Average customer rating:
- Save your child's mental health and your sanity
- Enormously helpful
- Invaluable, amazing, a god-send
- A lifesaver!
- Living with Active Alert Child
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Living With the Active Alert Child: Groundbreaking Strategies for Parents
Linda S. Budd
Manufacturer: Parenting Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic
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Accessories:
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Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
ASIN: 0943990882 |
Book Description
Bright, controlling, fearful, and highly energetic, active alert children are frequently misdiagnosed as hyperactive or learning disabled. This book shows parents and teachers how to raise, teach, and enjoy active alerts by offering:
-a clear description of common characteristics
-day-to-day parenting strategies with real case histories
-information on how active alerts learn and what school situations work best
-descriptions of active alerts as adults, and as parents themselves
Customer Reviews:
Save your child's mental health and your sanity.......2007-03-09
Parents, breathe a sigh of relief! If you have been told that your child may be ADHD, but you are reluctant to accept that diagnosis, you may wish to consider that your child is an "Active Alert Child" (Budd, 2003). Try reading this newer theory which discusses alternative approaches to parenting (and teaching) your child before resorting to medication. You will learn that your child has special traits and can make positive contributions to society.
Enormously helpful.......2005-06-15
Before I read this book I was firmly convinced that my 3-year-old daughter was an ornery mule and there was little I could do about it. If my husband and I even gave her the impression that we were about to help her with whatever she was doing, she'd swat at us and yell for us to go away. Now I understand that she needs to touch to learn, and this book has given us tools to use when she starts school. We've been worried that she would be labeled ADHD because she's constantly moving, though, when she's interested in something, her attention span is longer than many adults. I'm also grateful to feel that I'm not just an overly fretful mother. So often when I tried to explain our difficulties to other mothers I would hear, "all kids are like that," and I could clearly see on the playgrounds and in the stores that not all kids are like that. Many of them can walk in a straight line, sit still to eat, and respond when their name is called! Also, now I know why my daughter's reactions to most standard parenting advice has been the exact opposite of the desired result (i.e. rocking her to try to get her to sleep irritated her - I can see now it was too stimulating for her). After reading this book, I've gained enlightenment as to why she behaves as she does, and I'm more hopeful that we can help her channel all that energy to healthy, positive goals.
Invaluable, amazing, a god-send.......2002-05-09
When I first picked up this book and looked through it, I thought "when was this woman in my house?" We've clung to it like a lifeline. It was such a relief to know it wasn't us, there wasn't 'something wrong with him', and that there were ways to cope. I've recommended this book to several people who have been equally thrilled. I've been able to use things learned to help him in school, help him with transition times, and head off some of the explosions. Life will never be calm and peaceful with an active alert in the house, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing!
We've been especially blessed to become part of Linda's client base and meet with her several times/year. Let me just say, she's amazing!!!!!! Buy this book!!!!
A lifesaver!.......2002-02-07
The key to good parenting is understanding your child, but that's not very easy when your child is so different from "average" children. Linda Budd not only helps you understand this enigma you gave birth to, but she helps you see that the traits that frustrate you the most are actually good, once harnessed. You know this book is for you if: your baby's first year was a nightmare of no sleeping and constant wailing, your child has more energy than a power plant, your newborn seemed very alert and aware of his/her surroundings, other people think your child just needs a good spanking, you've seen other people's small children sitting quietly listening to a story and thought to yourself, "What's wrong with those kids?" I guarantee you will find relief in this book, and a better understanding of your child and how to make your home life a lot smoother. Two thumbs way up!
Living with Active Alert Child.......2002-01-16
Before you believe the "experts" that your child is ADD or ADHDand put you child on their "drugs" PLEASE read this first. We have a very, very active 5 year old who is very intelligent. We both were in the same catagory as children and survived ( so did our parents and teachers!). We did not cave in to everyone's advice and kept digging. There is a 20 question list in the first chapter, please read that first and you'll know you are not alone, and the book has alot of common sense approaches and good definations of how to and what you are in for. I was relieved and impressed and have further firmed my resolve to hold my child away from the medicines that misdianosis these days which harm our children more than anything.
** Since using this book, He has done wonderful so far in first grade, and almost has done away with his paraprofessional in the classroom. ( I also used Teaching your Child the Language of Social Success, by Marshall Duke) Thanks!
