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The Pursuit of Power
History of Western Civilization
History of Western Civilization
Japan: The Intellectual Foundations
Golden Ages and Barbarous Nations: Antiquarian Debate and Cultural Politics in Ireland, C.1750-1800 (Critical Conditions: Field Day Essays & Monographs S.)
"Tosca's" Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective
My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Historical Studies of Urban America S.)
Education Across a Century: The Centennial Volume (National Society for the Study of Education 100th Yearbook)
Spent Cartridges of Revolution: Anthropological History of Namiquipa, Chihuahua
Biology Takes Form: Animal Morphology and the German Universities, 1800-1900
The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785-1800
The Comparative Archaeology of Early Mesopotamia (Study in Ancient Oriental Civilization)
Prehistoric Investigations in Iraqi Kurdistan (Study in Ancient Oriental Civilization)
Ramus, Method and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason
Foreign Affections: Essays on Edmund Burke (Critical Conditions: Field Day Essays & Monographs S.)
Harry Boland's Irish Revolution
Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago: Workers on the South Side, 1880-1922
The Spacious Word: Cartography, Literature, and Empire in Early Modern Spain
The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-40 (Historical Studies of Urban America S.)
Impasse of the Angels: Scenes from a Moroccan Space of Memory
Urban Regimes and Strategies: Building Europe's Central Executive District in Brussels (University of Chicago Geography Research Papers S.)
Village and Family in Contemporary China
The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762 (History of American Civilization)
The War for Independence: A Military History (History of American Civilization)
The New Age of Franklin Roosevelt, 1932-45 (History of American Civilization)

The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000

Average customer rating:

The grandest of grand strategy
Despotism the default state of human governance.
Starts Strong But Quickly Devolves Into Minutia
A series of wars punctuated by brief periods of peace
Difficult but enlightening

The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000
William McNeill
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
Plagues and Peoples
Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression
The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800
Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World (Global Century Series)

ASIN: 0226561585

Book Description

In this magnificent synthesis of military, technological, and social history, William H. McNeill explores a whole millennium of human upheaval and traces the path by which we have arrived at the frightening dilemmas that now confront us. McNeill moves with equal mastery from the crossbow—banned by the Church in 1139 as too lethal for Christians to use against one another—to the nuclear missile, from the sociological consequences of drill in the seventeenth century to the emergence of the military-industrial complex in the twentieth. His central argument is that a commercial transformation of world society in the eleventh century caused military activity to respond increasingly to market forces as well as to the commands of rulers. Only in our own time, suggests McNeill, are command economies replacing the market control of large-scale human effort. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action." "No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. . . . McNeill's erudition is stunning, as he moves easily from European to Chinese and Islamic cultures and from military and technological to socio-economic and political developments. The result is a grand synthesis of sweeping proportions and interdisciplinary character that tells us almost as much about the history of butter as the history of guns. . . . McNeill's larger accomplishment is to remind us that all humankind has a shared past and, particularly with regard to its choice of weapons and warfare, a shared stake in the future."—Stuart Rochester, Washington Post Book World "Mr. McNeill's comprehensiveness and sensitivity do for the reader what Henry James said that Turgenev's conversation did for him: they suggest 'all sorts of valuable things.' This narrative of rationality applied to irrational purposes and of ingenuity cannibalizing itself is a work of clarity, which delineates mysteries. The greatest of them, to my mind, is why human beings have never learned to cherish their own species."—Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker

Customer Reviews:

The grandest of grand strategy.......2007-05-24

This is a sweeping history of the interplay between technology, society and war by one of the preeminent historians of our generation. Moreover, it is, in this reviewer's opinion, even more relevant today than it was when first published in 1982.

McNeill, quite naturally, observed the events of the past millennium through the lens of the Cold War and came to the conclusion that the current epoch was wholly unprecedented - weapons so powerful that they made their possessors weak because of their inability to flex any power - and that the global ideological confrontation would continue on as the defining feature of the twenty-first century. To the author's credit, he concludes the volume with these sage words: "But the study of [the] past may reduce the discrepancy between expectation and reality, if only by encouraging us to expect surprises - among them, a breakdown of the pattern of the future suggested in this conclusion."

The near future of 2007 does indeed look a lot different than anyone could have imagined in 1982 - but McNeill's themes are no less germane to the radically altered international environment that we currently find ourselves in. Two bear specific mention and consideration.

