Breton Books

Excellent book. Really inspires the reader to think philosophically about the way we are living our lives as well as the way we raise our children. Largent and Breton create a solid perspective which we all should consider as we make an effort to evolve as a society.

This book provides a profound, insightful survey of many issues individuals need to take a good look at -- and our society needs to know -- to heal on a very deep level.

We have been programmed to live in fear. We are controlled and manipulated by fear. It's time to break out of the fear box. Many years ago, Gerald Jampolsky wrote, "Love Is Letting Go of Fear" based on "A Course In Miracles".

If you'd like to live a higher quality of life, read this book, study A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume: Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers and start releasing fear/guilt. The more you divorce yourself from fear and guilt, the more awake, aware, alert, free and alive you will feel.

If you were circumcised, don't overlook the importance of letting go of that trauma... such an early, preverbal unhealed wound can be a big obstacle in the way of feeling love. See my book on FGM in the USA, The Rape of Innocence: Female Genital Mutilation in the U.S.A..

We all deserve love and respect and protection from harm. We all deserve to be free of fear. And the good news is, if it had a beginning -- which fear does -- then it will have an end... "Healing is always certain" and "All healing is essentially the release from fear."

Here was another library book that I just had to own! More than another self-help book, Chris Largent did an admirable job of explaining how paradigm conditioning has worked throughout human history - but more so toward America's present-day societal paradigms and how we got here.

Simply put, everyone of us is the product of our biological, physical, educational, emotional, and media environment. From birth, we have our innate survival instincts which start with recognizing we'll get some attention if we cry. Subconsciously we learn how to maniuplate those around us and yet, we are just as manipulated. In other words, we become addicted to our paradigm - sometimes good, sometimes bad - thing is, once you recognize the patterns, you feel great become you know you can change your world.

This book is not a fast read. Not that's it's complicated, it's just worth your time to absorb the message and find out surprising things about yourself, your family, your community, your friends, your government. Highly recommended.

This book is a brilliant, inspirational guide to recognizing the inherent addictive and destructive nature of many dominant paradigms in our civilization. The authors weave their discourse around the spiritual insights of Rumi and Native American steps to "peace." The authors delineate how paradigms function and protect themselves from the threat of alternative approaches. They also expose the addictive nature of paradigms that dominate modern culture, while offering guidance for those wishing to consciously evolve and transcend the self-limiting, divisive patterns that dominate society. This book is a powerful, enlightened examination of what keeps humanity oppressed, allowing us to reflect on ourselves and the world around us. For those who recognize the flaws in existing patterns and paradigms, this book will resonate and provide insight into how we can individually and collectively develop a progressive, expansive framework for human civilization. I highly recommend this book!

The content of this book is excellent, wonderfully written, down-to-earth, very readable, eye-opening...I believe everyone who seeks true freedom, should read this book. I would have given it 5 stars, unfortunately the publisher appears to be part of the problem to which the authors refer. One of the messages in this book is that we don't really reach our full potential while being controlled and having our soul stifled. One result being goods and services that are not top quality (money being the most important, not people, not quality)...when I got to page 33 of this book, the pages started falling out. I had to laugh, given the incredible paradox in that and wondered what the authors would think of it. Even considered that it was an additional synchronous message pointing to how this controlling society is presently crumbling. The pages continued to fall out as I read... I decided to write the publisher and see if they would -shift their paradigm- and either send me a new book or refund my money. Yes, I had bought the book month's before from Amazon...but, apparently that's too late for an Amazon refund. The publisher (not surprisingly) said I should contact Amazon. Darn, no paradigm shift there :( Breton/Largent, I loved your book, but please find a new publisher, so other's can actually pass this valuable information on...all in One -peace- :)

Miller and Le Breton-Miller present a well-researched and well-written study focused on 4 themes in family-run firms: command, continuity, community, and connection. These themes translate into management principles that can and should be used by public companies and other organizations as well. Their (sometimes counter-intuitive) findings show companies such as Cargill, L.L. Bean, The New York Times, IKEA and others manage to survive and thrive. An insightful and interesting book.

