Washington University Books

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Initially, I started reading it because I had liked Brookhiser's biography on Hamilton and was looking for something else by the same author. The occasional asides that Brookhiser included helped to bring some of the antiquated rules into the 21st century. While reading this book, at first I found myself making notes as to which person should hear about a particular rule. After a while, however, I began to be aware of some of my behaviors that should change. I have since passed this book on to a young friend very concerned about character. And...I try not to roll my eyes any more. Recommended - but I suggest also reading Washington's Farewell Address as a way to better understand the man's character.

This enjoyable short book has within it, a serious message about our first president. The character of the man and how he quite deliberately constituted himself for the challenges of his life, is quite enthralling. He was self reflective enough, without a great formal education, to have required of himself a set of high, and somtimes challenging, personal standards...based upon the cardinal virutes set form in a little Jesuit reader, meant as a guide to leaders. To meditate upon, and require such precepts of personal conduct, turned out to be a prescient insight into what was essential to his very public life.....the life of the irreplaceable leader, of the early days of the American republic.

It says much about the man, who worked ever diligently to improve himself in such a way. Nothing could be more helpful in considering the personal qualities of character that we Americans should expect, for all of our leaders.

In addition, the compiler/author's commentary is often quite entertaining, and always right on the mark.

If I win the lottery I am buying the entire supply and handing them out on the street corners. Our society would be a lot more tolerable if everyone followed these simple rules of manners and courtesy. What would Washington have written about inconsiderate cell phone use? A must read for everyone. Buy this as a gift for your teenager or college student. Start your own revolution against boorish behavior.

Though certainly the most ubiquitous, George Washington has also always been the most mysterious of the Founding Fathers; the one whose greatness is most difficult for us to comprehend. Here was a man who was less well spoken and less brilliant than many of his peers. He was not a great philosophical or political thinker. He lost most of the military engagements he led. And yet, the men of whom we think more highly in these regards almost universally revered him. What quality was it that made men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquise de Lafayette defer to him ? The answer must surely lie in the character of the man, and character seems to be a uniquely difficult quality to convey in writing. Perhaps it is actually impossible to describe the quality itself; instead the effects of it must be described.

One example from Washington's life seems to me to stand out above all others : his handling of the Newburgh Conspiracy. When, after the War, disgruntled officers, led by Horatio Gates, circulated a letter suggesting that the Army march on Congress to demand back pay and hinted at taking control of the government, Washington used a simple but elegant ploy to defuse the crisis. Having summoned the men to his tent so that he could read a letter meant to dissuade them from their proposed course of action, he paused, reached into a pocket, and withdrew a pair of glasses, which, thanks in large part to his vanity, few knew he even required. As he unfolded them and put them on, he said :

Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.

It is reported, perhaps with some hyperbole, that men wept; but at any rate, the insurrection crumbled.

It is hard for us, jaded as we have become about our leaders, to imagine the drama of this scene and the effect it must have had on his comrades, but then again, we are unfortunate enough to have a recent Commander in Chief whose preference in underwear, bizarre sexual proclivities, and genital deformities were all common knowledge. It is perhaps instructive that when he was at Boys' State as a teenager (as related in David Maraniss's excellent biography First in His Class), Bill Clinton devoted himself to one single purpose and achieved it : to have his picture taken with President Kennedy. At a similar age, sixteen year old George Washington copied by hand 110 maxims from a guidebook on manners originally compiled by Jesuits in 1595. Both men were trying to improve themselves, but there's a key difference : Clinton sought a photo opportunity that would be personally gratifying and which he might use to advance his political career down the road; Washington sought out those precepts which would help him to discipline himself, to develop his character, and to make himself more presentable to society. The fundamental object of Clinton's effort was personal aggrandizement, of Washington's, to make himself a better person.

In this little book Richard Brookhiser, who wrote a terrific biography of Washington, reproduces the 110 "Rules of Civility" in a much easier form to read than the original text (for example, check out an online version), along with a brief introductory essay and explanatory, often amusing, comments on many of the rules. Here are some examples (with Brookhiser's comments in italics where applicable) :

(1) Every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present.

(4) In the presence of others, sing not to yourself with a humming noise or drum with your fingers or feet.

Don't carry a boom box either.

(13) Kill no vermin, as fleas, lice, ticks, etc., in the sight of others. If you see any filth or thick

spittle put your foot dexterously upon it, if it be upon the clothes of your companions put it off privately, and if it be upon your own clothes return thanks to him who puts it off.

Useful advice on the frontier. In 1748, when Washington was sixteen, he went surveying in

the Blue Ridge mountains and was obliged to sleep under "one thread bare blanket with double its weight of vermin." The last two clauses are useful anywhere: Don't embarrass those you help, and however embarrassed you may be to discover that you have been in a ludicrous or disgusting situation, don't forget to thank those who helped you out of it.

