United States Books

I rarely read a book more than once but this one is worth the time to do that. What a life the bride lived.

Since so many have commented on the story, I'll skip repeating all the wonderful things others have already said. Here's what I have to say:

I bought this book in 2001 when my wife and I got married at Alred's in Telluride (we were the FIRST couple to be married there). It wasn't until last month that I "found" this book on my shelf and decided to read it...I couldn't put it down!

This book should be mandatory reading for all high school kids for several reasons: they can learn what life was like back then, and to show that life doesn't own you a thing! You have to earn what you want and take the good with the bad.

Mrs. Backus was an incredible woman that lived through some incredibly difficult times, all the while never giving up or having a bad thing to say.

I would rank this book right up there with "Narrative of the Slave"; it's easy to read, extremely fascinating and leaves you with lump in your throat when it's over.

This book would make an incredible movie (just don't let them "Hollywood-ize" it. Keep it true to the story.

My son gave me this book as a gift and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful story of a young girl who marries and moves to a mining town in Colorado with her mining engineer husband in the early 1900s. As you turn the pages, you live day by day with Harriet and can actually experience the hardships of living in such remote areas.

It is one of the best written books I have ever read and I recommend it to everyone.
Brenda Ritter

Fantastic book. Well written with humor and sorrow. I picked this book up on a whim at a $1 book sale. Best dollar I have ever spent. I couldn't put this book down. Really a great read for anyone interested in mining life esp. what it was like from a womans point of view.

I visited Telluride and purchased this book while there. I read it, loaned it to several friends and they read it and loved it. My daughter loved it so much she didn't return it, so I purchased a second book. The author has a knack for writing and has led an extremely interesting life. At first I thought I enjoyed the book because I had visited a lot of the places that she talked about, but later found that people who had never been to CO enjoyed the book as much as I did.

A very conveniently sized book that can be easily put into your pocket and places two of our country's most important documents within easy reach. I teach ESOL and I buy multiple copies so I can make sure that all my students can have a copy as they will hopefully begin studying for their US citizenship. Not only are the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in this book but also little known facts of our founding fathers, notes on famous Supreme Court decisions, Articles of Confederation, etc.

A very interesting little book to understand the foundation of the first and greatest democracy in the world

You can't really write a review about the Constitution! But I can tell you that this little book is not too difficult on the eyes, easy to use and simple for carrying to class. It doesn't weigh much in a pocket or a backpack, and this is the version I've used throughout my grad-school days. And after several years of thumbing through it, the book still hasn't fallen apart!

An easy read for quickly boning up on your U.S. constitution and a great reference document for future use. I'd recommend having it in your collection of books.

This is a great book. It covers the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution as well as an abundance of interesting facts about the Framers of the Constitution.

The book is compact and students can easily carry it with them everywhere they go. This book is also very affordable.

There is a problem with this book's binding though. The book tends to come apart. The book's good for students, but since the Constitution is so important, I would give students a hardback when they graduate which they can have in their personal library for the rest of their lives.

My wife and I love to go on factory tours and visit company museums when we travel. It's corny, I know, but fun. This book gives wonderful examples of some of the best tours and museums around. Whenever we're going on a road trip, we always consult Watch It Made in the U.S.A.: A Visitor's Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums (Watch It Made in the USA) to help us decide where we might like to go. I would very much recommend it for families with young kids who might enjoy such tours, and probably retirees who have the time and interest for them, as well.

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in things made in the USA. It gives a nice description of the facilities, locations, tour times, cost and lengths, age appropriateness, and phone numbers.
We like to travel the country and will use the information to plan our trips. The book is well organized and very helpful.

This is my first review in Amazon.

I am always curious about how things are made,
and after watching many episodes of "How do they do it",
and "How it's made" on discovery Channel.
I started to look for extra resources for a better understanding on these "behind the scenes" mysteries.
Then, I found this book.
And this book is a real treasure!
The book is well organized,
It provides many detail information about the factory tours,
and the brief background of the companies.

Thanks to this book,
now I have some itineraries in mind.
I plan to visit KitchenAid's factory in the near future for my mom.
(My family is in Taiwan)
She is a big fan of KitchenAid mixer. ha.
I will also visit Airstream company as well,
Owning a travel trailer is my dream, and I want to know how it is made,
And I will be more determined to realize this dream!
Maybe one day I will write a similar book "Watch it made in Taiwan" in a mobile trailer office. Who knows?!

