The History of Black Business : The Coming of America's Largest African-American-Owned Businesses

Book Description

America's largest Black-owned businesses produced revenues of over $473.4 million in 1972. In 1997, the largest businesses produced revenues of over $10 billion. This book outlines a history of Black business that gives the reader a unique panoramic view of this development. This historical account and collection of cases is of interest to the general public because it adds to the limited information available on Black business as well as inspire the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The case-based approach of this book uncovers the forces that have affected America's largest Black-owned businesses before and after 1970. This book builds an understanding of the business environments that promoted or discouraged the most successful Black businesses over time.

Customer Reviews:

Rich Color to Household Names & Stories.......2007-05-25

This book provides shape and rich color to the common household black business names, such as Barry Gordy, Oprah Winfrey, and Bob Johnson - along with many others. In place of hearing about black business via the media, this book provides a connection to the individuals, situations, and context of why certain black businesses were successful. The book also correlates future trends, given historical context, which makes it contemplative and fun.

Where there is no vision the people perish.......2007-04-02

Lucid and brilliant-this erudite writing on the history and future of Black businesses is worth a hundred times the cover price.

Important and inspiring..........2006-08-01

This book provides an entrepreneurial history too often unknown, untold and uncelebrated. Regardless of one's ethnicity or profession, it is an educational tool that is important and inspiring for understanding one's own limitless capacity.

Inspiring Read.......2006-08-01

The History of Black Business is a historical masterpiece that not only every African American should read but every American. This book has inspired me to pursue my own entrepreneurial endeavors.

A inspiring view on how black business really got started.......1999-03-29

An excellent account of how black business and black businessmen and women were able to create business empires in a society that set strong boundaries against them. An must read for all Americans interested in the complete evolution of American business!

Book Description

An in-depth account of one woman's quest through training and competing in squash. Honest and detailed perspective of the squash and fitness scene by a serious recreational player as she lives out her quest for excellence in sport and a change in her life. As much about mid-life change as sport. Illustrates using meditation during play. A Changing Course book.

Book Description

Unfashionable in his lifetime, John Cassavetes appeared in mainstream films like Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen in order to finance his own highly distinctive independent films. This detailed biography celebrates the work of a uniquely uncompromising filmmaker whose examples inspired leading directors like Martin Scorcese who described him as “a guide and a teacher”.

Customer Reviews:

An American Original.......2006-04-11

I've long been a fan of John Cassavetes, the actor. But after
reading this book, I realize that the man's gift to film wasn't
in the acting he did for others, but rather his amazing body of
work as a writer and director. This book provides a thorough
account of each of his movies and insight into his many
collaborators. Not a coldly analytical critique, but an honest
and detailed look at the career and character of an American
original, warts and all.

Telling it like it is.......2002-05-19

...
Far from being a rush job, Charity's book boasts considerable new research and interviews with most of the important figures in Cassavetes' life (though, sadly not Gena Rowlands, his widow). I spotted a handful of errors, generally minor cultural lapses you might expect from a foreign critic - but, let me emphasise, these are few and far between. Packed with great, sometimes hilarious anecdotes (Cassavetes really rocked!) Charity's book brings JC to life - and the same can be said about Cassavetes' notoriously difficult films, which have rarely been explored with such vivid insight and penetration. As a major bonus, the book comes with fascinating tributes from the likes of Gary Oldman, John Sayles, Jim Jarmusch and Pedro Almodovar, to name but a few. It would be worth buying for these alone - but then it would be worth buying without them too...

A Major League Disappointment.......2002-02-14

I bought this book with great hopes. John Cassavetes is an important filmmaker
whose work is still inexplicably neglected by mainstream film critics,
historians, and teachers. But I'm sorry to say that the book was a major league
disappointment. Tom Charity is a reviewer for Time Out magazine and the book
shows all the flaws of what I might call "the reviewer's syndrome." It is all
too obviously a quickie project thrown together in a few weeks or months to cash
in on Cassavetes' increasing popularity. Omnibus Press, the publisher of the
book, has in the past specialized in precisely this sort of book and Charity's
volume unfortunately takes its place alongside their previous biographies of
Madonna, New Kids on the Block, and other pop culture flashes in the pan. It is
shallow, glib, and (worst of all) mistake-ridden.

