Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.

The conclusions reached in the book Bowling Alone rest on a mountain of data gathered by Putnam and a team of researchers since his original essay appeared. Its breadth of information is astounding--yes, he really has statistics showing people are less likely to take Sunday picnics nowadays. Dozens of charts and graphs track everything from trends in PTA participation to the number of times Americans say they give "the finger" to other drivers each year. If nothing else, Bowling Alone is a fascinating collection of factoids. Yet it does seem to provide an explanation for why "we tell pollsters that we wish we lived in a more civil, more trustworthy, more collectively caring community." What's more, writes Putnam, "Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered, and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs." Putnam takes a stab at suggesting how things might change, but the book's real strength is in its diagnosis rather than its proposed solutions. Bowling Alone won't make Putnam any less controversial, but it may come to be known as a path-breaking work of scholarship, one whose influence has a long reach into the 21st century. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Reviews (57)

Positive Networking and Social Capital.
Putnam has hit the nail right on the head. Public policy makers world-wide have taken note. His constructs of 'bonding'and 'bridging' to the broader community through social networks to add value, or social capital, to society have gained wide currency.His research is exhaustive, more than necessary perhaps to make the case for disengagement of citizens. But, he has confirmed empirically what so many know intuitively to be true, hence the appeal of his findings.His recent work with John Helliwell published in the 2004 proceedings of the Royal Society on social capital and well-being, reported in the media as the science of happiness and the object in my own work on positive networking, advances the discipline even further. Positive networking works, it takes leadership and, when done right, adds social capital to the community. Putnam's work is compelling. His arguements are powerful...highly recommended.

Enlightening, if rather dry
Putnam's book presents a detailed look at the decline in overall social participation by Americans over the past half-century. From an analytical perspective, it is an impressive work, demonstrating clearly the general decrease in membership in social groups of both a formal and informal nature amongst Americans, then proposing and evaluating possible explanations. One thing I found strange was that, perhaps in an effort to avoid partisan issues and the like, the book doesn't look as much as it perhaps ought into the rather intense political changes over this period and consider how they may have altered prevailing attitudes.

The book is a bit too academic to make for a compelling read, though, and runs a bit dull in spots. I found myself wishing for some more pedestrian discussion; some of the brief anecdotes in the book, like the one about the man who found himself a kidney donor through a bowling league, are quite interesting, and leave you wishing there were more of them.

An important book worthy of your attention!!!!
Robert Putnam has written one of the most important books I have read in a long, long time.When was the last time you called a friend or associate and proposed going out to a ballgame or a show only to be rebuffed because there was a game on TV that night?And how many times has that sort of thing happened to you?"Bowling Alone" discusses the reasons why so many people have become isolated and out of touch with family and friends.The reasons are myriad.Obviously,the aforementioned "boob tube" is a major contributing factor.But as Putnam discusses there are so many more reasons. The go-go 24 hour a day economy has robbed us all of much of our leisure time.And even when we do manage to get some time off everyone else we know is probably working. In addition,our society's seemingly endless quest for "personal fulfillment" has made people withdraw into themselves.Given all of the choices we are now presented with in media and other activities,there are fewer and fewer common experiences we can share at the watercooler.
Putnam also laments the decline of the various fraternal organizations that sprang up in the first quarter of the twentieth century.Groups like the Elks,the Knights of Columbus and the VFW are all struggling to survive.No one joins groups like these anymore and that is really a shame.Our communities are the big losers because the services provided by these organizations have either disappeared or have had to be assumed by the government.
This is an extremely thought provoking book.Putnam certainly diagnoses the problems and offers up some solutions. But these problems are not easily solved.If the events of 9/11 did not wake us all up,then one has to wonder if anything will. ... Read more

Isbn: 0743203046
Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. 20th century    3. Anthropology - Cultural    4. Community    5. History    6. Social Classes    7. Social Interaction    8. Social Science    9. Social change    10. Social conditions    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - General    13. United States    14. United States - 20th Century    15. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    16. Current Events / General   

The Future of Success : Working and Living in the New Economy
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (08 January, 2002)
list price: $14.00 -- our price: $10.50
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Reviews (11)