Great book, I did not know that a book like this existed. Will definitly come in handy when planning trips. Checked information on places we have already been and information was accurate.

I'm planning to take my two teenagers cross country this summer and this is a GREAT book for finding interesting places to show them. It has excellent maps, clear directions, and well-written descriptions of what you will (and won't) see so I can figure out what sites will best entertain the different family members. I only wish we had time to see more of the places they describe. It even tells you what other nearby attractions there are. Kudos to the authors!

This book is stellar! I highly recommend for anyone in a leadership position or anyone who will one day be.

One of the greatest books on leadership out there. A simple to the point story that teaches skills not taught in most business schools today.

Having read many leadership books, this is one of the best in teaching how to lead with your heart. It's well-written, easy to read, and paints a challenging, yet rewarding picture of leadership that requires devotion and commitment of oneself above and beyond all else.

Have bought 3 of these books for different friends and they have all enjoyed it and passed it on to others.

Based on a friend's recommendation, I began using The Way of the Shepherd as a primer for new leaders in my organization. It uses a very simple construct for teaching-through-storytelling about how to be a "leader" and not a "boss". That construct is tending sheep.

It does not imply at all (as I was concerned about) that all of the front-line employees are rudimenatary herd animals... rather, it calls the leader to a higher level of personal responsibility for the well-being, safety, and activity of the workgroup.

I've read hundreds of leadership and business books over my career - many of which are outstanding - and this is the one I always start a new leader with. It's short, it's easy to read, and it communicates all the right things.

This personal narrative set in the midst of global history is a tremendous story. A touching and humorous account of an unforgettable era, told with skill. Couldn't put it down until it was finished. One reads it thinking, "This would make a wonderful movie."

This book is a compelling story about a young man who grows up on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama on his family farm and goes on to serve his country in World War II. Sacco made the unique decision of telling the story in his father's voice, which adds to the authenticity of the account.

This tactic also makes the writing come across as glib in places. While the elder Sacco tells anecdotes about bad food, and seemingly endless hours of drills in all types of weather, he glosses over some of these hardships as the story moves on. The book would have been strengthened a bit if the author had filled in some of those gaps for the reader. The liberation of Dachau gets surprisingly few pages, as one would expect this event to be the pinnacle of the young soldier's life.

However, there are a number of places where Sacco's first hand account proves very effective: The story is full of wiseacre remarks about the shape of a woman, and while these types of comments aren't acceptable in our time, in most circles, they add to the realistic feel of a group of young GIs serving half a world away usually without female companionship.

Sacco's account of the group dynamics in his unit is fascinating. There are a number of anecdotes about race relations in the Army. The elder Sacco seems to pride himself on having been more enlightened than some in his time, in part because he himself experienced prejudice. Finally, his account of falling in love with a young woman named Monique during a stint in a small French village on the border with Germany is truly riveting.

In sum, the book seems to serve as a realistic account of military service and of the horror of war. And while I was disappointed by the casual telling of the story in some places, one has the sense that the elder Sacco's sense of humor, combined with his ability to minimize certain aspects of his tough experience, helped to keep him going during some of the most harrowing experiences of his life. Indeed, the author's style provided plenty of comic relief. This book is more for those who like biographies rather than those who want a straightforward account of the facts and dates associated with these historic events.

I concur with the excellent reviews preceeding mine. This is a beautifully written account of the guys from the 192nd Signal Battalion from basic training to the end of World War II. I'd like to identify three significant elements undergirding this excellent account of the incredible fortitude of teenagers turned warriers in a brutal environment. First, Joe Sacco and his buddies had the immense good fortune of being under the capable direction of First Sargeant Ernest Thomas. His presence in the background is a constant element in keeping these young men the best that they could be. Next, Joe Sacco and his buddies were among those who forever identify themselves as members of "Patton's Army". Through Joe's eyes we can appreciate the inspirational leadership he offered in the worst of times. Last, these guys were such good guys--in their treatment of little children, a child German soldier, and others, it makes one so proud of all those very young American soldiers who could see the worst, and yet keep their faith in the importance of each human being.