First, McNeill emphasizes the power of market forces and the incredibly stimulating effect the early markets of Western Europe had on technological development. By the time he wrote "Pursuit of Power," McNeill had come to see the return of command innovation where technological change is driven by the direction and investment of sprawling state bureaucracies, much as the feudal lords of Medieval Europe controlled military technology. But, if anything, the last quarter-century has witnessed the resurgence of market-driven innovation, mostly spurred on by the Internet and global communication networks, while the Cold War era military industrial complex has shriveled to a shell of its former self in the US and all but evaporated in the states of the former communist bloc. As huge chunks of humanity join the global market for goods and services - most notably China and India, but Brazil and other rapidly developing economies as well - one can and should expect robust growth and innovation around the world to flourish. The hallmark of such a system, as McNeill explains, is the rapid adoption and improvement of anything that works better than the existing model. Only now, rather than having the growth and innovation confined to Western Europe, it will become a much more (but not entirely) global phenomenon.

Second, McNeill sees improvements in transportation as the critical enabler to economic growth in Western Europe. At one point, he anticipates the rise of globalization and outsourcing in commenting on how the sudden growth of steam power threatened the wholesale destruction of British agriculture. Over the course of just a few years in the late 19th century, steam-powered ships became so fast and efficient that it was cheaper to import grain to London from the US, Argentina and even Australia than to raise it on local British farms. Thus, over the course of just a decade, a great number of English farmers were effectively "outsourced." We see the same phenomenon at work today, only it is the rapid efficiency in shipping information owing to cheap and reliable high-bandwidth Internet connections to India and other countries that make a number of American jobs suddenly cost ineffective and thus insecure.

In closing, this is a fantastic book and not just for military history buffs. It says as much about society, organizational methods, international economics, the process of innovation, and how technology shapes worldviews as it does about the impact of new weapons on war.

Despotism the default state of human governance........2006-02-05

Professor McNeill describes this 1982 book as a "footnote" to his famous 1963 The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, and as a companion to his even more famous 1976 Plagues and Peoples. The subject of "The Pursuit of Power" is warfare rather than disease, as in "Plagues and People", but Prof. McNeill's conceptual approach is the same. In fact, in the introduction to this book he describes armed force as "micro-parasitism" of the human race.

This is a densely-written and tremendously erudite book. It has 540 footnotes, all pertinent, in 387 pages. There are 21 very interesting illustrations, including a beautiful etching by Violet le Duc showing the use of the 16th century "trace italienne" in defensive siege warfare, Maurice of Orange's 1607 manual of arms for musketeers, and tank photographs from Heinz Guderian's "Panzer Leader". Every page is filled with interest for the general historian as well as the specialist in military affairs, but it is not light reading.

He elaborates on a few broad themes as drivers of historical change, echoing his previous work: Population growth, the development of markets, and the evolution of military technology. He states: "Indeed all humankind is still reeling from the impact of the democratic and industrial revolutions, triggered so unexpectedly in the last decade of the eighteenth century." He elaborates on these changes as they play out in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The last chapter, "The Arms Race and Command Economies since 1945" is by far the weakest. He is rather naive in his assessment of Stalin, and curiously equated the Soviet and Western systems under the rubric "command economy". He was myopic about the power of free market behavior in his own time and society, while being quite enthusiastic about it in medieval China.

This leads to a discordant "Conclusion", in which he describes the default political and economic state of the human race as being a despotic command economy. He believed that a "global sovereign power" was the only solution to the threat of nuclear war, the alternative being the "sudden and total annihilation of the human species." I think of the ideal state described by Socrates in Plato's "Republic" as he writes, "Political management, having monopolized the overt organization of armed force, resumed its primacy over human behavior. Self-interest and the pursuit of private profit through buying and selling sank towards the margins of daily life, operating within limits and according to rules laid down by the holders of political-military power. Human society, in short, returned to normal."

Like most who have envisioned a world government, he doesn't describe how such a power could possibly evolve, other than through brute force.

"Even Homer nods", and Prof. McNeill makes a couple of bloopers. He uses the term "hand gun" where most people would use the term "small arms". He attributes the bellicosity of Northern Europeans to their carnivorous eating habits, which required the shedding of much animal blood, and cites the Viking sagas for support, which I think is ridiculous. Plenty of non-Northern Europeans are carnivorous as well as bellicose, and there are plenty of bellicose peoples who eat little or no meat. But these are minor quibbles.

This book is important to everyone with an interest in history, especially the history of warfare. The future may hold some unpleasant surprises for the human species, perhaps including extinction through epidemic disease, nuclear war, or catastrophic climate change. The future is also, however, unknowable and may hold some surprises for us on the upside, despite Prof. McNeill's pessimistic vision.

Highly recommended.

Starts Strong But Quickly Devolves Into Minutia.......2003-12-05

...imho, mcneill's book starts strong, makes cogent points, but then quickly devolves into a morass of minutia...resulting in a tepid ending with no clearly stated thesis, and lukewarm impact all the way around...

...again, imho, it may have been preferable to focus on key developments that changed the course of warfare - with resulting consequences to the victors and the vanquished - then to relate how industry developed as a consequence in a ghoulish sort of 'virtuous-type-spiral', and, finally, to prognosticate where all of this will lead in terms of the final contours of an ultimate 'industrial-war-machine,' with resulting impact internally, externally and environmentally...

