The Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humor, and the Avant-Garde, 1875-1905

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Beautiful pictures

From an owner of a wiener in this book...

WONDERFUL WIENERS!

Doxies Rule

Yes, the book is short but not long

Dachshunds Short and Long
Amanda Jones
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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A Dachshund's Wish

ASIN: B000FZDL0Q

Book Description

With a pleasing shape and an expressive nature, the dachshund is a popular companion. Be they standard, mini, or 'tweeny,' smooth, longhaired, or wirehaired, these pups have giant-sized courage-and an unending supply of affection. Fond of belly rubs and snacks, and stubborn when it comes to getting what they want, these little hounds will give "The Look," and their owners find themselves giving them anything they ask for-including one more treat.

The many people who love these dogs know it is impossible to sum up all of the wonderful qualities of this special breed. People owned by dachshunds are lucky people, indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful pictures.......2007-08-14

I love this book! The pictures and captions that go with them are just great. The personality of the dachshund is captured throughout this book. A good buy for any dachshund lover.

From an owner of a wiener in this book..........2007-04-28

I met Amanda at a SPCA gathering, she is a wonderful person and very kind. Of course I love this book, because my pooch is in there a few times! A bunch of great wieners met up at the beach for an afternoon of shooting, we had a blast! Amanda has a knack for capturing the essence of her subjects, which you can also see in her other books. I love her work, even if my doxie wasn't in here!

WONDERFUL WIENERS!.......2007-03-06

THIS BOOK IS FULL OF EXTRAORDINARY DACHSHUND PHOTOS. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED IF YOU LOVE WIENERS THE WAY WE DO! OUR DEWEY (STANDARD SHORT-HAIR RED) JUST LOOKED AT THE BOOK AS IF TO SAY, "THERE IS NO DOG AS CUTE AS I AM IN THAT STUPID BOOK!"

Doxies Rule.......2006-09-22

What a sweet face on the front cover! Wish I could see the whole dog on the inside though. Love the doxie with his/her head down and repentive eyes. Nice coffee table book. Friends and family comment favorably. I have a loveable mini longhair choc dapple!

Yes, the book is short but not long.......2006-08-30

I ordered this book after reading a SF Chronicle review of other works by Amanda Jones, who clearly loves dogs. I found the book a little lacking--it's a very short book with photos of the dachshunds of her friends. Two of the cutest photos are on the front and back covers of the book jacket and NOT reproduced in the book--another shortcoming. I was not overwhelmed by this book and would not have bought it if I had seen it in a bookstore and perused it. I own two mini dachshunds and thought this would be more clever--and two dogs long--in it's treatment of our beloved weiner dogs.

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Abie the agent : a complete compilation, 1914-1915
Harry Hershfield
Manufacturer: Hyperion Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0883556448

Amazon.com

Chances are probably infinitesimal that you are currently the head of a major corporation. But you can dramatically increase the probability that you will end up where you belong in the corporate hierarchy by following choice bits of wisdom such as the following:

"Remember: your subordinates are not machines. They are human beings with the same dreams as you. OK, maybe not all the same dreams. Probably they don't have the one where you're naked in a vat of Yoo-Hoo with the Soviet gymnastics team."

Um, thanks Dave!

If you're looking at one of the cassette editions of this title, note that you can absorb all this wisdom while listening to it in your car or Walkman in the course of one commute to work (estimated time: approx. 3 hrs., unless you're already a CEO with a Lear Jet).

Book Description

Working up the corporate ladder is all well and good for most people, but you are not "most people." You are a highly motivated individual who wants to be on the fast track, and you cannot afford to fritter away valuable time working diligently and competently on the job. You need Dave Barry's surefire tips in Claw Your Way to the Top!* "A good resume is more than just a piece of paper. It can mean the difference between not getting a job and not even coming close."* "Can you get a job in business? Heck yes! Don't you listen to those Negative Nellies who tell you there aren't any good jobs anymore, just because the steel, automobile, shoe, clothing, railroad, and agricultural industries have all collapsed!"* "I don't mean to suggest for a moment that all it takes to be a top executive is a custom-tailored European suit. You also need the correct shirt and tie."* "Remember, your subordinates are not machines. They are human beings with the same dreams as you. OK, maybe not all the same dreams. Probably they don't have the one where you're naked in a vat of Yoo-Hoo with the Soviet gymnastics team."* "Ask any business school professor, and he'll tell you a good memo is clear, concise, and well-organized. Now ask him what his annual salary is. It's probably less than most top executives spend in a month on shoe maintenance."

