Princely Courts of Europe: Ritual, Politics and Culture Under the Ancient Regime 1500-1750

Book Description

Vandenberg, at eighteen, became the youngest man ever to win the champion title at The World Open in Bare Knuckle Karate. An accident caused a leg injury and he endured a painful recovery period. After his leg healed, he went on to fight Kran, the legendary Northern Thai fighter. Vandenberg had become the best. This is his story.

Customer Reviews:

The Obtuse Square: The Life Story of Dominiquie Vandenberg, A Legend in His Own Mind.......2006-04-04

When I started reading this book, I liked it. That I admit. But as I read more, and as I found contradictions and impossibilities, my initial view of this work turned from enjoyment to disappointment to downright skepticism and anger.

This book contains a lot of adventure, mayhem and martial arts, all right. And therein lies the problem: This book has too much of these things to be believable. Perhaps instead of being titled "The Iron Circle: The True Life Story of Dominiquie Vandenberg", the book should be titled "The Obtuse Square: The Life Story of Dominiquie Vandenberg, a Legend in His Own Mind".

Like Frank Dux, who fails to provide tangible evidence of his alleged activities as a U.S. Marine (he served just six months, if that and if at all), as a CIA operative (Dux claims to have worked personally with the late CIA Director William J. Casey, but the key piece of evidence linking the two somehow falls into a large body of water because of Dux's clumsiness, which seems to contradict the finesse needed/required by someone who claims to be an advanced martial artist) and as a ninja (Dux claims to have studied under a Japanese master of whom no record exists), Dominiquie Vandenberg fails to provide tangible evidence about his adventures and background.

In other words, I have problems with Dominiquie Vandenberg's self-aggrandizing/hagiographic autobiography for a number of reasons:

*Dominiquie Vandenberg claims to have studied an Okinawan art called kunto; there is a martial art called kuntao, but this is an Indonesian-Malaysian-Chinese martial art, not an Okinawan art; I have not been able to find anything about Okinawan kunto and any requisite six-month training program in Okinawa.
*In regards to the above point, Dominiquie Vandenberg claims to have undergone a six-month period of brutal training in Okinawa, an assertion I call pure BS because no human body can sustain the level of brutality and sleep deprivation (among other things) that Dominiquie Vandenberg claims he endured; take Navy SEAL BUD/s training, for instance; men a lot tougher than Dominiquie Vandenberg have dropped out of BUD/s training, which certainly doesn't last six months; and if these men, who are a lot tougher than Dominiquie Vandenberg, couldn't hack BUD/s training, I don't see how Dominiquie Vandenberg could survive, for six months, the level of brutality he claims he endured in Okinawa; I'm repeating the point here, and I'm doing so because "The Iron Circle" is full of implausible claims like this one.
*Dominiquie Vandenberg claims to have been a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion (FFL); well and good, but please provide documentation (a photocopy of the discharge certificate the FFL gives to each legionnaire who honorably departs the FFL, etc.) about this, among other things regarding his alleged service in the FFL. (He has a photograph or two of himself in FFL uniform, but aren't uniforms easy to obtain? I could pose as a FFL paratrooper and claimed I served in Corsica and Djibouti, as Vandenberg seems to have done here.)
*Dominiquie Vandenberg claims that while serving the FFL in a five-year tour, he got a two-week leave and went to Thailand to fight; pardon me for my disbelief here, but I definitely do not believe this at all; the FFL DOES NOT allow soldiers doing a first tour to take extended leave. (Cf. the work of Evan McGorman, a Canadian who did serve in the FFL, and who has written a book about his experiences in the FFL. McGorman portrays life in the FFL as it truly is: laborious in a janitorial sort of way, primitive and highly uninspiring.) The life of a FFL soldier is highly regimented, in other words, and does not allow for the leeway Dominiquie Vandenberg describes in this book.
*Another point regarding Dominiquie Vandenberg's claim that he served in the FFL: Dominiquie Vandenberg claims that he suffered severe leg/hip damage in an accident; if so, and if he had the surgery he claims he had, then there is simply no way that Dominiquie Vandenberg would be able to do the physical training required of a legionnaire; imagine a young man, perhaps once athletic, having a hip replacement; and then imagine that young man attempting to do the physical work required of a U.S. Marine; it just ain't happenin'.
*Dominiquie Vandenberg claims that while fighting in Southeast Asia, he killed a mercenary who stepped into the ring after he, Vandenberg, vanquished a kickboxing opponent; the mercenary had three companions in the audience; my question: Can we honestly believe that three sociopathic men (probably all armed to the T with guns, knives and who knows what else) wouldn't have done something to avenge their fallen friend?
*Dominiquie Vandenberg claims that while in Southeast Asia, he met a former U.S. Special Forces soldier who had become a Buddhist monk. (Presumably, this monk was a Theravadic Buddhist; the Thais, the Burmese and Buddhists in southern India and Sri Lanka practice this form of Buddhism.) Dominiquie Vandenberg claims to have undergone a sort of spiritual conversion because of this man (or at least hints at it). Again, what is the monk's name? What form of Buddhism did this monk teach and practice? And the parable that the monk uses to "enlighten" Dominiquie Vandenberg (a parable about a Samurai who encounters a wise Buddhist monk) is a parable that one can find in several martial arts books and magazines; this parable is so clichéd in the Japanese Zen Buddhist community (from which it originates) that I won't even repeat it here. (I find it odd that a Buddhist monk in Thailand or wherever would even quote this parable, which isn't part of the Buddhist traditional canon in Southeast Asia, but as aforementioned, comes from the Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition).
*Regarding the above point about Dominiquie Vandenberg's "spiritual training": If one claims to have undergone a spiritual conversion, or to have trained in the spiritual-meditative ways in which Dominiquie Vandenberg claims he has been trained, one doesn't go around bragging about the number of people one has maimed or killed, as Vandenberg does in this book, and one certainly doesn't go back to Hollywood and partake in films like "Death Row Tournament", "Pit Fighter" and other films that glorify violence; at least that's what Buddhism teaches as part of its eightfold path. (Besides right livelihood -- there's nothing wrong with acting, but Buddhism would argue that acting in films that glorify violence is wrong -- another Buddhist tenet in the eightfold path is right speech, or telling the truth; I wonder if Dominiquie Vandenberg learned that from his friend the monk.)
*Dominiquie Vandenberg speaks of a Thai opponent -- a god-like Muay Thai master -- he vanquishes, without providing the name of this fighter; Vandenberg also says that this Muay Thai fighter fought once a month for several years; excuse me, but as someone who has trained in Muay Thai, I can tell you, the ring life of a Muay Thai fighter lasts three to four years at the most; imagine a heavyweight boxer fighting a full-out, 15-round match a month, month-in, month-out, for several years; the fighter would be so punch-drunk and loopy (if not dead), it wouldn't be funny. Yet Vandenberg claims that this particular Muay Thai fighter did this kind of fighting for years on end. (Cf. the writings of Bill "Superfoot" Wallace for further information on the realities of Muay Thai and life in the ring.)

