Research Books

Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation

This is an ambitious and serious work, accessible in style, and packed with information in over four hundred pages. It has three main themes, clearly defined in the introduction.
The first is the love between Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia. The details of this, so we are told, 'were and are still little known' in 1983 when this book was first published. The second is her admiration for, and championship of, James Joyce. The third is her bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, which was a key feature of the literary scene in Paris between the two World Wars.
By far the most detail is provided on her professional relationship with Joyce. Her efforts to get Ulysses published and smuggled into America, her financial and personal efforts to support the author, and the amount of time and energy she invested, are the key theme of the book.
Naturally Sylvia knew all the other familiar literary figures of the time. Hemingway and Pound are frequently mentioned, as is Gertrude Stein.
As intimated in the introduction there is less to be said about more personal relationships. In a way this seems rather a pity. The anecdotal style and recurring references to various incidents along the way give the writing a rather disjointed feel. Inevitably there is also a certain sense of déja vu particularly for anyone familiar with biographies of Hemingway for example.
The strength and the weakness of the book is the amount of text devoted to James Joyce. Joyce attracts great, but not universal, enthusiasm. The man himself seems to have had more arrogance than charm. Depending on the side of this divide which the reader favours this book will firmly hold the attention or will, in places, rather pall.

This is one of the best books that I've ever read about the 'lost generation' of Americans literary refugees in Paris. The writing is excellent, the research exhaustive and thorough with unparalleled access to Ms. Beach's 'surpressed' portions of her autobiography "Shakespeare and Company". It is readily apparent from this book that without Ms. Beach and her unflinching support, there would have been no "Ulysses" (and maybe no James Joyce). But there was so many other authors she supported and nurtured as well, as the quote from Ernest Hemingway cited above illustrates as well. This book is almost a 'must read' for those persons interested in American literature of the mid 20th century.

This one has been around for some time now and it is not the worse for wear. For those interested in our literature and literary Paris during the 1920s and 1930s, then this is one of those "must reads" (I truely hate that term, but know of no better to describe the improtance of this work at this time). The author's research is absolutely miticulous and fills in many gaps in the story of this remarkable woman. Do be warned though. Many of the names of people mentioned here are rather obscure (at this day and time) for those not immersed in the literary world. This can make the work a bit difficult to follow at times. That being said, this is a wonderful work to read to cause many of these names to become less obscure than they are now...one more of the many reasons to read this work! The book covers some of the intimate details of Beach's relationship with friends and lovers that she so well side steps in her own account of this time. Recommend this one highly. Actually, you probably should purchase this one as it is one that is a good book for reference and one you will probably want to reread.

This is quite a spectacular book, a privileged look into the most famous English language bookstore in Paris, Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare & Company. Not only is it delightful to read the history of how Sylvia's modest dream became such a huge success, but it is also fascinating to read about Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce when they were young. The language is rich and fulfilling, the photos insightful, and in the end, I really felt as if I had been part of it all, sitting in Sylvia's bookstore, hearing the rustle of pages as the day passed away.

This is one of those books where you care about the characters. Their past and future becomes important and that the characters are real people make this book all the more fasinating. A book one does want to end. But end it does with style.

Glass's "Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnet Strips" is a must read for anyone interested in public education and its place within American culture. Glass uncovers how technological advances have shaped our way of life and way of thinking--a way of thinking that may explain why education reform efforts continue to flounder. As an educational policy researcher, I constantly grapple with why it is so difficult for policymakers to understand education. Glass adeptly and meticulously describes how the evolution of business practices, technological advances, and cultural fads have intersected and led to a narrow view of public education. His book has clarified for me why so many people have unrealistic expectations from public schooling.

Glass's writing is accessible, authoritative, and interesting. But, that is just the start. The real punch in this book comes from his creativity and innovation in weaving together the ways in which cultural processes have impacted how we see public education.

if you care about public education at all, you must read this book.

I am a teacher in the Texas public schools, and I can tell you from my own experience that what this book says about Texas is absolutely true.

I read this book in a few days which is fast for me. What is intriguing about the book is the "in your face" assertions about controversial topics in education. I found Glass' style refreshing in comparison to overly politically correct styles found in so many books on education.

My intent would be to use this book in a graduate seminar course and have students produce evidence that either challenges or supports many of the book's claims. The reader who is familiar with these topics may question the accuracy of some claims but in the end, the book does what it is supposed to do - it leaves the reader thinking about and wanting to discuss the book with others.

Glass's "Fertilizers, Pills and Magnetic Strips" is an extremely well conceived publication. The situation of education in the United States has been carefully analyzed and documented, as well as carefully argued with both data and personal opinion. It is a book that every parent, teacher, and education professor should be reading, studying, and acting on. I will be recommending it to all of my former graduate students, education colleagues, and personal friends.

~ Dale Lange
Professor Emeritus
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

The analyses and projections Glass presents are spot on in my view. That the US will become older and browner is evident from US Census data. But Occam's razor could well be applied to "fertilizers, pills, and magnetic strips." These are metonyms for technologies that have indeed had wide-ranging consequences, but they are very distal determinants of the present status or likely future of US pre-collegiate education.