A series of wars punctuated by brief periods of peace.......2001-02-25

McNeill shows how military conflict and the advances in technology have stimulated mankind to better itself within the flux of a constantly changing balance of power. "Of War and Men" by Robt O'Connell also addresses this time honored conflict with a focus on culture, weapons technology and warfare.

A good read and an important book for those interested in a longer look at history and how we got here.

Difficult but enlightening.......2000-04-12

A quick warning to anyone who takes up the chore of reading this book. It is quite difficult to get through without serious reflection and time. It is definitely an enlightening book on the course of the world (not just military history) and the last chapter is truly one for discussion.

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

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Excellent, Honest, and Accurate Text about Corporations
The Corporation
Corporations are pathological: but maybe what we deserve...
A central reason why things are the way they are
Well worth your time and money

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
Joel Bakan
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743247469

Book Description

Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world's dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.

In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character, and globalization of the modern business corporation, Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:

The corporation's legally defined mandate is to pursue relentlessly and without exception its own economic self-interest, regardless of the harmful consequences it might cause to others.
The corporation's unbridled self-interest victimizes individuals, society, and, when it goes awry, even shareholders and can cause corporations to self-destruct, as recent Wall Street scandals reveal.
Governments have freed the corporation, despite its flawed character, from legal constraints through deregulation and granted it ever greater authority over society through privatization.

But Bakan believes change is possible and he outlines a far-reaching program of achievable reforms through legal regulation and democratic control.

Featuring in-depth interviews with such wide-ranging figures as Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, business guru Peter Drucker, and cultural critic Noam Chomsky, The Corporation is an extraordinary work that will educate and enlighten students, CEOs, whistle-blowers, power brokers, pawns, pundits, and politicians alike.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, Honest, and Accurate Text about Corporations.......2007-06-24

This book is needed in a world where corporations have become more powerful than states. It is an honest reflection on what corporations are and what they do. The "evilness" is very accurate and can be researched through recorded historical precedents. It is no mystery or surprise that corporations are only interested in profit and nothing else. These institutions need to be understood for what they are. If they can be changed, people need to understand the corporate mandate for success and survival and recognize that it needs changing. It is the drive for profit that is destroying people and the world, and Bakan does an excellent job in analyzing this in clear, accurate language. Anyone who believes that this text is incorrect should spend some time in the real world, examining and studying the way these institutions operate and get away with murder, destruction, and theft.

This text cannot be recommended enough. Anyone who is interested in truth should read this book.

The Corporation.......2007-04-26

Joel Bakan's The Corporation provides great insight into the corruption and power of the corporation system and how it became the way it is. Explaining in the first few pages of the book that "The purpose of this book is to explore what the corporation, as an institution, truly is" Bakan goes deeply into the ways in which corporations have gained status since their creation in the sixteenth century. He also explores the extreme self-interest of corporations and how they manipulate, therefore govern our lives to a great extent. Bakan is explicitly against the idea of an almighty corporation system and gives many detailed suggestions on how to fix this massive problem within his writing.

I can respect where Bakan is coming from in The Corporation. He has probably been one of the many people who have felt subordinate and ripped off by a large and uncaring corporation, as many, if not most people have been. However, although most of his criticisms of the institution are probably valid, the extreme evilness of the corporation as he depicts may be out of proportion. We have to think, where would our lives be without the corporation? They provide most necessities for living in one way or another every day and although they may have too much power and are being run by the objective of gaining capitol, they still are a basic part of most peoples lives, especially those who want to live comfortably. If you are someone who has, however, felt cheated by a corporation, you will certainly agree with Bakan in this book.

Corporations are pathological: but maybe what we deserve... .......2006-09-02

Joel Bakan's THE CORPORATION is a short 167 pages. Yet, the book presents a complete thesis with all the requisite details and convincing examples.

His thesis is as follows: Corporations are entities created by governments. Originally the corporate form was created for specific purposes (such as canal building) to serve the public good. However, they transformed to become pathological, psychopathic entities that will do anything for profit.

What caused this transformation? Governmental legislation. For instance, governmental legislation introduced limited liability, so masses of stockholders would invest in corporations to finance large projects such as railroads (as the most they could loose was their initial investment, but their gain was limitless). However, such large numbers of owners could not all possibly run a corporation, leading to the fear that corporate managers would misuse funds (other people's money). Thus 'best interest of the corporation' principle was born, in which legislation REQUIRES companies to put shareholder financial interest, or profit, above all other interests.

