Book Description
Raves for War Paint
"The amount of research and meticulous personal data in this book is really quite remarkable and compelling. It provides a wealth of information from which to draw wonderfully three-dimensional characters and humanizes this iconic twosome."
-Raquel Welch
"I have seldom enjoyed a book so much as War Paint. The research is staggering-I loved all the detail about society and the arts in Paris, New York, and London that so beautifully set our two heroines in context during such a long span of years . . . it was a wonderful read."
-Lulu Guinness
"A compelling cosmetic portrait of the first half of the twentieth century."
-W magazine
"So riveting that it reads like the movie that will surely be made. . . . With first-hand research and fast-paced prose, Woodhead has succeeded in turning dusty archives into high drama."
-Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune
"It might seem impossible to wring another drop of H2O (water is still a 90 percent base of most cosmetics), let alone humour and historical interest, out of the absurd but ever-alluring beauty business, but Lindy Woodhead has succeeded."
-Nicky Haslam, Literary Review
"These were women who were tough in business, who had a single vision-an idea of what they believed in and would do anything to get there."
-Bobbi Brown
Customer Reviews:
Suspense.......2007-05-07
When I'll finish this book,i'll send my opinion. Thanks for your interest.
Lucy Laragione.
(Lucy is my wife and the reader)
mcosin
When Business Women were just that............2005-09-21
I knew a fair amount about Helena Rubenstein, but knew little about her rival Elizabeth Arden, and this book pulled no punches about their rivalry. It was a time when those two created their own fortunes and companies from the ground up, something that doesn't seem to happen in the cosmetic industry today. It seems all you have to do is be a "media darling," sign a contract, and your name is plastered all over all kinds of products. Helena may have been rithless to those around her, but Miss Arden seemed to take great delight in backstabbing and the like. I'm sure I'm prejudiced, but Madame Rubenstein, albeit tiny, cut a regal figure,and to me,Miss Arden was a bit on the frumpy side. A very enjoyable book for those interested in the battle between those two.
Two Women With Similar Ideals.......2004-12-27
Rubinstein and Arden had a rivalry that you might compare to that of Jack Benny and Fred Allen--i.e. one largely conducted for publicity reasons. Lindy Woodhead has donesome amazing research, can you imagine, she spent months kneeling on the floors of Krakow parishes to find just the right birth certificate for Helena (nee Chaja) Rubinstein--not an easy thing to do, especially given the fact that Rubinstein lied about her age by several years! And in every case Woodhead goes the extra nine yards to try to distinguish what is true and what is false about her two millionairesses. They were among the first to sell American women the "culture of beauty," to insist that the cosmetics they sold would bring the consumer a whole zeitgeist of pleasure, not just individual beauty treatments. To this end they conspired with Madison Avenue and devised decades worth of intriguing, perhaps misleading advertisements.
In the end what lets us down is the feeling that perhaps the two women aren't actually that different, and it gets confusing trying to remember their slight differences--which of the two was four feet ten, while the other was five foot two? A depressing business saga of how the mass public can be manipulated with great success, but they will pay you back in the most final way--they will forget you as soon as you're not alive any more.
War Paint.......2004-02-18
This is such a juicy story. Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein were two glamorous divas, who come to life and the stories of their personal and business lives are fascinating. The author describes the rivalry between these two women with rich details, describing how their animosity fueled their growing empires. The story is even more interesting because of the times in which they lived, and Woodhead does a great job of explaining their very glamorous social circles. I can't wait to share this book with my friends, especially those who love fashion.
Book Description
This book provides an inside account of Khalifman's life and chess career, describing his emergence from promising junior to World Champion
Customer Reviews:
How to study.......2004-03-02
According to Shereshevsky (author of 'The Soviet Chess Conveyor', 'Endgame Strategy', and 'Mastering the Endgame Vol 1&2) the best way to study any game collection is to go over the first 5 games to get a feel for the style. After that you need to cover up the moves, play a guessing game of all Khalifman's moves by covering up the page. At the end of the game, write a sentence or two describing the struggle you saw in a notebook (or computer). For instance 'White delayed the development of the queenside knight until Black had committed to d5'.