Modernisation theorists and chandlerian followers have developed plausible arguments that there are too many weaknesses in family-controlled businesses such as nepotism, small-scale, and short-lived.

Danny Miller & Isabella Le-Breton Miller capture mounting primary and secondary data from 58 family-controlled companies in the US and suggest that family-controlled companies can be as marvellous as their nonfamily-controlled peers. This book provides a rich source of useful insights to business excutives in having a novel understanding family-controlled companies.

According to the International Family Enterprise Research Academy, family-controlled companies dominate every aspect of economic life in the world but the study of family-controlled companies has received scant attention in proportion to the significance of their contribution to the economic growth in the US. This book is a classic in family business research and I highly recommend it to all business executives and researchers.

This is a great book! It is well grounded in excellent case study research and good theory. The authors bring to life some important and profound wisdom about the sources of advantage that family firms have and what makes them successful. Well written, the book is easily accessible to scholars, public policy makers and the public at large. I am impressed by the depth of the research in the book and the time frame it covers. The diversity of companies examined in the book helps to illustrate how effective management can make a significant difference in the ways family firms surpass their rivals in their performance. This is a "must read" book!


Shaker A. Zahra
Paul T. Babson Chair of Entrepreneurship

In several recent reviews, I have quoted remarks by Jack Welch when explaining why he admires small businesses: "For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

In his E-Myth Mastery, Michael Gerber cites the following statistics: "Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year [2005], more than 80% of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday." Everything Welch says is true in terms of the potential advantages which small businesses have and the statistics which Gerber cites suggests that very few of them know how to achieve and then sustain those advantages.

I include these quotations now because they are directly relevant to what Miller and Le Breton-Miller offer in their own book, Managing for the Long Run. For owners and other decision-makers now involved with family businesses, they explain HOW to achieve and then sustain a competitive advantage. True, various "lessons" were revealed by the authors' rigorous and extensive research on a number of family-controlled businesses (FCB) which have become major corporations, notably Cargill, Hallmark Cards, L.L. Bean, Motorola, and Wal-Mart.

It is important to remember, however, that all of them had modest origins and during that perilous period encountered most (if not all) of the same challenges which FCB start-ups now face. Most of the most valuable business books were written to answer critically important questions. In this instance: What distinguishes great family businesses? (Please see Chapter 1.) A related question: What are the "potent priorities" of great family-controlled businesses? (Please see Chapter 2.) Another related question: Why do so many family-controlled businesses stumble? (Please see Chapter 8.) In between Chapters 2 and 8, Miller and Le Breton-Miller focus on five primary characteristics: brand building, craftsmanship, operations, innovation, and deal making. They devote a separate chapter to each. I prefer not to list their key points which are best revealed within the narrative's frame-of-reference and sequential context. However, I now express my appreciation of various Tables and Grids which so efficiently illustrate the cohesion, indeed interdependence of what the authors characterize as "The Four Cs": Command, Continuity, Community, and Connections.

All of the specific mental and business models, strategies, tactics, values, and applications which Miller and Le Breton-Miller recommend are based on their conviction that "the only way to sustain good performance is to [begin italics] act in the best interests of the company and all its stakeholders. [end italics] First, boards and top managers must be motivated to be courageous and farsighted stewards. Second, they need to concentrate on and invest deeply in a substantive, enduring mission. Third, they must assemble a unified, value-driven staff that uses its initiative for the interests of the whole firm. Finally, they must form enduring, win-win relationships with external partners."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Gerber's most recent E-Myth book. Also Gary Harpst's Six Disciplines for Excellence, Steven S. Little's The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Success, and Jason Jennings' Think Big, Act Small.