Book Description
Approaches to Peace provides a unique and interdisciplinary sampling of classic articles and short literary selections focusing on the diverse aspects of peace and conflict studies. Readings cover the causes of war and proposed means of preventing it, so called negative peace, and also reflect upon the universal concern for positive peace. The material examines nonviolence movements, peace movements, religious inspirations, and our future prospects for peace. Contributors include Johan Galtung, Kenneth Boulding, Elise Boulding, and Alva Mydral. Contemporary pieces by Jonathan Schell, Richard Falk, Betty Reardon, and Vaclav Havel, and timeless classics from Leo Tolstoy, the Bhagavad Gita, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Thoreau are included as well. The book's balanced and unbiased approach makes it easily adaptable to both general discussions of peace and conflict as well as the rapidly changing issues of the moment. Approaches to Peace is able to stand on its own as a foundation text in any introductory peace studies course. It is also compact enough to use as a supplement with more specialized readings, allowing instructors to assign additional readings consistent with their own particular orientation. Each selection is prefaced by a short introduction highlighting the author's background, the work's historical context, and the selection's significance in terms of the "big picture." Study questions and a list of suggested readings at the end of each selection also provide a useful resource for students.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best, but still falls a bit short.......2004-03-25
I've used David Barash's _Approaches to Peace_ several times in my college classes on peace and justice. This is unusual in itself, because I rarely use anthologies, preferring instead to go straight to the original sources themselves. I like Barash's approach, though, because it tries to be inclusive as possible.
The anthology begins by looking at the definitions and possible causes of war, moves on to analyses of how to prevent war (negative peace), then to considerations of how to create structures of justice that eliminate the necessary conditions for war (positive peace). The rest of the book is devoted to readings that discuss nonviolence, religious pacifism, and historical peace movements. All of these general categories are exactly what one would want in a "peace studies" text.
The problem is that the readings included in each category aren't always the best (or at least aren't the ones I would've selected). The single best two sets of readings are in the chapters on positive peace and nonviolence. The single worst (and I do mean *worst*!) set of readings are when Barash deals with religious pacifism (it's as if he feels uncomfortable in this arena). In the section on peace movements, Vaclav Havel's essay is the single best piece, but one wonders why it (and perhaps the entire chapter) doesn't serve as the prologue to the anthology.
Still, no anthology perfectly pleases everyone. Barash's is the best one out there I've discovered. Perhaps some changes will be made in a second edition. Regardless, I highly recommend this book.
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Progress: Fact or Illusion?
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0472106767 |
Book Description
Progress, perhaps the fundamental secular belief of modern Western society, has come under heavy fire recently because, after three centuries, advances in science and technology seem increasingly to bring problems in their wake: alienation, environmental degradation, the threat of nuclear destruction. The idea of progress is brought into question by postmodern critique, attacking the notion of science as truth. Yet no other meaningful organization of humankind's sense of time looms on the horizon. This volume seeks to reassess the meaning and prospects of the idea of progress.
Looking toward the millennium, the volume seeks to evaluate the idea's worth both in theory--is it intellectually viable and defensible today?--and practice--even if theoretically defensible, is the idea undermined in actual life? Approaching these questions from the perspectives of science, anthropology, economics, religion, political philosophy, feminism, medicine, environmental studies, and the Third World, the contributors, all distinguished scholars, provide a unique and critical balance.
Ultimately, the contributors find that progress is both a fact and an illusion: it does occur in certain areas, but it does not sweep all before it as its Enlightenment votaries thought it would. This foundational idea permeates discourse in the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities and will engage historians, students of the history of science and technology, sociologists, political scientists, philosophers, literary scholars, and art critics, as well as those interested in civilization in general.
Contributors include: Jill Ker Conway, Zhiyuan Cui, Leon Eisenberg, Robert Heilbroner, Gerald Holton, Leo Marx, Bruce Mazlish, Ali A. Mazrui, Alan Ryan, John M. Staudenmaier, George W. Stocking, Jr., and Richard White.
"A discerning reconsideration of the idea of 'progress' in a variety of carefully defined theoretical and empirical-historical contexts." --David Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley
Leo Marx is Professor of American Cultural History, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bruce Mazlish is Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Book Description
The art and illustration program make explanations and concepts easier to comprehend.
* "Clinical Application" sections demonstrate the clinical or professional significance of the discussion.
* Coverage of scientific research and breakthroughs in understanding the human body keep the book on the cutting edge.
Customer Reviews:
Good book for college anatomy and physiology students.......2003-03-27
I found this book useful as a reference in my studying for my college anatomy and physiology exams. Tortora is a great author and knows how to communicate important facts in a simple way. In this way, the whole audience can understand. He makes A and P a pleasure to learn. However, I also used the following books which are also sold on amazon.