There is lots of work to be done, but the best trainers have all indicated there is no substitute to hard work. Good luck.
PS If you can get Shereshevsky's and all of Dvoretsky's work you will have a chess library anyone would be proud to own.
Nesis on Khalifman.......2004-01-26
Before I say anything else, I think I should tell you that I am pretty much a "professional" chess player. (I teach chess on the Internet, build web pages about chess, etc.) I also often seek input and advice from my students about the books I review. I do not believe - as a Chess Master - that my views, desires, and needs for a chess book would be the same as the average player. Therefore I often feel it necessary to ask students what they thought of a book in order to get a more balanced approach.
This is a book that would have probably never seen the light of day, except for one very fortuitous event ... in 1999 GM Alexander Khalifman won the (FIDE) knock-out event to become the 14th World Champion. This book is written by Khalifman's trainer of 17 years - with input from the World Champion himself.
Personally - I liked this book quite a bit. I enjoyed reading the story of Khalifman's rise as a player, and how he became a Master, a GM and how he eventually became the World Champion. (Although at times the prose is a bit dry.)
On page # 36 we are given an extremely interesting battle between the protagonist of this book, and GM Tseshkovsky. We are given the story leading up to this game, and the events of the times, as they swirled around both players. But the problem is that the game is completely UN-annotated, we don't even get a single exclam or question mark to guide us. Trying to figure out exactly what the losing move was proved to be an EXTREMELY vexing task for two of my {former} students. I also think this is an example of lazy writing, the author should have taken another few hours and provided at least some light notes to this game. (Trying to interpret a difficult game like this is nearly an impossible task for a player rated 1600, or below.)
I could go on and on - provide you with many more examples - but I would be belaboring an obvious point. Suffice it to say that most of the games are only LIGHTLY annotated, especially in the early part of the book. (Example: Game # 14, page # 43. We are given the first six moves of the game vs. Ulybin, and then told: "The Chatard-Alekhine is a formidable weapon in the hands of an aggressive player." While true, this is stating the obvious. It would have been more useful to discuss what some of the general ideas are, the methods of attack White might employ, or how current opening theory regards this whole system. The game is very snappy and attractive, however.)
Probably my favorite game of the whole book is the one versus GM Ermenkov from Elenite, 1994. (Game # 44, page # 76.) White sacrifices his Queen, or more correctly allows it to be trapped. All he gets for the lady is a lone Rook - which is normally not nearly enough. Then at the end of the game he even returns the Rook to press home his advantage. To say that this game is brilliant would be the under-statement of the year!
In closing, I would like to say that there is much "meat" in this book. Dozens of games, many of which do not seem to be in all the databases. There is a lot of reading to do, any big fan of Khalifman should be quite happy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book ... but many of my students found it a very, very tough sled. I would NOT recommend this book to beginners. The average player who is looking for a book that will teach him about chess should also probably skip this book. The chess connoisseur, who enjoys well-annotated games, should not purchase this book as well. I also feel - very strongly - that lazy players, who cannot force themselves to work hard, would not enjoy this particular book at all.
Who should buy this book? Obviously all the fans and faithful followers of this player should acquire this volume. Plus I think any player who is looking for a {modern} GM to model themselves after, a player who is `soundly aggressive' if you will ... will also greatly enjoy this book. Any player who is looking to SERIOUSLY sharpen his tactics would also find a great deal of material here to chew on. In the end, you often get out of a chess book as much as you are willing to put into it. For the few who can commit to a real labor of love, then I think you will enjoy the life and games of Alexander Khalifman. (But it may not be for everyone!)