The first problem is that Charity's "research" (such as it is) shows every sign
of being rushed, slipshod, and superficial. The book is riddled with
errors--hundreds and hundreds of them--from scores of factual mistakes, wrong
names, and dates to a a whole series of interpretive gaffes, when Charity a
journalist who has previously attempted nothing more ambitious that a volume on
the astronaut movie, The Right Stuff, attempts to produce high-brow
interpretations of Cassavetes' challenging works of art. The second problem is
the organization of the book, or more precisely, complete lack of organization.
Clearly at a loss to fill the space available to him, Charity throws in bits of
this and that helter-skelter to fill up the pages: a given chapter might begin
with vacuous "celebrity" quotes from a contemporary director about Cassavetes,
which leads into a sketchy (and, as I noted, mistake-ridden) production history;
followed by a series of excerpts based on fawning, sycophantic!
, and completely unrevealing interviews with actors who knew Cassavetes, and end
with a wool-spinning series of generalizations by Charity about the meaning of
the film. Charity doesn't even make a half-hearted attempt to bring it all
together. It's just thrown out there, one thing after another, a little of this
and a little of that separated by rows of asterisks, for what you can make of
it. No vision of Cassavetes the man or Cassavetes the artist emerges. It's a
method that might be described as "back up and dump"--one (all too often
mistaken) fact or event after another, with no rhyme or reason to hold it
together, and no insights or revelations at the end.

The best parts of Charity's book are the sections where he quotes extensively
from another critic who not only knew Cassavetes personally, but has written far
better books about him: Ray Carney. That fact alone should tell you something.
If you want to know the real truth about Cassavetes' life and work, check out
Carney's newly published Cassavetes on Cassavetes or any of his other books on
the filmmaker. Or check out his web site which has extensive information about
all of the films. Carney's work is the opposite of Charity's quickie make-a-buck
volume: It is deep, searching, thoughtful, carefully researched and presented,
and impeccable in its accuracy. It is an attempt to probe the soul of the man
and the artist. Do yourself a favor and skip Charity and read the critic Charity
borrows his few decent points from.

JC would be proud.......2001-12-06

A terrific introduction to one of the most important American film-makers of all time, whose influence extends around the globe (there'd be no dogme without him) and whose films are testaments to being true to artistic vision, to oneself and to others. I say 'introduction' because that's what all books on film should aspire to - to introduce the reader to the movies but not replace the experience of watching them. Charity, who writes with tremendous affection laced with a touch of hard-boiled cynicism that is perfect for his subject, is an ideal guide. His brisk and authoritative text is laced with anecdotes (many of them told in the first person by an astounding range of interviewees who knew, loved and worked with Cassavetes) and it includes testaments from a variety of film-makers who testify gladly to the effect that Cassavetes had on their work, from Almodovar to Gary Oldman and Jim Jarmusch. There are few biographies of film-makers that can make you feel like you know the subject - even Frayling's massive work on Sergio Leone is cold and distant compared to this. Reading Lifeworks was like watching Cassavetes films. I can't think of any higher recommendation. Except to say that this book also made me want to watch them all again. And again.
Mr Charity, sir, I salute you.

Amazon.com

Suffering from a bit of deja vu after reading your umpteenth fantasy trilogy? Seen too many magic swords, musical elves and warring wizards? Then you're ready for the funniest and most complete "tourist's" guide to Fantasyland's standard character types, plot elements, and settings ever devised.

Diana Wynne Jones describes (starting, of course, with a map) every sword-and-sorcery cliché in wickedly accurate detail, arranged alphabetically. Elves sing in beautiful, unearthly voices about how much better things used to be. Swords with Runes may kill dragons or demons, or have powers like storm-raising, but they are not much use when you're attacked by bandits. You can only have an Axe if you're a Northern Barbarian, a Dwarf, or a Blacksmith. Jones also tackles hard-hitting questions: how does Fantasyland's ecology work when there are few or no bacteria and insects and vast tracts of magically irradiated wastelands? Why doesn't the economy collapse when pirates and bandits are so active and there is no perceptible industry?