The sub-title is also problematic. The book deals with the politics and economics of education in the US. Accepting the five projections in Chapter 10 in no way defines the 'fate' of public education in the US. That will be what 'we' make it. Glass' analyses of current belief systems regarding education are scathing. But belief systems can be changed (per George Lakoff's work). And overriding beliefs is Boulding's wisdom: "We make our tools and then they shape us." Combine this with the wisdom of Josiah Royce, emblazoned over the stage at Royce Hall, UCLA, (when I was a student. They remodeled the building and I don't know what's there now): "Education is learning to use the tools humanity (Royce said 'the race' but 'humanity' would be the term used today) has found indispensable" and you have a pretty good two-sentence guide.

Ironically, in the end Glass goes soft-headed, " The only reform [sic] that stands any chance of making our public schools better is the investment on teachers--to aide them in their quest to understand, to learn. Go become more compassionate, caring, and competent persons." (p. 249) That's a fool's errand--well-intentioned, but foolish in the sense that it hasn't had the intended consequences in the past and offers little for the future. If Ray Kurzweil's projections in "Singularity" are even half-right, it's going to be a different future for instruction.

My story of how US schooling got to where it is currently is simpler than Glass' story. As Glass states, prior to the mid-50s the aspiration was to enroll all kids in high school. Prior to that time, schools handled instructional failures by tossing kids out or counseling them out. With "full access," weaknesses started to show.

Historically, all media information regarding schooling was local, focusing on athletics and 'human interest' anecdotes. Even today, only a handful of newspapers cover schooling nationally. That gain is an important consequence of NCLB, but even there the accounts largely swallow whole governmental news releases.

The move that began in 1965 to make schooling a matter of national interest was important. The subsequent history could be titled "Bureaucrats, academics, and publishers." The small number of individuals who constituted the Beltway Consensus bought, and still buy, Jim Coleman's contention (based on shoddy "research") that "families matter more than schooling," "education spending is unrelated to educational achievement," and "school integration across socioeconomic lines (and hence across racial lines) will increase Negro achievement, and they throw serious doubt upon the effectiveness of policies designed to increase non-personal resources in the school." (The self-serving interests Glass exposes are evident.)

By the mid-1980s it was all-too-clear that "school integration" was not getting the job done. "High standards "was the answer, culminating in the "Goals 2000" legislation. Of course 2000 came with none of the goals met. No one recognized that the "standards" were rhetoric masked as "content." The consensus was that "accountability" via standardized achievement tests is the answer. Hence NCLB. (Same self-serving interests.)

What has the academy been doing? Not much. Glass tells that story. What he doesn't explain is why those who understand the flaws in NAEP and all standardized achievement tests have sat with their thumbs in their mouths.

Publishers are culpable in that they provide the tools that define schooling instruction. The publisher line is that they "only respond to market demands." This means they're unaccountable and unregulated. Their 'offerings' are junk, but bureaucrats and academics give them a free ride.

So what to do? Again it's a simple story. Borrow from the corporate world the notion of "business intelligence" and "key performance indicators." Also borrow from the IT sector and several large corporations the notion of structured "certification of capability." This "gets a handle" on schooling and permits real cost-benefit analysis of instructional accomplishments. Further, recognize that schools today provide important societal services (e.g. health screening and nutrition provision) in addition to instruction. Ironically, instruction is the weakest benefit of schooling and the other benefits go unrecognized.

A few final reactions: "Appendix A: Notes on Theory, Research, and Policy" alone is worth the price of the book. If it were read by every student as a freshman, every legislator, and anyone remotely concerned with schooling, the future of education would be a good deal brighter.

The practice of documenting with footnotes on the relevant page as well as references and indexes at the end of the book is welcome and should be standard practice. The use of footnotes is judicious and the occasional accompanying elaboration makes the communication more interactive.

The exposition is a model of 'good writing.' Strunk and White, where ever they are, are no doubt exchanging high-fives. someone followed their advice. I didn't always buy what Glass was saying, but there was never any doubt about the substance of the communication. The communication warrants consideration by anyone in any way concerned with US schooling.

Forgive me if I gush, but Jacques Vallee is my all time favorite "ufologist." His book REVELATIONS helped to see that there was a real mystery to the phenomenon and that there were those like himself who deplored the abuse of hypnosis in the service of "abduction research" and the fascination with "crashed saucer" tales and government conspiracies.

This book takes us to his beginnings. Starting in the late 1950s, just before the ascendancy of De Gaulle and the establishment of the Fifth Republic, when he is an astronomy student and aspiring Science Fiction writer and ends in the immediate aftermath of the publication of PASSPORT TO MAGONIA. Along the way we have a first hand account of the "ufo controversy in america" and elsewhere. Additionally, there are reflections on a convention-bound France, where Vallee has to struggle against senior astronomers serene indifference to computers. Reflection on the US: like de Tocqueville, young Vallee looks upon this country with a mixture of admiration and horror. Here and there, there are insights into the looming computer revolution that would explode in the 1970's and 1980's. Vallee is in France in 1968 and records his take on the student uprising of May and June.

And then of course, there are the accounts of love. Like the entry where Vallee writes that he and his lover have just torn the bed and now he lies in the full flush of "jouissance" thinking "why do i need a vow, when I can still taste in on my lips" (DAMN! Those french know how to live!)