OK start, great middle, wimpy ending
I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it, but really this book is all problem statement and very little problem solution.Still, the problem statement is fascinating and throws a lot of light on the real reasons behind much of what I have perceived to be the changes in the working world of the past twenty-or-so years in the USA.
I think I can put the central thesis of the book into a more abstract formulation: our society has done too good a job at reducing friction!Every engineer and designer tries to minimize friction; some do a better job than others, but friction is almost never reduced to a negligible amount.This, if you think about it, is a Good Thing; without any friction at all, no molecule would be left standing on another molecule!It is possible to imagine life in an almost-friction-free world, but that life would be very different from what we experience in our world.Well, the communications explosion of the past couple of decades has reduced the friction of transactions to the point where we are starting to hurt -- where the habits, customs and laws of transactions (commercial and social) have been speeded up and cost-reduced to induce a difference of quality, not just a difference in quantity.We haven't even begun to realize what has happened, let alone be able to come up with ways to deal with it.This book is an excellent introduction to the problem.

REICH: Book about Work from someone with NO REAL Job
THE TRUTH:THOSE CANNOT DO WILL TEACH.

The old age wisdom says we should only preach about those things we know, have experience. Here we have an author, the Former U.S. Secretary of Labor writing about work. Has Robert Reich ever had a Real, TRUE job.

He has spent his whole life in the "Ivory Tower" not the real world where individuals, companies have to provide products and services to the world.

Look at Bill Klinton, what was his first job after law school, a professor at the University of Arkansas.

What was Hilary RodHAM Clinton's first job, a law professor? After long hours as U.S. Secretary of Labor, what job did he run to: another phony, fake job as Economics professor at Brandeis University.

How did these clowns think that to BS in front if 18, 19 years olds is real job. Look at what Al "2000 Loser" Gore do after the 2000 election loss.He got a teaching job at Tennessee State and Columbia Journalism School.

Does the world really another academic to write another useless book.

Much of the content of the book is Not new.First, there was agriculture. The raising of plants-animals has been the pre-occupation of humans for 8,000 years.With the Industrial Revolution of the 17th, 18th century in England and then Europe, industry has replaced farming.

With the invention of the Transistor, microprocessor, PC and the worldwide, universal Internet, the world is now moving to a digital-service economy.The coming One (1) Billion transistor CPU will truly usher in a new era in the history of humans.

Oil, Natural Resources still counts in the modern world.But Brain-Power, Brain-Products is really what matters in the 21st. century.

To survive as individuals, groups or nations, we need to be producers before we can be consumers. Producers-consumers, consumers-producers is what the global markets is all about.

Another useless book from an academic who has never had a real job is NOT what the new economy is all about.

Interesting Commentary On Our Changing Workplace
Although the title is overly ambitious, The Future of Success is an interesting commentary on our changing workplace. The author, Robert Reich, a Brandeis University professor, was the Secretary of Labor during President Clinton's first term. Consumed by work and neglecting his family, Reich decided that the toll was too great and left his cabinet position to return to academia and write this book.

Reich's work is important because he explains the drivers of our new economy with its great consumer deals, endless workweeks and vanishing job security. In this new world, rewards are given for results, not seniority within the company. We can conclude therefore, that since teams are typically formed to achieve specific results, they will continue to be an important organizational structure in the new economy. Increased competition is driving most businesses to focus on results. This philosophy favors a results-based organization structure in which teams are the basic building block.

Although the reader expects Reich to end this book with stunning insight on balancing the vast benefits of the new economy with its requirement of personal sacrifice, the author provides no specific recommendations. Instead, the disappointing final chapter provides some vague recommendations for increased dialogue and improved public policy. Nevertheless, the book's compelling content makes up for its tepid epilogue.

Reich's background gives him unique qualifications to describe the driving factors behind the new workplace. I recommend that you put this on your list. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375725121
Sales Rank: 83545
Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Economics - Theory    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Sociology - General    6. Sociology - Social Theory    7. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Cold New World : Growing Up in Harder Country (Modern Library (Paperback))
by Modern Library
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (07 June, 1999)
list price: $15.95 -- our price: $10.85
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Editorial Review

"When I first started going to New Haven," writes William Finnegan, "Iwas taken on a tour of the city's neighborhoods by two black residents. Their conversation reminded me of others I've heard--in countries suffering from chronic guerrilla war."