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (U.K. Edition) was a 1997 Hugo and World Fantasy Award nominee. It's a good companion to Jones's Dark Lord of Derkholm, a fantasy about what happens when your land is turned into a theme park for questing tourist parties. Fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books will enjoy both. --Nona Vero

Book Description

Both a hilarious send-up of the clich s of the genre and an indispensable guide for writers, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland has been impossible to find for years. This is Diana Wynne Jones at her very best: incisive, funny, and wildly imaginative.

This is the definitive edition of The Tough Guide, featuring a new map, an entirely new design, and additional material written for it by Diana Wynne Jones.

Customer Reviews:

A Guide to the Guide: Fantasyland .......2007-09-15

Most people would probably only enjoy this as a companion to the Dark Lord of Derkholm by the same author, but even at that, it fails to evoke the same sense of sarcastic whimsy that we get from many of Diana Wynne Jones' other works. While it has many cute observations on the cliches and trends in fantasy works, its not something you would really want to pick up and read straight through.
That said, from a writer's perspective, this book could be invaluable. We are all familiar with fantasy works that are so cliched and overdone that we feel we've read them a thousand times before, but that the authors may have thought were creatively unique. As a resource for aspiring fantasy writers, this book gives you a very good idea of what the archetypes are, and the ruts that writers fall into when constructing worlds. It takes into account common absurdities in fantastic writing, an awareness of which may help future writers steer clear of such mistakes.

Everything you wanted to know.......2007-08-25

about getting around any Fantasy setting you ever plan to visit. Everything, from ARMOUR to IMMORTALS, from RABBITS to TAVERNS. A great book for people who love to read fantasy or plan to write a fantasy book and want to keep away from cliches. I would suggest it for both writers and even Game Masters. Tons of humor, much of which is funny because it is true. And lots and lots of STEW. Why is it so much of the fantasy books focus on food, food, food?
Well, anyway, the book even asks the tough questions, like with all the bandits and pirates, how does trade work? Where does all the food come from when the farmers are all dealing with wars, storms, evil magic and hordes of zombies? And why do horses act more like bikes?

it made me want to write a fantasy novel!.......2007-06-30

This is a fun read for everyone who spent their childhood buried in fantasy trilogies and series. Diana Wynne Jones does a great job of working through the genre. Reading cover to cover made me laugh and scheme. Reading through all the cliches makes one feel rebellious! Like you want to either buy a novel that bucks the norm or write a story against the expected.

The best moments are where Jones asks questions. There are no answers and that's the best part. Who embroiders all those huge banners, anyway?

OMT - too many.......2007-03-11

Travel guide to the fantasy land is a nice touch to the cliche`s in fantasy books.
this is not a book it's a a Dictionary to many things/places you will encounter in your travles.
some of the items are funny but many of them has many links to other items that misses the point of them all.
And don't forget the OMT that almost 50% of the items has one.

A nice addition to the fantasy collection. nice to show friends not more.

A Humor Book That Suffers From Being -- Well, Not Particularly Funny........2007-02-27

Crotchet Alert: The author, instead of using the generic `he,' or even `he/she' uses `she/he' throughout. Distracting at first, this eventually becomes no more noticeable than a Books on Tape reader who sniffs every so often.

Mind you, the premise is funny: That fantasy-genre novels are so cliché-ridden that the chestnuts can be tabulated and assembled into a book. It's the resulting (sniff) volume that's a snoozer.

As a consumer (sniff) service, I will point out the actual (or, at least, intentional) jokes:

* The map at the front of the book. Does something about it tickle the pattern-recognition (sniff) software in your brain? Turn the book upside down. Ah-ha! (Where the giant `sea' in the middle of [sniff] Spain came from beats me, though.) Some of the place names are also amusing. Did I mention that the author lives in Bristol?

* Turn to `Quest, eternal.' This refers you to `Eternal (sniff) quest.' Which refers you to `Quest, eternal.' Also available in business card (sniff) form, each side reading: `How do you keep a fantasy writer occupied? (See other side.)'