Customer Reviews:

Hysterically funny.......2007-06-02

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. I'm surprised that some of the other readers below didn't find it as humorous as later Dave Barry works, because I end up on the floor whenever I reread this. the sections on meetings, on resumes, on office attire--all brilliantly funny. I guess it helps to have been a disenchanted office employee at least once in your life. But if you've tried climbing the corporate ladder and have decided that there's no worse fate, this book is for you!

Like all of Dave Barry's books.......2007-01-22

...amusing, occasionally laugh out loud funny, but ultimately as memorable as a Debbie's Snack Cake. I'm a diehard Barry fan, and highly recommend Big Trouble. This one, though - buy it used, read and sell.

Mostly smiles rather than laughs.......2006-03-06

This is not the funniest book written by Dave Barry, although it is funny in spots. He lampoons the current business world, the absurdities and incongruities that are a daily part of the life of so many people. As is the case with the best satire, there is a great deal of truth in the exaggerated nonsense that Barry writes. Meetings do dull the mind to the point where you flap your lips with your fingers, the terminology used in corporate America is often the lowest quality double-speak and resumes and press releases are often works of fiction.
"Dilbert" by Scott Adams is considered the bible of corporate misfeasance; it always seems to hit the business world right in the privates. This book is not as good as the Dilbert comic strip; I smiled rather than laughed my way through it.

Corporate Comic Relief.......2006-02-15

I'm in the middle of reading the Enron story, "The Smartest Guys in the Room", and decided to take a brief intermission. And what should I find on the shelf but "Claw Your Way to the Top" by Dave Barry. It's one of the few Barry books that I've missed, and very appropriate while I'm in "Let's Try to Dissect the Corporation" mode. Except that maybe I shouldn't have sat down to read it right there in the Public Library, since it was work trying to stifle my laughter and not disturb other patrons.

Because "Claw Your Way to the Top" was written in 1986, before the rise and fall of Enron, there are no references to Kenneth Lay and his cronies, though Lee Iacocca's name does come up a few times. Similar to Scott Adams ("Dilbert"), Dave Barry's insights into corporate BS are right on the $$$ money, as truthful as they are hilarious. Of course when all the hilarity destroys peoples' lives and livelihoods, it's not so funny, but Barry's book doesn't cover that. Instead it's comic relief from the sobering and sordid truth of such travesties as Enron. Take a timeout and treat yourself to some corporate humor, courtesy of Dave Barry. If you fail to find this book funny, you must be one of those psychopathic suits we should all fear...

Early Barry. . ........2001-11-03

Though not as good as his later works, definitely worth buying, though 'Dave Barry's Guide To Life' is also availiable on Amazon.com and contains this and three other works of similiar quality and length by the same author, while being slightly cheaper than this edition alone.
Recommended.

Claw Your Way To The Top - How To Become The Head Of A Major Corporation In Roughly A Week

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Claw Your Way To The Top - How To Become The Head Of A Major Corporation In Roughly A Week
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Rodale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5Y2DC

Book Description

Close Up was the first English-language journal of film theory. Published between 1927 and 1933, it billed itself as "the only magazine devoted to film as an art," promising readers "theory and analysis: no gossip." The journal was edited by the writer and filmmaker Kenneth Macpherson, the novelist Winifred Bryher, and the poet H. D., and it attracted contributions from such major figures as Dorothy Richardson, Sergei Eisenstein, and Man Ray. This anthology presents some of the liveliest and most important articles from the publication's short but influential history.