This book is amazing. I know of no other book in the management literature as cogent, as provocative or as compelling as this one. No wonder family businesses outperform their publicly-held counterparts. This book challenges not only our prejudices about family businesses, but also they way we manage our own. It shows clearly why these companies have succeeded and grown over decades to become the powerhouses they are now - their competitive advantages are sustainable.

The book defies what we think of as best management practices for public companies. It reminds me of Collins's "Built to Last" and Level 5 leaders. The underlying research is THAT good.

For me, the centerpiece of it all is an elegant matrix that describes how these companies have been able to deliver on 5 core strategies through the advantages long tenure, patient capital, etc. No quick accounting fixes here. Locate your own company within this matrix and the companies they studied will offer new guidance as you make your biggest bets and make your toughest decisions.

I was dumbfounded at how short-sighted and small-minded I had become as a manager. It's not a quick read, but read it. And you will never think in quite the same way about your strategy, your core competencies, your markets, or the way you leverage/steward your current resources.

This book is both sophisticated and practical. My hat is off to Miller and Breton-Miller.

Dr. Connelly has produced an outstanding piece of work on the subject matter. I highly recommend this easy to read and understand material. Many kudos are deserved. Simply put, an enjoyable read with a wealth of information.

Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece is a book I'd recommend to scholars. It is well researched and well composed. However, the topic is also of interest to those who enjoy exploring the ancient world and a woman's place in it. Women's lives in this historical period are difficult to access but Connelly has done so in a way that is both useful to those who work in the field and accessible to those who have a general interest and curiosity about the women who acted in and acted out the roles of priestess. An impressive collection of images is of interest to both groups of readers. RD Anderson

This is a fantastic book. I am a non-specialist and found it easy and understandable. The photographs are beautiful, and her understanding of the material complete. Having read the book, I feel like I have a much greater understanding of women's lives and the work of priestesses in the ancient world. This is a classic in the field and wonderful for both scholars and non-scholars alike.

Wow! This is a substantial body of work! The author is articulate but not boring, a very difficult balance to achieve given the amount of material she is wrangling. Her hypothesis make sense and are well supported. The photography, graphics and composition are excellent. This is a book to savor, chapter by chapter. There is simply too much to digest quickly, especially since much of what is presented completely upsets long held paradigms. Kudos to Joan Breton Connelly for investing the time and effort to produce such a satisfying brain food banquet!

The status of women in the ancient world has long been a controversial issue. The traditional view of male historians has been that it was always a male-dominated world. Some feminists have countered this with arguing, on rather fragile evidence, in favor of prehistoric matriarchy and mother goddesses and so forth. Ancient Greece, in particular, has always been a kind of blank screen on which thinkers project their own image of what it was like. Most of the written evidence has suggested that women in ancient Greece were subordinate and secluded. Against this has been the fact that some powerful Greek gods were female and served by female priests. What these priestesses did,, and what their place was in society, has been somewhat mysterious because what we got from the historians and poets and playwrights was scanty. Connelly supplements this by a careful and scholarly (perhaps too scholarly for the general reader) examination of epigraphs and images.
The text is pretty hard going for the non-specialist but the pictures are great and it will make a handsome addition to a feminist coffee table although it will be a shame if it stays there. I think the large format is justified on more than esthetic grounds because Connolly's argument depends on her ability to bring to bear on the subject her abilities as an art historian and therefore adequate illustrations are needed. These are more than adequate; they are magnificent. It would be presumptuous to pronounce on the strength of her case without more expert knowledge than mine. No doubt other academics will be on the attack and it will be fun to see the fur fly in the Times Literary Supplement etc.
At the risk of quibbling I must break a lance in my ongoing battle against publishers who transcribe Greek inscriptions into lower case. Greek lower case was unknown before the Byzantines. I noticed that she does not mention the triple bronze serpent in the Hippodrome at Istanbul in her discussion of the Pythian oracle at Delphi. Is it authentic?