* OK, the entry on `Horses' was genuinely (sniff) humorous. But, then, I dislike (sniff) horses.

Hopefully, the publication of this book will not lead to `The Tough (sniff) Guide to Space Opera,' `The Tough Guide to Regency Romances,' or `The Tough Guide to Academic Criticism of Popular Culture.' But if it does, I (sniff) intend to sue for a percentage.

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The Tough Guide To FantasyLand
Diana Wynne Jones
Manufacturer: Daw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Product Description

"An uproarious guide for anyone daring to venture into the unknown realms of Fantasyland".

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel

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The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel
Diana Wynne Jones
Manufacturer: Firebird Penguin Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Product Description

Revised and Updated Edition. Dark Lord Approved!An indispensable guide for anyone stuck in the realms of fantasy without a magic sword to call their own - Terry Pratchett. Great reading!

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Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Manufacturer: GOLLANCZ (ORIO)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Waste of Money, Lack of Information

Hardly worth the trouble

Short but good primer

Don't waste your money

Start Your Own Wholesale Distribution Business (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up)
Entrepreneur Press
Manufacturer: Entrepreneur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Building an Import/Export Business, 3rd Edition

Start Your Own Import/Export Business (Start Your Own)

A Basic Guide To Importing

Import/Export: How to Get Started in International Trade

Start Your Own Import Export Business (Start Your Own Business)

ASIN: 1891984942

Book Description

This guide tells how to start a thriving wholesale business by purchasing unique products from manufacturers in volume, then selling them to retailers for a profit.

Customer Reviews:

Waste of Money, Lack of Information.......2005-02-11

Good thing I was able to return this book. Way too short and provided lack of important information. Much of the text can be researched online and most of their ideas are common sense. The Appendix they provided are weak. The web sites provide little to zero of help. If you really want to learn more about this kind of business, ask directing to the manufacture.

Hardly worth the trouble.......2005-01-24

Hardly worth the trouble, much less the price. Wholesale distribution is not the kind of business that the average person just decides to start out of the blue, like a maid service or tv repair shop. For some weird reason, this book treats WD just like that. The author assumes you know absolutely nothing about running a business and must be tutored on elementary details. The meat of the whole WD issue is hardly touched. The scope of the book is extremely limited, and other than a single obscure reference in the appendix, it was totally useless to me.

Short but good primer.......2005-01-09

This book is very short, but it has some good information for the beginner who is contemplating the process of starting a business in this field. But this will not offer much to anyone who has thoroughly researched the field themselves.

It does not give you any information about what products to offer, where to get them, or who to sell them to. But it does give real world examples of how various people in the field have approached issues that arose.

Don't waste your money.......2004-05-28

The saddest thing about this book is that Amazon wants to charge me $4.95 to return it when the description on the web site is clearly wrong. The book is 85 pages (+ 14 appendix/index pages), not 200, and isn't worth the paper it's printed on. An absolute waste of time and money.

Book Description

edited by Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist

"Everyday you have to abandon your past or accept it and then if you cannot accept it, you become a sculptor."

Since the age of twelve, the internationally renowned sculptor Louise Bourgeois has been writing and drawing--first a diary precisely recounting the everyday events of her family life, then notes and reflections. Destruction of the Father--the title comes from the name of a sculpture she did following the death of her husband in 1973--contains both formal texts and what the artist calls "pen-thoughts": drawing-texts often connected to her drawings and sculptures, with stories or poems inscribed alongside the images.

Writing is a means of expression that has gained increasing importance for Bourgeois, particularly during periods of insomnia. The writing is compulsive, but it can also be perfectly controlled, informed by her intellectual background, knowledge of art history, and sense of literary form (she has frequently published articles on artists, exhibitions, and art events). Bourgeois, a private woman "without secrets," has given numerous interviews to journalists, artists, and writers, expressing her views on her oeuvre, revealing its hidden meanings, and relating the connection of certain works to the traumas of her childhood. This book collects both her writings and her spoken remarks on art, confirming the deep links between her work and her biography and offering new insights into her creative process.