Average customer rating:
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Five Filmmakers: Tarkovsky Forman Polanski Szabo Makavejev
Manufacturer: Indiana Univ Pr
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0253208254 |
Customer Reviews:
lost history.......2007-08-22
This should be required reading in American History. Who knew Canada had legal LSD centers? And the characters- Nin, Huxley, Kesey, Leary and Capt.Al Hubbard (??). Will we ever see their like again? Really a very sad story, and a fascinating one.
Nice to see the Chief Boo Hoo, old Art Kleps in there as well.
Sen. Kennedy: "Is your title really Chief Boo Hoo?"
Art Kleps: "I'm afraid so, sir."
Very good but ignores many facets of certain indivuals.......2007-02-11
This was a very good book. You get lots of interesting stuff about Aldous Huxley, the famous beat writers, Owsley, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and the evolution of the so called counterculture as a whole.
The problems that I have with Storming Heaven is not for what was in it but what was left out. For one Stevens was WAY too easy on Timothy Leary. The author seemed almost like a school girl with a crush when he recounts his visit to Learys home for an interview for the book. He comes off more as a fan than he does an objective writer at times when he deals with Leary. Why wasn't it mentioned that it has come out that Leary was a government informant and information he gave led to the death of two members of the Weather Underground? Its also a known fact that Leary was surrounded by CIA assets and there is a lot of evidence that he was a government agent himself, and at the least he was feeding them information.
There is also a fleeting mention that wasn't elaborated on about Ken Kesey that he had LSD experiments done on him at Stanford by the guy that ended up in charge of the CIAs Mkultra mind control program. This really makes me wonder about Kesey. Its more or less accepted history that the first LSD to get out on the street level was what Kesey stole from the medicine chest at his job as a night shift janitor at a mental hospital and distributed it among his elitist friends. Kesey went from writing what was probably the best novel written during the 1960's to, while becoming a counterculture hero, never writing another thing worth reading again. Did doing too much LSD scramble his brains and ruin his creativity or was his creativity nullified by Mkultra programming? Its hard to say for sure but I have to wonder if Kesey was not under some sort of mind control or was being used by the CIA in one way or another. There are a lot of unanswered questions in my mind about Kesey.
They also fleetingly mention the Brotherhood of Eternal Love who were major LSD distributors and were known to be full of CIA people and had a close association with a Jewish man named Ron Starks who was a CIA spook that also happened to the biggest LSD dealer in the world. Starks was not even given the first mention in this book!
I mean with all these ivy league, Mkultra and CIA connections to the elites of the so called counterculture I have to seriously wonder how much of the hippy movement of the late 60's was an organic rebellion against what was (and still is) a very repressive society both socially and politically and how much of it was intentional social engineering that came from the highest levels of the power structure. Many people believe that the anti-war movement was flooded with drugs, in particular LSD, by federal agents. Its well known that the government tried to subvert and destroy the anti-war movement with the cointelpro program so why wouldn't they also use drugs to try to destroy it? While it can't be denied that LSD has enhanced many an artist, writer and musicians work can you honestly say that sitting around frying on acid all the time is going to do anything but disable political activists who in many cases were in a life and death struggle? Besides that the fact remains that many people became permanently damaged as result of doing acid.
All that said I would definitely recomend reading or of you can get it cheap, buying Storming Heaven. I could hardly put it down once I started reading it. I realize that this book was more geared toward looking into what psychelic drugs can do with the mind and its exponents history and theories on the subject than any conspiratorial maneuverings by the US government involving LSD but it just didn't go deep enough into the rabbit hole for my tastes.
Five stars plus.......2007-01-07
It is no fluke that this book has an average rating of five stars from amazon.com readers. This is simply one of the most informative, enjoyable and engaging presentations ever written on the subject of hallucinogenic drugs in modern history, and how they made their way from the obscurity of laboratories and clinical research to become a fixture in the counterculture of the 1960's and beyond. The complexities of the story make it a formidable challenge for any narrator, but Stevens proves easily equal to the task. In the pages of this book, the reader is introduced to the dramatis personae with an immediacy as though meeting them in person. Many of the facts discussed herein have been recounted before by many capable others. But never have they been put into such a vivid and vibrant perspective as this, so thorough and rich with nuance. That's important because the depths of this story, stranger as it is than any fiction, are where its meaning emerges most clearly. Ever since the impact of LSD and its profound, pervasive influences on our life and times, modern society will never be the same. And it is impossible to imagine what popular culture would now be like without the psychedelic revolution of the 20th century. "Storming Heaven" offers the best single account of how and why this is so. This is a real page-turner, very difficult to put down, and is highly recommended for the interested reader.