I find this work disturbing because of its glorification of violence; like his countryman Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dominiquie Vandenberg seems to be another phony Hollywood tough attempting to impress one and all with a mostly imagined past.

Another Steven Seagal..........2006-01-16

Hey, for utter and complete mind candification, this book is a fun read. Unfortunately that's it. This guy is another Steven Seagal...a man prone to believing his own exagerations, who seeks the company of media-types to spread his lies, and who actually expects folks to believe him. Unfortunately, just like Seagal's movies, folks will go see his movies just for the fun of it...not to see some half-wit's (Vandenberg) version of the truth. Enjoy the book and lose respect for Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese along the way!

Oh, one more thing...there is no such thing as "Kunto" Karate.

More Barf-o than Budo! Over the Top!.......2006-01-04

Ok,Ok yeah, he's a bad a---. So what? What is the point of all this? You got me. The guy is either SuperMan or is adept at fiction. You be the judge.

Fiction.......2005-12-27

If half of this were true, and without the 3rd grade level writing, this might make a good story. Really, this is such a pathetic attempt on the part of Mr. Vandenberg to inflate his own ego and create a myth of himself and why, why didn't he get someone who could write? He sounds like he is desperate and needs years of therapy. Pick up any comic book and you will do better.

a powerful story.......2005-12-23

this book was a quick read interesting ang sort of like a carwreck you just couldnt look away. i really liked the part about the foreign legion. those are some tough SOBs. the story did have a lot of sex mentioned which i think the book could have left out, but the fights were great and the style drew you into the story its a good read and is being passed around my dojo

The Iron Circle: the True Life Story of Dominiquie Vandenberg

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The Iron Circle: the True Life Story of Dominiquie Vandenberg
Dominiquie, And Rever, Rick Vandenberg
Manufacturer: Volt Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K01GL2

Customer Reviews:

Must have for any Disney collector.......2003-06-05

"Disney's Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film" consists of 7 chapters each features a main character from the film and each chapter handles a part of the production of the film. Through out the book you find sketches, frames, photos of the crew, storyboards etc, etc. Until and after the dvd is out in 2004 this book is the best source for detailed information on the production of this Disney masterpiece.

Awesome content and layout!.......2003-03-12

The book is light and easy to carry! That's what I love about it first. But then this is more of a book explaining the progress and experiences of the film production team. It has good interviews on great animators like Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, and many more. It goes in detail of how animators cooperate with their actress/actors, designers, and even business folks (yes, those whom actually owns Disney, ahem.... Peter Schneider). What really bugs me is the absence of concept art and development sketches. It appears on several pages of the book, but not enough compare to "The Art of..." books. This is a great book to get for any Disney or animation fan, but if you want reference and simply....to get inspired by awesome Disney art--you may think otherwise. Do check it out before you purchase it, but it is a decent book!

A well thought out, well-written, well-concieved work.......2002-09-18

This book is not only excellent for any rabid Aladdin fan, any Disney-enthusiast will appriciate the colorful, yet simple, layouts, and the organization of the book itself. Each chapter centera around one particular aspect of animated feature-making (such as pre-production, character design, color scheeming, etc.) and uses a main character as an example for each process. A truly excellent find.

--a bit of trivia: At the time "Aladdin" was being promoted, Robin Williams was working on another movie called "Toys," and didn't want to be promoting "Aladdin" as a priority over his other movie--since he had commited to the Disney project second. As a result, Robin Williams is not named once in the entire book! Instead, it used the phrases, "The Genie voice."

Lack of respect for the actor who carried such a good movie.......2002-08-12

I collect the hyperion 'the art of' series conceirning the disney movies (and dreamworks)and found it terribly annoying tha author never mentions Robin Williams throughout the whole book. Unbelievable when you consider the impact his voice and humor has on the film. I really expected more info on his involvement. Compared to other making-of-books this has the least attractive lay-out and too much info on the historie of the artists. (it is also one of the smallest). Maybe my hopes were just a bit too high.