Bakan goes into considerable depth as to what corporations will sink to in order to maximize profits, including 'externalization' which is transferring as much of their costs as possible onto vulnerable 'third parties' (ex, dumping toxic waste into rivers) and exploitation (ex, using sweatshop workers and making money from disasters such as 9-11), excessive lobbying of political leaders for deregulation (ex, of energy markets causing the enron scandal), manipulating children so they can manipulate parents (to buy not just toys and fast food, but cars and beer!) and fooling most of us with the rhetoric of 'social responsibility' (a public relations ruse to actually make more profit).

Bakan offers a number of both short-term and long-term suggestions on how to control this Frankenstein monster. Most importantly, we must remember that corporations are entities created and shaped by governmental legislation (the best interest principle and also pro-corporate legislation such as corporate law and property law), thus, they can be controlled and yes, even revoked, by governmental legislation.

In democratic societies, this ultimately means us! In the short term, we can increase pro-public regulation (and reduce pro-corporate legislation), remove corporate financing of elections, protect the public sphere from corporate infringement (such as utilities, education, health, parks, etc) and challenge neo-liberalistic ideologies. In the long term, we can work to create a more just human order by either changing corporate structures (ie, defining the 'best interest' principle more broadly than just profit, say by including human and environmental welfare) or by getting rid of corporations all together.

Bakan contends that ultimately, things will have to change because corporations and the corporate world-view are based on too narrow of a conception of humanity-self interest and greed. On the other hand, he believes that humans are empathic, compassionate creatures.

Unfortunately, I am not so sure. I am disturbed by nagging doubts that we as democratic citizens of the US maybe getting exactly the system we deserve. After all, many of us realize to some extent or another that corporations use sweatshop labor, yet we (including me) still buy Nike Shoes and shop at Walmart. Most of us realize that gas guzzling SUVs pollute the environment, but SUV are still very popular. Most of us realize that fast food isn't healthy but happily eat it anyway (not just the poor who can't afford many other options, but many middle class and wealthy Americans as well).

Are we really ready to push for regulation and change that, although may improve the world around us, may result in higher prices? Unfortunately, I would say probably not, barring another catastrophe such as the Great Depression, which indeed did result in powerful governmental regulation that reined in corporate power...for awhile.

A central reason why things are the way they are.......2006-06-06

After seeing the film I decided to read the book .This is a classic read.Short and to the point .This book lets you see how nice people can do evil and how if we don't either change the legal status of corporations or replace them with something better the future doesn't look pretty.

Well worth your time and money.......2006-05-12

For those who don't want to read long reviews to know what this book is about, here's its essence:
1) According to laws, corporations can't do anything that would reduce or impede shareholder profits.
2) This can lead to very horrifying situations, since all that counts when managers make decisions is the cost vs the benefit of those decisions. For instance, if a company makes more money by letting people die, breaking laws, or spoiling the environment, managers have no choice but to make those decisions in order to fulfill their legal requirements towards shareholders.
3) Bakan concludes that since it is laws voted by governments that compell corporations to behave the way they do, it is also the role of government to vote laws to limit the destructive effects of the corporate structure.

This book is basically a thesis on the need for governements to regulate the corporations they have helped create, in order to prevent them from becoming too dangerous to the societies they were created to serve.

In my opinion, in this age of free-trade, deregulation, and corporate-owned media and their propaganda, this book is a must read for anyone who wants to hear the other side of the story...

Average customer rating:

A great deal for the price

The Running Log
April Powers
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Accessories:

Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series

ASIN: 0811837017

Book Description

Written by the head coach for Northern California s Team in Training, The Running Log is the perfect place to document the details of your training regime. With space for logging daily and weekly mileage, as well as time, body weight, route, and weather, this log is packed with training tips and will help you set and stay committed to your goals, organize your training program, and calculate your progress.

Customer Reviews:

A great deal for the price.......2006-12-21

A nice basic and sturdy spiral-bound running log. A great deal, probably the best around. Everything you need to keep track of 12 months of running and racing.

Average customer rating:

A very thought-provoking book, worth reading!
Informative, easy read
great book even better movie
Highly recomended
You'll probably be sorry, but.......

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
Joel Bakan
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

A very thought-provoking book, worth reading!.......2005-06-10

I very much enjoyed Dr. Bakan's book. It was truly thought-provoking, and jelled a number of thoughts and ideas I had had in the past about the how and why of corporations. I have started up a company of my own in the past, and plan to do so again in the future. After having read Dr. Bakan's book as well as "Big Vision, Small Business" by Jaimie Walters, I have definitely changed my mind about HOW to set it up and run it!. I think this should be read by anybody and everybody in corporate and government roles today...As Dr. Bakan says, it isn't the cure-all, but it may nudge a few people to work towards the appropriate solution!

Informative, easy read.......2005-03-30

I think this should be required reading for all citizens.

Exposes (without ideological idealism) the facts about corporations. Most people have vague misgivings about corporations, but don't have much of an idea of why. This book helps to clarify and explain what we instinctively feel.