The Politics of Consciousness.......2006-01-18
What if you could take a pill or otherwise ingest some substance that would make you see your whole world totally differently than you have seen it before? How do you think your life would change, or would you be any different at all?
As we all know, even if we weren't there...this is a large part of what the 1960's were about. And this book provides a window into the web of events and players that emerged during that turbulent time in our evolution. In my view, it presents an unbiased social history of consciousness expanding chemistry and it's consequences on the human mind and by extension, upon the greater society as a whole. The author uses scenes that are vivid and intimate into the players that had major roles in this upheaval of the status qou - Tim Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Alpert(aka. Ram Dass), Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Aldous Huxley, to name just a few. And of course, they all had their own opinions on how the revolution was to proceed, with frequent disagreements. There is also considerable light shed on the fact that LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and other compounds were being used with considerable effectiveness within parts of the psychoanalytic community for several years before the powers that be came in and put them back in the box. But even if they hadn't passed laws against these tools, it would have eventually come crashing down of it's own weight. In the end, it was too radical a departure from the societal norms and the movement itself had no real leaders. Leadership was anathema to the revolution, the paradox being that authority was what was being disempowered. The result is that the dream spiraled out of control and we eventually ended up with Ronald Raygun as President and we haven't quite been the same since.
The central question posed by this book seems to be: Who is the ultimate arbiter of what you do with your consciousness? I would suggest that if your answer involves anyone or anything outside your self, then you are not truely free.
It pulls all of the loose ends together.......2005-09-28
The author takes the reader on a fascinating journey to visit the people, places, and cultures of the psychedelic movement. This book contains interesting inside information about Albert Hoffman, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Ken Kesey, Owsley, and a myriad of minor players whose names are fading into history. The story is chronicled from the Swiss Labs where LSD was first discovered to its legitimate use in the psychiatric profession to the artistic salons of the 50's to Harvard to the native villages of Mexico to Leary's temporary home at the Millbrook mansion to Kesey's Prankster hang-out in La Honda to the Haight-Ashbury to the streets of America. An enjoyable peek into diverse cultures from the psychiatric clinicians to world renowned authors and artisans to the faculty of Harvard and Berkley to pre-Columbian mushroom cults to the Beat poets to the Hell's Angels to the Hippies. It is The Doors of Perception, The Psychedelic Experience, On the Road, Howl, Holy Goof, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and Living with the Dead all rolled into one. Exhaustively researched, a very entertaining read from front to back. Like the era that it chronicles, I hated for the book to end.
Book Description
The most comprehensive book on the games played by forty million Americans. (SEE QUOTE.)
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic reference work, and very entertaining.......2003-01-10
There is only one billiards encyclopedia in the world better than this one (and it costs upwards of [$$]!) This is a *great* reference on the terminology, history, and facts of pool, billiards, snooker and other cuesports, written by the curator of the Billiard Archive (i.e., he knows what he's talking about.) I can't recommend this enough. The trade paperback version is more affordable than the hardback, but I'm really happy to have the hardback version.
Book Description
The ideal book written directly for call center management.
A must-read for supervisors, team leaders, managers, trainers and executives.
Are you ready to manage your call center? The premise of this book is clear. When management understands the human initiative, and creates a roadmap that stresses performance through people, organizations and customers win.
How to Become a GREAT Call Center Manager teaches managers to become GREAT at call center supervision, training, coaching and leadership. Includes strategies, worksheets and custom designed outlines for all levels of call center management.