Very poorly structured book.......1999-11-30

I enjoyed the film very much, and the images in the book are beautifully reproduced. It's a shame there seems to be no coherant structure to the book. The writing is extremely poor, and not once do the images and text refer to each other in any semblence of organization.

Book Description

Today, the photo album is something we practically take for granted, and "scrapbooking" is a billion dollar industry with its own television network. It was not always so. Before the camera, ordinary families had little more than the family Bible, a portrait of grandpa, and a drawer full of documents. Then Eastman Kodak introduced the Brownie, giving Americans the means to document and record their daily lives. Hundreds of thousands of these cameras were produced, and as a result small collections of photographs were assembled and preserved in an astonishing assortment of albums, with photographs as the raw material for collages, constructions, and text experiments.

Snapshot Chronicles is a visual exploration of the creative outpouring made possible by the camera. Friends, family, travel, domestic life, special occasions, the workplace, farm and city life—these were all intermingled in early albums in surprising and dynamic forms. Men, women, and even children became the creators of their own visual biographies, and documenters of previously unprecedented aspects of American life.

Four essayists weave together the history of the photo album, making them not just a part of our past but a significant aspect of Americana. Snapshot Chronicles is designed by noted graphic designer Martin Venezky (It Is Beautiful...Then Gone).

Copublished with the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College.

Customer Reviews:

A Book Full of Possibilities.......2007-03-11

This book, for the reasons already mentioned by the other reviewers, is wonderful in its format and presentation of the information. I thoroughly enjoyed poring over the various albums presented and marveled at the unique creativity of each of their authors. As a person who creates scrapbooks, I admit feeling some sorrow that these albums have wandered far from their original "families," but at the same time, it gave me hope that there is an increasing respect for the folk art aspects of the "snapshot album" and that my albums -- if they go astray -- may someday be archived and revered like so many American handstitched quilts. So, I take solace in that the future my "art" is full of possibilities!

I have one small criticism: I would have liked to have seen the text printed in a slightly larger typeface. I found the small typeface difficult to read with my aging eyes -- but, I persevered and read every word!

History Your Imagination Will Appreciate.......2006-08-21

This is a most interesting book, at least for people such as myself who have an interest in late 19th and early 20th century photography. Actually, I suspect it would also intrigue people who lack that enthusiasm but who have an interest in general social history of this period. A premise of the book is that photographs in albums are often times given added historical or literary meaning and visual interest by being placed into a personalized context by an arranger, compiler, and/or photographer. This context provides the photographs with an enhanced ability to create an historical account of a life, a portion of a life, an event, etc. - without being subservient to a text. Most of the albums presented do not have any substantial written commentary (and many have no written text other than labels for individual photographs), and rely on the images alone to provide the larger insights. The book is extensively and richly illustrated with examples drawn from the large and thoughtfully acquired collection of Barbara Levine. These examples illuminate and extend the clear and insightful commentary in the book.

The book also contains a very fine essay by the novelist Matthew Stadler discussing his ideas concerning the value of such albums that I was grateful to see, as these were ideas that would not likely have occurred to me, but were most insightful. This is a most pleasing inclusion.

The historical component of a picture is obviously improved by being placed in context. One of the most interesting features of this book then, is its visual demonstration of the wide variety of historical narrative styles that can be illustrated by albums, and even the way historical events can be illustrated without a "narrative" per se.

Definitely a valuable book for people who are interested in historical photographs. A small criticism, from my stand point is that I would have liked to have seen more albums filled with tintypes, but this is a _very_ trivial point when compared with the strengths of the book.

the beginnings of the American photo album as a type of social history.......2006-02-07

The cover is velvet, like one of those fancy Victorian-era photo albums. "Snapshot Chronicles" accompanies an exhibition at Reed College of innumerable photographs collected by Barbara Levine. The photographs are kept together as they were in albums of their original owners; or in the case of those not going with an album, in groups of similarly pictured individuals or similar subject matter. The source of the photographs was the Kodak Brownie camera introduced as a consumer item in 1900. This quickly led to an explosion of photographs of friends, relatives, yards and neighborhoods, vacation scenes, and varied activities (much as the cell phone has spurred new kinds of communication these days, one assumes). The photos were kept in "vernacular" photo albums; whose charm to later generations is explained by Willard Morgan, the Director of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Photography in 1944, "The snapshot has become, in truth, a folk art, spontaneous, almost effortless, yet deeply expressive. It is an honest art...partly because it is simply more trouble to make an untrue picture than a true picture." The hundreds of simple, yet fetching snapshots were taken before the days when artists, photojournalists, advertisers, and propagandists started to make use of cameras for their own specialized ends. Thus, the guileless, popular, vernacular snapshots can be seen as an unwitting visual social history of the era too.

Average customer rating:
Objective Raids/a Battletech Sourcebook/1665
Jeffery Layton
Manufacturer: Fasa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1555601731

Average customer rating:

Very Happy

Straightforward and practical

Highly recommended

great reference for writing a marketing plan

Marketing Plan Handbook and Marketing Plan Pro (2nd Edition)
Marian Burk Wood
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Marketing Management (12th Edition) (Marketing Management)

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Marketing Plans, Sixth Edition: How to prepare them, how to use them

ASIN: 0131641492

Book Description

The Marketing Plan Handbook guides readers through the complete development of a realistic, customized marketing plan, and the Marketing Plan Pro software bundled with the book helps users create practical plans, and allows them to critique sample marketing plans. From the introduction to marketing planning to market analysis, strategic development, and plan implementation, this book covers all aspects of the marketing plan. A great introduction and overview for any business owner, marketing agent, or anyone looking for a practical guide to marketing planning.