Superbly written! At once epic in scope and intimate in detail, WHERE THE BIRDS NEVER SING effortlessly transports even a casual reader on an emotional and unforgettable journey. Author Jack Sacco masterfully recounts the true story of his father, Joe Sacco, an American GI in World War II. Instead of using the tired genre of third-person documentary-style writing to tell the tale, the author speaks in the first person, through the eyes of his father. The result is one of the most powerful and honestly moving accounts of the human drama in World War II in recent memory.

The story begins in 1943 on a farm in Alabama, when the young Joe Sacco receives a letter informing him that he has been drafted into the service. From there, it seamlessly moves through his training with the 92nd Signal Battalion, shipping out to England (where the soldiers witnessed the stirring and famous speech by General Patton), landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy, surviving the Battle of the Bulge and fighting their way across Nazi Germany to eventually arrive at the notorious concentration camp at Dachau by war's end.

The book, already powerful and moving up until that point, then takes the reader to a new level of realism as horrifying details of the camp are revealed. Considering all he had seen and experienced since landing at Normandy, the emotional response of the young Joe Sacco to the carnage inside Dachau may leave the reader near tears. Rarely, if ever, has there been a written account of the reality of the concentration camps so graphic, gripping or compelling. As if that wasn't enough, Jack Sacco has included actual historic photographs his father took during the dramatic liberation.

All along the way, the author crafts memorable and beautifully written scenes, from the terrors of battle to the tranquility of a snowfall in the forests of Alsace-Lorraine, from the sorrows of the death of a buddy to the simple joy of decorating a makeshift Christmas tree with gum wrappers. In describing the emotions of the men before leaving Dachau, Sacco writes, "Now, after a year of combat, each of us finally and forever understood why destiny had called us to travel so far away from the land of our birth and fight for people we did not know. And so it was here, in this place abandoned by God and accursed by men, that we came to discover the meaning of our mission."

This is not another book about World War II. It's an intimate journey into the heart of an American soldier, and as such, it is as triumphant as the men it depicts. Readers will not only delight in WHERE THE BIRDS NEVER SING, they will gain a new appreciation for the accomplishments of their own fathers, uncles and grandfathers who may have served in World War II as part of the Greatest Generation.

Where The Birds Never Sing is the story of Joe Sacco's years in the army during WWII as written by his son Jack. From the time he was drafted until the time that he returns home we live with Joe as he experiences everything from basic training to the liberation of Dachau, which left Joe and the men of his company, soldiers who had witnessed everything that war has to offer, speachless and sickened. It also, as Joe so eloquently tells us, brought home, all too clearly, to these soldiers just why they had left their homes to "fight for a people we did not know."

A remarkable story about a remarkable man. This book must be read by all who are interested in "The Greatest Generation."

Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb is an unusual combination of travel guide and presidential biography. The authors discuss the American Presidents by describing how they are memorialized. By exploring each Presidential gravesite, the Authors also describe the lives of the Presidents. The book is far from morbid and quite enlightening and entertaining.

Although this book is about the deaths & funerals of this nations chief executives, it brings history alive for folks like myself who enjoy all things presidential. Focusing on the events that led to the end for each of our late presidents, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I have visited many of the gravesites mentioned here & intend to endeavor to visit the the ones I haven't yet. This book is an indespensible guidebook for my future travels. Lots of great photos, too.

This book does not immediately give one the impression that it would be as good as it is. My first impression from the cover was that it would be just a compilation of unknown facts and surprises about famous people ,things and places.Then, after noting the sub-title "A Tour of Presidential Gravesites";I thumbed through it and immediately saw it was a very good summary of all the Presidents,their time in office,their wives,what they did after leaving office,the cause of their death,funeral arrangements,interm and final resting places and detailed information for anyone who would like to visit any or all of them. From this book you will learn what to expect at the sites as well as what else exists as 'museums'
there,hours open and any admission costs.It also details other final resting places of other known personalities nearby.
Lamb does an excellent job of showing that in the American system of Government, the President is one of the people and remains so; even after his term of serving in the world's greatest office; he returns to being just another American Citizen;a point often made by President Harry S Truman.
One of the things I liked about this book was that the author didn't just put together a bunch of readily information to fill a few pages on each President.He provided all the same information for each President, and in doing that;he makes it very evident that these were highly different people and comparisons are clearly brought out.A guide of this type where things are given about one President ,but not another, would be a lazy approach and frustrating to the reader.
In a very thumbnail manner the author shows that all these Presidents put the privilige of holding the office above all the politics involved in their lives.
I have to admit,that the answer to the title,s question,left me wondering until I saw the answer in another Cusromer,s Review.
If I may,here is something to entice you;
What President was the sole mourner at the committal of a politician,who had gone to jail for tax evasion; and when asked by the pastor; "Mr. President,why are you here?, he asked. "It's cold and bitter. Did you know this gentleman?" The President replied; "Pastor,I never forget a friend."
Anyone interested in American History or Politics will find this a great source of information and a readily available reference source. While a super guide to the Presidents' graves ;it is also a good reference.