After every section there is a question to probe readers about their thoughts on call center management. And, throughout the book are worksheets to guide call center management and their development. Plus, the book contains 45 "quick strategies" for call center managers.
Become the best call center manager!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent training book.......2007-10-02
Love all the ideas. A real creative book on how to tacklE call center management. Had my team read one chapter each week and then we implemented programs from the chapter in our call center. Well done!
Not good!!.......2007-06-01
the book talks about just a few things, and there are not really good examples or scenarios... not worth it, it is s .99 book
This is GREAT!.......2004-01-29
We ordered GREAT Call Center Manager after ordering Dan's other book Building Call Center Culture. How to become a GREAT Call Center Manager is wonderful. Very thought provoking question and answer sections about call center management. Worksheets that drill down to the call center manager and supervisor role. And 45 neat quick tips. I like it because it is all about the people, the managers and team leaders and supervisors and how to manage the call center well. Good job!
Book Description
The riveting story of one of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the twentieth century, from the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Apollo 13.
With rivalries, reversals, and a race against time, the struggle to eradicate polio is one of the great tales of modern history. It begins with the birth of Jonas Salk, shortly before one of the worst polio epidemics in United States history. At the time, the disease was a terrifying enigma: striking from out of nowhere, it afflicted tens of thousands of children in this country each year and left them-literally overnight-paralyzed, and sometimes at death's door.
Salk was in medical school just as a president crippled by the disease, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was taking office-and providing the impetus to the drive for studies on polio. By the early 1950s, Salk had already helped create an influenza vaccine, and was hot on the trail of the polio virus. He was nearly thwarted, though, by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher eager to discredit his proposed solution. Meanwhile, in 1952, polio was spreading in record numbers, with 57,000 cases in the United States that summer alone.
In early 1954, Salk was weighing the possibility of trials of a not-yet-perfected vaccine against-as the summer approached-the prospect of thousands more children being struck down by the disease. The results of the history-making trials were announced at a press conference on April 12, 1955: "The vaccine works." The room-and an entire nation-erupted in cheers for this singular medical achievement.
Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program-and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide-comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement-and it makes for a magnificent read.
Customer Reviews:
dull and lifeless.......2007-01-21
i found the first chapter of this book quite boring, full of uninteresting detail, but it got better later, though it may be that i just got used to it. as it is, it still wasn't a particularly good book.
one of my complaints is how kluger completely idealizes Salk. for instance, at one point he refuses to tell his rival details about his work because "it seemed somehow wrong to share what he knew with one scientist before revealing it to all the others." come on. it was proffessional rivalry.
another thing that annoyed me was kluger over-analyzing various details that didn't seem to mean anything. he ascribed intentions to various unimportant acts that for one thing, he has no proof of, and for another, are boring to listen to. and we never really get any idea of Salk's personality, which makes the book rather boring, as salk is, after all, the main character. in his acknowledgements, Kluger calls him "a tectonic force in scientific history." bull. all he did was develop a vaccine with already-created methods.
and the details. the book would probably have been way too short if kluger hadn't put in all the details, but still. he spends pages talking about trivial things like how someone decided on the specific date for a conference. sometimes it's interesting details that make a book come alive... but these aren't interesting details.
so i guess the whole problem with the book was that it wasn't alive. the man it's about is a flat, unknown character, and the plot is too long-drawn out and not interesting enough. it wasn't *so* boring, i got through it easily enough, but when i was done i couldn't help thinking what a waste of my time.
one ofthe best scientific mysteries and its solution!.......2006-05-22
Oh...I was so disappointed when I got near the end of the book and realized that the ending would be based on the susquent gearing up of the corporate making of the immense quantities of this vaccine, to bring it into control world-wide. Yet, I came to unerstand that was the right ending to this story...everthing after that was useless detail, even if I wanted to know more about the people involved.
