Ethnic Jewelry: Africa, Asia, And The Pacific

Customer Reviews:

Superb Ethnic Jewelry.......2007-01-05

Magnificent photos of ethnic jewelry. On a par with The Splender of Ethnic Jewelry, but the text is not as detailed.

Knit Your Own Norwegian Sweaters: Complete Instructions for 50 Authentic Sweaters, Hats, Mittens, Gloves, Caps, Etc.
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Knit Your Own Norwegian Sweaters: Complete Instructions for 50 Authentic Sweaters, Hats, Mittens, Gloves, Caps, Etc.
Dale Yarn Company
Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Traditional Scandinavian Knitting

Traditional Fair Isle Knitting

More Sensational Knitted Socks

Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes (Knitting Without Tears SL 466)

Knitting Cuff to Cuff (Twelve Sweaters One Way)

ASIN: 0486230317

KNIT YOUR OWN NORWEGIAN SWEATERS - COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR 50 AUTHENTIC SWEATERS, HATS, MITTENS, GLOVES, CAPS, ETC.
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excellent book if you like graphs

KNIT YOUR OWN NORWEGIAN SWEATERS - COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR 50 AUTHENTIC SWEATERS, HATS, MITTENS, GLOVES, CAPS, ETC.

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HEZWSY

Customer Reviews:

excellent book if you like graphs.......2007-04-26

A great book for making 50 Norwegian sweaters,socks,caps and mittens with tips on using circs and steeks. All patterns have a written portion and the pattern graphs for men,women and children's sizes. If you have a good knowledge of knitting, or just want to do challenging projects this is a great book.

How to Borrow Your Way to Real Estate Riches: Using Government Money
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How to Borrow Your Way to Real Estate Riches: Using Government Money
Tyler G. Hicks
Manufacturer: Intl Wealth Success
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0934311145

Book Description

These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious. Of the scripts included here, Barton Fink--an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood--is a masterful culmination of these themes.

Customer Reviews:

It's Raising Arizona.......2003-09-12

The best movie EVER! The straight script, I had hoped to stumble onto some dialogue that wound up on the cutting room floor but to no avail. Being interested in screenplay writing I was curious how the Coen's conveyed all of the sight humor into their screen play. If your looking for screen play examples (the how to write a screenplay books are worthless) this has been very helpful to me. Too bad their aren't any story boards to go with it.

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Roderick Jaynes = Joel and Ethan Coen
Two of the Finest Screenplays of the Last Ten Years

Barton Fink & Miller's Crossing
Joel Coen , and Ethan Coen
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Barton Fink

ASIN: 0571166482

Book Description

The award winning Barton Fink is a dark psychological thriller set in Hollywood in the 1940s. It concerns an aspiring writer who gradually becomes sucked into a grisly world of violence and terror. Miller's Crossing reinvents the 1930s gangster film in a complex story of love, friendship, and betrayal.

Also in this edition is an introduction by Coen brothers' sometime editor Roderick Jaynes, who offers a rare insight into their world.

Customer Reviews:

Roderick Jaynes = Joel and Ethan Coen.......2006-01-09

I fully agree with everything the other reviewer has said, but I thought it should be noted that Roderick Jaynes is the psuedonym under which the Coens both jointly edit their movies

that should make the dour introduction all the more enjoyable for the Coen fans out there

Two of the Finest Screenplays of the Last Ten Years.......2000-09-18

The Coen brother's films have never failed to astonish and entertain me. From BLOOD SIMPLE to FARGO, they have shown an uncanny knack for vivid characteriziations and photographic style.

But the question is, are the scripts as good by themselves?

Thankfully, the answer is yes. The Coen's scripted prose is dramatically satisfying, and makes one yearn to see the films again, which is the highest compliment I can give them.

BARTON FINK is a bold and unusual piece, centred on a playwright who ends up selling his soul in Hollywood. It may sound like the usual pointless drivel, but the Coen's take a surprisingly dark twist into the bizarre, with insane roommates, creepy bellhops, and drunken authors. It only never fully captures the ominous presence of the hotel Barton stays in. On film, it is the most foreboding motel since Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING.

