Connections Between Spirit and Work in Career Development: New Approaches and Practical Perspectives

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Eleven selections that offer practical guidance to career development professionals and their clients.

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As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1982, Paul Volcker established himself as one of the most influential economic thinkers. Currently a major advocate for corporate governance and accounting reforms, Volcker’s reputation as a great business leader with uncompromising ethics continues to this day. Written by award-winning New York Times journalist Joseph Treaster, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend takes readers through the most compelling moments of this legend’s life in private and public service. From his early days as a young Treasury Department official through his appointments to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Reserve, and James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., this inspiring book captures the significant moments in Volcker life and explores the ethical, economic, and moral dilemmas he faced at every turn.

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The compelling story of one of finance's living legends
As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1982, Paul Volcker established himself as one of the most influential economic thinkers. Currently a major advocate for corporate governance and accounting reforms, Volcker's reputation as a great business leader with uncompromising ethics continues to this day. Written by award-winning New York Times journalist Joseph Treaster, Paul Volcker takes readers through the most compelling moments of this legend's life in private and public service. From his early days as a young Treasury Department official during the Nixon years grappling with international economic affairs through his appointments as President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Chairman of James D. Wolfensohn,
Inc., and his work in recovering money from Holocaust-era bank accounts in Switzerland, this book explores the ethical, economic, and moral dilemmas Volcker faced at every turn. Treaster captures many of the significant moments in Paul Volcker's life, including his friendship with David Rockefeller who hired him as Vice President for International Business at Chase Manhattan; his leading role as Treasury Department undersecretary in ending the Bretton Woods system; his appointment to Chairman of the Federal Reserve by President Jimmy Carter and later by President Ronald Reagan; and his campaigns for changes in corporate governance and accounting.
Joseph B. Treaster (New York, NY), a prizewinning reporter for the New York Times for more than 25 years, began his career with the Times as a foreign correspondent in Southeast Asia and has reported from dozens of countries. Treaster currently writes lead stories in economics, business, and finance for the Times.

Customer Reviews:

Inflation.......2005-12-25

Capitalism is sabotaged by Inflation. High inflation rates threaten real money. When inflation rates exceed interest rates creditors lose money, if they lend money; debtors profit by borrowing money and repaying it with cheap money; and savers are repulsed from the US bonds yielding 5 percent by realizing a negative ½ percent loss in real money. Transmutation of monetary dross took the form of economic growth and production increases then moved back into liquid or money form and again into greater production. This unending circuit is the essence of capitalism.

In the 1980s, Less Developed Countries were in a buying spree betting tangible assets would outstrip the value of money. Speculation increased in the stock market as more capital went to speculation and productivity investment dropped and the real economic growth became anemic. The chronic dilemma of the central bank was no one knew if the motivating demands for money were the result of rising inflation expectations or desires to increase productivity investing. Arthur Burns blamed inflation sources on the Debts incurred from the Vietnam War, lax monetary policy instead of higher taxes and spending cuts which accelerated dollar devaluation. Between 1972-73 world wide economic boom surged and inflation rose from food and oil price spikes, large budget deficits, and Congress insistent that the Fed control inflation painlessly.

In the 1980s, Market and Inflation monetary policy designed by Volcker failed. Inflation hit 17%, Volcker steamed in anger, tight US money did not mean unavailable credit came from the $4 trillion Euromarket fueling the speculative boom and represented a credit leak across borders. As interest rates went up, depositors switched bank funds into higher yield government securities. Loan money dried up, housing and consumer durable sales felloff. The bank prime rates hit 21.5%, the dollar exchange rate soared 34%; a 10% increase in the dollar exchange represented a 1.5% reduction in inflation; the interest rate rise mean zero inflation.

Good mix of the persona and the policymaker.......2005-04-25

For any person interested in that elusive element of economic policymaking, the personality of the one at the helm, this book will undoubtedly be worth to read. In his "Changing Fortunes" (co-authored with Toyoo Gyohten), Volcker maintained his private life indeed quite private. This book lifts the veil significantly. Even in personality, notably for an amazing austerity and commitment to public service, Volcker emerges as a central banker to emulate. The details on his family, particularly the sufferings of his wife and son, are indeed touching.