Anatomy and Physiology Study Guide: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations Vol 1(ISBN: 0971999619) and also
Vol 2 (ISBN: 0971999627)
I got a 97 average using these 3 books. My advice get these books if you want excellent grades.
Average customer rating:
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Learning Guide for Tortora and Grabowski Principles of Anatomy and Physiology
Kathleen Schmidt Prezbindowski , and
Gerard J. Tortora
Manufacturer: HarperCollins College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 006501197X |
Book Description
Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and is now the world’s longest-serving monarch. The King Never Smiles, the first independent biography of Thailand's monarch, tells the unexpected story of Bhumibol's life and sixty-year rule—how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha, and how a king widely seen as beneficent and apolitical could in fact be so deeply political and autocratic.
Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king’s youth and personal development, ascent to the throne, skillful political maneuverings, and attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Handley takes full note of Bhumibol's achievements in art, in sports and jazz, and he credits the king's lifelong dedication to rural development and the livelihoods of his poorest subjects. But, looking beyond the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian and virtuous, Handley portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business and the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely modified feudal dynasty.
When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power and prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, silencing critics while winning the hearts and minds of his people. The book details this process and depicts Thailand’s unique constitutional monarch—his life, his thinking, and his ruling philosophy.
Customer Reviews:
Accurate and dispassionate.......2007-09-23
This book is scholarly and engaging; I have to believe that Handley was barred from entering the Kingdom as persona non-grata after publishing it. I gave it 4 stars only because it takes a lot of coffee to get through the minutia. But without that level of detail, the author would be at risk of being ridiculed for trying to do a hatchet job on Thailand's Royal Family. The reality is, the King is a product of his time, working in a country beset by ignorance and self-serving "influential families." Most Thais would be horrified to read this book, and will probably reject it out of hand. But their school system and indoctrination will never allow them to read this dispassionately. Having lived in Thailand, I understand why Thai's who have reviewed this book are horrified by it, but as a Westerner, I just view it as a solid piece of historical inquiry. I enjoy life in the Kingdom and the unique Thai conviviality and sense of fun; this book just gives me a better perspective on the reasons for Thailand being the way it is today.
Why write this book?.......2007-09-10
When I first saw this book on the shelf, I had to go borrow money from my wife to buy it. I was immediately transfixed on this book and saw in it the makings of a well-written, and well-needed epoxy for the fragments of knowledge of the Thai King possessed by the average Westerner. That being said (and after reading the book in its' entirety), I can't help but question the motives behind the tenor set for this work.
Though I agree that our common knowledge of the Thai Monarchy here in the West is sketchy at best, I take serious issue to the need for the author to "intimate" his so-called "revelations" regarding the falability and the humanity of the Thai King (both as a person and as an institution). If one looks at the total sum of King Rama IX's body of works with respect to the general Thai populace (even taken into account a probable healthy dose of dramatic inflation on the part of loyalists), there seems to arise no justification for this "attack of truth" that could have no other motive than to either try to damage the integrity of the Thai Monarchy, or (even less palatable) simply serve as a vehicle on which the author seeks some measure of notoriety and monetary benefit.
There is a curious and institution-damaging notion in the West (one which the traveller possessing a modest degree of knowledge of non-Wester cultures will instantly spot as a weakness) that the general populace in a given society would be better served to be in the possession of "the whole truth and nothing but the truth" (as the saying goes) in all matters of personal, private, and even governmental matters. Somehow the state of transparency of all interactions has become (in many minds) a God-given right, a commodity that is owed to the general public. This curiously western view does not hold to all cultures, and (in my humble opinion) is one of the reasons I think Western Civilization will soon (historically speaking) see its demise.
The general Thai person neither perceives the need or the desire for such information regarding governmental and Monarchical matters. This is one of the strengths of the Thai (and indeed South, and South-east Asian country's) cultures, and here one must not make the common mistake of equating a strong culture with a prosperous one. They don't spend the majority of their time trying to understand whether or not their leaders are justified in their actions, and I believe they are a much stronger society for it.
That being said, there is some good historical and Monarchical information in this book as long as the reader is willing to wind their way through the mine-field of "attack the ideal of the Thai Monarchy" droppings that polute the literary grounds of this book.
Que?.......2007-07-23
Bought this as a present for someone and had it sent to them. Not sure why I'm being asked to review it.
Long Live The King.