Customer Reviews:

Very Happy.......2007-02-19

This book is one of my favorite text books I am using right now for classes. I have an Entrepreneur Marketing class which this book is perfect for!

Straightforward and practical.......2003-01-26

Having no formal training in marketing, I was impressed by the straightforward way this book explains how to write a marketing plan. At times I'm tempted to go straight to the tactics-where should I advertise? What should I charge?-but this book prompted me to go back to the beginning, starting with my small business's situation, goals, and competition. This was the first time I've drafted a highly detailed, full-year marketing plan. I used the software packaged with the book as a starting point, but wound up creating a different format and order of topics for my finished plan.

Highly recommended.......2003-01-21

Although I've been in marketing for more than a decade, I got a lot out of this book. The checklists provided invaluable pointers about what to cover when writing a marketing plan. I also bookmarked many of the web sites listed in the appendix so I can use them for further research. The author peppers every chapter with lively, in-depth examples that sparked a couple of new ideas for my business. Even the sample marketing plan in the back of the book was a helpful guide for fleshing out my own thoughts. Highly recommended!

great reference for writing a marketing plan.......2002-12-29

this book is a great supplement to any intro marketing textbook or by itself -- taking you step by step through the process of writing a marketing plan. a practical book for anyone interested in learning/understanding how basic marketing concepts come together, or any new product managers out there not wanting to look like homer simpson ("DOH") when asked to write your first marketing plan. it'll help you frame your thoughts, create an outline of things to cover, and remind you of things you might otherwise forget to include. also serves as a great "cliff notes" type reference of the hefty marketing textbooks you devoured while in b-school.

Marketing Plan Handbook and Pro Premier Marketing Plan Package (3rd Edition)

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Marketing Plan Handbook and Pro Premier Marketing Plan Package (3rd Edition)
Marian Burk Wood
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0135136288

Book Description

How do you get your students actively engaged in applying concepts while writing a marketing plan? What types of tools would you like to help guide them along in the creation process? How do you integrate the ever-changing business environment into the idea of writing marketing plans?

Never has a carefully crafted, properly implemented marketing plan been more important to business success. The text illustrates how marketing planning is actually applied in consumer and business markets, in large and small companies, in traditional and online businesses, and in nonprofit organizations. To reinforce this real-world view, key examples also demonstrate how today’s global economy and dynamic business environment can cause marketers to change their plans as the situation evolves. Through specific features, the text encourages students to formulate imaginative, yet realistic, marketing plans.

Customer Reviews:

A Brilliant and Accomplished Woman under a Spell.......2006-11-10

I didn't come to this book "cold." I have seen interviews with and documentary TV programs about Mrs. Harris, read another book about her, and viewed both HBO's "Mrs. Harris" and an earlier, excellent TV movie about her trial which utilized trial transcripts for the dialogue. Shana Alexander's detailed, nuanced book about the life of the woman whom she quickly came to admire and sympathize with gets my vote, however, for how Mrs. Harris should be remembered. Being mesmerized by need and wonderful memories into continuing in an increasingly unrewarding, even degrading, relationship is a phenomenon which both men and women, uneducated or as impressively literate as Jean Harris, can understand. Things can go terribly wrong, particularly when one partner in the relationship seemingly is incapable of true commitment or even of empathy (Dr. T), and the other is under the spell of not only of lost love remembered but of sudden forced withdrawal from mood-altering, inappropriately prescribed medication. Ms. Alexander's book gives a fascinating, multi-faceted look at an uber-capable, extremely responsible adult female who goes through the windshield one appropriately dark and stormy night after long-term endurance of disrespect, flagrant cheating, and neglect and short-term drug-induced crashing depression and panic. Before being released from prison, Jean Harris spent years helping her fellow inmates and their children and writing lucid, compassionate books about this experience; much to her credit, her excellent biographer includes this information in this book. I hope Mrs. Harris, whenever she passes away, lives through the admiration and love of her own children, whom she cared for more than herself, as well as that of a wider audience introduced to her in this work. As for Dr. Tarnower, I hope he is remembered as what Mrs. Harris feared he would be: a "diet Doc."

A CSI of Psychology.......2002-10-23

Shana Alexander's Very Much a Lady and Diana Trilling's Mrs. Harris: The Death of the Scarsdale Diet Doctor are complementary books about a fascinating case: the murder of Dr. Tarnower by his lover Jean Harris.

It is Jean Harris' motive in killing Dr. Tarnower that interests these two writers. Jean Harris was neither psychotic nor particularly violent. In some ways, she seemed the classic example of the woman wronged. In other ways, she seemed the classic example of the 1950s woman coping uneasily and unsuccessfully in the changed world of the 1980s and in still other ways, she seemed the eternal victim of circumstance.

Both writers agree that the punishment did not fit the crime. Mrs. Harris did not intend to kill Dr. Tarnower and in law, intent does matter. Shana Alexander spends more time than Diana Trilling in exploring the mistakes made by the defense (such as their refusal to plead to a lesser charge), and she is more critical of the prosecution. Both writers, however, are primarily interested in Jean Harris' character. Their differing approaches regarding the latter are at the heart of these similar, yet ultimately distinct, books.