Yes there's a lot to get out of this book than just UFO's. But that is the main topic. We see the defining moment for Vallee when he tracks an anomalous object only to have the senior astronomer summarily tear up the print out. We see Vallee's burgeoning fascination with the subject and his passion that science find an explanation, first corresponding with Aime Michel, then making contact with J.Allen Hynek, Project Blue Book's consultant and at the time still a "skeptic."

The insight into Hynek is probably the most important part of the book. We see the role that Vallee plays in encouraging Hynek to admit that there are unexplained cases. Vallee is there when Hynek gets new of the "Soccoro landing" and sees Hynek in the aftermath of the "marsh gas" fiasco. Vallee's admiration for Hynek is obviousk, but there are also other detail. Hynek's love of the limelight and his pride at having little fringe benefits from the air force like his own jeep and driver. We find out that Hynek was an Anthroposophist (a disciple of Rudolf Steiner) and we see him at his most gullible when he brings back "film proof" of psychic surgery (Vallee & Co. are less than impressed).

Besides Hynek, there is correspondence with John Keel in the full grip of paranoia while dealing with strange happenings in the Ohio River Valley, a brief in encounter with Al Bielek (he of future "montauk project" fame) trying to pass himself off as a government spook, an account of origin, trouble history, and anticlimatic ending of the Condon Committee. But most importantly is the "paradigm shift" that Vallee undergoes as a result of studying the phenomenon from a cautious advocate of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (EHT) to a proponent of thinking in terms of Extra-Dimensional Entities and paying close attention to Psycho-Social factors and parallels with folklore and mythology and the backlash he suffers (and continues to suffer) from the "believers" who make up the rank and file of the UFO subculture.

As an added bonus the paperback edition includes the text of the "Pentacle Memorandum" written at the time of the Robertson Committee.

In sum, a first hand history of the UFO phenomenon in the 1960's. When read in conjunction with Jim Moseley's SHOCKINGLY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH and Patrick Huyghe's SWAMP GAS TIMES one can get a very full picture of "UFO history" of the last 50 years.

This is my favorite journal since reading "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau.

Jacques Vallee is a legend in Ufology (study of unidentified flying objects). More than that, he's a true scientist, which is a rarity in "the field". This book takes you through some pivotal moments in UFO history.

You'll learn a lot in this book, not just UFOs, but the meaning of science itself.

Certainly an essential book for anyone studying UFOs... or the possibility of alien life. (Are we alone in the universe?)

On a side note, this books is pricless for all the little tidbits and reflections on Allen Hynek, "The Galileo of Ufology".

This dazzling diary offers a glimpse into the mind of a scientist who seems to challenge every preconception and established piety... Replete with profoundly insightful, often devastating observations. Publishers Weekly, 6 July 1992

What picture of the author emerges? I find that the qualities that come through most clearly are Vallee's love of people, his intense curiosity, and his willingness to march to his own drum... Vallee's book will be a valuable resource in providing first-hand insight into the early development of the UFO controversy.

Jacques Vallee is a respected scientist and an entertaining writer who just happens to be interested in UFO's. His concepts of the 'why' are illuminating, as is his frustration at the handling of the issue by those on all sides.

If you are interested in whats "out there" read and learn. If you on the other hand scoff at all mentions of aliens and such, and consider man to be the center and grandest part of the universe, read this man's books with an open mind and you might begin to doubt some long held beliefs. Vallee is quick to dismiss frauds and charlatians, and focus on the real issues. Arresting stuff.

This is one of the basic book to clinical pactitioners. is very simple to apply the criteria and is very clear to novice researchers.

This book is just incredibly good!!! It combined details with cool simplicity. A must have for researchers.

Although I have used this text as a reference (vs. reading it all the way through, or for a class) I have found myself returning to it often. In fact, I purchased it only because I had started to wear out the copy I had borrowed from a friend...and she was missing it because she used it frequently, too. The best aspect of this text is the way the authors use examples relevant to clinical research for nearly every statistical decision. No more extrapolating from educational research, medical research...I don't usually have that much imagination! Good book.

Excellent text for students just entering the profession to hard core researches.

This is a book that I have used often through my graduate career. It served as a great textbook for a course I was taking and as supplementary material for other other courses on Statistics, Design and Research Methods.

Well-organized and easy-to-read, it has become my first line-of-defense for all things related to research design. It covers the material in adequate detail so you have a good jumping off point in case you need to grab your SAS manual or your Stats text.

This book is meant to be a military analysis of the World War II axis however it comes off as an excellent diplomatic history. It shows that Germany has never been able to grasp the concepts of coalition warfare and its do it alone strategy was always going to be its undoing. The first part of the book looks at the history of German warfare before World War II. The analysis with regards to Operation Barbarossa is deeply flawed. The assertion that Russia was the primary target of Germany's desires is wrong. The evidence shows a greater tendency towards Britain than Russia. Also the analysis of Japan's role in the coalition is something that deserves further looking into. I think the author dismisses it too quickly.
Despite those flaws this really does provide a comprehensive look at how the Axis functioned and especially the role of the minor powers like Romania and Hungary. It is very easy to see that while Germany nominally had control each of these Axis powers was able to contribute in their own way. The end of the Axis comes with the battle of Stalingrad and the demolition of the Axis forces as well as the failures in North Africa. The lack of Axis supplies was a tremendous problem and one that was not going to be overcome without early strategic victories. When these were not made the loss became inevitable. This book is a very clear military analysis and accomplishes a lot in 200 pages. Despite the few flaws mentioned I highly recommend the book.