Cold New World depicts the lives of American teenagers and young adults, struggling to hang onto what little they've got. They are part of a growing underclass whose lives have become saturated with drugs and violence. Whether he's talking to an African American drug dealer who plies his trade in the shadow of Yale or a young woman caught up in the feud between two rival skinhead gangs in the northernmost suburbs of Los Angeles, Finnegan brings his subjects to life on the page with a compassion that doesn't undermine any of his bluntness about their desperate conditions. You may not like what Cold New World has to say about the state of the nation, but it's a book that you ignore at your peril. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Down and Out in the U.S.A.
This mix of sociology and journalism is a mostly gripping and always harrowing journey to the four corners of the American underclass. During the early to mid-1990s, Finnegan spent time with four young people in from very different geographic locations and of very different cultural backgrounds. Each of these are detailed in 50-100 page sections, followed by a surprisingly brief coda, in which he attempts to sum up the similarities between the four cases and draw some prescriptions from them. This is that rarest of books, an in-depth, complex examination of class in America.

Finnegan starts in New Haven with Terry, who is practically a cliche of the ghetto youth. A black drug-dealing kid who blows his cash on flashy threads and gaudy jewelry for his girlfriends, he lives near the affluence of Yale University, and yet worlds away culturally. From East Coast to East Texas, where in a small town, Finnegan hangs out with Lanee, a young black woman whose community has just been the subject of a massive federal drug sting. Both sections illustrate just how enticing the drug trade is to the young poor. It's vastly more lucrative than any conceivable alternative, and there's no great social stigma attached to it. In each place, the percentage of the community who is using is so large that the trade assumes a huge place in the microeconomy and has a big ripple effect.

The New Haven section is fairly cohesive, and it's somewhat refreshing to see Finnegan admit his inability to stay detached and his attempts to lend a helping hand to Terry. The East Texas section doesn't hold together quite as well. Although Finnegan is again focusing on an individual (Lanee), he is clearly more interested in the broader story of a large federal drug sting in which virtually everyone in the community has a friend or family member indicted. This ties in with the story of the longtime reign of a benign all-powerful sheriff who recently lost reelection, which also ties in with the influence of the "old" white Texan families of the town. There are a lot of interesting threads here, and it's no wonder Finnegan gets a little distracted.

From here, the book moves west, to the Yakima Valley of central Washington state, where rural meets strip mall. There Finnegan hangs out with Juan, the eldest son of hard-working Mexican immigrant field laborers and union activists. In many ways, he's the most mainstream and self-aware kid of the book, and yet he's constantly in trouble due to a proclivity for fighting. Part of this lies within himself, and part of this stems from his need to back up his friends. Acquiring a rep for being a badass turns into a self-fulfilling trap that he has difficulty escaping. Although slacker Juan doesn't claim any of the various Latino gangs that are rampant throughout the Valley, he's perpetually caught up in various beefs that appear to be one step away from gunfire.

Finally, Finnegan winds up in the LA exurb of Antelope Valley, where he finds a white supremacist skinhead gang at war with the changing neighborhood demographics and a band of anti-racist SHARP skins. This is one of those instant communities whose bubble burst rather quickly when defense and aerospace jobs disappeared. Living in the town became a step down for whites, but a step up for black and Latino families. Fueled by meth and dead-end prospects, white power skins harass local minorities and engage in running skirmishes with anti-racist skinheads. Finnegan does an excellent job of explaining the origins and different shades of the skinhead subculture. Perhaps most disturbing are the confused hangers-on (mostly women), who are alternately allured and disgusted by the white supremacists.

The common theme is that these are all young people who are set on a course of backward mobility, compared to their parents and grandparents. Finnegan places them in the larger context of post-oil crisis, postindustrial America, where a factory job is no longer a sufficient foundation for a middle class existence. Indeed, even the concept of the middle-class as an attainable destination is completely absent. Finnegan apportions blame to the economy that makes stay-at-home parenting the province of the rich, a public education system that has given up on the bottom tier, a punitive welfare system, an ill-considered government approach to the scourge of drugs, and perhaps most tellingly, "the fecklessness and self-absorption of my own generation." This is best reflected in the stunning statistic that over the last 25 years (as of the writing), poverty among the elderly has dropped by 50%, and among children has increased by 37%. This is not an optimistic book, but it will provoke serious thought and debate--a great one for book clubs.