As the last example demonstrates, many of the rules seem at first to be hopelessly antiquated, but on further reflection, in the concern they display for personal dignity and humility, thoughtfulness of and respect for others, maintenance of civil standards, they are truly timeless. The final precept is the most famous and allows Brookhiser to sum up all that have come before :

(110) Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

The only open reminder of what has been implicit all along: Petty morals and large morals are linked; there are no great spirits who do not pay attention to both; these little courtesies reflect, as in a pocket mirror, the social and the moral order.

And this is the significance of Washington's attention to these seemingly petty rules, that the conscience is only a spark and that it may be extinguished unless one labors to maintain it. Because Washington did take that labor seriously throughout his life, he had the reserve of respect and honor built up with others which enabled him to cow the rebellious officers at Newburgh and had the personal moral fiber which enabled him, at the vital moments in the life of the new republic, to refuse political power, both when it was there for the taking and when it was freely offered. In some sense, these 110 maxims helped to create the man of whom King George III said, when he heard that General Washington planned to surrender command of the Continental Army to retire to his farm :

If he indeed does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

That assessment, from a humiliated enemy, was accurate then, and the bloody course of every subsequent revolution, suggests that it may understate the case.

GRADE : A

I bought this book about six years ago because I had been told that George Washington had used these rules of civility to guide his own life and actions. I cherish this book. There are a few rules that are dated, but they are entertaining. The rest is pure gold and timeless.

A few examples:

5. If you cough, sneeze, sigh, or yawn, do it not loud but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your hankerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.

65. Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.

82. Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.

If you can't figure out what to give that new graduate who already has everything, I highly recommend this book. I recommend it for everyone.

This is the great popular history of Seattle. Learn about the pioneers behind the downtown streetnames: Denny, Stewart, Mercer, and more. Yes, there was history here before Grunge -- and it was even more earthy.

The colorful stories just don't stop:

the founding and abandonment of Alki (now West Seattle);

the "Battle of Seattle," with the settlers hiding in a fort;

Chief Sealth's myth and legacy;

the Great Seattle Fire that burnt down Pioneer Square, and the landfill into the Sound that rebuilt it;

how Seattle overtook Tacoma as the dominant city on Puget Sound by luring miners bound for the Yukon Gold Rush with the promise of "the best whorehouses north of San Francisco" and, of course, provisions for the trail and for prospecting;

the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington grounds, designed by the Olmstead Brothers (of Central Park fame);

Seattle's mixed role in the anti-Chinese mob violence that swept up the Pacific coast in the 1880s;

the outrageously mammoth public works projects sluicing Denny Hill flat, using the dirt for landfill on the waterfront, and creating the worlds largest man-made island in the harbor;

the Seattle General Strike of 1919 that prompted a nation-wide red scare;

and more and more and more.

It makes me breathless just to type this! A very enjoyable read, in a breezy story-telling style, Skid Road gives you more of a flavor of where Seattle came from in just a few hours than anything else.

Skid Road by Murray Morgan has become somewhat of a classic in the Seattle area, where having read it is basically an indication that you know something about the history of the city.

The book itself is not really what many people would refer to as a history book, however. The subtitle says it all: "an informal portrait." While the book can be read and enjoyed with little or no knowledge of Seattle history, this is a book that's best read for the purpose of providing vivid color to one's understanding of the history of the city. If you're looking for a traditional history with lots of data, maps, and so forth there are better places to begin.

But as a work of literature this is a wonderful book. Morgan is an amazing writer and storyteller, and Skid Road serves as a wonderful example of what local history writing can be. If you have a strong appreciation of quality writing this book will hold your attention even if you have no interest in Seattle.

I just loved this book. It was required to read for a History class. I couldn't put the book down. I read it in a weekend. I learned so much about Seattle, and the wild characters that help to create and establish Seattle. I never knew such people help to built Seattle.

Now I know The history behind the street names in seattle, and more about the history in Seattle that I would have never had know.

I'd love to read more books that this authors has written.

This is the consensus choice among local historians and writers for the best history of Seattle's founding, and it deserves to be. Morgan's portraits of pioneers like Doc Maynard and Arthur Denny are exhilirating and informative, and the book reads like a collection of excellent short stories rather than a dry recollection. If you are familiar with Seattle, this will change the way you look at Pioneer Square and the waterfront, but a knowledge of the city is not necessary to enjoy these stories of a city's establishment and maturation.

What I do not like about the book is that it focusses a little too much on the political history of the town rather than on the people who made up the population. A little time was spent on the initial Chinese American population, but more time could have been spent on those and other immigrant cultures that have historically made up the city.

Even so, it's still worth the effort. It is a fun read, and, though dated, it still kept me laughing unexpectedly over and over again.

This book is not your usual writing manual. It doesn't have chapters, doesn't have an index, nor a table of contents. But this gold mine is worth digging in! Patrick wrote it as part of a fund raiser for the Endowment Fund for his university in the state of WA. Each page of this book is laid out in this way: it contains advice on different subject matters. Each page is written brilliantly, conversationally, and funny too. I have been writing freelance humor for 30 years now and . . . wow. It was such a treat to read McManus' advice. I sat there, turning those McManus pages and POW I'd get smacked upside-the-head with one piece of news and have to mark it, and then I'd read a few more pages and POW there'd be another nugget. If truth be told, I wasn't a Patrick McManus fan prior to finding this book at my library. I picked it up purely because of its title, because there are so few books on writing humor. But, as soon as I had it in my hands I had to order a copy for my own shelf. I highly recommend it for anyone who writes humor. But, actually, I highly recommend it for anyone who writes. When you read this book, sit down and get comfortable, but have a marker handy. You will need it.