Customer Reviews:

Louise Bourgeois-DIARIES.......2006-02-22

The artist's diaries reveal so much about her fascinating creativity. It is very helful to read her comments over the decades as wintess and participant to the changing art world. The Walters Art Museum is presently exhibiting 39 of her works in "dialogue" with works from our permananet collection of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissanc art through May 21st, 2006. If you are in Baltimore, please take advantage of this amazing opportunity. The text of the diaries (that covers over 60 years)was very helpful to both staff and docents/guides in preparing for our tours. I recomemnd this text to all students and professors of contremporary art.

Destruction of the Father / Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and Interviews, 1923-1997

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Destruction of the Father / Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and Interviews, 1923-1997
Louise Bourgeois
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQVTGY

Book Description

In the sixteenth century, one of the world's most precious commodities was cochineal, a legendary red dye treasured by the ancient Mexicans and sold in the great Aztec marketplaces, where it attracted the attention of the Spanish conquistadors. Shipped to Europe, the dye created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Soon Spain's cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune. As the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans joined the chase for cochineal -- a chase that lasted for more than three centuries -- a tale of pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists, and spies unfolds. A Perfect Red evokes with style and verve this history of a grand obsession, of intrigue, empire, and adventure in pursuit of the most desirable color on earth.

Customer Reviews:

more than I ever expected.......2007-09-26

This was one of two books a friend traveled across the country to share with me. I am so glad she did. I would never have picked up this book on my own. I have a terrible time finding non-fiction works that are interesting - unless they are recommended. I look at the table of books and decide something looks good. Then when I get it home, I have a hard time getting to my 100 page allowed stopping point.

Greenfield does a wonderful job of describing the importance of the color red throughout history and the different compounds used to create it. With a focus on the cochineal originating in Mexico, this book covers the fortunes of Spain and the industry itself. Weaving the domestication of cochineal with the efforts of other countries to destroy Spain's monopoly, the book moves quickly. there were very few sections of the book where I was willing to put it down. Yes, I could stop at the chapters, but I only once put it down while in the middle of a chapter.

I highly recommend this book - and if I didn't have to send it back to its owner, I would keep it in the library. I will be recommending it to my mother for her book club. With their focus on women authors and a mix of fiction and non-fiction, this book will give them much to discuss.

Red trail through history.......2007-06-03

Some of the best stories are the histories of everyday objects that few ever consider. This book is an example of such a story. It traces the history of the color red; specifically, it examines the sources of red dye sought by humans over the past 700 years. Something as simple as a color can actually be quite difficult to obtain without the marvels of modern technology. This book starts of at the Venetian textile guilds of the late Middle Ages and shows the reader the state of the world's textile industry. Of all the colors, bright red is hardest to produce on clothing, and individuals and governments devote a lot of time and effort to procure new sources. Many are found, but the best one is carminic acid found in the insect cochineal, native to the Americas, and cultivated in Mexico specifically to obtain the color red. Starting with the Spanish conquest, red dye from Mexico is exported to the rest of the world, and four centuries of trade wars and political intrigue follow. The book lays all this out in chronological order, citing places, people, governments and institutions. But eventually, man's technology caught up with nature's bounty, and by 1900, synthetic red dyes destroy the cochineal cultivation industry. All the ensuing technical advances, scientific discoveries, and commercial contests are detailed clearly by the author. The book ends with a survey of the dye industry at the end of the 20th century, and a review of how red dye has influenced, and been influenced by fashion tastes throughout the centuries. This book touches many countries, and ties in history, economics, fashion, politics and science into a wonderful tale of man's obsession for a specific color.

Terrific study of the history of cochineal trafficking.......2006-09-16

This book is one of the very best I have seen in a long time. The author has taken great care to present historically correct and detailed information about the long history of cochineal farming, and sale of this commodity (dried beetles that can be processed to create a brilliant hue of red).
She reveals all of the intrigue of Spain's royalty, as they sought to keep this much prized product of New Spain exclusively for the Spanish empire. Even Perkin's discovery of the color "mauve" is discussed. This book will find broad interest among scholars and the general public. It is certainly a book worth owning, if you love the history of textiles.