Having followed the career of this distinquished historian, this work has tremendous value. DiNardo's thought process is quite organized and very cerebral. It is obvious the research balances his writing considering that today's fact-finding is often shortchanged or erroneous from over use of the internet. The author did his homework.

Although I don't have much interest in German history during this period, I found the book engaging. This is certainly a work that should belong on private library shelves of each World War historian. Excellent!!

Germany And The Axis Powers: From Coalition To Collapse by Richard L. Dinaro (Professor for National Security Affairs at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College) is an introductory work of impressive scholarship focused upon the intricate probabilities that the Axis coalition was little more then an ignorant grouping of claimed Hitler followers. Incorporating newly recovered facts of the battles fought from the Eastern Front to the Balkans, Mediterranean, and North Africa, Germany And The Axis Powers unveils an entirely different history than previously perceived by military historians. A seminal work recommended for professional and academic 20th Century Military History reference collections, Germany And The Axis Powers is highly recommended for its profoundly educational and informative content to all World War II historians and students of the era.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" is an in-depth analysis of the ability of the Axis powers to conduct coalition warfare. This book is excellent for anyone wanting to go beyond the "History Channel" level of knowledge on World War II. Using original source material, the author provides rich details to describe his thesis. The quality of the historical research is along the lines of Gerhard L. Weinberg's epic "A World at Arms". While the author uses a chronological framework to scope his thoughts, he avoids telling the entire history of World War II. Instead he remains focused on the key events that framed German attempts at coalition warfare. The work requires a good general knowledge of World War II history, which most readers of this book will already have.

While Germany's alliance with Italy is well known, I found the chapters on Germany's attempts at coalition warfare with Hungary, Finland, and Romania to be the most interesting, since these countries are rarely discussed in most accounts of World War II. DiNardo correctly describes the differences between coalition warfare and parallel warfare, a key component to understanding World War II coalitions. Breaking out the different levels of coalition warfare conducted by the German Army, Navy, and Air Force set the book apart from more basic accounts. Dinardo also avoids "wehrmacht envy" which taints many books on the Germany military. He provides an accurate and balanced view of German military capabilities, without falling in love with the subject.

I recommend this book to any serious student of World War II military history who really wants to get to heart of the German way of war.

This well-written and extremely interesting book breaks new ground in its examination of Nazi Germany's inability to effectively wage coalition warfare with its allies - Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland.

Author Richard L. DiNardo shows that the Third Reich's partners followed Germany because they hoped to benefit from Hitler's New Order, rather than from either a common ideological adherence to Fascism or a common commitment to save Europe from Bolshevism. Hitler and his generals, however, were reluctant to fully incorporate their allies into their wartime command structure or strategy. Dinardo shows that this reluctance was a legacy from the First World War, when, for the most part, Imperial Germany refused to take its allies seriously.

DiNardo discusses Hitler's own attitudes toward his allies (he prefered bilater over multilateral arrangements) and then examines the performances of the Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland in North Africa, the Balkans, and Russia. Some, such as the Italians in North Africa, performed much better than is generally recognized in the west. Most were hampered by a shortage of modern equipment, especially tanks, fighter aircraft, and bombers. All, however, collapsed relatively early in the war. Indeed, according to DiNardo: "The twin German disasters of Stalingrad and North Africa effectively destroyed the Axis as a military alliance."

The ability to wage effective coalition warfare differed among the various services of the Wehrmacht. The German Navy was probably the most successful, although due to differences in doctrine and technology, the cooperation between German and Italian submarines was not as effective as it could have been. Next came the Luftwaffe, although it failed miserably in the sharing of technology, particulary aircraft and aircraft engines, with its allies. Finally, came the army, which, DiNardo notes, cleary took the prize when it came to failure in coalition warfare. The major exception to this was Rommel's conduct of coalition warfare in North Africa.

The German War Ministry too was of little help with its extortive practices, which ensured that the Romanian, Hungarian, Italian and Finnsh armies remained hopelessly outclassed in terms of weapons and equipment against their Soviet opponent.

Foruntately for the Western Allies, the inability of Hitler and his generals to build a functional and effective basis for coalition warfare contributed significantly to the downfall of the Third Reich. Indeed, as the Allies knocked knocked one Axis power after another out of the war, the Germans were forced to come to their rescue, burdening the already debilitated German war industry and armed forces.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" thus contributes to a better understanding of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the valuable contributions of Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland during World War II to the Axis - and the Allies!

I was curious about the nearly unanimous 5-star rating given this book by other reviewers. After picking up a copy from Amazon and reading it, let me join the chorus with my own 5-star rating! What a find! Murstein seems to cover nearly everything you would want to know about the market in a succinct and humorous manner, remarkable for a volume of only 350 pages. Of particular and topical interest: it has been published recently enough to discuss the impact of the Enron scandal and how investors should approach the market in these times. It is scholarly without being stodgy. Murstein evaluates the great variety of strategies, schemes, systems and newsletters out there with a very critical eye. He names names and doesn't pull any punches. While the book is oriented mainly toward the individual securities investor, he does have a useful section on mutual funds (my special interest). There's one outstanding chapter near the end (alone worth the price of the book) called "Maxims, Adages and Suggestions" - over 70 of these, many of which are very useful. One last word: I'm familiar with and rely on the Lynch and Zweig investment books; the Murstein volume beats them both hands down!