MILLER'S CROSSING (my favorite film of ALL time) is a different period piece. It centres on Irish gangsters in the 1930's. But while the plot is an ingenious homage to the gangster film's of Bogart and Cagney, it is the dialogue which makes it shine. Once again, astonishing characterizations rule the day, as the conflicted Tom Regan plays both sides against each other for reasons even he may not understand.

An added bonus is the introduction, written by the Coen's sometime film editor. It is an unusual choice, as he goes to great lengths to describe how much he does NOT like the scripts, or film in general. It serves to heighten interest in their content, and does prove that the Coens are not for everyone. For those of us you cannot wait for their next film, this is a treat.

Customer Reviews:

half the people were dead.......2006-05-27

I called some of the people in hopes of getting musical guidance, but most of them had died in horrible accidents (3 of them had choked on chicken bones within a 24 hour period). Crazy stuff! "How To Make A Furtune In The Music Industry By Doing It Yourself: Your Personal Step-By-Step Guide To Having A Successful Career In The Music Business. ... To Sell Music, Book Shows And Get Noticed! " is better. trust me.

Official Contact Pages: The Music Industry Dictionary

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Official Contact Pages: The Music Industry Dictionary
James Hickman
Manufacturer: James Hickman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1599752158

SPICY ADVENTURE STORIES - Volume 4, number 6 - September Sept 1936: The Dragon of Kao Tsu; Blood and Fire; Pygmy Magic; Death Trail; Diana Daw; Carboy of Death; Valley of Blood; Blood Has Sticky Fingers; Queen of the Flaming Arrows; Poppy Dust
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SPICY ADVENTURE STORIES - Volume 4, number 6 - September Sept 1936: The Dragon of Kao Tsu; Blood and Fire; Pygmy Magic; Death Trail; Diana Daw; Carboy of Death; Valley of Blood; Blood Has Sticky Fingers; Queen of the Flaming Arrows; Poppy Dust
Anonymous. (editor) (Sam Walser - Robert E. Howard; Alan Anderson; Clint Morgan; Clive Trent; Clayton Maxwell; Robert Leslie Bellem; Lew Merrill; John Bard; Frank E. Marks; Willis Vachel Keith)
Manufacturer: Girasol Collectables
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GYD97Q

Valley of Dust and Fire (Dsr4 Accessory, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
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Valley of Dust and Fire (Dsr4 Accessory, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
L. Richard Baker
Manufacturer: TSR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Ivory Triangle (AD&D/Dark Sun Boxed Set, Accessory) (Accessory Boxed Set, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, 2418)

City by the Silt Sea (AD&D 2nd Ed. Fantasy Roleplaying)

Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs (Dark Sun Adventure/Accessory)

Mind Lords of the Last Sea (AD&D Fantasy Roleplaying, Dark Sun Accessory)

Dark Sun: Dragon Kings (2nd Edition)

ASIN: 1560763167

Book Description

Drawing from his many best-selling books and years of experience mentoring, John Maxwell offers Equipping 101, a concise collection of time-tested principles on how to equip those around you for service. In his trademark, straightforward style, this reference book is a "best of the best" from Maxwell on the subject. The pocket-size format delivers practical, timeless information in a convenient, take-along volume. Topics include:

Why Do I Need to Equip Others?
Why Is Equipping a Win-Win?
What Does a Potential Leader Look Like?
How Can I Invest in the Team for the Long Haul?

Real Leadership: The 101 Collection (101)

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Real Leadership: The 101 Collection (101)
John Maxwell
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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REAL Leadership: What Every Leader Needs to Know (The 101 Series)
Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know
Equipping 101 (Maxwell, John C.)
Relationships 101 (Maxwell, John C.)
Winning With People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time

ASIN: 0785288449

Product Description

Includes all four books in the 101 series: Relationships, Equipping, Attitude, and Leadership

College 101: Strategies for 1st Year Success. Equipping high school seniors before they face the challenges of college life.