Patricia Cummings

Colorful History.......2006-08-11

A Perfect Red is history at its best: examine something seemingly insignificant, let it take you down its byways and tangents to myriad interconnections, and soon you have a world history in miniature.

A Perfect Red is primarily concerned with the age old desire for bright colors, especially red. In the 16th century Europeans discovered a new source from the Americas which would provide a beautiful shade of dark crimson: cochineal. Over the next several centuries cochineal became one of the most prized imports from the New World until chemical dyes became commonplace in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Amy Butler Greenfield writes well, not just about cochineal and its uses, but about the economics and politics behind the search for the perfect red. She also does a good job examining the cultural changes which made red highly desireable, then a color to be avoided as a symbol of sin and decadence. Furthermore, she is a skilled depictor of personalities and draws shrewd portraits of the many fascinating characters involved in the story of cochineal. Highly recommended.

Facts are usually stranger than fiction..........2006-06-22

Facts are usually stranger than fiction, and this book supplies one more proof. The sheer ineptitude of some of the government ministers, the luck of some of the explorers, and the same mistakes being repeated over and over again, would be unbelievable if written as fiction, but this is history.
This book primarily covers the exploration, and exploitation of Cochineal (a small bug from South America that produces one of the best of all natural red dyes). There is mention of the earlier trade in Kermes (a similar red dye producing insect from the mediterranean) and other red dyes such as Madder, but it is primarily covering the rise and fall of the Spanish Empire and its monopoly on Cochineal. The book also covers uses of Cochineal in the post chemical dye age.
A note to members of the SCA and other re-enactors, this book, while worth buying, and very interesting, does more heavily emphasize the time period *after* Queen Elizabeth the first.

A Perfect Red : Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire

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A Perfect Red : Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Amy Butler Greenfield
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEJ6B6

Book Description

The Democracy Sourcebook offers a collection of classic writings and contemporary scholarship on democracy, creating a book that can be used by undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of courses, including American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political philosophy. The editors have chosen substantial excerpts from the essential theorists of the past, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the authors of The Federalist Papers; they place them side by side with the work of such influential modern scholars as Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Przeworski, Seymour Martin Lipset, Samuel P. Huntington, Ronald Dworkin, and Amartya Sen.

The book is divided into nine self-contained chapters: "Defining Democracy," which discusses procedural, deliberative, and substantive democracy; "Sources of Democracy," on why democracy exists in some countries and not in others; "Democracy, Culture, and Society," about cultural and sociological preconditions for democracy; "Democracy and Constitutionalism," which focuses on the importance of independent courts and a bill of rights; "Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism"; "Representation," discussing which is the fairest system of democratic accountability; "Interest Groups"; "Democracy's Effects," an examination of the effect of democracy on economic growth and social inequality; and finally, "Democracy and the Global Order" discusses the effects of democracy on international relations, including the propensity for war and the erosion of national sovereignty by transnational forces.

Customer Reviews:

Good sourcebook on democracy.......2007-04-15

This edited work, "The Democracy Sourcebook," is a good reference source for differing perspectives on democracy. The volume provides historical context as well as more contemporary reflections on the subject. The editors, Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, have done their work well in assembling this set of readings in one book.

Any edited volume is going to have some unevenness. One could surely quibble with why some works were included and others excluded. That said, though, this still represents an important resource for those interested in democracy. The book is divided into 9 sections. The following paragraphs will briefly note what is included in some of these.

Section 1 is critical, for setting the stage for the remainder of the work. The animating question is deceptively simple: How do we define democracy? The oldest reading is from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Social Contract." Other key readings are excerpted presented in this volume, such as Schumpeter, Przeworski, Gutmann, Diamond, Pateman, and one of the editors, Dahl. The reader who confronts these works will get a much better sense of the diverse readings of exactly what democracy is--and what is at stake, depending on the definition that one selects. The difference between Schumpeter and Pateman represents a major debate, for instance.