This book is a must for every serious investor. It is informative and based on research findings, but humorous and easy to read. I especially liked the chapters showing that serious individual investors can outperform professional money managers, and how to do it.

I REALLY enjoyed the history of investing in the introduction.

Afterward, I found certain sections to be particularly illuminating with regard to my personal efforts to increase my assets via the markets, but the numerous graphs often left me, neither a psychologist nor a financial professional, wondering.

SO, I've given a copy of this book to my broker, and I hope that SHE will use it to enrich us both.

Getting Psyched For Wall Street: A Rational Approach To An Irrational Market by psychology and behavioral finance expert Bernard Murstein is a superb blend of psychology and finance. Specifically written to help ordinary investors of all background better understand the interaction between human psychology and the ups and downs of Wall Street, Getting Psyched For Wall Street covers everything from why so many people were blind to Enron's problems to why stocks sometimes go up on bad news and down on good news. Getting Psyched For Wall Street is a unique, inherently fascinating, "reader friendly", practical work that should be read by any investor seeking to understand how market forces function and are influenced.

Finally! A book every individual investor can understand and use immediately. Murstein is both lucid and witty. His analyses are scholarly but clearly presented. Practical? Check his chapter on a rational approach to selecting stocks. My own investment strategies will never be the same. Professor Murstein, where were you when we needed you at the beginning of our investment rollercoaster?

Chossudovsky is a brilliant economist and a burning torch for the truth that people are unable to see, hear, or accept due to the propaganda schemas that are embedded in their minds (like a microchip programming) by the global media cartel and the political demagogues.
Chossudovski analyzes the past and the present in relation to debt, globalization, and international financing. He dispels the myth of the good samaritan (like the IMF, the World bank, and the Federal Reserve, etc) that destroys economies of other countries, and impoverish them under the guise of capitalism (actually corporate socialism) and freedom, in order to own them. He clearly elucidates the dollarization process and its role in the New World Order. This book makes a powerful reading that sheds the light on a vanishing truth. I would highly recommend this volume to anyone who is interested in world finance as well as their future, and the future of their children.

Although it saddens me to see a strong literature emerging today that was largely anticipated and ignored by people like David Barnett with his Global Reach work in the 1970's, it is a good thing that strong voices like those of this author are now making very comprehensive documented cases for how corporate power and privatized wealth are collapsing nations, bankrupting economies, and impoverishing more and more people unnecessarily.

The table of contents of this book is extraordinarily details and brilliant in its organization. Although the book is mostly case studies that one can read through rapidly if accepting of the author's key points, this may well be one of the finest itemizations of the ills of the 21st century: corporate power run amok, privatization and concentration of wealth (which is, incidentally, one of the precondition for revolution), the collapse of national and local economies (e.g. Wal-Mart), the dismantling of the welfare safety net in most countries, and the outbreak and spread of famine and civil war.

The author is probably the foremost scholar and commentator on how the "free" market is not so free, and how the existing capitalist system is predatory, aided by locked in privileges that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank impose on nations foolish enough to accept their intervention. In this the author is consistent with Jeffrey Sachs (The End of Poverty) who has put forward the need for a complete make-over of developmental economics, to include an end of the normal business practices of the IMF and the World Bank.

I was tempted to remove one star for lack of sufficient reference to the works of others, but the personal insights and comprehensive review caused me to leave the ranking at five stars. I see a clear pattern emerging in the literature (see my other 700+ reviews) and what I am waiting for is for someone to cut the spines off all these books and "make sense" of the total picture in a manner comprehensible to the indivdual voter.

If we are to restore informed democracy and moral capitalism, this book is one of the foundation stones.

See also:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War onthe American Dream and How to Fight Back
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents)
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

M. Chossudovsky attacks head on the New World Order imposed by the World Bank (WB0), the IMF and the WTO, calling their economic 'reforms' enforced on countries in distress not less than genocides.

Their 'free market' system is rigged. The WTO agreements grant entrenched rights to the world's largest financial and industrial conglomerates, derogating the ability of national governments to regulate their economies. The IMF programs enforce governments to privatize big chunks of their national economy, liberalize their markets and downsize social provisions (education, health, social security).
Their 'free' market system is synonym of human poverty, destruction of the natural environment, social apartheid, racism and ethnic strife, undermining of women's rights, economic dislocations, forced displacements, landless farmers, shuttered factories and jobless workers.
More, he accuses the IMF of supporting the appropriation of global wealth by speculators through manipulation of currency and commodity markets. It even manipulates itself its economic statistics in order to show that its policies work. Finally, it cooperates with warmongerers and 'peace keepers'.

He illustrates his verdicts with a host of examples.
Somalia: the entire social fabric of the pastoralist economy was undone through duty-free beef and dairy products from the EU.
Rwanda: the restructuring of the agricultural system precipitated the population into destitution, leading to a genocide.
Ethiopia: the Structural Adjustment Programme caused starvation.
Bangladesh: a devaluation and price liberalization exacerbated famine. Deregulation of the grain market meant dumping of US grain surpluses.
Brazil: enhancement of social polarization by supporting the land-owning class.
Peru: after liberalization, the price of bread increased more than 12 times.
Russia: helping the oligarchs.
India (Andhra Pradesh): repeal of minimum wages and support of caste exploitation
Yugoslavia: serving the strategic interests of Germany and the US by cutting the financial arteries between Belgrade and the republics.
Korea, Thailand, Indonesia: the vaults of the central banks (100 billion $) were pillaged by international speculators. The bail-outs of those countries were underwritten and guaranteed by the same Wall Street banks involved in the speculative assaults.