The writing in Close Up was theoretically astute, politically incisive, open to emerging ideas from psychoanalysis, passionately committed to "pure cinema," and deeply critical of Hollywood and its European imitators. The articles collected here cover such subjects as women and film, "The Negro in Cinema," Russian and working-class cinema, and developments in film technology, including the much debated addition of sound. The contributors are a cosmopolitan cast, reflecting the journal's commitment to internationalism; Close Up was published from Switzerland, printed in England and France, and distributed in Paris, Berlin, London, New York, and Los Angeles. The editors of this volume present a substantial introduction and commentaries on the articles that set Close Up in historical and intellectual context. This is crucial reading for anyone interested in the origins of film theory and the relationship between cinema and modernism.

Book Description

A seminal monograph first published by Rulan Chao Pian in 1967, this is the standard reference on SonQ dynasty music. The book provides a mirror for scholars to reflect on the cultural, social, and theoretical dimensions of Chinese music scholarship in the new millennium. This new reprint edition features a foreword by Bell Yung and an introduction by Joseph Lam.

Book Description

BradyGAMES-Dark Reign 2 Official Strategy Guide Features: Detailed mission maps for all 20 JDA and Sprawler Missions. Comprehensive Unit and Structure Stats for both sides. Multiplayer tactics, plus walkthroughs for all 20 missions.

Customer Reviews:

Golden.......2000-11-05

How could you go wrong? There isn't any other print on this game like this. You will totaly get your money's worth on this book. It has detailed strategies to beat the game that you would never think of!! Everything you ever wanted to know or are curious about in this game is answered. Very nice. BradyGames rocks again!!

Book Description

How do you develop the people who will one day lead your company? High Flyers challenges conventional wisdom about how to groom executives for the top positions in the firm by presenting a strategic framework for identifying and developing future executives that senior managers can use to identify and develop future executives. McCall demonstrates that the best executives aren't necessarily managers who possess a previously identified, generic list of traits or who have risen to the top through survival of the fittest. Rather, the real leaders of the future are those who have the ability to learn from their experiences and remain open to continuous learning. If these people get the right experiences on the job, they will have the ultimate opportunity to learn new executive skills. Full of vivid real-life examples, High Flyers is for everyone in the organization who has responsibility for developing people--as well as for aspiring managers who want to learn what it takes to become truly effective leaders. For companies, High Flyers demonstrates the power of executive development as a competitive advantage and the way to ensure the best leadership for the future.

Customer Reviews:

An important Contrubtion.......2005-11-25

As an avid read of "leadership development" books, I found High Flyers very stimulating and thought-provoking. While I believe that talent is more than "the ability to learn", I do believe leaders who have this quality are best able to leverage their God-given talents and gifts whatever they are. The most important contribution of this for me was the emphasis on the power of experience and the ability to learn from it. With so much emphasis of leadership development being about acquring knowledge and skills, I felt McCall brought balance to this over-emphasis.

More about executives than leaders..........2002-01-18

The author is a professor of management at USC, so his perspectives on leadership are limited to those qualities found in executives and in very large businesses that support the training of executives. The most helpful aspect of his book is that McCall urges large companies to develop systematic training for executive leaders, rather than leaving younger executives in a sink-or-swim situation. He also has a bias against ruthless, cut-throat competition and male testosterone-driven demonstrations of power and wealth that executives can get drawn into or promote.
Nevertheless, the book is limited: it says very little about leadership as a quality found in other people, other settings; implies that leadership is a unique quality of exceptional people that can be taught to those up-and-coming risers primarily; and supporting data is quite limited. He stumbles when he talks about leadership per se by using an example of a child violin prodigy, as if this child-becoming-virtuoso should be our model of leadership development.
It also is overwritten, the way stuff from Harvard Business School Press is overwritten: breathless, breathtaking, fawning over winners, etc.

Decent book, especially if you are new to the field.......2001-07-21

This is a pretty good book for those new to the leadership literature. Its main point is that leaders are made, not born. I found it a little long for the point it was making, but thats probably because I've read other books in the area.

A Process for Strategy-Driven Leadership Development.......2000-10-16

You will find a thoughtful, thorough process here for using a company's strategy to delineate what kind of leaders you will need, identify the leadership experiences that can create that type of leader, then to locate those who have the highest potential to develop those capabilities (those who learn rapidly and well), and to monitor progress. This is a very humane book that will help many avoid the painful career derailments that we read about all too often when a top performer suddenly crashes and burns in public.