The continuing fight between the arrogant Sabin and Salk has been told elsewhere.and since I wandered around the hallways where Salk and his group did his work. I would hear bits and pieces of the rest of the story, including Salk's mistake of neglecting to mention all of his immediate collegues who spent so much time for so little recognition. I wonder is he ever offered a simple apology...or did he know that would never gain him total forgiveness.
The book is all the more exciting because of my being in and around the places where they worked, and my husband worked for the newspaper, same as Troan...so the book gained the feeling of a movie to me. Kliger is an outstanding scince writer, so that means a lont time between books. Sigh...
At least this is one virus they can truly claim a victory over, and how glad I am as a mother of the 1980's that my children were spared this horrific disease.
Karen Sadler
Science Education
A Splendid Story.......2005-11-20
This tale of science, competition, personalities and politics provides one a splendid base for understanding of processes of the past in order to help in understanding the present.
With my knowledge of viruses as a health care professional, I found the intersection of science with egos and policy somewhat disturbing but not surprising. According to Kluger, Dr. Salk was a selfless scientist who prioritized work above family. The book nearly slanders Dr. Sabin. I have no basis for judgment other than this book, however. This is only one side of the story.
One may find himself extrapolating to the current threat of pandemic Avian Influenza. Splendid Solution provides insight into the process, which according to NIH officials may take up to five years, whereby we may have an Avian Flu vaccine.
Drs. Salk and Sabin (with their assistants) did more than protect us from Polio. In the end, it was the combination of their discoveries that conquered Polio. The book implies that Salk's vaccine may have conquered it alone or more quickly had politics not intervened. But we will never know. We do know that the combination worked.
They laid the groundwork for our protection from threats yet unknown. They are both true American heroes.
A real non fiction page turner.......2005-08-29
Kluger writes a riveting account of the search for an effective immunization for an annual epidemic plaguing society through the first half of the twentieth century. He skillfully weaves the story of Salk's quest within its social background. Reading it brought me back to my childhood in the 1950's and my parents' anxieties each summer as newspapers published counts of local and national polio cases.
A biography of Dr. Salk and his search for the vaccine .......2005-05-11
In 2005 the U.S. celebrates its 50th anniversary of the first national polio vaccination program which helped eradicate the disease in this country: it's hard to believe a generation is growing up without ever having known the ravages of polio. New York Times writer Jeffrey Kluger's Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk And The Conquest Of Polio is both a biography of Dr. Salk and his search for the vaccine and a social history of polio. Chapters based on exclusive interviews with his friends and colleagues and access to his private papers provides new details on Salk's life and career, setting this life in context of both his times and contemporaries.
Book Description
From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history.
Throughout human history. certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization.
For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again.
Customer Reviews:
A tasty appetizer of a book.......2007-09-26
In this book, Tom Standage offers an account of the historical significance of six beverages - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. Through them he provides a brisk sketch of world history, from the establishment of settled civilization in ancient Mesopotamia to the globalized world in which we live today. The perspective provided by his approach is interesting, and generally he manages to avoid the kind of overstated claims that are a common trap of works like this.
Yet as I read the book, I found myself wanting more. Standage's overviews are rather cursory - perhaps excessively so - and he glosses over some information that does not fit into the structure he lays out for the reader (gin is conspicuously absent, for example, despite its importance in the 18th century). The result is to make the book an intellectual appetizer (albeit a tasty one) rather than a meal, and after having their appetites whetted some readers will find themselves resorting to the bibliography he provides at the end of the text to learn more. As an introduction, though, Standage's book is a good starting point as an enjoyable read full of interesting details.