The author proposes a solution which will be extremely difficult to implement in our actual world, where media and governments are controlled by the powerful: democratization of the economic system and ownership structures, disarming of speculation, redistribution of income and wealth and rebuilding the Welfare State.

Michel Chossudovsky's book constitutes a devastating denunciation of an inhuman system sold by economic strangulating wolves clad in sheepskins.
It confirms the forceful analysis of globalization by Joseph Stiglitz.

A must read.

I also recommend a voice from the South: Walden Bello.

With the North American governments and their media flacks noisily championing "economic liberalisation", dissenting voices are muted. The voices of those most directly affected by "globalisation" are fainter yet. Michel Chossudovsky attempts to overcome the raucous proponents of "international free trade" with an examination of just what it does and how it impacts civil societies. The picture he provides isn't pleasant. However, turning away will not cause it to fade from lack of our attention. In fact, reading this book is an eye-opening, if not eyebrow raising experience.

Among the rare critics of globalization Chossudovsky has "on-site" credentials beyond his academic base. He's been on the scene of several nations subjected to International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies. He examines the results of these and other international financial agencies' policies. From Chile through Rwanda to Somlia and Korea, he shows how a new form of warfare is under way. Conquest no longer requires bullets to occupy a nation nor suppress a people. Conquerers now wield position papers, American dollars or Euros and trade impositions. Surrender agreements come in the form of "conditions" accompanying loans and investments. These dicta result in the stripping away of social programmes, alienation of subsistence farm holdings and displacement of vast numbers. These people, deprived of income, traditions and opportunity have become a new breed. They are the hopeless poor for which no amount of "aid" can provide succour.

As he demonstrates repeatedly, the mechanism is simple. The formation of the IMF gave financiers, chiefly North American, a cudgel to change governments, force farmers and pastoralists to convert to cash crop economies, and reduce or eliminate government services. The initial steps were instituted by the Bretton Woods conferences designed to restore nations devastated by World War II. Private financial institutions imposed conditions on loans granted to recovering countries. "Recovering" countries rapidly expanded into "developing" countries as these institutions recognised the value of cheap labour in them. Accepting "foreign investment" led to indebtedness difficult to repay. Defaulting was unacceptable to both borrower and lender, leading to new rounds of loans. These, however, rarely reached the borrowing nation since the new funds were set against the older debt. "Servicing the debt" meant imposition of stringent conditions, ranging from privatisation of services, amalgamation of small land holdings to produce crops to be purchased cheaply, but sold at inflated prices. The consumers of these goods are you and your neighbours.

Each of the nations Chossudovsky examines suffers the same schedule of "structural adjustment programmes" imposed by the IMF. These SAPs outline the changes a nation must endure to receive the "benefits" of globalization. Restrictions on outside investment must be eliminated, with the concomitant privatisation of state-owned facilities and services. Where workers aren't laid off, their wages are frozen or reduced. Local currencies must be adjusted to American dollars, which has the impact of intense inflation spirals almost overnight. The result is a populace under increasing pressure, marginal or famine-stricken and powerless. Civil unrest isn't an option, since disruption brings reprisals - often, of course, the withdrawal of investment, failure to renew loan guarantees or simply real military action.

Although the repetitive nature of the manipulations of the financial institutions on national sovereignty leads Chossudovsky to some redundancy, the reader should understand we are dealing with a global crisis. "Bitter medicine" and "bitter irony" recur, because the circumstances he describes are redundant. An imposing and sometimes intimidating account, he is careful to shift the responsibility to institutions rather than consumers. It is, however, the developed country consumer that provides motivation for many levels of the problem. Chossudovsky's analysis is thorough, well-founded and expressive. He shows why social unrest in "developing" countries is the result of imposed conditions, not unstable populations and environments. That he offers little in the way of solutions for the predicament the world now suffers is only testimony to the immensity of the task ahead. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I was originally born in Uganda and I can assure you that Africans have always been suspicious of the so-called "aid" they receive since it almost always comes after a crisis that they can't quite explain (like how did a bunch of poor, illiterate preteens get the money to buy those fancy weapons, or why won't aid agencies buy food from the local farmers and distribute THAT).

Suspicions and rumors are insufficient to counter what appears, on the surface, to be international generosity. That is why I am grateful for Chossudosky's contrarian masterwork. It confirms the fears and suspicions regarding a return to colonialism and economic slavery. The fact that Chossudosky was willing to put his career on the line to write this hard-hitting book is worthy of our attention. He shows, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is a deliberate and systematic campaign of "economic genocide" against Africa and all other resource-rich regions. Neoliberalism have mastered the British colonial-era double-speak of "liberty", "democracy", "markets", etc. "Market liberalization" is nothing more than armed robbery. And "investment" is really nothing more than "asset stripping". The Adam Smith phraseology of free-trade and free markets is used, much like their British predecessors, to recolonize the world. Chossudosky shows how the "Washington Consesus" has embarked on a foreign policy strategy of economic sabotage and "strangulation." As Kissinger famously ordered, in the now declassified National Security Memorandum 200, Africans should be kept from becoming consumers of their own raw materials.