By comparison, most companies are looking for executives with the right stuff for today, not the future. Then in a Darwinian process of survival of the fittest, those with the best track records win the leadership roles. Professor McCall points out a very serious flaw in this model, in that many people progress without developing any better leadership skills. With more and more success, leadership skill may actually drop as strengths and competencies are more and more likely to turn into weaknesses as they become exaggerated and weaknesses stay weak. He uses a detailed case history of Horst Schroeder, who was fired as president of Kellogg's after only 9 months, to make these points.

On the usually-correct assumption that your company has not yet brought this new model to bear, the author presents an excellent appendix for helping an individual executive to plan and implement one's own development.

"The message of High Flyers is that leadership ability can be learned, that creating a context that supports the development of talent can become a source of competitive advantage, and that the development of leaders is itself a leadership responsibility." I suggest that you consider Jack Welch at General Electric as the embodiment of the truth of this statement.

Now let me share my concerns about this book. Most companies change strategies at least as often as they change CEOs. Many do it even more often. The average life of a strategy has to be about 3-5 years. That's too short a time to be the context for a leadership development program, unless the new strategy requires exactly the same kind of leaders -- which is unlikely to be the case. In such environments, leadership recruiting probably deserves more attention than leadership development. On the other hand, strategy should not change so often. As my co-author and I point out in The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, it is possible to have a constant mission, vision, and strategy in the midst of a rapidly changing business environment if you think through the issues of potential volatility in advance. In that sort of company, this book's approach will prosper, as will the company and its stakeholders. I urge you to combine these perspectives and approaches in that way.

My other concern is that mission, vision, and emotional context are more important than strategy to success. Professor McCall unaccountably ignored those other important "fit" and "development" issues. They should certainly be added back into this general model by anyone who is interested in systematically developing and providing more and better leadership.

After you have finished reading this excellent book, consider the next governmental election you are asked to vote in. How could government leadership be improved by using a similar process to develop the next generation of elected candidates? Certainly, the task of governing is becoming ever greater yet the current process has all of the flaws of "survival of the fittest" that Professor McCall describes here. We can do better. How should we?

How can this process be used in a nonprofit organization that you do volunteer work for?

A MODEL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS.......2000-06-29

MCCALL INTRODUCES A MODEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS, SUGGESTING THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE ABLE TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE WILL LEARN THE NECESSARY LEADERSHIP SKILLS, IF THEY ARE EXPOSED TO THE RIGHT KIND OF EXPERIENCES, AND IF THEY RECEIVE THE RIGHT KIND OF SUPPORT IN THEIR LEARNING EFFORTS. HE POINTS OUT, THAT IT HAS TO BE THE BUSINESS STRATEGY AS DEFINED BY THE TOP-MANAGEMENT THAT DETERMINES WHICH LEADERSHIP SKILLS ARE REQUIRED FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ORGANISATION, AND WHICH KIND OF EXPERIENCE WILL BE KEY FOR THE INTENDED PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT (188).

McCall starts by discussing the nature of leadership skills: are they a set of skills, that one either does have or not, or can they be learned? Based on his previous research he holds, that executive leaders are more made than born. Therefore he asserts that leadership potential can not be identified by looking for a profile of "competencies", but by looking for the ability to acquire the skills that will be needed in the future. Only this approach will insure leadership capability in a world of rapid change (4/5). McCall goes on by contrasting a "selection perspective" and a "developmental perspective". If leadership requirements are seen as a finite set of positive attributes, or "competencies", a leader either has them or not. Experience will be a test to verify whether one has them or not. On the other hand, if leadership requirements are seen as something that can come in multiple possibilities, a leader might obtain them, but also loose them, over time. Experience will be a source of the required attributes.

To build the case for a developmental perspective, McCall analyses "derailment" cases, were things went wrong. Using the example of the president of Kellogg Co., Horst Schroeder, he names five factors of initial success, which are common to people who failed at a later stage of their career: track record, brilliance, commitment, charm and ambition (29). When looking at the causes for the turn from success to failure, he lists four elements: 1) strengths can become a weakness, 2) blind spots or weaknesses that did not matter initially, later do matter, 3) success can lead to arrogance and 4) bad luck. (36).