I got a kick out of the psychological assessment of the corporation, a legal person without moral conscience, as a psychopath.

great book even better movie.......2004-12-06

corporations rule the world. if you don't agree you are living in a dream world. extremely importaint topic. A must read.

Highly recomended.......2004-12-04

I highly recomend this book for anyone that is even remotely interested in globilization and the corporate world. It shows just how much of our daily lives are influenced and even controlled by corporations. It makes you realize that no matter what they say, a corporation really does only look out for itself, and any advertisements that claim that corporations help communities and people and save the environment out of their own good will have absolutely no truth to them. It also makes you realize how far a corporation will go to save a few dollars, knowingly putting lives at risk in the process.
The book is also very well written, with plenty of explinations, so you don't need a background in economics to understand it.
In short, I totally recomend this book to anyone that wants to know the truth about the corporation. It will make you sick to realize what lengths they will go to in order to exploit everyone and everything.

You'll probably be sorry, but..............2004-07-28

For me, this wasn't one of those 'couldn't put it down' books. Just the opposite in fact. A quarter or a half a chapter was about all I could take at one time. And I dreaded going back to it, which I did, and will continue to do for years to come. Maybe I'm just a soft-hearted wimp, a daydreaming fool who believes in the innate decency of mankind. Maybe that's why at times this book brought tears of shame, and pity, and rage, to my eyes. But please read this book. Do whatever it takes: beg, borrow, or buy, but please read this book.....!

The Superman Syndrome--The Magic of Myth in The Pursuit of Power: The Positive Mental Moxie of Myth for Personal Growth

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God, how I love this book!

The Superman Syndrome--The Magic of Myth in The Pursuit of Power: The Positive Mental Moxie of Myth for Personal Growth
Gene N. Landrum
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595346979

Book Description

The Positive Mental Moxie of Myth for Personal Growth

Joseph Campbell defined a myth as “a life-shaping image, a metaphor that creates a hero out of those who heed it.” Author Dr. Gene Landrum takes Campbell's definition one step further by offering a variety of motivational techniques that will propel you to heroic success.

Dr. Landrum describes the “superman syndrome” as a series of common behaviors that permit an otherwise average person to rise above the norm. He points out that some of the world's most renowned visionaries—Catherine the Great, Walt Disney, and Ian Fleming—did not conform to tradition because they modeled their behavior on heroic ideals and mythical mentors.

Learn how to transform your life from ordinary to extraordinary by focusing on several key ideas:

Chasing money is entropic and the path to the poorhouse

Happiness is a side effect of being—never trying

Romance only comes to those not trying to find romance

Anxiety is a by-product of unrealistic expectations

Breakdown leads to breakthrough

Being stupid is the pathway to being smart

Do you have the Superman Syndrome? Test yourself to find out!

Customer Reviews:

God, how I love this book!.......2005-12-24

If you are already a fan of Dr. Landrum's work, stop reading this review and just click the "Buy Now" button. It's that good. If you're not familiar with his work, you soon will be. Landrum is, hands-down, *the* authority on what truly sets powerful people apart from the mediocre masses.

Do you think extremely successful people lead more balanced lives than the rest of us? Think they're better educated? Think they're more "realistic" thinkers? Do you think they're better long-term strategists? Think "luck" is on their side?

If so, think again. Dr. Landrum pulls back the curtain on some of the most powerful people in history and puts his finger on the very heart of what allows them to succeed. And along the way, he shows how this very power can be tapped by each and every person with the guts enough to claim it.

If there's a drawback to the book it's that it's a little rough around the edges. It has some typos and a few paragraphs that could have been tightened up a bit, but so what? That's like complaining that your million-dollar, winning lottery ticket has a little smudge on it. These minor blemishes are buried beneath a mountain of ideas so powerful that I literally found myself pacing the floor as I read. No kidding. If there is such a thing as literary amphetamines, this book is laced with them.

Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth

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Readable and educational

Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth
Joseph Bergin
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300048602

Book Description

Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) did more than anyone else to lay the foundations of French hegemony in Europe and of absolute monarchy in his own country. He was a spokesman for power politics, the idea of raison d'etat, and the right of rulers to the unquestioning obedience of their subjects. He was, in addition, one of the richest men in the entire history of France. Joseph Bergin's study of his wealth-the first full-scale analysis of the fortune of a leading political figure of the ancien regime-reveals the multiple connections that existed at that time between the tenure of political office and the accumulation of individual and family wealth. "Bergin's study of Richelieu's fortune achieves the unexpected feat of adding substantially to our knowledge of one of the most important figures in French history, largely through the exploitation of a group of hitherto unused documents. . . . Well-constructed and elegantly written. . . . The book's great virtue is . . . that it places Richelieu within the social and economic context of his time."-Times Literary Supplement "Here is a vivid and fascinating guide to the financial basis of high society in Louis XIII's France, and a precise account of how Richelieu gained and maintained his position in government. . . . A meticulous and scholarly examination of the fortune accumulated by one man, it sheds much light on the more general topic of the nature and means of noble wealth and influence in the early seventeenth century."-Roger Mettam, History Today "A brilliant, fascinating, and elegantly written book."-American Historical Review