Shana Alexander is an objective partisan. She is honest about Jean Harris' flaws, but it is clear both from her tone and the accumulation of biographical information that she considers Jean Harris not as a victim but as a basically sane and not unlikable human being pushed beyond her limits by her culture, her background, her medical history and her own psychology. She doesn't exculpate Jean Harris but neither does she condemn her.

Diana Trilling, on the other hand, is far less partisan and far more critical. She sees in Jean Harris a woman who sacrificed her intellectual integrity for a sordid affair. She is disgusted by Mrs. Harris' behavior during the trial and appalled by the letter written by Mrs. Harris to Dr Tarnower before the killing (and never actually read by him). Shana Alexander, on the other hand, while agreeing that the letter condemned Mrs. Harris in the eyes of the jury (even in the evidence did not) bemoans the lack of prescience by Jean Harris' defense in presenting the letter in court. Her defense, Shana Alexander argues, did not understand Jean Harris and were therefore unable to successfully present the problems of the case both to Jean Harris herself and to the jury.

The similarities and differences between Shana Alexander and Diana Trilling make their two books excellent complements. I recommend reading Diana Trillling's book first since it is the "outsider's" take on the case. Shana Alexander's book then will give the reader a closer look at a troubled woman and a bizarre, perhaps avoidable, tragedy.

An excellent book about a why-dunnit.......1998-07-28

Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander is the immensely readable story of Jean Harris. For anyone who has lost track of yesterday's headlines, Harris is the headmistress of a girls' school who shot and killed her lover, Herman Tarnower, a respected cardiologist who authored the best-selling Complete Scarsdale Diet Book. To this day, Harris maintains that the fatal shooting of Dr. Tarnower was an accident that occurred when the doctor fought with her over the gun she planned to use to kill herself. Alexander traces of the lives of Harris and Tarnower from childhood on and sees the seeds of destruction planted early on. The same character traits which brought them together as lovers doomed them to a terrible ending. Harris's relationship with her impossible-to-please father formed her early identity as a "good girl" and led to her need for a dominant male image to shore up her shaky sense of self. The classic overachiever, Harris had to excel in any project! she tackled. She craved stimulation which she failed to get from her brief first marriage to a decent but unexciting man. Harris divorced him and began a fourteen-year-long love affair with Dr. Tarnower. The latter was a dedicated physician with old-fashioned attitudes toward women. There is one puzzling aspect to the tale that deserves fuller attention than Alexander gives it: Harris's religious background. According to Alexander, Jean Harris's Mom was a devout Christian Scientist. The irony of Jean's passion for a doctor should have been examined in light of the Christian Science beliefs into which she had been indoctrinated during her childhood--but this is ignored by Alexander. The jury rejected Harris's version of events and found her guilty of murder. Alexander, who is unabashadly Harris's partisan, brilliantly dissects the defense errors which led to conviction. Amongst the chief of these were her attorney's misguided interpretation of the explosive Scarsdale ! Letter, the distance between the accused and the jury in cl! a** and background, and the failure of her attorney to understand the personality of this brittle, high-strung "lady." In a story laced with ironies, the greatest is that in the version of events told by the prosecutor and accepted by the jury, Herman Tarnower is just another murder victim whereas according to Harris's defense Tarnower died a heroic death, tragically jeopardizing his life to save hers,

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Very Much a Lady
Shana Alexander
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0440192706
Release Date: 1986-05-01

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Very Much a Lady
Shana Alexander
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTPDAY

Book Description

This detailed study charts the uneven growth of the Austrian navy from its high point following Archduke Ferdinand Max's administration and the War of 1866 to its ultimate dissolution after World War 1. In following this development, Lawrence Sondhaus not only relates the operational aspects of the Habsburg navy but also traces the growth of popular navalism in Austria-Hungary, the role of naval expansion in stimulating industrial development, and the peculiar difficulties of navy commanders in dealing with the Habsburg nationality problem and the cumbersome politics of Austro-Hungarian dualism.

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Good, but a bit too optimistic

Rubbish

A Calm but Caring Exploration

The Market System: Understood Properly!!!

Interesting reflections on the market system

The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It
Charles E. Lindblom
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0300093349

Book Description

In this clear and accessible book, an eminent political scientist offers a jargon-free introduction to the market system for all readers, with or without a background in economics.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but a bit too optimistic.......2005-08-01

Charles Lindblom brings up several interesting issues about the Market System. While I agreed with the basic principles, I had the feeling that he sometimes oversimplified some issues and I was sometimes left with more questions than answers. Specifically, given the current environment of proposed nation building in the Middle East, I attempted (perhaps too ambitiously) to extrapolate his theories to this problem, and thus found Lindblom's explanation of the Market system as a peacekeeping force most interesting, and therefore also most troublesome.

I was hoping to find some understanding of how the implementation of a healthy market system "does not simply flourish in peaceful societies; [but also how] it helps to make those societies peaceful." Also I was interested in how Lindblom defines `peaceful', as I believe the USA may have one of the most effective market systems in the world, yet at least compared to Europe, and in fact many other countries like China with central planning, the USA is far from peaceful (high crime rates, riots etc.).