Our cold world
William Finnegan has written a truly American book, even though its characters are not quite representative of Americans at all.His interest for this book is in a certain segment of the population.The four cities he chooses are those that have been hard hit by economic downturns, and the youths he associates with and learns about are those situated in danger and immobility.What makes the book relevant to all Americans (beyond our ability to feel a basic concern for others) is that Finnegan tackles two issues that we reluctantly, and too often simplistically, face-poverty and race.A few more topics that constantly appear that I would consider as being born of the previous two are drugs and gangs.

It doesn't take much to enjoy this book.It reads like four stories.I had to keep reminding myself that these were true (according to Finnegan).After the "stories," in which Finnegan tries to keep a journalistic distance (though not always), there is an epilogue, and we see what the author is trying to get the reader the see.There are deep questions of responsibility that run through America's laws and policies, that these questions must be asked by the citizens of the country who sometimes must choose between economic growth and economic equality.Such consideration requires an understanding that some decisions allow a few to prosper and few to fall into deprivation.

It's easy to say people like Terry and Juan are hopeless, that they will forever be in trouble, and that they deserve any punishment they get.It's a little harder to say that when you consider that you have human beings in desperate conditions, and they will not go away simply by enforcing judicial toughness.

Living Under the Glacier
William Finnegan has a spare elegant prose style, highly readable, that sweeps us through an uncomfortable present day odyssey of the underclass of the United States.The book is impressively noted and indexed, but with distressingly small print.

Mr. Finnegan has an uncanny ability to arrive in a completely strange town and somehow immediately bond with perfect strangers who confide in him, ask him to dinner, and if necessary let him bunk down and move in.This "intimacy" gene resides in the authors of "Cold Blood" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."If you and I were in that strange town, we would be lucky to get directions to the nearest gas station, let alone an invitation for dinner.

If you automatically assume this underclass exists only in the inner-city ghettos, your comfort level is going to go way down.The subjects ranged from New Haven, CT, east Texas, central Washington state, and a suburb of Los Angeles.All of the youngsters had bleak, dangerous, unfocused lives. Their intelligence ranged from average to highly superior, their connection to their schools was tenuous or non-existent, their ambitions and dreams were either unrealistic or pitifully cynical.They seem to know far better than their parents that the road to the middle class is not a broad, welcoming boulevard, but an almost unreachable goal.

Supportive, loving, responsible families do not appear to be the panacea we are all led to believe.Juan admires, approves and loves his parents; he just believes their lives have nothing to do with his.Sadly, he is right.Mindy has a strong, loving mother who cannot fathom the world Mindy is almost forced to live in.The lack of impact of a strong family shocked me.

The author pulls no punches and in his summary states, "What price are Americans willing to pay for social peace?This seems to me a central question.We jail the poor in their multitudes, abandon the dream of equality, cede more and more of public life to private interests, let lobbyists run government.Those who can afford to do so lock themselves inside gated communities and send their children to private schools.And then we wonder why the world at large has become harsher and more cynical, why our kids have become strange to us.What young people show us is simply the world we have made for them."

This is a worthwhile, hard-hitting book.It will stay with you.You won't easily forget Terry, Lanee, Juan and Mindy. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375753826
Subjects:  1. Adolescence - General    2. American    3. Current Affairs    4. International Relations - General    5. Politics - Current Events    6. Poverty    7. Social conditions    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Subculture    11. Teenagers    12. United States    13. Current Events / International   

Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom
by Verso
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 June, 1997)
list price: $25.00 -- our price: $16.50
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Reviews (18)

Needs an Editor
Journalist Doug Henwood has produced an interesting book on U.S. financial markets.Written from a left-wing point of view, Henwood contends that these markets do not raise capital for new investments or improve corporate governance.Instead, he argues that their primary function is to enable manic corporate restructurings that accomplish little besides shifting additional wealth to rentiers who already have plenty of it.Henwood relies mainly on the research of others.