As an avid fan of Patrick McManus I dove into this book with great anticipation. However, AS an avid fan I must say it was a little different from Patrick's previous works. This book is mostly a Q and A session with a fan named Newton who inquires about the writing process Mr. McManus goes through. The end of the book features more than just a couple of the author's classic stories. Even though the bulk of the book is a step away from the usual stories of hijinks and curmudgeondness, it is still a fun read and brings the expected stitches to the reader's side.

This book is an excellent text for those wishing to write satorical stories.His presentation of the technique is different from most texts. I learned a lot fron this book.

When I heard McManus had written a book on how to write humor, I almost started counting my royalties in advance. If the master is revealing all his secrets, I thought, now I'd be able to quit my dreary job working as a sex therapist and make a living writing humor, instead.

Well, it seems like McManus didn't put much effort into this one. There are very few techniques listed. A common McManus technique is something I call the "unattributed action." This is a sentence like: "The screams could be heard for miles." Now, of course, he would have set it up that we expect those to be the screams of children in the pool or whatever, only to learn that it's McManus himself screaming. This technique was not even discussed at all.
I imagined that the book would be a large collection of techniques like this and examples where he had used them in his stories. Unfortunately, there are very few actual humor writing techniques in this book.

Instead, we're left with a vague, "come up with a humorous idea," "write in scenes whenever possible," etc. That is about 10 pages in the book.

If you'll look at the sample pages you'll notice that even the table of contents is just a random hodgepodge of questions in no particular order. Most of them not actually about writing humor. Over 50% of the book is reprints of previously written material with BRIEF commentaries.

Now, I'm thankful that McManus even ATTEMPTED to share this information with us, but, sadly, it seems like he didn't put much effort into it.

Of course, because every teeny bit of information helps, you should probably read it anyway; but don't pay for it. It's not like you're going to have every other page highlighted. There are only about 10 sentences worth highlighting in the book.

One thing I DID like was the list of books and authors that influenced him at the end of the book. I will definitely be checking those out.

In summary, though, save your money: You'll actually learn more just by analyzing his stories on your own, and asking yourself this question when you laugh: Why is this funny? and then by incorporating your answers into your own writing.

For those of us who write and want to inject a bit of humor in our writing, Patrick McManus has given us an invaluable tool with this book. It's not only instructive and reflective on what makes humor humorous, it's also a funny book in itself. It probably helps that I love to read McManus's wild stories and find them hilarious. But he's a good enough story teller that anyone will find him a good tutor. The only disappointing thing was to learn that many of his stories are complete fiction (and not loosely based on some real event in his past). He sure had me convinced.

After a recent trip to my family's cabin in Cardiff Spur, I caught the history bug. Back in the dusty shelves I found a old book about the ghost towns of Idaho. A small book, probably out of publication by now, that had details about North Central Idaho that the schools don't teach - the drama. When I decided to make the trek back to the cabin, I decided I would be better informed of the area and what it offered in the way of hiking and historical sites. In that manner, I came across "Snowbound."
Ladd Hamilton did a wonderful job of recreating an incident that has been told in many different versions. I knew the fate of George Colegate before I started reading the book, but the rich detail helped make the story vivid and more human.
It was a bit slow paced at times, and the heartbreaking part is that no one will ever know exactly what happened to George Colegate. Regardless, an awesome history of the area surrounding the Lolo Trail for those who are interested.

I just finished this book (February 2003) and I must say that it was a very riveting book. Since I have been to some of the places that are spoken of in this book and am a resident of the Lewiston,ID and Clarkston,WA valley, it was all the more fascinating.
The positives of this book are too many to list, but let me begin by saying that it gives a vivid picture of the beauty but also the brutality of nature. The Bitterroot mountains, the Lochsa River, etc. are described so well, you feel like you're there. The Carlin hunting party that ventured into these parts in October of 1893 did not expect such harsh conditions - it was an unusually snowy and wet Fall. Very few people in the world have faced the hardships they faced, and their heart-wrenching decision to leave a sick man behind can only be understood by those who appreciate the harsh conditions they were in, both in terms of weather, but also in terms of their own physical and mental weakness at the time.
Ladd Hamilton does a good job at remaining objective on his assessment of their decision. But I, for one, do not fault them for it. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. Far from being an act of inhumanity, as one reviewer calls it, I see in the Carlin party an example of real courage and ingenuity. They did not arrive at their decision in a flippant manner - they really struggled with it, and they chose to act on logic, rather than on sentiment. What a breath of fresh air that is in our feelings-oriented society!!
One member of the party, Keeley (who was hired by Carlin to aid them in their exit), ends up twisting the story against his comrades - but this was clearly because of his greed and his bitterness for not having received more $$$ for his services.
Read it for yourself, and enjoy!