I found Lindblom's caveat that "the market system makes societies peaceful, but that is not necessarily efficient, equitable, or humane" perplexing. Does, as Lindblom claims, "higher income - and especially growing income - reduce frustration, conflict, and consequent mutual injury, making possible a peaceful and stable political order", and if so can this be projected at an international level to reduce incidents such as 911? Specifically, what can be done in a country like Afghanistan, with an arguably weak market system, which has been at the center of the `Great Game' for so long? Lindblom mentions the success of how "now conspicuously in Asia Q.E.D. The market system makes for social peace"; should Afghanistan attempt to follow the example export oriented example of the Asian Tigers, how would this be possible?

Charles brings up some good points, but probably should read Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations. I think the glass is only half full. And globalization is somehting which our current governmental bodies and supranational organizations are, not yet equipped to deal with. I fear it is a society that small, especially economically challenged nation states fear, perhaps rightly so? This is what will give rise to further clashes of civilizations but not peace.

Tom Anderson
Anderson Analytics, LLC
http://www.andersonanalytics.com

Rubbish.......2002-10-18

"Professor Lindblom's argument manifests a fundamental misunderstanding of the case for capitalism. Unless some people with money to spend wanted to read books critical of capitalism written by leftist intellectuals, our author would be unable to sell his book. But this does not weaken his claim to the money he is paid for the book: quite the contrary, that very fact is his claim to the money."

"Lindblom's abuse of logic in his argument goes further. Suppose one grants him that because the value of his book in large part depends on the preferences and actions of people besides him, he is not entitled to what people choose to pay him. It hardly follows that it is up to "society" to decide the issue. Lindblom has argued in this way: The value of what someone produces depends on the actions of everyone else, that is, on "the whole system." But this is to reify "the whole system" as if it were a separate entity with rights and entitlements of its own."

""Do you mean to tell me that in your society, other than a claim to liberty to work for wages and to hold and use assets if you can get any, no one has any claim on anyone else, on government, or on society other than what one can claim by offering something in return. . . . You call yourselves human beings?" (p. 114).

Clearly, the spaceman speaks for our author, who elsewhere bemoans the millions of people who would starve, were the market rule strictly applied. Would not all infants fail to reach adulthood, since they make no market contribution? "[T]he world would lie depopulated in a generation" (p. 120).

I venture to suggest that Lindblom has totally misapprehended the issue. The question is not whether people without assets or marketable skills should starve; of course they should not. But does it help these unfortunates to give them enforceable rights to sustenance? A legal enactment of this kind will not conjure into existence any resources, and these can be obtained only from the productive. Why will the poor fare better if they depend on the state to seize wealth from others, rather than rely on charity? Again Lindblom falls into the fallacy of thinking that a market society contains nothing but market transactions."

"Lindblom is for the most part content to repeat his arguments of fifty years ago. Perhaps in another half-century he will grasp what is wrong with them."

Quote: David Gordon,...

A Calm but Caring Exploration.......2002-03-14

"Think society, not economy." Thus Lindblom, our author, urges the reader to think about the market system in a more inclusive context than we ordinarily are wont to do. To what end?

Well, the subtitle of this book is "What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It." As he says early on: "For at least 150 years many societies have been trapped in an ill-tempered debate about market systems. Now we have an opportunity to think about these systems with a new dispassion and clarity. Market ideologues have learned that there is little to fear from communism... For their part, socialist ideologues have realized that aspiring for a better society is not enough. They have to face the complexities of constructing one."

One way of bisecting the population is by distinguishing those who see an imperfect world and want to perfect it from those who see an imperfect world and want to live in it as well as its imperfections allow. Charles Lindblom, a professor of economics and political science, is of the first sort. His viewpoints become clear as the book goes along, and he makes no bones about the imperfections of the various market systems and their supporting political systems. At the same time he is not an ideologue, and does not fall into the trap of yearning for a utopia of the right, or of the left.

Basically, he sees the market system as inducing cooperation and preempting violent interaction over a vast range of social interactions. That these take place mostly with money as intermediary does not remove them from the social sphere: it is, he claims, a false distinction to place economic interactions in some separable sphere from social interactions. The real distinction that the market system makes is quid pro quo: interactions between people involve an exchange - of goods for money, of favor for favor, of dinner at your house for (maybe much later) dinner at my house. But the invention of money and credit has made possible society-wide cooperation (the chain of cooperators to get this computer to my desk runs into the millions, or the hundreds of millions, of cooperating humans). For this the market system gets full credit.

But, as we know from the history of the Industrial Revolution (still going on in speeded-up form in some parts of the world), unfettered capitalism (the unregulated market system, in our terminology) is a harsh sorter-out of its participants into a few big winners (the entrepreneurs), a large number of more-or-less-contented employees, and a large number (although, unless the society is in imminent danger of revolution, not so large as the second group) of "losers" for whom the system offers little but grinding toil and early death.

Excepting such as Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand, most people feel the government has a legitimate role in curbing the excesses of the market system and protecting the citizens from each other within it. For it is a particularly transparent sophistry that all participants in the system come to it as roughly equally competent. To consider just one sort of inequality: many participants cannot do the arithmetic (don't even know that there is arithmetic they should be doing!) that would tell them whether they are getting a reasonable value when they buy something on time. Nor, say, do they understand the savage rate of compounding that credit card debt, left unattended, incurs.

The great political schism of our time is not religious, but free-market vs. government intervention. It can take a vast number of forms, and debate can get bogged down in symbolically important issues of little practical consequence while other more important effects are ignored. It is the virtue of this book that it adopts a more neutral terminology ("the market system") and is able to discuss and evaluate a vast range of issues on which sides are taken without demonizing one side or the other.