McCall then sets out to define what would be the "right kind of experience". He outlines sixteen developmental experiences, coming in four groups: 1) assignments, 2) other people, 3) hardships and 4) other events (68). McCall emphasises, that there is no such thing as a generic development path, however, meaning that many different experiences can be useful. Development, therefore, is about a rational use of experience (81).

McCall holds that executive development should be determined by business strategy: the business strategy has to suggest which experiences are the most important for development (108). He points out that there are already processes at work, that have to be identified first. He than uses a case study (99) to describe the path from strategic intend to executive development: strategy, e.g. "sustained growth", was translated into leadership challenges, e.g. "dealing with increased complexity effectively". These leadership challenges were subsequently translated to possible developmental experiences, e.g. "lead an expansion that requires adding something new or different".

As McCall believes that leadership talent should not be identified by using a list of end-state attributes, but by looking for the ability to learn what needs to be learned from experiences, he introduces a growth model for talent (130). First, talented people will have to pay the "price of admission" for getting the organisational attention and investment. This involves being committed to making a difference, seeing things from new angles and having the courage to taking risks. Then, talented people will take advantage of the opportunities generated by the visibility. The next difference that characterise talented people is that they increase the learning opportunity. Finally, they take learning to heart, and change as a result of the experience.

Because of the central role of "the right kind of experience" in the development of the next generation of leaders, the mechanism to move people from one assignment to another is McCall's next focus. Succession planning can be more productive from a developmental perspective, if replacement candidates for key assignments are not identified on the basis of their current readiness for the job, but on the basis of how much they could learn from it. He predicts, that decision makers would only dare to do so, if they are not only held accountable for short-term results, but also for development of talent to meet future strategic needs (149). In organisations, were no formal system for movement exists, tactics for development could include making deals with other managers, influencing individual executives and counselling talented people to play a more active role in their own development (153). Yet another approach would be reengineering or corporate restructuring, presenting opportunity to redesign jobs without necessarily reassigning people (157). In conclusion, McCall underlines that people learn most by doing things they have never done before.

McCall defines three catalysts as the right kind of assistance for the learning efforts of leadership talent: 1) improvement of feedback, 2) provision of incentives and resources, 3) support of the change effort (181).

In his final chapter, McCall summarises the case for strategic executive development: 1) leadership makes a difference for the successful change of organisations, 2) leadership can not always be found or bought outside, 3) derailments are expensive and therefore should be avoided, 4) "survival of the fittest" is not the same as "survival of the best", meaning that leaving leadership development up to chance is foolish, 5) development cost are already sunk for the larger part, so at least the return on the investment should be sought for, 6) creating a learning environment is consistent with employee empowerment, 7) it is good business practice and good for stakeholder relations.

The book is certainly worth reading.

Average customer rating:
High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders. (book reviews): An article from: Human Resource Planning
Douglas T. Hall
Manufacturer: Human Resource Planning Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00098C3I0
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Human Resource Planning, published by Human Resource Planning Society on June 1, 1998. The length of the article is 1737 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders. (book reviews)
Author: Douglas T. Hall
Publication: Human Resource Planning (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1998
Publisher: Human Resource Planning Society
Volume: v21 Issue: n2 Page: p55(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Walter Stadnick is not an imposing man. At five-foot-four, his face and arms scarred by fire in a motorcycle accident, he would not spring to mind as a leader of Canada's most notorious biker gang, the Hells Angels. yet through sheer guts and determination, intelligence and luck, this Hamilton-born youth who had the nickname of "Nurget" rose in the Hells Angels ranks to become national president. Not only did he lead the Angels through the violent war with their rivals the rock machine in Montreal in the Nineties, Stadnick saw opportunity to grow the Hells Angels into a national criminal gang. he was a visionary—and a highly successful one.

Bikers are not known for their fondness for rival gangs. Stadnick and the Angels fought and defeated rival gangs, or used power of persuasion to patch them over. As Stadnick's influence spread, law enforcement took notice of the growing presence of the Angels in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. However, Stadnick's success did not come without a price. Arrested and charged with 13 counts of first-degree murder, stadnick beat the murder charges but was convicted of gangsterism and is currently serving time.