Biased, but should be read by the Thais still..........2007-07-02
This is a good and comprehensive read for all Thais. If you grew up learning the history from the Ministry of Education's standardized textbooks without much chance of reading about Thai history anywhere else, this is a must, especially in this time when the same episode of military coup repeated itself again last year (and is still going on). Ajarn Pasuk's history book is also a comprehensive one, although it does not dwell into the subject of royalists' interests and influences, which is the main interest of this book. Overall, the book did a fine job in reviewing the modern history of Thailand from the royalists' perspective. However, the chapters on family affairs are too much like those Brit tabloid columns on the royal family.
I am not saying, however, that the writer has convinced me entirely on the thesis of the book--the idea of Dhammaraja king--which is repeated way too many times, as if the readers are dumb and do not remember what the author wants to convey. For me Dhammaraja itself represents one fine concept for a leader. The king's adherence to those principles are not the problems per se. The way the king has become such a revered figure must be credited to the palace's marketing scheme. People have been amazed at Thaksin's new way of political marketing. They forgot the powerful marketing from the palace completely. The palace's marketing channels are so ingrained in the society that people hardly think about it anymore. It's all about presentation, afterall.
I also agree with many other reviewers that the author does not need to be so disrespectful of the king. Afterall, he is the King of Thailand, and should be referred to as King Bhumibol, and not just Bhumibol (same for Queen Sirikit and others in the book). These choices the author made convey much of his bias. There are also many shaky references and vague guesses that have weak evidence. Many names of famous figures are incorrectly spelled, and sometimes the author seems to forget part of their names. These little details make it rather annoying and also make the story less credible.
tke king never smile.......2007-06-08
this is a good book to lean the truth story what was going on the event that happen in Thailand. After I hac read the book I know Iwas brain washed by government and the royal people. It opened my eyes and my heart to see the reality the politic action of the government and the monarchy.I think all Thai people or/and people who are interesting in Thailand should read the book.
One indepedent Thai fom Dallas, texas
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 802 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: The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej.(Book review)
Author: James Ockey
Publication:
Pacific Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 80
Issue: 1
Page: 126(3)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
In the armies of the Napoleonic era, the infantry formed the most numerous, and arguably the most important, of all the 'arms'. But the winning of the battle is in the detail - the proper management of those arms. In this book, companion to the similar work on cavalry, the author looks toward what actually happened in the battles of the period, rather than what should have occurred, according to the regulations. The infantry's weapons are examined: the use of the musket, bayonet, pikes and swords, the manner in which they were used in attack and defence, exemplified by contemporary accounts and illustrations. Misconceptions are explored and questions answered: for example, why the bayonet was so highly regarded when it inflicted hardly any casualties, why the merits of the column and the line are not clear-cut and how, whether in square or skirmish line, the infantry of the Napoleonic Wars actually fought.
Customer Reviews:
A step in the right direction........2002-07-17
This is not a large book. There is no color. If you are looking for a book with brilliant color plates and splendid uniforms, this is not it. Mr. Haythornthwait has taken a large amount of contradicting information, from many sources, and boiled it down into a concise report on Napoleonic Infantry as a weapon of war. He addresses the weapons used and their effect, or lack there of. He quotes the authorities of the day, contrary opinions, and the views of the common soldiers, provides the historic outcome and points out modern misconception. I found no national prejudice or hero worship in his decisions.
As co-author of a set of musket era wargame rules, to which I have just started to compile a long promised revision, I found that "Napoleonic Infantry" and Mr. Haythornthwait's companion volume,"Napoleonic Cavalry", reinforced some of my existing opinions and provided insight and answers to some questions that I had been asked to resolve. It did also raise some additional points that I now have to incorporate! A quick read that I would recommend to any student of Napoleonic warefare.
Average customer rating:
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From Flintlock to Rifle: Infantry Tactics, 1740-1866
Steven T. Ross
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0714641936 |
Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive study of the major changes in infantry tactics from the time of Fredrick the Great to the beginning of what many see as the era of modern war in the 1860's. Ross lays social and political change side by side with technical change. He argues that the French revolution, due to the fervour and loyalty it inspired in its participants, led to huge citizen armies of devolved command which were able to make use of new tactics that swept the poorly paid and poorly treated professional armies of their enemies from the field. Shortly after the Napoleonic wars other European countries experienced similar social change and by the middle of the Nineteenth Century these massive conscript armies were equipped with breech-loading rifles and more powerful artillery. The battlefield of the late 1860's had become a place where close infantry formations could not survive for long in the linear formations of the past. Ross's book comprehensively covers this seminal era in the history of warfare,it is vital reading for anyone interested in the evolution of modern war.