Customer Reviews:

Readable and educational.......1997-02-10

I love to read history - especially biographies, and more especially about French history. I found Bergin's book very readable, containing interesting incites into the age, not only economically but also giving me legal facts I had not known before. The main obstacle in the book is that the author assumes that his reader can read 17th century French! I read French, but sometimes the old spellings make it difficult for me to understand. If he had translated the passages in his footnotes, it would have given me a choice - decipher it myself, or read the footnote. This would have improved the book with little effort

The Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power

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One of a Kind
One man's informed and unique view
Newly Revised and Updated...but was it edited?!
Overwrought piffle
Not much new here

The Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power
Norman Lebrecht
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0806520884

Amazon.com

Music critic/provocateur Norman Lebrecht didn't make the high muckety-mucks of the classical music industry at all happy with this iconoclastic book, but he did open a lot of eyes. In 328 fascinating pages, he exposes the foibles and failings (musical and otherwise) of the great conductors of the last century. Why are there so few really outstanding conductors, and so many surface-skimming mediocrities? How did the conductor go from a mere time-beater to a powerful, immensely well-paid figure who jets from continent to continent and from podium to podium, hobnobbing with presidents and tycoons instead of with other musicians? Lebrecht explores all these factors, along with the history of conducting, and in the process dishes a few good anecdotes. He also shines the light on Ronald Wilford, the superagent of Columbia Artists Management, Inc., who controls the careers of more than 100 conductors--and, therefore, controls much of classical music. Lebrecht gets a few facts wrong (mostly minor--there haven't, for example, been stockyards in Chicago for some decades), but most of his points are well taken.

Customer Reviews:

One of a Kind.......2006-10-18

This book is not tabloid. The book is going to brook criticism for being one of the only books to just start talking about the conductor problem. Like a dictionary for the music history of conductors. Why are orchestras going out of business whilst orchestral musicians are dreadfully unhappy and relatively poor? Who's left but the "maestro" who represents the star and rakes in the profits? Bad editing aside, we need to know more. pretty eezy to read.

One man's informed and unique view.......2006-02-05

Lebrecht writes trenchantly about the music business. Many of his observations are carefully considered, if impolitic. Those who idolize the "great conductors" will be very uncomfortable reading about their equally outsided foibles. The author's conclusions are his own and may not be to everyone's taste. However, Lebrecht has enough backbone not to be trying to please everyone--for that way also would lie a boring book. No, he's trying to tell the truth as he sees it. This volume does not pretend to be a complete or scholarly treatment of all the major conductors within recent memory and Lebrecht clearly has his favorites (such as Simon Rattle). The editing leaves much to be desired because typos abound. Is this entirely the author's fault, or does the editor share the blame? If you want to know that we're all human and some more so than others, this is a book for you. It's not geared to people who don't already know something about the subject, so you need to be a classical music buff to come away feeling the impact of what Lebrecht has told you. If you are, you will see clear examples of how the press is often prejudiced (not to say sometimes vindictive, as in the case of Mitropoulos), how public taste is shaped by odd events and sometimes how virtue is punished. I feel a little guilty giving this book only 4 stars because its writing is up to a high standard and its thesis is interesting, but the substandard editing is, nevertheless, distracting to the reader.

Newly Revised and Updated...but was it edited?!.......2006-01-15

Although I am deeply enthralled by the lives of great conductors and musicians, this was not enough to erase the embarrasment and, at times, utter disgust at the mistakes (typos, misspellings,etc.) and errors found throughout this book.
I bought the book on a whim and became deeply entrenched in its pages within minutes (this is not to say that this reads like Clancy but it is very interesting). But the more I read the more frustrated I became at the mindless and senseless editing that was done here. For instance, on one page alone there are 3 different spellings of Mahler's name:
1: The correct way appears- Mahler
2: Then this- Maler
3: And finally this- Mabler
The latter really bowled me over. And the further I read the worse it became. There are also misrepresented facts (such as the stockyards in Chicago) throughout.
In short, if you are looking for scholarship and true presentations, look elsewhere. If you are interested in various interesting anecdotes and trivia-like facts about conductors and you dont mind sifting through misspellings and foreign words with no interpretation, then you will enjoy this book. But I must warn you...any book with a typo on its back cover (The Maesto Myth) may be more of a hassle than good informal reading.

Overwrought piffle.......2004-12-08

Backstairs gossip, blurted out in a confused, breathless stream-of-consciousness rant. Nothing particularly new, poorly proof-edited.