Fallen Angel details one man's improbable rise to power in one of the world's most violent organizations, while shedding light on how this enigmatic and dangerous biker gang operated and why it remains so powerful.

Customer Reviews:

Fallen Angel: The Unlikely Rise of Walter Stadnick and the Canadian Hells Angels.......2007-06-08

good book with great, little known info about the Angels and there members

Boring.......2006-11-05

I knew Nurget and had the pleasure of riding with him in the mid 70's when I lived in Hamilton. He was a fun, smart and happy guy. I was surprised that he made such a name for himself. Langton seems to jump around throughout the whole book, leaving the reader confused at times. Perhaps he could have got some help writing the book from a real writer. It is obvious he sides with the police authorities, giving a very one sided view of the biker lifestyle. He has made several errors pertaining to the biker culture and some of the events that took place.

Horseshit..........2006-09-02

Not only is the author a bad writer.....jumping from timeline to time line...not able to tell a story in order.....he tries to pose the Hell's Angels as the bad guys. Anyone with a solid head on their shoulders will see thru his rhetoric and realize HA is a stand up orginization that takes care of business like any normal person would. The crimes they were accused of, weren't crimes at all......they were simply the exercising of human rights against agressors that would try to deny said so rights......in fact in the entire book, i found no fault with the Angel's actions, and applaud them for their efforts.

facts and names lacking storytelling.......2006-07-27

The author have gone though a great deal to find the facts in hundreds of events during many years. He covers hundreds of people. Hundreds of crimes and killings. He could have picked a few events, clubs or people and written their full story. Instead the book hops between people and clubs, between centuries and continents like a school book. Theres no story, but namedropping enough to confuse anyone. Stadnik is one of hundreds of figures skidding though events, none of them with depth. People are shot and stabbed, but you find it difficult to care, since none is in the book for more than a page, and you dont get to know them. It feels disorganised. If it was in cronical order, or at least with chapter names reveiling what every chapter will cover it would be easier. Perhaps its interesting and understandable for the surviving few who were there. If your looking for facts its fine, but its too packed with facts for me. I need a story.

Disturbing Errors for an .......2006-06-15

This book provides a lot of information on Walter Stadnick and the Canadian Hells Angels along with information on lesser clubs in Canada. The author, Jerry Langton, however, has made numerous disturbing errors in reporting on certain aspects of the Hells Angels and other clubs. Langton reports on page 26 that prospective members (prospects) are awarded the top rocker (Hells Angels) along with the center patch. Langton then states that the prospects recive the bottom rocker which identifies the chapter's geographical location upon earning full membership. THE OPPISITE IS TRUE for the Hells Angels and ALL OTHER CLUBS! It is hard to believe that Lanfton could make such an obvious error in his writing.

Langton goes on to say that newly minted members are forced to endure a ritualistic ceremony wherein [...] ect.... are spewed on the colors (patched vest) and that the new member is forbidden to wash it. This is absoulutely untrue. No Hells Angel would desecrate the patch and show such disrespect. The fact that Langton would believe and further this myth is a statement to his lack of knowledge.

Also, on page 224, langton refers to the Outlaws patch having a Deaths Head center refered to as "Charlie." This is true of the Hells Angels. The Outlaws center patch is a pair of crossed pistons. I would suggest that the next time langton writes a book, he should have someone with knowledge of the subject matter proof-read his work.

Book Description

In the heady days of the rush to arms in 1861, comparatively few Southern men volunteered for service in the artillery: most preferred the easily accessible glory of the infantry or cavalry. Yet those that did quickly earned the respect of their fellow soldiers, and a reputation for being able to "pull through deeper mud, ford deeper springs, shoot faster, swear louder ... than any other class of men in the service". Given that field artillery was invariably deployed in front of the troops that it was supporting, the artillerymen were exposed to a high level of enemy fire, and losses were significant. This title guides the reader through the life and experiences of the Confederate cannoneer - where he came from; how he trained and lived; how he dressed, ate and was equipped; and how he fought.