Customer Reviews:
Dated But Useful.......2006-02-13
As it was printed in the late 1970s, Steven Ross's well written book, covering from 1740 to 1866, is now somewhat dated but still interesting and useful. It is flawed in some of its conclusions, and it neglects issues of weapons effectiveness as well as the psychological features of battle in favor of an almost exclusive focus on formations and other 'nuts and bolts' issues. Use of columns for maneuver and attack are well covered as are the the use of skirmishers and changes in doctrine of various Western armies over time. The author gives many examples from battles of the era. So this book is a good introduction to tactics of the era but understandably shouldn't be taken as the 'be all end all' on the subject. It is best read in combination with Nosworthy's and Muir's more recent books for a fuller, more accurate view.
Book Description
This title looks at Napoleon's Middle and Young Guard infantry. The seniority of Guard infantry was only established definitely in 1812 by the Guard's chief of personnel, Courtois. The title 'Young Guard' was assigned to the newly-raised regiments in 1809, but the term 'Middle Guard' came into use about 1811. From the beginning the newer guard regiments were committed to action first, the Old Guard, as Napoleon wrote, 'being so precious, one fears to expose them'; thus the Fusiliers-Chasseurs distinguished themselves at Hilsberg whilst the rest of the Guard was kept in reserve. In 1808 the Fusiliers went to Spain, serving at the Madrid rising, Medina and Guadalajara. Philip Haythornwaite examines these troops in a detailed text backed by numerous illustrations including eight full page colour plates by Bryan Fosten.
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British Infantry of the Napoleonic Wars
Philip J. Haythornthwaite
Manufacturer: Arms & Armour
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1854093266 |
Amazon.com
Having spent a career closely watching the numbers, veteran Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who advised Bill Clinton in his 1992 victory, sees a nation entrenched into two opposing ideological camps, neither side getting much done. And so he presents solutions, of course to Democrats but also Republicans if they care to read the book, on how to break the gridlock and solidify power. Greenberg offers a history lesson, showing how for the last 50 years, neither party has had a solid grip on power and, as a result, lacked the mandate to lead. Instead, both fire up their base of supporters and scrap for small electoral groups in order to give them a tiny majority among national office holders. Armed with history and voluminous statistical data, Greenberg identifies the core constituencies of each party and assigns them catchy names in order to make his analysis more entertaining and easier to follow. The Republicans' base includes such groups as the "F-You Old Men," white blue-collar seniors with no college education, while over on the left side, the Democrats are anchored by groups like the "Secular Warriors," people who rarely attend church and don't own guns. Extensive polling took place in three communities that are battlegrounds on the electoral map and all three receive catchy nicknames as well: "Tampa Blue" (working class Florida), "The Heartland" (Iowa farm country), and "Eastside Tech" (the white-collar tech-heavy suburbs east of Seattle). After reading the pulse of these representative voters, Greenberg recommends the GOP offer up a second-generation Reagan campaign, emphasizing hope, independence, and industriousness. For the Democrats, his suggestions include taking classic Democratic themes of opportunity and equality and updating to encompass modern issues like environmental and health care concerns. This book was released in the early stages of the 2004 Democratic primaries and in the early going, the successful candidates seemed to be embracing Greenberg's notions, hoping to unseat a President Bush a second time. --John Moe
Book Description
Revised and expanded to account for results of the 2004 presidential election, Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg defines the political future of our nation America is divided by the thinnest of margins. The political world as we have known it for the last quarter century has been stuck at a partisan impasse. Politicians locked into this fight kowtow desperately to the two or three percent of indecisive and often reluctant voters who can tip the scales.
Customer Reviews:
What it takes to win........2006-09-06
This book was published in 2004 and is loaded with results of polls to indicate preferences of voters on all sorts of issues. It covers the issues and shows the direction that the Democrats and Republicans must take if they hope to sway voters from one party to the other. The book amplifies the miriad of issues that face both the voters and the party stratgeists.One of the difficult things is that ,while there are many issues,the voter must in his final analysis, choose one candidate over another.
Whe also see that a great number of voters have a large amount of party loyalty and will not vote against party loyalty,regardless. So,what this means is that the center ground and voter willingless to make their vote count is really what elections are all about. Each party has agendae and pressures that divide the voter. In the book we see why and how both parties play up or play down issues in hopes go gaining the most votes at the time.