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College 101: Strategies for 1st Year Success. Equipping high school seniors before they face the challenges of college life.
Brian Raison
Manufacturer: College 101 Seminars Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 0979743001

Product Description

College Prep: First Year College. One out of four college students drops out their first year. Others face hundreds of major decisions that can initiate life-long consequences with financial, emotional and physical implications. Dropping out of college, for example, can create a dramatic loss of earning capacity. Alcohol poisoning, acquaintance rape, or acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (25% of college aged persons), may have consequences that last a lifetime. In short, new academic and social pressures can be overwhelming. Making a successful transition from high school to college requires some specific preparation. But there is GOOD NEWS! Research suggests that college-bound students can achieve greater success and avoid many of the negative consequences during their first year of college if they know what to expect. College 101 is a new research-based curriculum that delivers first-hand advice to help high school seniors make a successful transition. It includes unscripted LIVE ON CAMPUS VIDEO INTERVIEWS with current collegians. Topics include choosing classes, talking with professors, time management, budgeting, social scene changes, campus safety, and more. :::::::::::::::::::::The Journal of Youth Development s parent organization, the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4HA) has chosen College 101: Strategies for 1st Year Success in blind peer reviews as the best educational program package in the nation for 2007. This academic and professional organization consists of over 3,200 members located in colleges and universities across the country. Additional information is available online: http://college101seminars.com

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Equipping 101 (Maxwell, John C.)
John C. Maxwell
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Capacitacion 101 (Equipping 101)
John Maxwell
Manufacturer: Caribe-Betania Editores
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBPPZC

Customer Reviews:

Powerful!.......2007-08-19

If This Is a Man offers a powerful glimpse into life in a concentration camp. It is emotional as well as inforamtive.

Mandatory in the best way.......2007-05-17

It's been a while since I read this book. My girlfriend pulled it off my shelf of her own accord, and she's reading it now. It's one of those books that every thinking person should read. Other reviewers have conveyed its gist very well. It's not really like other Holocaust literature, as important as that school is. It's more concerned with the capability of human beings to absolutely degrade one another. Auschwitz is a stewpot in which the worst of human nature bubbles to the top and sets the bar.

One would think the average camp prisoner would have put his head down numbly and hoped to get out alive. Levi somehow was able to observe and work through the ramifications of nearly every aspect of camp life, not with numbness, but with serene clarity (at least as he writes it later). Everything related in this book is literal and symbolic, mundane and profound, degraded yet fundamental. Levi doesn't spare himself, either. As he put it, to die in Auschwitz, all one had to do was play by the rules. He cheated, stole, and turned his back on his fellows in order to stay alive, and no fellow prisoner who knew the rules of Auschwitz would have held it against him. So much for uniting against one's oppressors.

I should add that "The Truce" tells the story of Levi's very circuitous journey home from Poland to Italy, through a post-war Europe that was barely functional on any level. It is less bleak by far than "If This Is A Man", but the insights into human nature are similiarly profound and essential.

Heart-breaking but informative and important.......2005-04-07

A truly amazing book - I cannot promise that you will enjoy it, in fact I can almost guarantee that you will find most of it heart-breaking and painful.

It is a little like watching Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing - on many levels you do not enjoy it but it enthrals you. The subject matter is so important and it is so beautifully made and eloquent that you feel compelled to watch (or read in the case of Levi).

Levi tells the story of his own internment in Auschwitz - he concentrates on the details of everyday life slowing building a vivid picture of how the Nazis were intent on not just killing them but breaking their spirit, humiliating them, degrading them. He captures many moments so well that they live on in the mind, for example when he describes how the terrible regime made Jew turn on Jew. He even manages to raise a guilty smile occasionally. For example, he describes the second worst thing that could happen at night was to take out the toilet bucket as it was always full to overflowing and would spill on your feet. The worst thing was when your bunkmate took it out as they shared bunks sleeping head to toe.

Levi is a fantastic writer (try the Periodic Table if you want to read something easier and more enjoyable) with a light touch. He describes his time in Auschwitz calmly, clearly, with great compassion but remarkably objectively; he gives the reader space to think and understand.