I couldn't put the book down until I read every page. Ladd Hamilton made this area come alive with his in depth, detailed description of the harshness when challenging the Bitterroot mountians. I had to question my own response to their decision to leave Colegate behind to live or die alone. I really enjoyed reading this book, I will look forward to many more books written by Ladd Hamilton.

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This is a "True Crime." In 1893, two spoiled rich boy-men and a brother-in-law - all from New York, and 2 local men (a guide and a cook) went off into the Bitterroot Mountains for a hunting foray. Not all came out. The Great White Hunters were exposed to be neither Great nor much good as hunters. The aftermath of their foibles and folly is an interesting juxtaposition of Eastern American v. Western, and the idle idyll rich v. working folk of the time.

The hunting "expedition" and its wending out of the wilderness are slow going. Unfortunately for the reader, so also is author Ladd Hamilton's pacing and writing style. In the beginning, I had to create a chart of the participants - then, reading further, they each become more easily identifyable.

Two portions in the book are among the most sad and gruesome testimentaries of man's inhumanity to man and animal of any this reader has ever read - I will not spoil it for you by revealing further. And speaking of spoilage, one is cautioned to employ "Owen's Rule" and not look at the included photos before reading - as they disclose those who came out alive.

Last weekend I stopped in a local bookstore (Moscow, Idaho) and Ladd Hamilton was signing his book, Snowbound. I talked with him a few minutes and bought a copy. For those of you that have traveled Hwy 12 over Lolo pass, you may have seen the markers for Colegate Licks. I've fished this area for years and always wondered about the details of the Carlin hunting party. Hamilton has written a superb account of the events specifying this out of the way marker on the Lochsa river. It is as gripping an account of wilderness travel as one can find. If you enjoyed Ambrose's re-telling of the Lewis and Clark expedition over this region, this is every bit as good. The ethical questions raised in this tragedy are considerable and sparked a national debate. A great story and wonderful reading.

When I read so many five stars reviews plain of fantastic and enthusiastic words about Zee's book I have to confess I believed just a little. But I was wrong: it is a great writer!
With humour sense, with culture and incredible style. When I read people were reading it for the second time - an almost four hundred pages book!... But that is a book I know I will read again and again!
Thanks to all of you.

Very well researched,a little too sweet,not very hot. A pleasant little book that reflects the title, will be an asset to planning travel and entertaining. Wonderful recipes, an insight into the humor and creativity of the Chinese.Money well spent as a gift book.

I recommend Swallowing Clouds to anyone curious about Chinese food and culture. It will have particular appeal to those learning Chinese, or curious about Chinese characters, but it is presented in such a way that those without an involvement in the language can easily follow it. Zee's approach is informative but above all fun.

Like to be able to speak Chinese but even the thought of studying it intimidates the pants off you? You might be pleasantly surprised once you read ten pages into Swallowing Clouds. A. Zee is a wonderfully patient, fun teacher. You won't learn Chinese simply be reading this book but you might just get hooked enough to want to learn more. So this book is a great starting point. You will learn some very interesting stuff about Chinese food and culture.

I first read Swallowing Clouds 12 years ago and it started me on the endlessly fascinating hobby of learning to read Chinese characters. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Chinese culture, cuisine, and history. Dr. Zee's effortlessly entertaining, yet thoroughly knowledgeable, style will entrance the neophyte as well as the seasoned scholar.

Four antithetic concepts: prospect/refuge and complexity/order from Appleton's book taken to describe Wright's houses. All in a boringly polite, restrained and repetitive academic language. Appleton's concepts are so powerful that get half a book just pointing them over and over by example, without adding much depth to the conversation, as I discovered. The only possible argument against that is that there isn't any depth there to be added besides the revelation of the pattern itself. It's a Zen slap. Maybe. But Zen slaps are shorter than 200p. Another thing that I found amusing was the pattern analysis of Mario Botta's house in Stabio, which resulted more or less in the conclusion that it follows the Wright pattern. Now this really had me question the effectiveness of the author's method for detecting pleasurable settings :)

Now for the good things: the author researched quite a lot of material to get this book done, and as a result, there's a lot historical details that I found very interesting. Also some of the more lyrical, emotional descriptions are revealing (e.g. that of Fallingwater). The introductory chapters are quite revealing too. Also, there's an attempt to link Wright's emotional periods with evolution and preferences over prospect or refuge in its work.

Too bad academics these days have to research a 4 pages full of interdisciplinary bibliography to get the required assets for their credibility in the academic world. The market certainly doesn't require that much of an effort. Normal people will just agree with you or not. My 2 cents.

Superb book with great insights into recurring design strategies that extended throughout his career. As a Frank Lloyd Wright homeowner and architect with extensive Wright research and visits to his other residential projects, I can attest to the power of the design strategies articulated in this book. The book is well written with beautiful illustrations. The only shortcoming of the book is the contemporary examples in the back of the book which pale in comparison to the great architectural works by Mr. Wright. All things considered this book is highly recommended for Wright enthusiasts and architects.