The second section explores a critical issue: What factors affect the development of democracy? Classics such as Lipset's "Political Man" have excerpts appear in this section. So, too, other key figures such as Huber et al., Huntington, Przeworski et al.

Other sections follow, with rich representation from the Federalist papers, published during the American constitutional debates (perhaps these are even overrepresented), with discussion of the differences between presidential and parliamentary democracy, the nature of representation, the role of interest groups, and so on. A rich and diverse array of works that address the multiple issues raised by a study of democracy.

This is, in the final analysis, a rich resource for trying to better understand the nature of democracy and the various issues at stake. There are some articles which I think might better have been included; I think that too many numbers of the "Federalist" series are provided. Nonetheless, this is a valuable resource.

Athenian Politics c800-500 BC: A Sourcebook (Studies in Ancient Civilization)

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Athenian Politics c800-500 BC: A Sourcebook (Studies in Ancient Civilization)
G. R. Stanton
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0415040612

Book Description

b /b b i Athenian Politics /i /b examines the limitations and problems attendant upon the use of traditional sources to understand Athenian history. Presenting, in translation, virtually all the sources from which scholars have drawn their conclusions about ancient Athenian society--from contemporary accounts and stone inscriptions to Egyptian papyri--Stanton challenges the way scholars have viewed ancient Athens. Covering the period from the reforms of Solon to the constitutional changes of Kleisthenes, b /b b i Athenian Politics /i /b explores democracy's paradoxical emergence from the actions of an undemocratic noble elite.

Gender, Modernity and Liberty: Middle Eastern and Western Women's Writings: A Critical Sourcebook

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Gender, Modernity and Liberty: Middle Eastern and Western Women's Writings: A Critical Sourcebook

Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Medieval | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1860649572

Book Description

This book returns to circulation a wealth of important documents by Middle Eastern and Occidental women of the late Ottoman empire. Tracing women's involvement in campaigns of gender and national emancipation, these fascinating texts show that, contrary to the popular notion of the Middle Eastern woman trapped within the harem without access to outside education, there was in fact a fruitful mutual dialogue between the Western women travelers and the women in the regions they visited.

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The Democracy Sourcebook
Ian Shapiro, Jose Antonio Cheibub Robert A. Dahl
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ90BA

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Education for Democracy: A Sourcebook
Benjamin R. Barber , and Richard M. Battistoni
Manufacturer: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Roma Rights: Race, Justice and Strategies for Equality (Sourcebook on Contemporary Controversies Series)

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Roma Rights: Race, Justice and Strategies for Equality (Sourcebook on Contemporary Controversies Series)

Manufacturer: International Debate Education Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Voices for Democracy (Literacy Sourcebook)

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Voices for Democracy (Literacy Sourcebook)

Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0590491938

Voices for Democracy - Teacher's Sourcebook (Literacy Place, Grade 6 - Unit 6)

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Voices for Democracy - Teacher's Sourcebook (Literacy Place, Grade 6 - Unit 6)

Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 0590972332

The Old Testament: sourcebook of democracy

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The Old Testament: sourcebook of democracy
Adolf Philippsborn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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Heart Of The Land: Essays on Last Great Places
Joseph Barbato , and Lisa Weinerman
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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The Best American Essays 2006 (Best American Essays)

On Writing

ASIN: 0679755012
Release Date: 1996-02-13

Book Description

From Thomas McGuane on Idaho's Snake River to Louise Erdrich on the tallgrass prairies of her native North Dakota to Carl Hiaasen combing the imperiled fishing grounds of the Florida Keys, some of the country's finest writers celebrate the geography that The Nature Conservancy has designated as "Last Great Places."

Heart Of The Land - Essays On Last Great Places

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Heart Of The Land - Essays On Last Great Places
Joseph and Weinerman, Lisa of The Nature Conservancy - Editors. Foreword by Lopez, Barry Barbato
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IWNRQ4

HEART Of The LAND. Essays on Last Great Places. Foreword by Barry Lopez.

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HEART Of The LAND. Essays on Last Great Places. Foreword by Barry Lopez.
Barry]. Barbato, Joseph & Weinerman, Lisa - Editors. [Lopez
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MZAQTS

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