Chossudosky does an enormous favors to us neophytes by decoding the neoclassical econo-babble. His brilliant deconstruction of IMF structural adjustment policies is worth the price of this book alone. But he goes beyond that. He shows how nations can be brought to their knees through currency devaluations and speculative attacks. The whole cynical process of creating the crisis then blaming it on the victims, i.e. the "Asian" Crisis which is in fact an American Crisis, or the excuse used to maintain Odious Debt on impoverished nations: "their corrupt leaders are to blame for the Odious Debt". Yes but those "corrupt" leaders were trained at American military bases (much like the 9/11 hijackers), and are killing us with American made weapons (thanks again Kissinger). Besides, everytimes Africans (or Latin Americans) try to put a reformer or socialist democrat in power, he develops a nasty habit of being assisinated.

This book will make you angry at how long and how often you've been lied to. Everything you thought you knew about economics will be tested as the Machiavellian machinations of international creditors, grain companies, and financial "investors" is revealed in page after riveting page. I also recommend Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism and Horowitz' Emerging Viruses. If it's not out of print then get The Merchants of Grain. Some publishing companies are refusing to publish some of these books because of their controvesial nature so get them before they're made "out of print".

I bumped on to this book accidentally in a library while seeking for a book on qualitative research. Being a novice in qualitative research I spend the next week reading it everyday to get my first glimps into what qualitative research is. It is absolute gold for two reasons:
- It content is topical and up todate. Even for a beginner it is absolutely readable. The content is not lost in academic jargons but simple everyday English.
- The detailed bibliography speaks for itself and what is more it is given after every section. It allows the researcher to find more information elsewhere.

I have decided that it is a book one should own in his or her private library.

Thank you.

Odwora Jaki

Johannesburg.

The contents are a little complex but comprehensive. It is a perfect book for my academic research.

While it seems like a large chunk of change, this book is worth every penny. Ever since I've purchased it, many of my colleagues (I'm a social scientist at KU) ask to borrow it, but I never let it go. Just about any question I have about qualitative research can be answered, to some degree, with this book. What's more, even in some of the more controversial areas of qualitative research the book points to other readings that may shed light on alternate perspectives.

Just buy the book. I did, and I don't regret it for a moment. It's also nice in that it covers a wide variety of disciplines and contexts -- journalists, sociologists, communicologits, psychologists, and political scientists can all use the book with equal ease. One area, though, that I've heard the book is not as strong toward is anthropology. If you're an anthropologist, you may want to check out Holstein's interviewing methods book.

This was a required text for one of my graduate Professional Communication classes. If I lost it, I would have to buy another one because it's that good. And these text books are expensive. My professors have entire libraries at their disposal, and they chose this particular book for one of their courses. 'nuff said.

Es como una Biblia para los investigadores que quieren aprender sobre la investigación cualitativa

A very good book for all healthcare professionals.
I used to use my PDA as an address book and appointments manager.
Reading this book made my usage of my PDA essential to the extent that now I can't afford to round in the hospital without that small machine in my pocket.
I liked very much chapter 10 " Carrying the web wiyh you "
Thank you Dr. Al-Ubaydli.

Dr.Fahad Al-Nouri

Prince Sultan Cardiac Centre, Riyadh
Saudi Arabia.

A better title for this book would be, "Handheld Computers for Medical Professionals". Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Physical Therapists, Clinical Pharmacists and anyone else in the clinical environment would benefit from the ideas presented in Dr. Al-Ubaydli's book.
Best of all, he gives web addresses for software information that can be modified for any specialty. If you're interested in increasing your productivity in the clinic either as a student or full fledged professional, this is the book to start with.

'Handhelds For Doctors' by Dr Al-Ubaydli is an excellent book for beginners like myself. The information provided is easy to understand and the style of writing makes reading it a pleasure. It has inspired me to start using my PDA 1 year after purchasing it!

This is a great little book, full of hints and tips on how to manage your handheld. Written with hospitals and doctors in mind, there is still a wealth of information for those who just want to get to know their handheld better. It covers both Palm and Windows operating systems. Mo Ubaydli is a handheld guru and his enthusiasm for these wonderful machines shines through. Even better is that it is also a very easy book to read. Thoroughly recommended and a great resource, well written with several examples of how to make the most of these little marvels!

This book is the best guide around which explains the various a PDA applications that doctors can use in their day to day work . My PDA was a glorified diary before I found this book. Now its an integral part of day to day work. I am now trying to convert my colleagues to do the sameBut beware ! The enthusiasm of the authors can be infectious !!!

Reading The Hard Truth is like taking a cool shower. Its' two most powerful messages are that salespeople don't have to sell the way the gurus say to sell and that how you chose to sell doesn't have anything to say about how ethical you are. The authors say that is question about honor, not selling style.