The maestro myth must still be very powerfully alive if it tempts a supposed grownup to this extreme of incoherence.

Not much new here.......2002-04-11

For anyone seriously involved in the classical music arts world,
there is very little in this 'tell-all' attempt that will provide new information. In addition, the writing style jumps around in such a manner that the reader is often confused as to the subject matter at hand.

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Government employee
A wonderful collection
One stop shopping for social justice
One good man

In Pursuit of Justice
Ralph Nader
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 158322629X

Book Description

"Ralph Nader is our indispensible voice of outrage against corporate corruption, greed, invasion of privacy, and abuse of power."-James K. Galbraith, author of Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay

Over the last 40 years, Ralph Nader has established himself as this country's most active visionary. In this insightful new collection of his nationally syndicated column, Nader is at his best. Collecting more than 100 articles spanning three decades, In Pursuit of Justice addresses corporate abuse; the latent dangers of nuclear energy, water and air pollution, consumer safety; and more, all with Nader's inimitable sense of both his subjects' gravity and citizens' entitlement to a fair lot. Writing with a passion for justice and a piercing awareness of the issues of the day, Nader has been tireless in his pursuit of safer lives for U.S. citizens, leaving no one in this country untouched by his reforms.

Remarkably contemporary in its breadth, In Pursuit of Justice is an important retrospective highlighting past victories and leading the way toward the coming decade's most consequential social struggles.

Author, lawyer and leading consumer advocate Ralph Nader is the award-winning founder of the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Study of Responive Law, Public Citizen, the Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Project and the Project for Corporate Responsibility. His 2000 presidental election campaign on the Green Party ticket served to broaden the scope of debate on federal priorities.

Customer Reviews:

Government employee.......2005-07-24

A must read for anyone interested in how our government operates. There is a bit of repetition but a lot of good information and contacts for further research.

A wonderful collection.......2005-05-10

I think most people's reaction to a 500 page book would be one of caution, myself included. It has nothing to do with the content, I just know it will take a while for me to get through that many pages.

That being said, this collection of Nader essays is a 500 page book, but it's been a joy reading it because of the organization of the book. Broken down into smaller chapters, the book is full of very short, but well-written essays usually no longer than two pages. It's very easy to read a few at a time, and then come back to the book later. I actually find myself reading this book faster than I would other books of the same length. Each piece is so short I usually end up telling myself, "I'll just read a few more." In the end, it makes the book easier to read.

As far as content goes, the book is great. I think if you're a genuinelly progressive person, you'll still like Nader even though the Democrats have tried to scapegoat him rather than admit their own problems as a party. This country needs people like Nader to remind us that we don't have to settle for what we have, that things can and should be better. This book sends that message loud and clear.

One stop shopping for social justice.......2004-11-06

The October 23rd "review" pretty much sums up why John Kerry and his hysterical Anybody-But-Bush supporters were shellacked this week, while everything Ralph Nader said during the campaign was proved correct. Ignore the subject at hand, be hysterical and irrational, and wave empty slogans ("A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" -- what does that mean? In Wyoming, where Kerry lost by over 20 points? In D.C., where Bush lost by over EIGHTY points? My vote would never have gone to Kerry under any circumstances....how was my vote for Nader a vote for Bush?)

Meanwhile, Ralph Nader continues on without a break and will now focus on the ridiculous ballot access laws in this country, as well as the subjects touched on in this book. What he "has done for us lately" is to start one new organization after another from 2000 to 2004, advocate on behalf of the District of Columbia's pathetic public library system - left to rot by the D.C. Democratic Party, which has done nothing for anybody in decades - and highlight solutions to other issues that are working right now in localities around the country. Read what he has to say in this book and climb on board. Roll up your sleeves and put up or shut up, Democrats.

One good man.......2004-08-26

Deeply intelligent, in breadth and depth, these articles by Mr. Nader, who has given everything for just causes over nearly half a century, make eloquent, and plain, what so many others believe and either can't, or won't, say.

The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life

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It made my top 5 list for non-fiction
Not just a book, a treasure.

The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life
Charles Derber
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195135504