The good news about "Wall Street" is that Henwood is witty and iconoclastic.The bad news is that having these traits doesn't mean that he can put together a good book.His bloated and repetitive text mixes statistics, polemics, anecdotes, biz school research, and potted discussions of Keynes, Marx and Minsky (and Freud!).The mish-mash of data definitely informs and entertains the reader (hence my rating of 4 stars) but never systematically establishes Henwood's core thesis about the parasitism of Wall Street.The book is worth reading but mainly for readers with a background in finance or economics who can separate the wheat from the chaff.

The Truth
First a word about the publishing house: Verso Publishing is probably the finest publishing house in the world.When in a bind simply pick up any one of their titles and one cannot go wrong.It's imperative to read at least a few of their books at least once.

Henwood's "Wall Street" blows the lid off high finance like few other works.It's the definitive critical analysis (along with some of William Greider's books) of the high circles of wealthy investors.

Throughout "Wall Street" it rips apart the Federal Reserve Board and exposes its gritty innards.Henwood demonstrates that the Fed is an undemocratic institution that's obsessed with any hints of labor militancy, its biggest fear being wage inflation.

The Monetary School is also dissected by Henwood, being exposed as the fraudulent theory it truly is (or clever ruling class idealogy).He points out that the Monetarist's ostensibly blamed the federal government for the Great Depression.Of course this has the fascinating effect of letting capitalism completely off the hook.The concepts of over productivity and income polarization, which were the defining characteristics of the 1920s, are rarely to be found in their school of thought.

Constant pressure by Wall Street for ever higher stock prices is what spurred most of the downsizing during the last decade according to Henwood.He smartly points out that this pressure for quick profit growth can often squelch research and development and investment projects which would benefit society.Because shareholders may very well deem these projects irrelevant to short-term profit growth.

Underlying "Wall Street" throughout Henwood continually pays homage to Karl Marx and some of his incredibly accurate predictions.He also demolishes old shibboleths such as the well worn canard that higher wages automatically translate into reduced employment opportunities, or that rising stock prices always mean a rosy economic picture for the general population."Wall Street" proves that rising stock prices can often coincide with a poor economy for the masses.

Henwood documents the fraudulent work done by professional money managers who'd be better off throwing darts at a dart board than using their investment "skills" when making investment decisions for clients.

Some of the most important and informative sections deal with the rising consumer debt of the average American citizen.Being leveraged to the hilt, the family unit has basically been turned into a player in a giant Ponzi scheme.Capitalism in the United States desperately relies on credit-financed consumption to stay afloat.

Most books dealing with such an overarching topic give a paltry and dissatisfying "What is to be Done" final chapter.This isn't the case for "Wall Street."Henwood offers up many concrete and plausible solutions.Finally at one point asserting that an authentic financial transformation must be made along with an attack on capitalist social power in general.

Illuminating
Critics of America's financial system (capitalism) have pointed to economic deficiencies such as recessions, depressions, unemployment (and underemployment) and so forth as cracks in the system, and with a lot of these cracks popping up recently I've become more interested in the financial system and what's wrong with it.Doug Henwood's book "Wall Street" is very helpful in that respect.We also see a picture of economic history that for some reason we don't see in the news much: over the past thirty years, hours worked have increased, productivity has increased enormously, wealth for the rich has increased enormously but household debt has exploded as hourly wages (inflation-adjusted) have fallen.This is a very interesting trend which I didn't even know about until I read Henwood's book.I guess I'd heard people mention it in passing, but until he lays out the data, where it came from (BLS, Federal Reserve, NBER etc.), puts it on charts etc. it doesn't really hit you as being real as opposed to rhetoric.

Economic books can be dry reading, thus Henwood's wit helps make the reading more enjoyable.Henwood's sympathies also seem to lay with working class people over the rich who the financial markets usually serve, which makes reading easier as well as I don't have to read every passage critically wondering if he is trying to BS me into believing something that's against my interest to believe.This book got me interested in Henwood's other ventures - his newsletter, magazine, radio show, web site, mailing list etc. and they are all interesting as well.I hope every American reads this so they can understand better how this economic system works - after all, the fact that you spend most of your time in life working inorder to get money means that *understanding* how money works is one of the more important things in life, right? ... Read more

Isbn: 086091495X
Sales Rank: 248220
Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Financial Markets    6. Investments & Securities - Stocks    7. Securities industry    8. Stockbrokers    9. United States    10. Wall Street