This unique book is full of surprises, plenty of clear pictures, and short evaluations of each president. From Washington to the present George Bush, the reader visits the final resting places of our American presidents and learns how and when they died and their final words, in many cases.

Altho this book was published before the death of Ronald Reagan, pictures of his library and of the other living presidents are discussed.

In back of the book are names and places of the presidential libraries, the presidential and vice presidential gravesites listed by state, the burial places of president's wives and a host of other relevant material. Websites are even included.

Reading this book is an armchair traveller's delight. The traveller will appreciate the excellent directions. The research is phenomenal. Students of American history may want to add this to their book list.

If you are a fan of the American presidency and appreciate the valuable information that Brian Lamb and C-Span staff give us every day on the cable channels, you will absolutely enjoy this lively and well written book. Chapters are short, to the point, and contribute a wealth of information .

Brian Lamb and his C-SPAN team have written a number of wonderful and extremely-informative essay-filled booknotes on American History and Characters. "Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb" is no exception.

With contributions from Douglas Brinkley, Richard Norton Smith, and other noted Historians, this compact, easy-to-read volume is filled with vignettes and facts about all of the deceased Presidents, their last days, presumably their last words, and where they are buried. Admission prices to their libraries and museums (and this includes living Presidents and Jefferson Davis too) is also included.

Brinkley's insightful essay at the end of the book, in which he writes with great eloquence of the attachment of Springfield Illinois to Abraham Lincoln, and of his visits to other Presidential gravesites and museums is almost worth half of the price of this bargain edition.

Note: This book was published prior to the passing of President Reagan, yet it does note where he wished to be buried, and has information about the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

The book shows the human and humorous side of the Presidents, including Calvin Coolidge's funny comment to a woman who said she'd bet him if he would say two words ("You Lose", was Silent Cal's response), or how William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, deftly fought back against religious prejudice.

A solid and fun read, especially around the July 4th holiday, and at 4.99 is a much better buy, and totally devoid of political commentary ala Sarah Vowell's weak-at-the-knees "Assassination Vacation".

Trever Arnason
Wide Open: A Life in Supercross
Jeremy McGrath
HarperCollins
© 2004
Pages 320


Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a professional motocross rider, or what it feels like? This book is an autobiography about Jeremy McGrath's life. It starts off when he is young and is first racing BMX bikes. He races in the local races in California, but these become too easy. As he gets older he gets better at racing and moves on to riding motocross. As the book goes on it goes through his adult life as a motocross racer.
My favorite part of this book was when he was telling about the parties that he would have at his lake house. The house would be crammed full of people and outside would be more people. He wouldn't even know half the people because they would just show up on their boats and get off at his house. His parties sounded like a lot of fun. The theme of this book was to not give up. McGrath had many struggles, which made it hard for him to go pro. Such as people telling him that he wasn't good enough, and not being able to get sponsors. But he never gave up and he was very successful.
I think that this book was really good. It had a lot of interesting stuff about the industry. Even though it was an autobiography and I thought that it would be boring, I really liked this book.

this book is great. this book will give you some helpfull tips in between the chapters. they've got some of his worst injeries ever. this book is great i think everybodey to read this book

Jeremy McGrath has been my favorite rider for a long time, and I was pretty excited to find out that he had put out an autobiography.

I thought the narration and sequencing of the book were solid. They covered all the major events of Jeremy's life and career. It is a very simple book, seemingly targeted for a young audience.

I had issues with the placement of some of the pictures, as well as a couple of typos. For example, a picture of McGrath with the caption identifying it from 2001, while the chapter the picture is located in talks about the 1999 season. Seems like the could have made room for that picture somewhere in the chapter that talks about 2001.