This very funny short by Jarod Kintz is definitely a celebration of surrealism. Each poem and random thought is a delight to the subconscious mind, but I think it would be even more effective if you read this while fasting. Just kick up your feet and let your mind go and enjoy!

This short absolutely blew me away. It is the funniest thing I have read in a long time, the sort of thing you can't put down once you start reading. Very nice.

Growing up Lutheran, I've experienced my share of potlucks. It always amazed me how diversified the dishes were - rarely were two alike and there always seemed to be a healthy balance of the important food groups (with the exception of an overabundance of Jello).

As I read Mr. Kintz's latest short, it immediately brought back memories of those potlucks from my childhood. After my initial salivations, I marvelled at how varied and unique each of his thoughts were, yet together they created a most satisfying literal feast.

Okay, so there were some thoughts in "A Letter to Andre Breton" that were totally "off-the-wall"....much like my Aunt Mildred's infamous Dishwasher Fish (yes, she really cooked it in her dishwasher!) But all in all, Mr. Kintz's short is a fabulous smorgasbord, without all the indigestion afterwards.

I like my fiction straight-up like Hemingway whiskey and I like my poetry the same way, like raw vegetables straight from the dirt, the kind Bukowski used to cook. And that's why I liked Jarod Kintz's latest publication, "A Letter from Andre Breton, Originally Composed on a Leaf of Lettuce With an Ink-dipped Carrot". If cucumbers were similes and onions were metaphors then this Short Salad would fill a family of hungry muses. When Kintz turns a phrase, he really turns a phrase- loose. His figures of speech get legs and they run. Sometimes they run into offbeat places like The Fountain of Youth and sometimes they just sit and chuckle with the Mythical Mr. Boo.

I liked the way Mr. Kintz laced his poetic narratives with flavorful commentary spiced with humorous digs. This Short is a good meal for the mind-- funny, original and fresh. Rave on Jarod Kintz.

This book is about the intersection between art and revolutionary politics.In the 1930s the leading figures of the surrealist movement and a few other artists and writers tried to cut out some political space for artists who supported a revolutionary overturn of the system that birthed fascism and world war - capitalism .The same "globalized" capitalism that exists today, and which is marching toward fascism and world war all over again. In the 1930s, there was another challenge for would-be revolutionary artists : the obstacle of the mass
"Communist" parties which betrayed them and workers and farmers around the world in the interests of the "Soviet" bureaucrats headed by Stalin, which same bureaucracy stifled and suffocated all art and creativity inside the USSR.The struggle of those artists, led by Andre Breton and Diego Rivera, and their direct collaboration with the Russian revolutionary leader in exile Leon Trotsky, has rich lessons for those artists of all kinds who are already beginning to reject and revolt against the "globalized" capitalism of today. As well as those who will do so tommorow.

This book will give you a good understanding of the surrealist movement. You will read the artists' writings not only on this subject, but also their views on the important political questions of the day which they understood were tied to cultural questions. A photo display in the book gives you a sampling of surrealist works. There is also an excellent glossary of names that reveals the evolution of the surrealists in later years. You gain an appreciation for the international breadth of the movement. 'What is Surrealism?' is not just for art history students. Anyone wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between art and politics will be fascinated by collection of articles in this book.

Well, what a shock. A totally human, big, fat tome on an art form that I've never enjoyed. Makes understandable and useful for one's own life the surrealists' aim of dissolving the alienating barriers between thought and action, dream and consciousness, art and life. Their appreciation of Freud; their collaboration with communists, with Leon Trotsky; their rejection of fatherland, religion, family - all flowing from their determination to be part of the birth of a new world in which there would be no poets because all would make poetry. Fascinating section of documents including a brief homage to Hopi art, denunciation of Salvador Dali for being pro-fascist, support to the Algerian independence fight. Still don't enjoy the surrealists' work. But do enjoy them now.