In this superb book, Hildebrand attempts no less than a definitive explanation of the method used by Wright to weave his architectural magic. Using the theories of "prospect and refuge" & "order and complexity" he
sets out to establish what he calls the "pattern" that reveals itself in Wright's residential designs. Backed by detailed exposition, plans, diagrams and photos of specific examples he convincingly does just that: present the "pattern" that, to a greater or lesser degree, permeates Wright's work. Also covered are various detail items which are often, though with a lesser frequency, present.

To the serious student of Wright's organic architecture, this book is an indispensible resource.

This is a great book, giving insight into Wright'd designs. Good pictures of details of some of his houses that are not found in other sources and really nice 3D exploded views of some of the more important ones.

Nice book. The author has broken thru all the FLW complexity and clearly and methodically documented the Pattern and Meaning of FLW houses. The isomentric drawings are fantastic! I have been to several of his houses and I love them but could not pull together what the main concepts were. This book is also great for non-architects. I can now continue my passion of FLW research and see the "patterns". My goal is to transend the FLW concepts of "prospect/refuge" in architecture. My only complaint is that some of the black and white prictures are difficult to read. Color pictures would have been nice. Aside from this deficiency the book in my opinion is the best FLW available. I reccomend one read and study this book before visiting his works or reading anything else on FLW.

Peter Bacho's Dark Blue Suit (1997) offers readers a book of short stories which reflect the struggles of a young Filipino-American boy whose father once labored in Alaskan canneries, "Dark Blue Suit". It is in this first short story, we see Buddy as a five-year old, watching his gruff but protective father, Vince, negotiate a complex world in which men fear, respect, and dislike Vince for an authority he carries with considerable strength. Buddy learns quickly how to read his father's "look" when he risks misbehaving but also recalls his father's gait before imitating him with pride.

Dark Blue Suit depicts the difficulty of being Filipino-American at a time in which US culture was ambivalent if not hostile to the presence of Filipinos. Bacho writes a poignant but sad tale in "August 1968" which chronicles Buddy's adolescent friendship with an African-American boy, Aaron, who eventually leaves for college only to return to the rising tensions which characterized the Civil Rights Movement. If Buddy's friendship collapses under the weight of cultural history, it is because Bacho argues that cultural appropriation of another culture has its limits and its consequences. "August 1968" offers an honest portrait of Buddy's affiliation with an African-American and the problems which occur when one assumes cultural privilege while performing his friend's race identity. Can one "act Black" and expect long-term affiliation? At what cost to one's own sense of self does appropriation take place? Given the pervasive influence of hip-hop culture among Filipino-American youth, Bacho's story offers a response to a question which persists even today.

The rest of the stories focus on Buddy's various relationships including friends and family. Buddy's history shapes him and the choices he makes. When he drives home to see a dying relative in "A Matter of Faith", Buddy relies not on his own faith which flickers against his ongoing doubts but on the faith of his uncle who believed deeply and lived out of his beliefs. When Buddy prays at the conclusion of the story, he does so not only out of respect for his uncle, but also as a means of engaging in a cultural memory which includes his uncle. His characters may struggle with religion and its attendant beliefs but he writes his characters with enough sophistication to provide them with a cultural history that does not deny Catholicism its rightful place in the lives of Filipino-Americans.

Dark Blue Suit is a powerful and beautiful work. Bacho's tight, precise style, reminiscent of Hemingway's masculine prose, never risks excessive description or wordy dialogue. He relies on what is said and the silences to carry the narrative through. As stories, Dark Blue Suit is not merely a set of impressionistic portraits, but a series of black and white photographs which gain force as one reads through to the end. One might recall the work of Sherwood Anderson or Sarah Orne Jewett as a means of comparison.

Bacho's book captured this reader, who upon intial reading thought it was a non-fiction work. The short-stories all come together to form a well-rounded and captivating story of Philipino Americans, especially in the Northwest.

I liked the stories in the book alot. I could understand what several of the characters were going thru almost like a slice of my own life. I highly recommend it for filipino-americans becoming of age and who see a need to understand the boundard between american and filipino cultures.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book. With a few exceptions--the narrator and his father--I genuinely liked most of the characters in the book, but I found this to be a bit of a problem--they were all *characters.* Similarly, as I read the book, I sensed heroic adulation sprinkled liberally throughout. Unfortunately, many of the heroes exhibited behavior that shouldn't be emulated. I especially wondered about the rather heroic depiction of Buddy's father. His signature behaviors--intimidating those around him, whoring around on his wife, and ignoring the resulting children--aren't what passes for heroism. Overall, I was surprised the narrator didn't include a single story about a stable, well-adjusted, decent, family-man. Remarkably, the non-fictional, but ancillary, Taky Kimura did the best job of filling this role.

Furthermore, the role of women in the book was a bit strange. With the exception of Buddy's ever-so-religious, ever-so-pure mother, they were cast, rather angrily, as stupid whores. Since I wouldn't normally notice such things, the author must've done this explicitly. I don't understand what the author's motivation for this might have been.