One picture was identified as Jeremy after winning the 1993 championship, when it was actually a picture from the 1998 championship, which was described on that page.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the pace of the book. I read it cover to cover in about 4 hours. I didn't really find any of it boring. The way the book is written makes it feel very down to earth and easy to relate to.

The book seems to be geared towards a younger audience, which is why I found it curious that there were a few swear words included. Not alot, maybe 4-5 in the entire book, but when I read those parts, the wording seemed very unnecessary.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't find McGrath to be bitter or morally bankrupt. He worked hard for what he has achieved.

Seeing as how the book came out at the beginning of 2004, only shortly after his retirement from competition, it would have been rather difficult to include things that he has done since retiring.

One thing I know he did after retirement was to write a book... and it was a pretty good read. At least for somebody who has followed Jeremy relatively closely for his entire career...

Jermey Mcgrath grew up in southern Califorina. When he was 4 years old he started racing bicycles. He was very good and competitive. he moved up to 80 cc mini bikes when he was 8. He made his way up to the 125 cc. For a while he didn't have a factory ride, which is when you have a dirt bike company supporting you. Then, Kawasake signed him. Win he moved up to the 250 class, he went to Honda. He won 4 titles with Honda. Then, he went to Suzuki for a year and did really bad with them. He went to Yamaha and got 2 titles with them. He created a team called Team McGrath/Mazda/Yamaha when he was 30 years old.

It was a very interesting book. I could never guess what was going to happen next. I would have never guessed that he won as many titles as he did. I didn't know if he was going to get the win or not ot get the lead by the first turn. The races thatthey had in the book were exciting. Thje races were exciting because he won most of them. They were close, and i didn't know who would win untill the end of the race.

It was boring at times, like when he talked about his parents. It was also boring at the end because there was no activity. It would of been better if there would have been more ezcitment like races at the end of the book.

Over all , it was a pretty good book despite of all of the boring partsand the injuries. I learned several things that I didn't know about Jermey McGrath and about supercross and motocross. A lot of them were interesting to me.

Genre: Biograph
Three sentece sumary : The king of super cross tells the story of how he started as a privater with nothing; and endend up as a legend.
What i liked most about this book: the book told the story of a profesinall supercross racer.
What i didnt like and why:The book didnt say much about what happend after his mx carrer ended.
My fariot charecter and why: Well jeremy mcgrath of coarse.
My favriot line or scene: when MC was battiling for fist with RC.
What would i say about this book to some one else: Its a great book to see how mc followed his dream and became a legend.
One question i have after reading this book: What did he do after he retiered.
My strongest resone for rerading this book : Its about the king of super cross and how he started out with nothing and got every thing.

this book was written by carol spinney, fan of henson, who ended up working with him and doing big bird and oscar the grouch for years.

i had seen an interview with him prior to reading the book where he equates working with henson to being asked to be a member of the beatles. just awesome.

this book has many anecdotes of his times working with henson, on sesame street, the story of the girl they did "big bird goes to china" with, getting punched in costume by rappers, and he tells the story of hensons death and how it affected him.

for any henson fan, it really is a must have.

The book was easy reading, took me about 3 hours and filled with life stories/lesson's from Caroll Spinney, the man behind Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch. I laughed and cried and totally enjoyed the book.

A fun read. Carol Spinney is a man whom I never knew much about besides seeing his name in the credits of Sesame Street, and other productions where Big Bird made an appearance.

It was interesting to read about how Big Bird's character was developed, and how just playing the part of a lovable children's icon changed Carol's life.

Worth your time. For sure.

I'm still in the middle of reading this book. but, I'm admiring the work of Carroll very much and every time I look at Big Bird or Oscar now I imagine the position that Carroll is in to make the muppet come to life.

To be honest, I have not kept up on Sesame Street since I was a regular viewer from say, oh 1974-77. So I was surprised that there was but a single guy playing Big Bird! I would have otherwise presumed the role was like Vader, a guy in the suit and a guy doing the voice. Moreover, the same guy did ALL the public appearances, award shows, White House dinners. I was floored; what an interesting time this guy had stemming from the Big Bird suit. He's very matter of fact about much of this so I am perhaps overly impressed? In any case, he comes across as very genuine and extremely kind and generally a good person. He also offers odd but intriguing insights into the puppetry world. A neat short read.