Today most artists seem to be on a short leash. I have friends who paint and sculpt and they don't even think about the fact that their art rarely reaches even middle class people let alone the working and farming majority. When something stirs them and they want to take action, they get afraid about their grants, their patrons, that artist in resident spot at a university, or that artist on a cruise, or on a rich person's art club trip to France or Egypt. They get scared to make a phone call or even write a letter because art in the US in particular is on strings to the rich.......................................................

Once it was different. Read this. I don't say follow surrealism, because it was just one school, born of another time, trying to surmount problems that only a socialist revolution and retransformation of society can solve. As a revolutionist as well as an artist--I have a MFA in Creative Writing and write fictional and poetry--what is remarkable about Breton is not his narrow precepts or methods, but about the militancy to which he tried to find truth and resonance and joy without surrendering to acceptance of bourgeois society..................................
The remarkable writings of Andre Breton, as gifted as a writer, as he was a painter, and more gifted as a thinker than he was either. After World War II US imperialism went to work to try to stifle the courage and outrageousness of people like Breton to channel art into the lack of statement of abstract expressionism. Surrealism is no more revolutionary than any other form of art. The most famous surrealist to most people today is Dali, who didn't mind Franco at all and tried to turn himself into an NY advertizing money maker. What is important about Breton, besides what he says about surrealism and art--and on those things I am no big judge--he was trying to find a way to fight for a free, fighting, critical, irreverant art, faced with the nauseating conservatism of formalism and the smothering idiocy of socialist realism? What was important about Breton is that in these writings and in the manifestos here signed by non surrealists like Leon Trotsky and Diego Rivera, Breton was fighting for more than his art? The quest to upturn (boulverser is better but not English) speak out of turn, penetrate, and speak openly that he developed in his art, in the 1930s and 1940s when most of this work was done, was connected with the struggle of artists to link up with the revolutionary struggle against imperialism, and at the same time, with the fight within the workers movement to free it self of the syphilis of Stalinism.
Buy this book. Read this book. Use this book to try to say what life really is.

Sheldon Currie has nailed this book, this character, the essense of the highs and lows of life, and the pain of love, and of loss.

I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. By the end you'll be one with the characters, and the setting will be a place you know, or have known, all to well in your own life.

The movie, Margaret's Museum, is also great, and definetely a buyer.

If you've ever wanted a book to fill that little space you have in your schedule, the bigger place you have in your heart, this is your book.

The main character of this novel, Margaret MacNeil, is an absolutely stunning character. Currie makes it very clear throughout this novel the importance of family to Margaret. Although,living in the Reserve Mines, where you have no choice but to make a living as a miner, presents a difficult environment for Margaret to cope with. The end of this novel, although quite disturbing, is very compelling. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Sheldon Currie.

This excellent, vividly written novel became the movie "Margaret's Museum" (with Helena Bonham Carter). Its twisty plot is both a complete surprise, and somehow inevitable. I fell in love with the blunt, vulnerable Margaret, who tells the story. I'd recommend this book to anybody.

A great book from a prophet of our times. Substainable agriculture started in the Amazon with unique invention of Terra Pretta thousands of years ago. Truly a person inspired by God.

The story of Sister Dorothy Stang takes us to a time and place unfamiliar to most of us. The description of life in the Amazon forest in the late 20th century is a stark reminder that there is still much injustice in the world. We owe so much to those, like Sister Dorothy, who take it upon themselves to try to make life better for the oppressed. A heroically beautiful but sad story.

just finished this book. it is very well written. i benefited tremendously from reading this important story. Dorothy's life was very inspirational and will help you to help others and fight for right.

This is the best book I ever read! Marcos Breton is an amazing writer and historian. Usually, all you ever hear about is Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, but now we get to hear about Roberto Clemente, Fernando Valenzuela, and Jorge Posada too! Viva Baseball! This book is a valuable addition to any library.