The weakness of this book is its inconclusiveness. It can't be helped. One can read a book about welfare reform, for example, and come away convinced of the author's prescription, because he has carefully stage-managed his argument to minimize or hide difficulties. Lindblom does not have that luxury: every issue really does have two sides. His general views are not in doubt: the market system is a very good thing; it needs government controls; government can, does, and should use the market system when it can it further the collective goals of the society.

But: how much freedom, of what sort, is enough? Is a command political system that employs market incentives just about as good as democracy? What possible alternatives are there to a market system? What can be done about corporations, these vast engines of production that are increasingly out of the control of the political system?

I enjoyed this book, although I'm not sure what I now know that I didn't already tacitly know. There were a few epiphanies, but they went by so quickly that I suspect I could profit much from a second reading. There are no pictures, charts, or bold-faced claims: the book has no visual aids to highlight its points. The prose is calm, and the arguments for or against a position are spare, with little or no supporting evidence. One reason for this is the high level at which the points are discussed: Lindblom is not making policy, but rather pointing out the wide range of possible answers to many of the vexed questions of the day. One cannot doubt the truth of most of what he says. The question is, what is one to do with it?

If one is a person of the second type, the answer is, nothing. But reformers should be given pause: Perhaps, after reading this book they may be persuaded to make their solutions less sweeping, in keeping with a new appreciation of the subtlety and richness of the problems of organizing a society around a market system that is intertwined with a political system.

The Market System: Understood Properly!!!.......2002-02-13

The main objective of Lindblom in this book is to elucidate the market system, not only in relation with the economic system but also in relation with the "social system", about what it does mean, how it does work, and what the alternatives it does have. Though the author is a supporter of the market system, he clearly demonstrates the efficiencies and inefficiencies, and accomplishments and failures of the market system in some important points for the society as a whole. At a point of time in history in which the alternative systems, including socialism, to market system have collapsed and the market rhetoric has pervaded all spaces of civic discourse, especially that regarding public sector management, Lindblom presents an excellent account of the market system that I believe will be very helpful to anybody who is interested in applying the market model to the public sector, and to anybody who believes (sometimes blindly) that the State is an impediment to the effective and efficient functioning of the market system.

The book is grouped into three parts. In the first part titled "How It Works" Lindblom examines the dynamics of the market system that lead to "great accomplishments". In the second part titled "What to Make of It" the author focuses on the operating rules of the market system, the relationship of the market system with and impact on democracy and culture. In the third part titled "Thinking About Choices" Lindblom envisages the alternative system to the market system that is expected to solve the problems of the market system. I will try to summarize some important points below.

To Lindblom, "a market system is a method of social coordination by 'mutual adjustment' among participants rather than by a central coordinator" (p. 23). To better grasp the role of the market system in coordinating the society, the author advises us to focus on and think the society, not the economy. In the market system, millions of people think and act without a great mind's planning and intention (say, central planning bureaucracy in socialist systems). "The market system is not a place but a web, not a location but a set of coordinated performances" (p. 40). The important point Lindblom tries to accomplish is that "it is a mindless and purposeless market system that accomplishes the great tasks of social cooperation" (p. 40). The market system wheel is rolled by intended and unintended behaviors of the individuals, but it creates an efficient functioning that was dreamed but could not yet have been accomplished by centrally intended systems such as socialist system. Lindblom approaches social coordination and "peacekeeping" in close relation to each other. Because of scarcity, according to the author, there is an inherent danger that people find themselves in fight to each other for determining who will get what and in what amount. "The market system", with the help of its formal and informal rules, "produces patterns of behavior that themselves reduce mutual injury and keep peace in the society, quite aside from inducing people to obey the law" (p. 44). Although "the market system makes societies peaceful, but that is not necessarily efficient, equitable, or humane" (p. 44), Lindblom cautions.

Lidblom believes that although enterprises and corporations are of critical importance in the market system in making proximate decisions (that transform inputs into outputs), he adds a caution that "the more the coordination by corporate management, the less by the market system", and he goes on to say that "The corporation is indeed an alternative to the market system" (p. 78). Why? Because the corporation can become an "island of command in market sea", by vertically integrating its production and by horizontally diversifying its mix of goods and services In these cases, multilateral cooperation among participants in the market system transforms itself into the unilateral hierarchical decision making of corporate managers, a form of decision-making that is more different than the market system's mutual adjustment, more similar to the central planning system's top-down decision making. This is a very important point that attracts our attention to the vital role of the State in ensuring the proper functioning of the market system and assuring fair competition.

Lindblom examines a large number of operating rules that lead the market system to producing efficient results in the domain in which it is mainly responsible and able to. This operating rules ranges from "quid pro quo" to "efficiency prices". Though generally market system is seen "completely" efficient as compared to "witch government", Lindblom demonstrates how the market system creates and feeds inefficiencies (negative spillovers, income inequalities are some among many others) and fails in many points that necessitate the State intervention to keep the "civilized" society get across the road.

One point in the book that impressed me deeply is how the market system, through its elite, creates (that I can call "anomalies in democratic system") what Lindblom calls "undemocracy". Lindblom also wages an effective critique on "granting the enterprise a citizen's rights (corporation as citizen) and demonstrates (with examples) how this "grant" can give (or gave) way to serious problems for the democratic system. In sum, Lindblom believes that "a society has to pay heavily for its market system in some loss of democracy (p. 250).