Superior Satisfying History.......2007-09-06
Author Standage needs to take a bow. He has succintly and in quite entertaining fashion woven a tapestry that links popular beverages with society, culture, politics and economics. I cringe whenever I see history titles that say "Changed" this or that, but this book makes a convincing argument that humans have danced to the distiller's/brewers/vintner's tune and in this repect, alcohol and caffeine have indeed "changed" the globe. Today, while the precursors to the carbonated colas are still very much around and doing a brisk business, thank you very much (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea), the looming "next" most popular beverage threatens to have long term and potentially catastrophic consequences - good ol' H two O. Of course, Standage points out that to a large measure the popularity of the earliest fermented brews owed a lot to unsanitary water, but now that population and urbantization pressures are combining with climatic and political changes, the availability of fresh water will be a major factor in geopolitics. Fascinatingly, he mentions how Syria's efforts to control the headwaters of the Jordan in 1964 had more than a little to do with Israel's 1967 preemptive strike against its hostile neighbors.
The author's eye for the telling anecdote and his mastery of the syncretic effects of popular culture and imperialism reveal how to a large extent it is the small everyday things that can snowball into much greater things, such as England's obsession with Chinese tea imports, its corresponding revenue imbalance with the opium-plagued Chinese, and the resulting conspiracy to foist smuggled opium onto a helpless nation. The effects of that evil (which the Brits have never really owned up to) are still being felt today, especially by New World Brits (aka Americans) who are seduced by cheap Chinese goods. Talk about what comes around goes around.
This is a quick, edifying read that will intrigue and fascinate on every page. Mr. Standage must diversify his talents onto other fields posthaste.
A Marvelous Book.......2007-09-01
This is a well written, easy to read book about the history of drinks and what difference they made to the world. Mr. Standage takes on beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and... Coca Cola! I thorougly enjoyed it.
4.5 stars, fun quick read.......2007-07-28
I hate that amazon only has five rating choices. This was 4.5 stars. Highly recommended if you read many books, and are looking for a quick, easy read in between more substantive ones.
Fascinating.......2007-05-22
This is a great read. Informative & fun...how often do you find that combination?
Book Description
Over twenty West Virginia glass companies of the early twentieth century, including AlleyTM, BeaumontTM, BlenkoTM, FentonTM, FostoriaTM, MonongahTM, MorgantownTM, Paden CityTM, Seneca GlassTM, Weston GlassTM, and West Virginia Glass SpecialtyTM, are featured. More than 500 color photographs display diverse forms of beautiful glassware produced from the 1920s through the 1940s. Trade journal advertisements and catalog pages along with individual essays about each company, bibliographic references for further research, and current values in the captions make this a valuable resource.
Customer Reviews:
Helpful for that period.......2007-01-09
Nice pics - not quite what I was searching for - great book for those pieces in that era!
Enjoyable Quality Reference for Little-Known Glass Companies.......2002-11-28
It's often difficult to decide which of the many reference book offerings are worthy of a home library. Here's one subject area you won't worry about seeing repeated by many authors. Six has compiled information about some "orphan" manufacturers of vintage glass, along with placing the more well-known makers (Fenton, Fostoria) in historical, and geographical, context. We were reading this at a depression glass show and caused most of the passing dealers to stop to ask how to buy one. The photography is beautiful and will be a big help in identifying odd pieces not chronicled in the usual DG and Elegant books. However, the editing is a bit haphazard and following the narrative time lines can be difficult. My uncles worked in these factories and this is a welcome bit of confirmation to the oral history I grew up with. This book nicely balances the stories of the companies with the collector info needed by dealers and hobbyists.
Glass What we Missed in Weatherman's Book 2!.......2002-08-02
I have waited for somebody to show us what Central Glass put out in the 1930's! This book has it! All the unidentified depression glass we could not find previously - well, some of it is in this book! Well worth what I had to spend!
Product Description
Author of THE VICTORIAN INTERNET and THE TURK
Book Description
This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1283 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: Drinking in the past: six beverages that changed the world.(A History of the World in 6 Glasses)(Book Review)
Author: Gary Cross
Publication:
American Scholar (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 74
Issue: 3
Page: 136(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2006-12-25
If you want to see how history repeats itself and get a much better understanding of what's going on in the world today read this book. It shows you how economics played into a great deal of history, how no one is innocent in tragic events that have taken place and that behind the scenes, big companies are controlling a lot of what is going on and have for a long time.