This is a powerful book indeed. The facts are there for those willing to check them out. For some people this maybe hard to acknowledge , but Chomsky is writing an account of History that everybody should take a time to read and investigate. In so doing , I am sure that you will have a new understanding of how things are , how the world really works and why.
When you read all those books praising globalization , world free trade and neoliberal economics...take a time and verify...go to the real world...and see what is really happening to the majority of the people...Capitalism is a better system , I'm sure...but some adjustments need to be done to the way the big economies are trying to impose it to the little countries....It is creating more poverty and social unrest..and I am afraid that there will come a time when we are not going to be able to control this...

Dense like lead is dense next to tin, Chomsky's serial revelations of atrocious U.S.A. histories will leave you burdened to suspend belief. If you can read and you are a citizen you will contend with your complicity of the 'us' in U.S.A. These plotted histories(many times not linear by the way)spill you through hundreds of years of stuff you don't think 'we' could do and up into 1992. Instead of pushing the weary citizen reader to the safety of the beach and THE END you will realize it is 2004 and we, the U.S.A. are the same.

If you cannot suspend belief you will bend over dazed, thoughts spinning like an errant compass, by the time you finish a few decimals of the first chapter, let alone if you can possibly fight through the moral exhaustion to reach 288.

If you have heart you will finish. If this is your first Chomsky, 288 will not be the end as the Notes and Bibliography begin and spider into more places to go. This is the densest calorie of writing as behind each thought and twitch you sense the colossus of study behind that tiny notice called a footnote. You will feel that this word 'footnote' should be dismissed as a derogatory description for these 288 moments - they should be called Massivenotes or something.

This is a sorrowful journey that is impossible for rationals to contend with. All i can do afterward is know 'yes, i am American.' I feel as if orphaned and wanting to know who I-Am-We-Us are. And 501 hasn't left me alone.

I happened to be reading this on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks; on the same day my local paper carried a Mallard Fillmore strip which tried to mock the liberal media by having a stereotypical liberal media commentator intoning, "Today the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. Let's examine how we brought this on ourselves." Amongst many other topics, Chomsky actually does show how we brought Pearl Harbor on ourselves. The "Pacific War" as he calls it was not just an unprovoked act of aggression. The Japanese imperialists, even though (as Chomsky points out) they were every bit as brutal as their white rivals, had an arguably legitimate political goal: that is, they wanted Asia to be ruled by Asians rather than by Europeans.

As others have noted, this is a pwerful, angry and wide-ranging book. As you can see just from the title: "Year 501" refers to the 501st anniversary of Columbus's first voyage, but Chomsky's story ranges all over the globe abd all over history.

If you're like me, you know Chomsky's political works primarily from his extensive collaborations with David Barsamian, which are based on speeches and radio interviews. Chomsky voice is much more fiery when, as he is here, he speaks without Barsamian as a moderator.

Chomsky's Year 501 is another engrossing work from this erudite and learned treasure and scholar. A good place to start is the concluding chapter as it presents an incredible analysis with an astonishing array of facts and figures relating to the domestic American scene and the conditions that have befallen the average U.S. worker. He brings the same studious approach to this area of inquiry as he's done for the last forty years regarding the international arena and linguistics. Along with Michael Parenti's Democracy For the Few, it's simply some of the best work available on this pressing topic. Deindustrialization, increasing underemployment, rising poverty, the increasing gap between the super rich and middle class, and the business community's relentless assault on unions - Chomsky touches on all these issues. He summarizes these developments by writing that the United States is showing the characteristics of a Third World country by becoming a two-tiered society. That the child poverty rate in New York city is approaching forty percent is just one example of the many nuggets of information a reader can garner from Year 501.

Of course the majority of the book covers an incredible amount of ground pertaining to international politics and economics with particular emphasis on Latin America. As always these passages shine with insight and brilliance while being backed up with rigorous documentation and research. Colonization to neo-imperialism are broached along with the two rip off machines known as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Since he's always refused to punk out to mainstream corporate opinion Chomsky's a somewhat cruel reminder to the orthodox pundits and intellectuals of what intellectual responsibility is truly about. The New Yorker recently ran a hit piece against him; this of course demonstrates that he's still pontificating and writing truths the black-tie cocktail party set refuse to countenance. Year 501 follows in the tradition of a long line of Chomsky books that make the establishmentarians a bit uncomfortable.