A work of heart-breaking genius

If this is a man; and The Truce.......2005-02-03

Primo Levi is the most insightful, pragmatic realist of all holocaust authors. I have read more than 50 books on the subject, and his insights into what happened, human nature, the (bad) luck of the draw, and the tragedy of his experience are brilliant and by far the most articulate. Somehow, perhaps with his scientific mind, Levi was able to maintain his awareness through an experience that is utterly beyond the scope of imagination. He somehow emerges from the ashes of this horrific epoch like a literary phoenix. He doesn't dwell on the inhuman acts and suffering, although he has a perfect right to do so, but instead offers his account almost from an omniscient perspective. This book contains the best of Primo Levi, but his other writings demand to be read as well. And, if you haven't seen The Truce, starring John Turturro, you should do so. It's not a hundred percent historically accurate, but it is a great presentation.

illuminating.......2004-06-18

Primo Levi's "If This is a Man" and "The Truce" remain one of the most horrifyingly realistic depictions of life in Auschwitz. Primo Levi recounts the daily ordeals of life in Auschwitz with a stirring and poignant narration, concentrating on not only the physical and emotional hardship but on another level questioning plainly what it is to be human. Both books present an illuminating view into life in a prison camp, and Primo Levi's narration ensure that no suffering remains untold. An illuminating read.

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If This Is a Man / The Truce
Primo Levi , Stuart Woolf , and Paul Bailey
Manufacturer: Time Warner Books UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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If This Is a Man and The Truce (Penguin Modern Classics)

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facing the truth
A Best Book, a Must Read
The most penetrating book I've read about the holocaust
The key book of the twentieth century
If you are a man

If This Is a Man and The Truce (Penguin Modern Classics)
Primo Levi
Manufacturer: Viking Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

facing the truth.......2002-05-23

Reading this book filled me with sorrow and horror. I was prepared for the horror but did not expect the crawling sadness of this impassive tale of improbable survival, of days and months of fear, hunger and torment that I devoured in astonishement but digested with a lot more difficulty. That there were millions of human beings that went through such systematic torture and annihilation and that this whole torment was inflicted by man. That others (all of us) should quickly declare it an aberration and fail to relate to it. Primo Levi talks of a nightmare common among concentration camp prisoners: they are telling their story to people from home, people outside the camps and no one is listening. Reading Levi's tale of survival and lengthy repatriation, we come to understand the need for telling this extraordinaty experience. It is said that those survivors who chose not to talk were those who could not reconcile the shame and misery of the camp experience with their condition as human beings. They tried in vain to suppress a memory they could not assimilate. Others, like Levi, maitained the belief in his humanity as well as in that of every other man. Fot this, he claims, the extermination camp experience touches us all. 'If This Is a Man' made me realize once and for all that it is extemely important that we know, that we relate to what happened. For every victim of insane hatred and violence and for humanity's sake.

A Best Book, a Must Read.......2002-04-10

I have just finished reading Levi's book, If This Is a Man. It was picked as one of the best books of the 20th centurey by the Folio Society of Great Britain, and having read it, I know why. It is a dispassionate but not emotionless, account of one man's experience in one of the Auschwitz satellite camps, from capture in Italy to the coming of the Russians. The book is frightening but never seeks to more than describe the actual events. Could this happen again? Of course. Should it happen? Never. The book has to be a must-read for anyone concerned with the world in which we live, and the world in which we and our childen COULD live.

The most penetrating book I've read about the holocaust.......2001-02-04

I've never really invested any thought in the holocaust before reading this book. Levi's testimony has changed all that. His sober view of the concentration camps and the war have made this book one of the selected few which have truly changed the way I think. It has been an honor and a pleasure reading it. I can offer no guarantee others will feel the same way I did, only my humble and sincere recommendation of this book.

The key book of the twentieth century.......2000-01-05

If I had to nominate one book from the 20th century to give to a person from another century it would be this one. The two books in this single volume complement eachother perfectly. They are so different and yet I cannot say which is the better book. I have tried for several weeks to write a few paragraphs to sell this book to any would-be reader, but nothing I can say can convey the extraordinary personality of the writer. Reading If This Is A Man was a humbling experience in a way that no other book or movie I have encountered in my life has been.