This is a pretty quick read and will show you how the Starbuck's phenomenon with coffee shops isn't anything new, how the Arabs and Chinese got screwed by the English, how the Americans took advantage of the British, how England sold opium to the Chinese to pay for their tea, etc. Crazy stuff and it's still going on today.
Book Description
Provocative and vital, this groundbreaking book delves into the complex world of female desire and discovers that, sadly, women often want to be wanted rather than to be fully engaged with life.
Instead of being able to know what they really want or who they really are, women have been conditioned to accept images -- the good daughter, the nice friend, the ideal boss, the perfect mother -- to define themselves through reflections from others. As a result, self-direction, self-determination, and self-confidence are undermined from adolescence through old age. A double bind comes to surround female desire: a woman is damned as "the bitch" if she is direct and self-determining; but she is confused and indirect if she plays the Object of Desire.
Dr. Young-Eisendrath shows us how to break out of this double bind so that we can encounter the challenges of choice and responsibility for our own desires. She wisely uses mythological and personal stories to help us take control of our sexual, relational, material, and spiritual lives. If you feel confused, resentful, or trapped in a life that does not seem to be fully yours, then you can find a clear path to your true self, once and for all, with the help of
Women and Desire.
Customer Reviews:
Is Feminism the F Word?.......2003-11-18
I assign this book to students in my psychology seminar. These students at a women's college tell me that they find Women and Desire to be thought provoking, interesting, even helpful. I noticed a column in Newsweek by Anna Quindlen in October. She argued that women today still need the F word feminism because society hasn't changed as much as we like to tell ourselves. It appears that the need for books such as this one by Polly Young-Eisendrath continues to be valid.
Very academic.......2002-02-20
The information in this book is very academic in nature, but still provides some insight into the paradox many women feel about desire, "wanting to be wanted," and wanting to be successful. I wouldn't call it "eye-opening," but a focused work.
Good Perspective Adjustment.......2002-01-23
The title of this book spoke volumes to me before I even cracked the cover. Reading about her perspective that women want to be wanted rather than fully know was right on target for me and because of the new found perspective, I felt released from the need of "wanting to be wanted." I resist some of her claims as to WHY women do this - from my point of view, she spends a little too much time blaming society, culture, men. I think the WHY is important to know, but I wanted to see the book focus a bit more on what women can DO about it. In general, the book more than serves its purpose to raise the issue and bring awareness to it. Overall, excellent, thought-provoking book.
Changed My Life.......2000-12-30
In the first 23 pages, this book changed my life. She hit the nail on the head, so to speak about the crux of my biggest subconscious issue, being the object of desire. This book is a must for all women and definitely for men who want to know and understand women more fully. This book opened me up to the knowledge that I am not irreparably broken, and that coming into my own power is still well within my reach. Thank you! Thank you!
An essential for those who have lived for others.......1999-12-10
Young-Eisendrath brilliantly opens the reader's eyes to the female's struggle for an identity in a patriarchal society. Fables, intertwined magnificently throughout each core concept, act as examples of the concocted lives women cling to and men (and women) perpetuate. I identified strongly with the author's comparison of being the "subject of one's own desire" versus being the "object of another's desire." Reading this book, I realized how both women and men are forced to act in a stereotypical drama. Men - aggressors, emotional corpses, breadwinners, dominators. Women - weaklings, dependents, passivists, bitches. Neither role is healthy, nor genuine. Young-Eisendrath has tackled one side of the problem. Who will take on the other?
Average customer rating:
|
WOMEN AND DESIRE: BEYOND WANTING TO BE WANTED
POLLY YOUNG-EISENDRATH
Manufacturer: PIATKUS BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0749922168 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of the Community Development Society, published by Community Development Society on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 712 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: Deforestation, Environment, and Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis.(Book Review)
Author: Michael Hibbard
Publication:
Journal of the Community Development Society (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Community Development Society
Volume: 34
Issue: 2
Page: 122(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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