The book is relatively short, something to be grateful about. But succinctness meant clear sacrifices. Any person really interested in Volcker's career would need also to read "Changing Fortunes", particularly to know about the fascinating times that Volcker lived in the Treasury Department, and crucially in the process of the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. Even the period of Volcker at the Fed's chief is sparsely covered in some important aspects.

Paul Volcker clearly deserves the many positive things that Treaster says about him. But sometimes one gets the impression that the author became too close to his subject, without even the benefit of getting in return information to clarify some aspects of Volcker's career. Moreover, it is a little tiring to be reminded time and again that Volcker has to be revered because he slay the inflation dragon. Indeed he has to be, but perhaps the author emphasizes the point a little too much.

Even in a text clearly intended for people without any knowledge in economics, some extra details would have added more light to the inflation drama that Treaster tries to build, particularly on why and how it was allowed to increase. The Latin American debt crisis put many big American banks on the verge of an abyss, and Volcker was crucial in the (successful) efforts to avert a disaster, but that international crisis is barely mentioned in one paragraph.

Paul Volcker: An Honorable Man.......2004-08-05

No need to be a bellowing bond trader nor an obsessive and fetishistic day trader taking your market temperature by the minute to appreciate NY Times journalist Joseph B. Treaster's most readable biography, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend.

In our age of cooked corporate books and perp-walking CEOs, Treaster shines an admiring and well-deserved light on the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, a man of towering financial and personal integrity. Words like honor, integrity, truth, steadfastness are thrown around like confetti these days in the political and financial world, but as Fed Chairman from 1979 to 1987, Paul Volcker's strong will and good sense were perhaps the major factors in the survival of the nation's economy through the inflationary tsunami of the Carter years and the financial wrecking ball of Reagonomics.

Standing 6'7", physically ungainly and socially reserved and stand-offish, Volcker had a commanding intellect when it came to bigtime economic and financial matters. Born to public service (his father was longtime town manager of Teaneck, NJ), Volcker attended Princeton, Harvard's Littauer School of Public Administration (it eventually became the JFK School of Government) and the London School of Economics. He was a special assistant to David Rockefeller at Chase Bank, served as an undersecretary in Nixon's Treasury Department, ran the New York Bank of the Federal Reserve and became fed chairman in July 1979 while inflation was rocketing and Pres. Carter was bemoaning the national "malaise".

Chairman Volcker was the man with the plan. He turned old economic theory upside down with his idea to drastically cut the money supply as the country's economy sweated and shuddered through the debilitating national fits of inflation and recession. Politicians and businessmen, fearful and shortsighted as usual, whined and squealed that Volcker was Dr Kevorkian or Dr. Demento, putting a noose around the national economic neck. In fact, as history has shown and Treaster explains so even the ordinary Joe can understand, Volcker had applied the ideal tourniquet to stop the bleeding and the poison. The patient lived and by the mid-90s, the country was economically healthy and prospering as never before.

Of course, like the Lone Ranger, Volcker had ridden off into the sunset by that time. Waved good-bye (and good riddance) by Reagan's Treasury Secretary and the GOP's most artful backroom Machievelli, James A. Baker III in 1987, Volcker turned his enormous economic and monetary talents to the private sector. But this principled and unpretentious public servant with his "unshakeable integrity" was not happy in this work.
These days, as the political swamp gases are once again rising and spreading their bad odor, Volcker, even at the age of 76, is being called on once again to perform his public duty.