People sometimes suggest that the Holocaust is old news, part of a long ago past. The day after I finished Levi's book I heard five English soccer fans singing songs about Belsen, imitating the sound of gas escaping and yelling "turn on the shower" - and laughing. I've debated with educated Americans who believe the Holocaust was exaggerated and that most of the deaths were caused by disease. One in seven French voters support a man who is in Holocaust denial. Perhaps these people would not be changed by this book, but I hope that a hundred years from now millions of people will still be reading Primo Levi and learning from this sad, brave, modest man.

If you are a man.......1999-12-16

If you are a man, no matter if you're jew or german or whatever else, you cannot read this book emotionless. This is something so strong words are not enough to describe it. Nobody must forget, nobody must repeat what's so honestly described in this pages. Primo Levi committed suicide 40 years later, never able to chase those days off his days and nights. We owe him and everybody who suffered that atrocity at least the promise to keep on reading his testimony,generation after generation, no matter our race, religion or gender.

SCANTY PARTICULARS : THE LIFE OF DR JAMES BARRY.
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SCANTY PARTICULARS : THE LIFE OF DR JAMES BARRY.

Manufacturer: Viking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670890995

Scanty Particulars: The Life of Dr. James Barry
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Scanty Particulars: The Life of Dr. James Barry
Rachel Holmes
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ79YM

Customer Reviews:

Democracy: caveat emptor :-)........2007-09-27

I liked this clearly writtten book with its novel viewpoint and analysis about the perils of government which is not limited in its scope and is firmly believed to be acting for the good by way of democracy. It occurred to me after reading chapter 1 that the current situation in Burma is simply the Junta exercising its high time preference to leapfrog the democratic process and go straight to the logical consequences of contemporary democracy. This would be a valuable book for the Burmese pro-democracy leadership to read, so that they might not repeat the mistakes of the world's most recently liberated states.

The conclusion that the state should be replaced by insurance companies and contracts is reasonable, and does currently work in certain classes of international business activity to circumvent the complications and delays of inter-state law, but I suspect--if computer security is anything to judge by--security and sophisticated scare-mongering would become a dominant preoccupation and divert capital from more productive activity.

The state as a monopoly is democratically granted its temporary monopoly, and although any constitution is simply a piece of paper which may be capable of abuse by interpretation and manipulation, it is up to the electorate to exercise good judgement in their electoral choices. Which is another good reason for many to read this book at this juncture in time. Furthermore--as a crude metaphor--just because a metal ladder doesn't specify hat it should not be leaned against overhead electricity cables, sufficient 'a priori' knowledge should avoid this from happening instead of having to legislate for the banning of metal ladders and pursue claims for damage or death through the courts and seek compensation by way of insurance.

A blueprint for liberty.......2007-09-14

This, for me, has been perhaps the most important book I have ever read, as it introduced me to the Austrian School and libertarianism more generally. In my earlier youth I had been a staunch monarchist (with somewhat anti-capitalist biases), and thus the book's defence of monarchy had piqued my interest. In short order I purchased the book. Given that I read it without a sufficient background in either Economics or Philosophy (both of which I am in my second year of studying now), it was a difficult read. Nonetheless, the author's clear prose and intelligent commentary and explanations aided me through reading and partially understanding the content of his work. The book is heavily packed both with theoretical and empirical insights, and the author makes a convincing case for his thesis that monarchy provided a better framework for liberty than democracy, that the logical conclusion of classical liberal thought ought to have been market anarchism and not minarchism, and that this largely is the cause of the movement's slow death, and that conservatism needs to make a return to basic principles. The author is particularly excellent when writing on the topic of private defence and the evolution of the city and cooperation.

A few problems I have with the book; although I appreciate Hoppe's tendency to include multiple footnotes, a lot of their content could've been integrated into the core text. Better editing of the book could've avoided instances of repetition. I disagree almost entirely with Hoppe's thesis on immigration in a democratic State (which has been the source of much undeserved controversy surrounding the author, mainly by unscrupulous individuals, and I also believe that the author overstates the necessity of the libertarian to be a cultural conservative (though the reverse certainly is true.) Hoppe also does not offer a full grounding of his theory on property in this book, but given that it is not the core topic of the volume, I can forgive the oversight. This is not a book for beginners in Economics, Philosophy or political economy. I recommend reading this book after one has read Rothbard's For a new Liberty, and after one has achieved a sufficient grounding in economic and philosophical theory (Economic Logic is an excellent place to start.) In spite of these flaws, the author's contribution is invaluable, and ought to be on any serious thinker's bookshelf.