The book is written more from the standpoint of how the Democrats must change to win.Reading this book now,we see that it is obvious that the Democrats failed to move to the center and thus loss the 2004 election. As November 2006 approaches,we will again see if the shifts will occur; and again in 2008.
One thing that has often occurred to me over the years ,particularly with the election of the President, falls under personality and traits such as trust,likability
and leadership.I think these factors overide party agenda,certainly in enough numbers from swing voters to result in one candidate winning over another.
Although most party loyalists would not likely agree but I believe that,Kennedy,Roosevelt, Truman,Eisenhower, Reagan and Bush were all winners on that score. As much as the media tried to destroy George W. Bush, when you get right down to it the swing voter liked these qualities better with him than with John Kerry...and that's why he won.
I am really surprised the author did not address this important factor in his otherwise extensive coverage of issues.
This is why the Debates are so important.It's not which candidate wins on debating skills ;but which one is the one the voter trusts,likes and thinks would make the best leader.
Great analysis.......2006-02-10
This book provides an excellent description of the American society and its current dilemma. Guns control, abortion, prayers at schools, and many other subjects have an equal number of supporters and detractors, and that is reflected in the polls. Why can't a political platform atract a vast majority of the Americans? This is the deadlock which the author refers to in the title.
Based on many surveys, he can identify many tipologies of citizens tbat help us understand their beliefs and thus, their electoral behavior.
Still trying to make the populist connection.......2004-09-10
Stan Greenberg is clearly no slouch when it comes to political analysis but he is wrestling with the same question he has wrestled with for two decades; how to make working and middle class voters vote "correctly".
Greenberg has an insightful way of dividing up the US electorate and his polling data is rich and useful, regardless of the reader's persuasion. He advises Democrats to take the appeal of cultural conservatism seriously, but what he recommends is the same grab bag of populist policy positions Democrats have been pushing since the 1980s with mixed results (with the exception of welfare reform). He assumes more progressive taxation, labor market regulation and government spending work as well in practice as in theory and thus if Democrats can finesse the cultural issues (without actually deviating from cultural liberalism) they should win the votes of the nonwealthy. Given what has occurred over the past two decades, his argument is unconvincing.
Highly readable, surprisingly funny.......2004-07-24
Stanley Greenberg has written a deeply researched, extensively footnoted, highly readable indictment of our current political state, and we should be humbly grateful for it.
From the preface, where he observes the press "...prefers the politics of character...." to reporting anything of substance, to the afterword, in which he presents the two scenarios he developed in the previous 300 pages to his focus groups, Greenberg holds very few cows sacred and presents a relatively even-handed treatment of the current political deadlock.
However, I give you fair warning: If you, the reader, are not of the liberal persuasion, this book may irritate the starch out of you. Remember, I said "relatively even-handed." Also remember, I'm a liberal.
Greenberg starts out with a short review of the last 200 years of political history, showing us that one-party domination is the rule rather than the exception. He devotes much attention to the last fifty years, in which no party has dominated, and even greater attention to the last 25, from the Reagan Revolution in 1980 to the bitterly contested and still controversial 2000 brouhaha, and on to the beginnings of the 2004 campaign. (Incidentally, I was reading the section on President Reagan when he died and for the first few days of our national mourning period. I was struck by irony: the facts in Greenberg's work versus the hyperbole issuing from every talking head on television.) Greenberg's liberal bias is highly evident in this section: he is far too easy on President Clinton. I laughed out loud at "...[he] advanced his proposals for gays to serve in the military, thus dramatically illustrating the breadth of the principle for America's ever-expanding rights." Oh, puh-leeze. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was hardly a milestone in civil rights.
The author goes on to discuss the makeup of each party's core voters, or base; to present hypothetical, occasionally foul-mouthed, and often amusing "secret planning sessions" in which potential party strategies are plotted; and in the final sections, to propose a plan for each party to break the deadlock and pull the majority of voters in line with its political views. Footnotes and graphs and "chalk talk" illustrations abound throughout.
Greenberg writes in clear lucid prose, plainly setting out his premise while using minimal political jargon. While the book is meaty and dense with facts, the only dry thing about it is Greenberg's somewhat sardonic wit. It is a surprisingly funny book which should be read by every voter, regardless of political party.
Essential reading for the 2004 elections.......2004-06-06
A comprehensive blueprint for thoughtful, responsible discussion and for the pivotal decisions that are ours to make at a critical juncture in American politics in an age of globalization. An essential, engaging handbook of political strategy perfectly timed for the 2004 elections. Read this book sooner rather than later.
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