If you've ever wondered what the daily lives of the early Philipino immigrants to Seattle were like. Read this book. In vivid flowing prose Bacho captures the look and feel of Philipino life and culture in Seattle in the old days.

Gati's treatment of the Hungarian Revolution and its actors gives the impression that he wrote a book with preconceived conclusions supported by selected documentation and by omission of those not fitting in his concept. Exploitation of the 50th anniversary of the seminal historic event is evident in the timing of publication. He treats Imre Nagy, the Freedom Fighters and America unfairly. He unrealistically expects the revolutionaries to be practitioners of real politic. His assumption of Soviet willingness to compromise, to meaningfully revise its relationship with its satellites seemed so hopefully evidential only in the flashlight of the revolution. It is surprising that Gati is still dazzled.

There is very little new in Gati's "new history" of the Hungarian Revolution that is significant. Robert Murphy in his autobiography: Diplomat among warriors explained the American inaction regarding the Hungarian Revolution in a few pages more concisely, with more insight than Gati does in his book. There is no surprise that Gati neglects to mention him and his views.

Murphy concludes his assessment of why the Hungarian Revolution was defeated, or in better words, why it was left to be defeated, with this remarkably humble statement:

"For sheer perfidy and relentless suppression of a courageous people longing for their liberty, Hungary will always remain a classic symbol. Perhaps history will demonstrate that the free world could have intervened to give the Hungarians the liberty they sought, but none of us in the State Department had the skill or the imagination to devise a way."

This evaluation remains the most authoritative, most honest, factually correct and durable judgment of American - or for that matter the free World's - inability to
act at a time when action was warranted.

When I read Charles Gati's prize winning "Hungary and the Soviet Bloc," I then thought that he had written the last and best word on our understanding of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 during the Cold War. Then, unexpectedly, several years later the Berlin Wall came down, Hungary and the USSR's East European satellites regained independence, and heretofore closed Cold War archives began to open. From archives in Budapest and Moscow as well as from dozens of interviews with participants of '56 both East and West, Professor Gati has written a classic of Cold War history and analysis which arguably will become the definitive account of the multi-sided, tragic events of 1956 in Hungary. No stone has been left unturned -- the author has read the minutes of the Politburo meetings in the Soviet Union and Hungary, as well as the interrogation and trial transcripts from the last days before his execution of Imre Nagy, former Prime Minister of Hungary. This fluently written, masterfully organized, and exeptionally well integrated small volume deserves to sit on the Cold War history shelf along with Allison's "Essence of Decision," the study of another major event of the era, the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In his overarching Introduction, Gati includes a brief but fascinating autobiographical recounting of his own experiences in Budapest as a young reporter during the tumultuous years after his high school graduation in 1953 to his flight with tens of thousands of Hungarians across the Austrian border after Soviet troops crushed the revolution in late 1956.

The author's thesis is the existence of the possibility of an alternative "limitationist" approach to demands, expectations, methods, and outcomes by all parties to the challenges of Hungary '56. Instead, however, as is vividly recounted in the book, the Hungarian leadership, the Budapest insurgents, Moscow, and Washington displayed variably, vacillating responses, revolutionary romanticism, imperial intransigence, and absolutist anti-communism, all of which produced disaster and great bloodshed for Budapest and its population 50 years ago this early November. As the author makes clear, it need not necessarily have ended in a zero-sum tragedy, but with some restraint on all sides might well have become a non-zero-sum outcome.

All parties to the failed revolution come in for well deserved criticism -- Nagy for his ineffectiveness as a leader (his portrait from the 1930s to his death in 1958 is the most complete and nuanced account of a foreign leader I have ever read), the young Hungarian insurgents for their unbridled demands and intemperate actions, Washington for the hypocrisy of its East European policies of "liberation" and "rollback," and most of all the Soviet Union for the extraordinary brutality and violence it rained down upon the people of Budapest.

In his splendid Epilogue, Charles Gati's well told story of the "failed illusions" of a half century ago, as well as his own life as a former Hungarian citizen, came full circle when he witnessed Nagy's cermonial reburial in Budapest's Heroes Square late spring 1989, with the demise of the Communist system in Hungary and East Europe in sight just months away. This is a remarkable and exceptional book.

This is the first book I've read on the Hungarian Revolt, but I found it well doicumented, insightful and disturbing. I've read alot of books on history and this was truly riveting. I, like so many Americans, am very ignorant of Eastern European History and felt truly enlightened by this analysis. I also felt it particularly relevant to what is happening today. Our country's inaction then and and our actions today show little understanding of the peoples or culture or politics of other societies. We in this country have a great heritage and enlighted leaders,such as Lincoln, who set up a government we can be proud of. However, today we are acting in a way that shows blindness and misguidedness.. We have shown again that we have not learned anything from events such as the Hungarian Revolt. Our leaders want to spread democracy but are doing it in a way that is both ignorant and arrogant. We did it then and are doing it now.
I'm glad a man such as Mr. Gati was able to immigrate to this country and contribute to it. I look forward to readin more books by him.