In Home Is Everything, Marcos Breton presents story vignettes of Latinos involved in American Baseball, told in both English and Spanish, and enhanced with full-color photographs by Jose Luis Villegas. Slices of daily life training and competing in this great sport, as well as the names and brief profiles of remarkable and dedicated people, comprise this celebration of baseball which is enthusiastically recommended for the fans of Latino players.

This book is very well photographed and written. The photos are stunning and colorful as well as informative and narrative. Not your stanard picture book, this is much better and will have a longer shelf life as the players are legendary. A must have book for the photographer, the sports fan and the Latino communities around America.

Denise Breton and Stephen Lehman have put together a brilliant philosophical essay on restorative justice is a fruit of wisdom, courage, and moderation based on ancient principles of aboriginal spirituality as well as Socratic dialogues.
For Canadians the best part is their commendation of relationship restoration coming out of the Canadian Restorative Justice case studies such as Satisfying Justice, from Ottawa.
This book along with Breton and Largent's Paradigm Conspiracy form a basis for finding peace in a broken and violent world. Highly recommended.

Mystic Heart Of Justice covers the field of restorative justice, considering its importance as an alternative to the traditional reward-punishment model and applying this new system to the current justice system and the cultural forces which dehumanizes the individual. Blending philosophy and spirituality with a treatise on social change, Mystic Heart Of Justice provides an excellent and different - albeit scholarly - view on restoring a damaged world.

This excellent book compares our current system of Retributive Justice, which focuses on retribution and punishment, with the nascent Restorative Justice movement, which focuses on restoring balance and finding healing. Throughout the book, major flaws of the current system are highlighted. These flaws demonstrate how we all suffer from the 'power over' and 'might makes right' paradigms of retribution. The benefits of seeking balance and healing from the effects of crime, rather than vengeance, assists individuals and our whole society toward greater security and peace. Key to the whole idea of "mystic Justice" is that "outer Justice" is impossible to attain unless individuals hold a true vision of living a just life, "inner Justice", within their hearts. This books shows the path toward this achievement. An excellent, prophetic vision.

Adela Breton (1849-1923) was a well-to-do English Victorian woman who did not begin her unique work of painting Mayan ruins until she was 50. Even for her age, in this she displayed an adventurousness, energy, and individuality reminiscent of Isek Dinesen. Visiting the Mayan ruins during a travel excursion known as the Mexican Grand Tour, she became absorbed in the ancient Mexican civilization's archaeology. Combining this new-found interest with her practice of painting and sketching archaeological objects of Scotland, Egypt, and Africa from her readings in anthropology, Breton's Mayan paintings are of interest not mainly for any innovative or exceptional skill, but for their verisimilitude. Some of her paintings are the only documents available for lost relics or ones which have deteriorated. Her congenital interest in archaeology and anthropology combing the enthusiasm of the amateur with the reflection and understanding of the professional and the appreciation she had for her subjects is seen in her bright colors, clarity of line, and the attention to detail. The biography by an independent scholar with a law degree portrays Breton in an almost novelistic manner--she is not simply a subject, but a character of a story too. Quotes from diaries and letters of hers and from letters to her and writings of others about her at the openings of chapters are particularly pertinent and revealing about Breton's significance in the archaeological work being done in Mexico in the early 1900s, her feelings for what she was doing, and the special regard of others for her. The conflict and instability of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 brought an end to the archaeological work of Breton and her associates. But not before she had managed to paint and sketch numerous Mayan relics of all types from pyramids to murals to pottery.

This well written work is a fascinating account of how an English gentlewoman's color art saved a record of images painted by Mayans 1500 years earlier. Accompanied by her Indian guide, this incredible women spent several years in the Yucatan jungles making the only copies we have of this aspect of Mayan history. Most of those images deteriorated rapidly in the early years of the 20th Century. Highly recommended reading for all, even for those not familiar with that great civilization.