This is a book by Chomsky that is probably even more scholarly than usual. At least in the way it is written. Chomsky wrote this book on the 500th anniversary in 1992 of the beginnings of the invasion of much of the world of what Adam Smith refered to, in a rather narrow context as "the savage injustice of the Europeans ("revealing himself to be an early practicioner of the crime of 'political correctness,'"Chomsky comments sardonically)". Chomsky begins his survey by analyzing the policies of the major European powers and the United States as they grew to dominate the world. Such policies., he explains, are not the free market doctrines stressed by right wing talk radio hosts, University of Chicago professors and other such bores and frauds but by massive state subsides, huge tarrifs to block foreign competitors, extreme violence and colonial occupation.

Places like India and Bengal (Bangladesh) which were highly advanced industrial societies by the mid-1700's but all of the industries which were superior to their counterparts in Britain were deliberately undermined or simply forced out of existence by the British colonisers. India and Bangladesh became extremely poor, feudal agricultural countries supplying Britain with raw materials and as a captive market for British goods. The latter is a familiar pattern outlined by Chomsky in this book. The West, since World war II, dominated by the U.S., has always sought any way it could to block advanced economic development in the third world. The exceptions to this that Chomsky points to are Japan and its former colonies in Asia who violated all the laws of the free market to create very dynamic, if, of course, very far from perfect economies. The British, noted Chomsky, started to adopt "free trade" as policy as the United States would do later under similar circumstances, around 1846 when they had no competitors in their field but this changed around 1930 when they, along with the Americans, French and Dutch erected high tarrif walls around Japanese exports to their colonies in Asia with which they could not compete, a major factor in staring Japan's wars of conquest.

He examines the U.S. role in the slaugter of half a million people in Indonesia in 1965 as the independent nationalist Sukarno was overthrown and "a staggering mass slaughter of communists and pro-communits." The U.S. media, rejoyced at the massacre of landless peasants and the destruction of the only mass-based political party the communist PKI. General Suharto took power initiating ongoing plunder and exploitaion of Indonesia's resources by Western corporations while engaging in mass murder in the U.S. backed occupation of East Timor and elsewhere. He examines the media reaction to this slaugter and the reaction back in 1990 when this great event was brought up again by Kathy Kadane.

He examines the showcases of capitalism in the third world like Brazil, whose liberal capitalist president Goulart was overthrown in 1964 with U.S. aid by a group of Neo-nazi generals who compiled over the next few decades a truly horrific human rights record but who were praised for producing an "economic miracle" as the population sunk into quite horrific levels of malnourishment and disease and land became ever more concentrated in fewer hands and millions of street children arose in the big cities. And Nicaragua where the massive terrorism, celebrated by the media liberals that Chomsky quotes, brought to force upon the Nicaraguan people a defeat of the Sandanistas in "democratic election" in 1990 (the 1984 election won by the Sandinstas dissapearing into the memory hole). This has predictably resulted in a terrible rise in starvation and disease and drug running and street children and on.

He continues with an in-depth examination of the woes of Haiti and the American and Western efforts to ravage it since 1804, and particularly since 1915 when the U.S. invaded and reestablished virtual slavery, with a U.S. imposed constitution ratified with five percent of the voting public participainting under the U.S. marine bayonets, reversing the ban on foreign ownership of land.

He compares the podering of the unique evil of Japan in being unable to fully face up to their past crimes and the comparable ignoring of things like the hundreds of thousand of tortured victims of U.S. chemical warfare in South Vietname, which occasionally elicits a comment in the science pages of the newspapers about how we are missing a great opportunity to study the effects of dioxin on a control population

Picked up a copy of this book for our beach trip, and couldn't put it down. Alexander's comedic look at America's white / blue collar societies will make you laugh out loud, while giving pause to reflect upon your own lives. Highly recommended.

I heard about this book when the author appeared on CSPAN-BookTV. I liked the author, loved his background as ad man and ex-marine, and wanted to learn more.

The book itself reminded me of Barbara Ehrenreich's ventures into minimum wage jobs. Ehrenreich gets serious about the injustices that force some people to remain in those jobs and really work.

On the other hand, it's a nice counterpoint to Gill's How Starbuck' Saved My Life, a euphoric ode to his service as helper and barista.

The best part of the book for me came at the very beginning, with Alexander's description of his life as in advertising. His description of clients and the lack of respect for marketing expertise were very accurate.