Gati's book is written with the perspective of the forces at work in Budapest, Moscow and Washington before and during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He briefly recounts his own experience as a young Hungarian journalist during the 12 days of the Revolution, and then proceeds to profile in detail the events and personalities of that time. He manages to capture the spontaneity of the event, and how leaders in the three capitals misinterpreted and finally acted (or failed to act), often with limited understanding. The book is well-researched (almost every page has footnotes), and despite criticism by an earlier commenter, is quite in line with more recent interpretations of the 1956 events, using recently released Soviet, American and Hungarian archives, which were not available to earlier authors. As it has been mentioned by another reviewer, it is a human story, not an encyclopedic one, and I found it engrossing.

Take the experts' word that this study is a reliable, extensive, and insightful account of the 1956 Hungarian Revolt. What strikes me is the personal element. We go from the recollections of a young, unsophisticated journalist of 22, caught in the tide of momentous events he does not understand, to the retrospection of a highly sophisticated scholar revisiting those events and doing his very best to look behind history's curtain to resolve their meaning. It is a gripping, honest, and personal account, rendered with the binocularity of five decades of study. A century from now, this will still be the book to read, not just for the facts but also for the feel of one of the 20th century's signal struggles.

I can only endorse the comments of other reviewers about this rather wonderful book. As a writer myself, yes, I can find flaws. For example, the characterization is sometimes too uni-dimensional - the protagonist, Phloi (sometimes she is just too good); the stereotyped wicked older sister, Khun Un, who, in true fairytale fashion, redeems herself in the end. But ultimately, I forgive the book these flaws because the writer has the skills to create a world which I want to inhabit. Finishing it was like parting with a very dear friend.

I ordered this book when preparing for a trip to Bangkok, however I wasn't able to start reading it until the plane trip home. I'm not usually very good at reading on planes, but I was thoroughly engrossed and I read about half of the novel before I got home. Although it is a work of fiction, I felt that I got a deeper appreciation of Thai history and culture which has whet my appetite to do further (non-fiction) reading about Thailand.

Once I got used to the smattering of Thai phrases, it was a very accessible and enjoyable read. The changes in the characters over a period of many years are all very believable and often times moving; the main character, Phloi, grows from a timid girl of 10 to an old woman who observes many changes in her country over the passing of time. The narrative has an epic feel because of the historical events that serve as a background to the story.

I'd recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in Thailand or in reading works of fiction that are evocative of other cultures.

i am an american who grew up in thailand. this book is a classic way to understand thai history and culture, and i have loved it since adolescence. it is an easy and compelling read, full of great details, and has a very thai sensability.

This is a worthwhile read for anyone wanting insight into Thai history or Thai culture the same way as "Little House on the Prairie" should be required reading for anyone studying 19th Century American history.

I liked the book, but it is an intense read, and it isn't all that upbeat from a western perspective. There is a lot of sadness associated with the passage of time, and as an epic spanning the reign of four kings of Thailand, there is ample opportunity to see this in this work.

I have never attempted to read even parts of the work in its original language, but I was entertained to see the another review saying that the content was much different. While this may well be the case, the book is certainly worth reading.

This is an English translation of the "Four Reigns". It is a very good tranlslation and very loyal to the Thai. I think one of the reviewers hasn't thought about the differences in how Thai is written and English is used in literature. English language readers may expect more elaboration than readers in Thai do. I read this book as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand in the early 90's. It was a good way to access and understand better the history of Siam. I personally loved the book!

Chester Barnard is the Peter Drucker from before World War II. Many of the concepts and of ideas Chester Barnard are essential in the teachings of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins. Like for example the importance attached to defining the purpose of a business and that the purpose of a business is not to make a profit. Profit is an essential condition for survival.
Given that the ideas can be found in other more recent books, is it still worthwhile to read this book? It definitely is if you are interested in very precise, almost philosophical formulations, about what the purpose of a company is, and what the essential functions of chief executives are.Chester Barnard writes as a superb academic but was a highly successful Chief Executive. That makes this book unique. There is no better book, yet.
One original concept presented is that businesses are alive. This same concept was further developed in the book "The living company " by Arie de Geus and is still an innovative concept to day.

I am impressed by Barnard's work. He has magnificently put on paper, issues that are taught in any business school today, as if they had always been natural. But it is obvious that the process to deduct from simpler to complex his theory demanded hard work and a life experience. What strikes me most is the immensity of his work, which embodies all the managerial aspects, challenge that would be unthinkable today. But I must say, if only he had done it simpler. Anyhow, it is amazing how often one finds issues such as the recognition of informal organizations, his conception of authority, his conception of efficiency and effectiveness and many others in nowadays oral business tradition. Also, his approach to the organization conceptually and as a system of cooperation formed by individuals, seem strongly logical today, moreover when he considers the relevance of the recognition of informal organizations within the formal ones. This means that the result of his work is not only updated but also in use.