the only book on political theory you will ever need.......2007-07-29

Personally I had never fallen for the myth of democracy (neither had any of the founding fathers of America; do a web search on James Madison quotes, for example). It ought to be obvious to any thinking person, or anyone who talks to the typical voter, that mob rule cannot work. But my objection was always more along the lines of that of Traditionalists, such as Julius Evola. Despite my knowledge of Austrian economics, of which Hoppe is of course a devotee, I had never thought of objecting on a purely economic basis.

That's what makes this book so valuable: Hoppe uses the only existing valid economic theory to demolish any illusions any serious person might have about mob rule.

The book is not perfect. Hoppe lacks the perspective that comes with an understanding of history as cyclical. This causes him to imagine that ideas are what drives social organizations; of course, ideas are only invented after the fact, to rationalize whatever stage a given society has reached. Humans act on instinct. All civilizations pass through the same phases. There is nothing that can stop the ongoing collapse of the West. Likewise, monarchies always follow the anarcho-capitalism phase Hoppe prefers (which in practical terms will reduce to a benign feudalism, as the natural elites emerge as rulers of small domains). Monarchies are in turn replaced by mobs as the society comes unglued. It is much the same on the individual level. The poor strive and save and become rich; the rich become decadent and spend their capital inheritance, and again become poor, and the cycle starts anew...

Nevertheless this is the best book on political theory I have seen simply because it is the only one written from the perspective of real economics. It gets extra points for not shrinking from very important ideas which are controversial, for example footnoting the work of social scientists such as J. P. Rushton, which of course the false schools of sociologists and egalitarians despise and fear. And personally I like this better than Evola's pro-monarchist works because it doesn't ever devolve into mushy mysticism. An absolute must for the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the exact mechanisms by which the West was undone.

Valuable but flawed work.......2006-03-16

Democracy: The God That Failed, by noted market anarchist Hans-Hermann Hoppe, is a valuable but flawed book. First I'll talk about the valuable, and then about the flaw.

First of all, Democracy is an invaluable resource (hah !) when Hoppe discusses the differences in the incentive systems of monarchy and democracy. In chapter 1, "On Time Preference, Government, and the Process of Decivilization", Hoppe explains the concept of time preference, how a future-oriented (low time preference) economy is the mark of progress, and how government, both because of its attacks against property and the legitimacy of these attacks, is inherently destructive to time preference, and thus progress. He also introduces the notion of monarchy as private ownership of government, and democracy as public ownership of government, and how the passage from monarchy to democracy raises time preference in governance, destroying all the remaining incentives for the ruling class to contain their attacks on private property.

In chapter 2,Hoppe gets into the meat of the incentive systems, and how they flow from the concept of time preference. While these chapters get a bit repetitive, they provide plenty of information on the topic. Here is a little list :
* The historical transition from monarchy to democracy (p50-54).
* The rise of the democratic income tax (p54-56) - while monarchies did not typically raise more than 5-8% of their population's resources, the income tax has brought this percentage higher than 50% in most countries.
* The rise in democratic government employment (p56) - government employees represented 3-5% of the workforce in the early 1900s, and around 15% by the seventies.
* The imposition of fiat money by democracies and the resulting inflation (p56-58) - transforming the gradual deflation under monarchies (with periodic failed attempts at fiat money) with the brutal inflation we know today.
* The absurd rise in national debts (p59-60).
* The rise in legislation and the creation of a legislative class (p61-62).
* The rise in interest rates, proving a rise in time preference (p62-65) - Between the 19th century and the rise of democracy, interest rates had attained a historic low of below 3%, while today they sit at 4-5% and higher depending on the times.
* The rise in military spending (p65) - while monarchies spent most of their budget on militaries, the amount of GDP taken by modern militaries is higher than it was in the past.
* The lower birthrates (p66) - which seems like a bizarre addition and not a very good argument, but is explained by Hoppe's conservatism, which I will discuss.
* A discussion about the numerous factors influencing crime rate, including time preference (p66-68).