Book Description

This book tackles one of the most pressing public policy issues of our time: the reform of regulatory and enforcement practice. Malcolm K. Sparrow shows how prescriptions for reform that are centered on the concepts of customer service and process improvement fail to take account of the distinctive character of regulatory responsibilities—which involve the delivery of obligations rather than just services.

Sparrow identifies a central notion at the heart of a new regulatory craftsmanship: "pick important problems and fix them." This simple approach presents complex implementation challenges with profound consequences for the way regulators organize their work and report their performance. The author explores the underlying nature of the risk-control or problem-solving art, and specifies the organizational infrastructure and managerial practices required to place effective risk control at the heart of routine agency operations.

The Regulatory Craft will be especially valuable for regulatory and law-enforcement practitioners, as well as legislators, students, and others who care about the nature and quality of regulatory practice.

Customer Reviews:

Excelent book.......2006-03-25

A powerful and clear combination of theoretical and practical analysis of the regulatory work, with useful insights and tools to be used and developed.

re-thinking the role of government.......2000-07-14

Author Malcolm Sparrow suggests something so simple about the role of government that it's revolutionary -- agencies should be in the business of finding important problems and fixing them.

Simple -- but difficult.

Anyone who works in government would tell you they solve problems all the time. But most objective looks at government show that government's primary job is to "implement programs." Those programs often deftly solve problems. Yet they leave much undone. It is the undone problems that Sparrow's book deals with.

Sparrow is an old cop, turned top-level educator. He's got a doctorate and teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is a recognized expert in results-based reform of government. Personally, he is glib and practical.

His experience with policing seems to drive his philosophy. At the crux is this quote from his mentor, Herman Goldstein:

"...policing becomes more effective if police, rather than processing 911 calls one after another and in isolation, could learn to identify underlying patterns and then fashion tailor-made solutions that prevent recurrences." (page 72)

Sparrow shows how identifying patterns and fashioning tailor-made solutions is the crux for most government -- not just police. He ampley cites examples from environmental agencies, customs, OSHA and others to show this. He tells the real-life obstacles to achieving this, too (page 112). Overall, he tells how government could do better and who's doing it.

The book implies a unique slant on deterrence. While getting tough may achieve a deterrence effect, too often it happens after the evil deed. Sparrow suggests that government deter before the deed. How? Analyze patterns of unsolved problems, then tailor interventions to deter BEFORE the problem happens. This is not to rule out enforcement punch -- just to focus it on those against whom it's most effective. He shows that it can be done using case studies.

Sparrow's thinking should appeal to the pragmatist. This book is not pie-in-the-sky theory. It blends top-level thinking and on the ground experience. If you think government could be doing better, you could do worse than picking up a copy of "The Regulatory Craft."

Book Description

Seeking common principles of social evolution in different taxonomic groups, the contributors to this volume discuss eighteen groups of birds and mammals for which long-term field studies have been carried out. They examine how social organization is shaped by the interaction between proximate ecological pressures and â€œcultureâ€ â€“the social tradition already in place and shaped by local and phylogenetic history. Strategies of females and males are analyzed separately, with respect to avoiding predators and obtaining access to both environmental resources and mates. Variations on a monogamous theme are discussed by Lewis W. Oring and David B. Lank, Marion Petrie, Patricia D. Moehlman, Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick, Mark Leighton, Jon P. Rood, and Frank McKinney. Patterns among polygnous societies are treated by Scott K. Robinson, Sandy J. Andelman, Mark V. Flinn and Bobbi S. Low, L.M. Gosling, Daniel I. Rubenstein, Kenneth B. Armitage, Robin I. M. Dunbar, Richard W. Wrangham, Robert M. Gibson and Jack W. Bradbury, Peter J. Jarman and Colin J. Southwell, and Craig Packer. Daniel I. Rubenstein is Associate Professor of Biology at Princeton University. Richard W. Wrangham is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Biology at the University of Michigan.

Ecological Aspects of Social Evolution: Birds and Mammals

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Ecological Aspects of Social Evolution: Birds and Mammals
Daniel I. & Wrangham, Richard, eds Rubenstein
Manufacturer: Princeton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MTKDXI

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