I can see how his predecessors as Taylor, Mayo and Fayol influenced him, and I can understand them and value their work much better now. This relation is evident to me, when I remember having criticized Fayol for his "should be" executive. However; I can see clearly now, through Barnard's description of the decision process as a moral activity more than intellectual which helps me perceive Fayol's meaning. This is obvious if one considers the executive process as a balance, more than a technique, seen by its outputs. On the other hand, Barnard's concept of efficiency, considering the distribution of a surplus, whether economic or not, is somehow similar to Mayo's search in his book. The quest for reasons to describe the industrial process is Mayo's passion, which I can clearly identify now with Barnard's efficiency. The same search would apply to Taylor's, though with a different approach.

As far as methodology is concerned, although I enjoyed reading his book, his model is by no means simply stated. Maybe because he wanted to prove his academic virtues he explained his theory as complicated as he could. Keeping academic rigor, it could have been presented more concisely. Particularly, when the lasts chapters, being the core of his theory, are presented after extensive analysis and descriptions of variables. Besides, he has to summarize his ideas at the end of the main chapters; it must have been because he had at least a reasonable doubt of the reader's comprehension. On the other hand his endless classifications of the different categories turns to be confusing and misleading. Nevertheless: he describes from a scientific point of view the organization, concept that had been neglected before, and does it from a practitioner's point of view. By doing this he makes a big contribution to management, not only defining business organization but also from a broader scope.
I was very impressed by his description of the executive in the cooperative process, whose main function towards it, is the maintenance of communication, being the correct persons in the correct position. When describing his function Barnard also states the formulation of purpose as well as the securing the essential services for individuals. By holding at the same time technical abilities as well as general abilities, having to be the latter higher as higher the position is. The executive functions also include the ability to foresee the probable changes in the environment, restating the porpouse, guiding its flow trough the organization.

It is also fascinating how one can link the nature of executive's responsibility, which is moral, based on codes that each human being has. With the source of authority which is not based on coercion but on acceptance of the purpouses and hence the obedience. Authority positions will not last if they are not based in the character of communication by virtue of which contributors accept it. In the same way the non-existence of codes will result in denial of authority in the organization. Moreover, he says the creative aspect of the executive function is the highest exemplification of responsibility. The identification of moral codes and the organization code in the view of the leader carries conviction to the personnel, trough the formal as well as the informal organizations. This is a key issue for a leader to articulate a system of cooperation trough his functions.

It is highly commendable that Chester tries to cover as much ground as possible.

Unfortunately, therein lies the flaw with this book. Trying to define everything in the universe regarding the roles, purpose, fundamentals, morality, psychology, etc. of the individual, the organisation, and the executive in 296 pages of content is not only adventurous but naive. As a result the content does not have much of a sense of purpose, with no real goal achieved at the end of it. The scattergun approach used in this book makes it a tiresome and belaboring read.

The title of the book is totally misleading. I suggest a new apt (boring) title for this book : "Philosophies of Organisation and Executives' Roles in Them".

For MUCH more RELEVANT reading, I suggest the likes of Drucker and Schein for their often excellent content.

Outside the Barnard Society and a few scattered industrial-psychology departments, this book is, unfortunately, no longer taken very seriously. It is used mostly as a historical piece, "see how management theory used to be," or as a foil for the arguments of competing theories.

Barnard's perspective is that of human cooperation, management by consensus, and voluntary effort. Employees who are treated well will work well; managers should gain respect through kindness; any workplace conflict signals a failure of the management; and so on and so on. He was either an idealist (as some claim) or a cunning, cynically manipulative defender of capitalist organization during an economic downturn (as others claim). He was either a genius (as some claim) or a businessman with little formal education and professorial prtentions (as others claim).

Historically speaking, Barnard's book represents a focus on the human side of employee management, and away from the Frederick Taylor -esque treatment of all employees as production machines. This "softness" of his has made him unpopular today -- just as his failure to acknowledge any "class conflict" made him unpopular in the 60s and 70s.

But Barnard is an original, not someone to be pigeonholed into a category, and the ultimate test of a book like this is not authorial intent, but what it does for your mind, and what it does for you as a manager. For me, on both counts, it has been tremendously useful. Reading Barnard gave me powerful intellectual insights -- something I wouldn't even hope to get in today's "management books" -- and has informed the way I think about and deal with coworkers and subordinates on a daily basis. A very valuable read; perhaps one of the first three books I would give an up and coming manager or entrepreneur.

The author attempts to develop a comprehensive theory of
organizational behavior. I doubt that such a thing exists;
however, his work provides a better perspective on existing
behavioral theories in organizational settings. It is well
researched with quotations and mention of Mayo, Taylor,
Fayol, Pareto, Holden, Koontz, Likert, McGregor, Simon, March, Learned, Sloan and Drucker-to name just a few of the many
authors cited. The work is divided into :
o a theory of cooperation and organization
o the functions and methods of executives in organizations

The author has some interesting perspectives. For instance,
he defines persuasion as:

" a-the creation of coercive conditions b) rationalization
of opportunity c) the inculcation of motives."

The work could delve more into the dynamics of the corporate
culture, goal incongruencies and random events which interfere
with even the most carefully construed goals and plans
of implementation.

This work could be a helpful research for a thesis or major
paper in organizational structure/design or the dynamics of
organizational behavior/psychology.