The second best part was getting behind the scenes of a pizza delivery company, an ice cream shop and more. I didn't realize it was so hard to get jobs at the Big Box store.

Of course, we don't know how typical the author's experiences are. Why would a pizza delivery person keep delivering pizza when he spends more for gas than he earns? Was the ice cream store a franchise, like a Baskin Robbins?

The hospital example seemed a little over the top. Apparently Alexander was assigned just one type of case, courtesy of his doctor friend who got him the job. I was disturbed when the doctor put a patient through an uncomfortable and unnecessary procedure because he didn't want to embarrass the nurse, who had set up the room.

I was sorely tempted to give this book just 3 stars for one reason. On television, Alexander was asked how he came to write the book. It turns out he didn't really try out the minimum wage life. He had a book contract and he was not living on the earnings from those jobs...ever.

Not a problem, but I believe Alexander should have disclosed his intentions up front, as Ehrenreich does in her books.

Still, every career coach talks to clients who fantasize about reducing stress by taking a lower level job. Usually it doesn't work. And now we can see why.

I almost busted a gut reading about the dad in the ice cream shop. Alexander is a master at using humor to foster the empathy so many of us "fat" Americans seem to lack. Way to go Prioleau!

This was a fun book to read. His style of humor was perfect. It is an easy read - fit for a long flight, or a couple of quiet evenings.

In the last couple of years I've read many books by folks who abandoned their unsatisfying routine lives in search of fulfillment. These stalwart individuals embraced risk by leaving secure jobs to realize a long-buried passion. Some moved to a distant locale vastly different from their longtime home, others subjected themselves to some sort of extreme physical test like climbing a mountain or walking an ancient pilgrimage trail. In the end, most of them felt they made the right decision and were happier and better off as a result. However, Prioleau (pronounced Prew-Lowe) Alexander tells otherwise in this humorous and interesting look at the dark side of life renovation.

As part of the rite-of-passage that characterizes a middle-age existential crisis, Mr. Alexander decides that he has had enough of the advertising field. Despite a lucrative salary, a high-end position, and the misgivings of his wife, he quits. His next downwardly-mobile move is to embrace the simple life. Part of that strategy involves diving into the shallow end of the job pool. "You Want Fries With That?" documents his journey through the minimum-wage world of delivering pizza, jerking ice cream, doing clean-up at a home improvement project, sliding through icky bodily fluids as an ER technician, jockeying a fast-food cash register, and riding herd on a dude ranch.

Our idealistic hero figures that he'll find contentment doing an honest day of service-oriented work. But his dream gives way to disillusionment as he discovers the unromantic nature of these jobs. For example, after tallying up the costs of delivering pizza he finds that he's basically paying for the privilege of feeding his customers. Impolite and unhealthy shoppers make scooping ice cream an exercise in torment. Cleaning up patient leftovers in the ER grosses him out so bad that he finally flees in disgust. And riding a horse on a wagon trail day after day takes a harsh toll on his middle-aged body.

Despite these tribulations, the author manages to dredge humor out of each occupation. Sometimes the customers are his target, but often he pokes fun at himself, bad management, or the oddball workplace procedures he encounters. Indeed, I laughed out loud a couple of times while reading. Be advised that Mr. Alexander's a self-proclaimed "conservative-libertarian religious gun-nut wacko," so his humor has a refreshing lack of political correctness. But in the midst of the laughs, he shatters the myth that the simple life is a noble one. The hours are long, the work is mind-numbing, prestige is non-existent, and the pay sucks. In the end, he abandons ship and returns to the comforting familiarity of white-collar work - much to the relief of his longsuffering spouse and their deteriorating household financial situation. Looking back on his experience, he provides a thoughtful and non-judgmental analysis of why people wind up in these jobs for the long term.

"You Want Fries With That?" was a fun book to read. I'm the same age as the author, and that, along with a shared Marine background, helped me to identify with him. As an aside, I enjoyed how he wove his military experience into his adventures, such as using the SMEAC acronym to describe HVAC work and comparing riding horseback in boxers to getting jacked up by large Samoan dudes. As they say, once a Marine, always a Marine. Dogmatic liberals, the stridently politically-correct, and diehard fans of the book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" may not appreciate Mr. Alexander's take on things, but everyone else will appreciate his lighthearted insights. Recommended with an enthusiastic "Ooh-rah!"