This, to me, is the most valuable chapter in the book.

In chapter 3, "On Monarchy, Democracy, Public Opinion, and Deligitimation", Hoppe examines the phenomena of public opinion and how it is twisted by the democratic process. Hoppe also proposes, on pages 70-75 and 91-94, a process of deligitimation as the best solution to eliminate government. Chapter 4, "On Democracy, Redistribution, and the Destruction of Property", continues on this theme, discussing the destructive redistributive nature of democracy.

In chapter 5, Hoppe examines the concepts of centralization and secession, when one or the other can be conductive to freedom, and why secession would be beneficial in today's increasingly centralized democratic superstructures.

In chapter 6, "On Socialism and Desocialization", Hoppe changes gears completely and examines how the process of desocialization should have proceeded in former Soviet territories and how it should proceed in today's democracies.

I'm afraid this is where my praises end. Most of the rest of the book is dedicated to two main propositions : that immigration should be restricted, and that conservatism is the best social system. By conservative, Hoppe means "someone who believes in the existence of a natural order, a natural state of affairs which corresponds to the nature of things: of nature and man" (p187). While this is uncontroversial, what he really means is that a conservative believes, as an act of faith, that society should be "based and centered on families" (p201), "families, kinship relations, cmmunities, authority and social hierarchy" (p203), and that the "heads of families and households reassert their ultimate authority as judge in all internal family affairs" (p185). These are, to me, repulsive statements.

It seems he intends his conservatism to be an extension of the concept of natural aristocracy. Now let me be honest. I am not, in any sense of the word, an egalitarian, a populist, or a liberal. I agree that natural aristocracies must develop and are necessary. I am definitely "conservative" in Hoppe's general definition... but not in his more specific definition. His primitivist conclusion that family, race and community need to become the focus of society, and that family is the source of civilization, seems very unproven. Family, as Stefan Molyneux points out, is the fundamental source of coercion and collectivism. As such, the conservatism of Hoppe is no different from anarcho-syndicalism : it replaces one democratic state with a multitude of oppressive concentrated states (in this case, parenthood). Therefore his whole thesis seems futile : in trying to destroy both monarchy and democracy, he desires to create millions of familial monarchies.

In fact, it seems to me that family structures are definitely anti-aristocratic. Your family is not chosen, the "head of the household" is not chosen on the basis of merit, and neither is the right to have children. Traditionally, "reproductive rights" and familial supremacy have been associated with egalitarianism, not elitism. Historical anarchies also do not prove his thesis that familial supremacy is natural - they are definitely tribalist, but not so primitivist as to collapse back to family units as supreme. So I think Hoppe's argument fails the burden of proof and fails on the face of the evidence.

His points on immigration are also good on surface but flawed in depth. He makes the excellent argument that immigration would be much less of a problem if free trade was the norm. But from this, he uses dubious arguments about the need for distance between races and cultures to justify restricting immigration to unprecedented levels. Once again, I agree with his basic thesis - that multiculturalism is not good in itself - but once again he seems to be buying into liberal rhetoric (this time, about cultural exclusivity) to fuel his aristocratic position. It just doesn't work.

This book has extensive footnotes, sometimes dwarfing the main text, but usually for good reason. His quotes are often interesting additions to the book proper.

My final verdict is that I'm keeping the book on the basis of its first chapters, which make excellent reference material. The second half of the book is a case taken in weird directions and which lacks the rigor and justification of his excellent case that monarchies have better incentive systems than democracies. I would recommend this book to anyone who is either a family-worshipping anarchist or someone who can stand the bad parts of the book to get the good parts.

We need more books like this.......2006-03-15

Dr. Hoppe is one of the best libertarian/anarcho-capitalist writers out there. This book is well argued and well written. More writers should take Hoppe's lead in expanding on the themes here. Even if one finds contention with some of his ideas, largely one is left with a refreshing perspective not found in the usual drivel to be had in the social sciences. Highly recommended and worth having as a reference and an example of how to write well and reason well.
Certainly for a libertarian or anyone interested in the themes of freedom this is a must have. Highly recommended.

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