Book Description

As the saying goes, "Enough about me, let's talk about you: what do you think of me?" Hence the pursuit of attention is alive and well. Even the OED reveals a modern coinage to reflect the chase in our technological age: "ego-surfing"--searching the internet for occurrences of your own name. What is the cause of this obsessive need for others' recognition? In The Pursuit of Attention, Derber contends that it is a general lack of social support in America that causes people to compete so hungrily, and he shows how individuals will often employ numerous techniques to turn the course of a conversation towards themselves. The book illustrates and explains this "conversational narcissism" in sample dialogues that will sound disturbingly familiar to everyone. Drawing from research on face-to-face interactions in households, restaurants, workplaces, classrooms, and therapy groups, Derber demonstrates that gender and class, as well as wealth, occupation and education, affect one's success in getting attention. The originality of his arguments lies in his ability to vivdly translate the social and economic forces of contemporary American capitalism into the ordinary experience of individuals, and, as C. Wright Mills put it, to connect private troubles with public issues. First published twenty years ago, The Pursuit of Attention has been revised and updated for this edition and includes a new preface and afterword. The preface focuses on changes in the manifestations of attention-seeking and the hyperindividualistic changes in the economy and culture that are driving these transformations. In his view, individualism has actually accelerated in intense ways over the last twenty years. With the advent of the internet, greater and more immediate possibilities for attention are now available. Personal websites with images and information to attract anonymous viewers are common occurrences, and as people's attachments to marriage and work loosen, there exists a higher sense of being alone, and thus self-absorbed. Finally, the internalization of economic rules of self-interest breeds a psychological readiness to act egotistically even in the most intimate arenas in personal life. In response to this, the afterword focuses on solutions: how to restructure the economy and culture to humanize ourselves and increase the capacity for empathy and attention-giving.

Customer Reviews:

It made my top 5 list for non-fiction.......2004-07-02

Quick and to the point it wastes not a word yet reads well. Accurate observations about american society's need for attention with special emphasis on the roles of class and gender. It points out problems and possible answers.
It is excellent.

Not just a book, a treasure........2001-03-03

I usually sell or give away books once I've read them - there are always other books to read, and I don't fool myself that I'm going to revisit most of what I've already read. There are exceptions, but very few.

"The Pursuit of Attention" is not just an exception to this habit, it is for me, the premier exception. I first received this book as an unsolicited bonus from the bomc. I can honestly say that the insights it contains changed my life, almost revolutionized it.

You would expect to hear hype like that attached to some vapid self-help book. This is nothing of the sort - it reads much more like an extended scholarly paper. Not at all soft, not padded with a lot of empathy or pain-feeling, the book is pithy and somewhat short, and hits even harder because of that.

Attention, important enough to be the subject of the title, is presented as the underlying driving force in social interactions, and the books explaination of how the tactics and strategy of social interactions are affected by this 'pursuit of attention' will open your eyes to behavior all around you, including your own. In a way, this book is to Transactional Analysis what, in mathamatics, basic math is to algebra. Put back in the psychological realm, much of psychology is about the HOW of how people act, this book discusses the fundamentals of the WHY of how they act.

I treasure my copy. I strongly recommend you purchase your own.

The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power

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Fantastic Quotes

The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Robert I. Rotberg
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195049683

Book Description

Cecil Rhodes was an imposing figure, tall, robust-looking, with a leonine head, a man so charismatic that one contemporary claimed that "belief in Rhodes was a substitute for religion." But he was certainly a man of contradictions. He was a dreamy idealist whose favorite book was The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and a ruthless businessman whose guiding principle was "every man has his price." He supported invidious racial laws in South Africa, and invented and sponsored the world-renowned Rhodes Scholarships. Though his own education and intellectual talents were unprepossessing, he dominated the British Empire and became one of the leading figures in the English-speaking world, the confidant of Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm, and a man of vast wealth and world-wide influence. Based on seventeen years of research, this monumental volume offers the definitive biography of one of the most controversial figures of the nineteenth century. Rhodes was truly larger than life, and this book captures that life in fascinating detail. It offers an astute portrait of Rhodes' childhood and adolescence, informed by insights from modern psychology; it vividly depicts life on a nineteenth-century African cotton farm (Rhodes' first venture) and in mining camps around Kimberley and the Witwatersrand; it traces the surreptitious stock buyouts and mergers that allowed Rhodes to gain control over 90% of the world's diamond production by age thirty-five; it describes his campaigns against African populations that allowed him to establish Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); and it discusses the poorly planned, disastrous raid on the Transvaal that destroyed Rhodes' reputation. A conqueror and colonial monarch, Cecil Rhodes presided arrogantly over the fate of southern Africa. But he also built lasting economic institutions, furthered transportation and communication links, improved agriculture, and fervently believed that he used his wealth and power to advance the best interests of the British Empire and Africa. This biography illuminates a complex and fascinating life, a life both evil and good.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Quotes.......2004-06-23

What makes this biography so unique is that it is, in fact, very well researched. The book if full of direct quotations from intimate correspondences and the like. As an avid reader and researcher of sub-Saharan history, this book is a treasure-trove of wonderful snippits of reactions to pivotal moments in Rhodes' life. That said, there are two shortcomings to this book: 1) The book is sprinkled with psychology babble from a contributer, other than Rotberg that really detracts, rather than enhance the read; and 2) the book can be repetitive, i.e. the same quotations - while great - are used over again, as are basic facts. In sum, the book is nevertheless a valuable contribution to the study of Rhodes and to the history of the southern African region.

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