The inefficiencies and dangers of the market system constitute no reason, according to Lindblom, to abandon the market system. The alternative to the market system is not radically different from the market system itself today in function, but it is a state-supported market system that is oriented to detecting the problems and providing the solutions that the market system fails to do.

This book is supra-excellent that I cannot portray within limited lines. I believe that Lindblom is a great mind and a beautiful writer. Highly recommended for anybody who thinks that s/he knows the market system very well.

Interesting reflections on the market system.......2001-09-29

Professor Lindblom approaches his study of the "market system" in a rather circumspect manner but ultimately the book informs. The first part of the book is largely instructive. He defines the market system as "a system of society wide coordination of human activities not by central command but by mutual interactions in the form of transactions." Coordination is for both "social peacekeeping" and cooperation. Markets are an arena for mutual adjustment and not simply or even mostly for competition as some would contend. He contrasts the flexibility of markets with the rules and authority of a command system. The state under girds the market system by providing for liberties, property and contract rights, policing, infrastructure, a monetary system, etc. The author furnishes the analogy: if the market system is a dance, the state supplies the dance floor. He is especially wont to point out the interpenetration of the market system with society and the polity. The market system is not some purely economic formulation like, say, the law of supply and demand.

A key claim by purists is that the market system establishes efficiency prices, or the correct price based on the free interactions of all buyers and sellers. The author squashes that notion. There are any number of inefficiencies and compulsions that undermine claims of efficiency. Among them are so-called spillover effects or externalities, transaction termination, manipulation of buyers, inequality of resources, inequality of market position, arbitrary pricing by monopolies or governmental interference - to name a few. In addition, the author identifies "prior determinations" as distorting efficiency prices. Custom, laws especially those of inheritance, and historical accident distribute assets and skills that distort and taint current market transactions.

The author spends some time examining the quid pro quo basis of the market system. The general rule for entering the market system is that any request for benefits or goods is invalid without an equivalent market offer. Traditional societies have generally acknowledged at least some claim to society's output by virtue of membership. But market systems turn inhumane quid pro quo into a moral virtue. The author points out that the concept of community allows for "love thy neighbor," but in market societies one has no neighbors. Critics contend that the market system affects personalities rewarding small-mindedness, cunning, and deceit over wisdom. Yet the author is more inclined to view market behavior as an example of role ethics and not to be deplored.

Perhaps the major concern of the author concerning the market system is the disproportionate power granted to elites in a market system and the subsequent impact on freedom and democracy.
Clearly entrepreneurs and corporations and to some extent governmental elites are the movers and shakers of market systems. Market and political elites constantly bombard the public in one-way communication with their messages for purposes of controlling and manipulating the public's market and political behavior making a mockery of the much proclaimed "consumer sovereignty." Elite control and hierarchical arrangements are made to seem natural in an ostensibly democratic society.

Governments offer any number of inducements to corporations: tariff protections, loans, cash and land grants, purchase of goods, patents, tax concessions, information and research services, subsidized advertising, etc. School systems are geared to corporate needs. But those concessions to market elites are clearly a case of the exercise of political inequality.

In addition, it is problematic for democracy when rights usually conferred on real, living citizens are granted to institutions such as the fiction that corporations are legal persons. He contends that institutions should be constrained to pursue assigned purposes and no others. For corporations that would include rights to buy and sell and manage a workforce. As it is, corporations play the role of oversized, unfairly empowered citizens. Utilizing public funds, that is, sales receipts, and organizational resources, corporations engage in overt political and philanthropic activities at a level that overwhelms normal citizen participation and influence.

If the market system distorts democracy, why is it that no democratic state has turned away from the market system? According to the author the assault on the public's mind by market and political elites has produced "a remarkably high degree of conformity of thought endorsing or accepting the market system."

Free-market ideologues tout the freedom of the market system. But in the face of "distracting and obfuscating" communications from elites, is it possible to exercise free choice. Some have suggested that such manipulation actually degrades mental acuteness, and though sympathetic the author finds that to be an overstatement. The unfreedom of workplaces also brings into question the claim of the market system as being freedom enhancing. In the author's words: "People at the end of the 21st century may look back with astonishment on our era's discrepancy between democratic principle and autocratic practice in the corporation."

In the end, the author though noting the considerable problems of the market system remains confident that the market system can best deliver the benefits to society as first defined. He points out that every market society can choose varying degrees of control over spillovers, monopoly, corporate powers including political powers, managerial authority in enterprises, investment, and distribution of income and wealth. Purchase, subsidy, tax, and related devices can be used by the state to make the market system livable.

Undoubtedly, free-market types will not find much to enjoy in this book. Others may contend that the author was unwilling to drive the final nail into a system that he clearly finds to be problematic. But the book is a very interesting study of the market system.

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The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What To Make of It
Charles E. Lindblom
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUHDKS

Book Description

A companion volume to Wildlife Habitat Management of Wetlands, this book brings together an extensive compilation of tried-and-proven manipulation techniques for enhancing the biodiversity of upland habitat for edge and interior game and nongame wildlife. The authors explore the full range of structural and nonstructural methods for natural and cultural habitat improvements. Wildlife managers and students will find clear, detailed guidance on how to reduce impact and alter plant succession for biodiversity by both direct and indirect methods. In-depth coverage is also included on such key topics as guilds, minimum viable populations, edge versus interior wildlife, size of reserves, succession, and much more. An ideal text for wildlife habitat management courses. With 1500 references, it is also an excellent reference book and guide for practicing wildlife managers.

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