This book needs to be read by everyone in sales trying to resist being forced into a mold. It might make you mad. Parts of the Hard Truth will sting sales big shots telling everybody else what to do. Salespeople will laugh out loud because every salesperson who has ever been made to sit through training classes taught by the likes of big headed frauds like Rev. Dr. Reginald David Barfkon will instantly connect with the Hard Truth About Soft Selling. The chapter called the final irony at the end whacked me with something I never realized. Their revelation about soft selling and the big guns that sell it packed a jolt that opened my eyes forever. I will never listen in the same gullible way again to so called sales experts telling me what I have to do to succeed in sales. If you are in sales you need to read this book and get your sales life back.

The Hard Truth About Soft-Selling is phenomenal. The research is so thorough; the message is clear; and (if you'll forgive my wording) it creates a paradigm shift in thinking. Also, I got such a kick out of reading it - it was dripping with unique humor, metaphors and writing style, which made me read it more slowly to savor the experience. I loved how the authors backed up statements with so many quotations from soft-sell gurus. What's more, "the hard truth" about soft-selling will surprise you.

Every salesperson and sales manager should read this book regardless of their sales processes - it will change thinking and provide clear vision for better decisions. It could, in fact, change our industry in very positive and flexible ways.

This book is about so much more than selling. The authors use a funny, irreverent style, and story after story to illustrate their points about what makes selling so hard, but good salespeople so valuable. Dr. Tanner is an academic but, other than the lapidary research statistics included in the book as fodder for the authors' claims, the writing style and examples are anything but academic. As a CRM consultant, I'm often vexed by the time spent de-constructing why companies can't compete. This book emphasizes the people issues, and takes on the well-worn sales shibboleths that have ultimately impeded so many corporate strategies. Kudos to Tanner and Dudley for getting it right, and being so original in the process.

Internationally noted behavioral scientist George Dudley and Associate Dean of Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business present The Hard Truth About Soft-Selling: Restoring Pride & Purpose to the Sales Profession, a discussion of the latest trend in "soft-selling", and how modern salespeople are often told they must present themselves as "advisors" or "consultants" while remaining accountable for closed sales same as always. Chapters discuss the lexicon of soft-selling; the many types of selling styles; sales training across cultures; how to sell with "radical honesty"; and much more. Written in terms easily accessible to novice and veteran salespeople alike, The Hard Truth About Soft-Selling is a must for any salesperson striving to stay on the cutting edge of their career path.

The most popular kind of packaged training program bought in corporate America is for sales people. There's a dirty secret though: Those sales training programs are more likely to hurt sales performance than improve it. If you buy such training programs, sit through them or have to deal with their aftermath as sales droop, you owe it to yourself to read The Hard Truth about Soft-Selling.

What is soft selling? The authors lump together a broad variety of styles that have in common " . . . a client-centered approach to sales in which the primary role of the seller is to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation which enables the consumer to reach an informed buying decision free from pressure or manipulation." Anyone who has ever been made acutely uncomfortable by an aggressive, hard-sell sales person probably wishes that such people could be banned. Since we've all had that experience, that's probably one of the sources of the search for a kinder, gentler side to selling.

But that search hasn't yet paid off, as this book documents. That's the bottom line for this book.

If you are pressed for time, I suggest you begin reading on page 154 and continue through page 161. Everything you need to know is there. If you want more detail on any point, you can use the excellent index and thorough list of references to answer your questions.

I've met hundreds of trainers and people who design training course. Within those groups, rarely have I found anyone who is interested in using experimental techniques to identify best practices, improve on those practices and help people learn how to master better methods. Instead, these are people who feel good with the material they are presenting and evangelize based on faith in the "logic" or "ethics" of their approach. The people who buy training courses usually buy on the same basis. They don't bother to check out the track record of a course . . . but rather look to the feel good qualities and techniques for keeping people awake.

Few new methods can be learned and employed successfully with less than 30 days of continual reinforcement. The typical sales training course is less than a week. That's the good news. People don't learn too many bad habits through adopting soft selling. But apparently, they do learn to be less aggressive . . . and that's what hurts sales after sales training.

The authors also point out that many sales people are demoralized. They know their profession has low public esteem. They are also afraid of offending people. So when asked to change, they assume that they should . . . in the absence of any compelling evidence that this will improve matters.

Beginning on page 156 the authors propose practical ways that sales people can improve their performance. It's good advice. I recommend you follow their suggestions whether you are a sales person or a sales manager. Beginning on page 159 there's good advice on how to find a potentially beneficial sales training program and books that will teach helpful skills. I was particularly pleased to see that this book comes down hard on unethical selling . . . regardless of the style in which the bad behavior is couched.

To me, the most amusing part of the book comes where the authors point out that most soft-sell authors, writers of sales training programs and sales people for soft-selling training use hard-sell techniques.

These days almost every job has some elements of sales in it. I was intrigued by the research reported about bad selling habits that soft-selling approaches can encourage: becoming reluctant to canvass for leads; investing time in "upgrading" presentations rather than going to meet with prospects; over preparation for meetings; and becoming rigid in how sales calls and contacts are handled. In over thirty years of supervising people who have performed in various sales roles for me, I've seen all those bad habits in action. The only thing those with these bad habits have had in common is that anyone with these habits never amounted to a hill of beans as a sales person. I've also found that I could never persuade a sales person with one of those bad habits to change to better habits. My best sales people have always been the most uninhibited, friendly people who enjoyed meeting others and firmly believed that we wouldn't sell anybody anything unless it would do the person a lot of good.