In recent years, Volcker has admirably and successfully refereed the "battle royal" between the Holocaust survivors and the Swiss banks with their appalling Nazi connections. When Enron, the King Kong of corporate fraud sunk in its own muck, "Mr Incorruptible" Volcker took the job of chairman of an independent oversight board to try to salvage some shred of integrity for the accounting community, which had been badly tainted by Arthur Anderson, the giant accounting firm that was the handmaiden to Enron's tangled scams and schemes. And at this moment, Volcker is heading up the international investigation of the massive corruption between Saddam Hussein, various corporate greedheads and UN officials in the administration of the decade-long Oil For Food program in Iraq.

After reading this worthy biography of Paul Volcker, one can only hope they did not break the mold when they made this honorable man.

Paul Volker - an outstanding public servant.......2004-06-24

A big abrazo for Joe Treaster for his wonderful biograph of Paul Volker. He very skillfully brought out the real character of a talented and consciencious individual who dedicated his life to serve the public's interest. Treaster carefully describes what it takes to run this country's financial institutions and, in laymen's language, explains how easily it is to slap our leaders on the wrist, if not the behind, when they don't adhere to good fiscal policies. The book is interesting and thought provoking. You become an admirer of Paul Volker.

LUCID BIOGRAPHY HUMANIZES HISTORY.......2004-06-04

Joseph Treaster's lucid, entertaining account of the life and legacy of Paul Volcker reminds you that some people still value-and embody-such virtues as integrity, modesty, steadiness, and public service. I lived through much of the economic history covered in this book but never understood why things happened as they did, or realized how much Volcker's actions in the early 1980's set our nation's financial course for the following fifteen years. Treaster brings an oversized, almost Victorian personality vividly to life, and in the process casts a startling light on our government's current fiscal policies.

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Perfect for small or mid-sized law firms looking to improve their bottom line, this is a no-nonsense book with step-by-step descriptions of how to analyze and evaluate a firm's revenue performance.

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Highly recommended for those working in applied agriculture.......2000-11-11

The Compendium of Barley Diseases (2nd edition), Compendium of Conifer Diseases, and the Compendium of Lettuce Diseases are all recent additions to this excellent series published by the American Phytopathological Society. These compendia are packed with expert opinions by plant pathologists on both infectious and non-infectious diseases. Details on symptoms, causative organism or agent, disease cycle and control along with references for further reading are all provided in a concise, easy-to-use format. These compendia are very attractive with high gloss pages and an abundance of both black and white and full color photographs. The text is easy to understand and geared to a wide range of users that may include plant pathologists, agricultural extension personnel, researchers, and growers themselves. These titles are a great value at a reasonable price and are highly recommended for agriculture libraries as well as the personal professional collections of those working in applied agriculture or forestry.

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Core Electrodynamics is an advanced textbook that engages the reader in the elegance of electrodynamics and special relativity, whilst giving them the tools to begin graduate study. The book is written specifically for the advanced undergraduate and the postgraduate/Master's student. After some revision matter, the book's core material links elementary electromagnetic concepts with relativity and field theory, introducing the key concepts of tensors and tensor calculus. Core Electrodynamics provides the basis for graduate study in this particular area - in this case field theory, high energy astrophysics, general relativity, and quantum electrodynamics. The author includes self-testing revision matter to aid student learning and has written this book in an immensely clear and concise manner, specifically for use on Master's courses.

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Loving Voice Ii: A Caregiver's Book of More Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly

Manufacturer: The Charles Press, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Hospice Care | Physician & Patient | Medicine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 091478370X

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A wonderful anthology of short stories that were written by first-class American authors and designed specifically to be read aloud to elderly people. This book, and it's accompanying first volume, A Loving Voice: A Caregiver's book of Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly, has received critical acclaim from professional caregivers and grateful family members alike for its inventive method of communicating with and bringing joy to the bed-bound and the home-bound.

Loving Voice: A Caregiver's Book of Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly

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Loving Voice: A Caregiver's Book of Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly

Manufacturer: The Charles Press, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0914783599

Product Description

A wonderful anthology of short stories that were written by first-class American authors and designed specifically to be read aloud to elderly people. This book, and it's accompanying second volume, A Loving Voice II: A Caregiver's Book of More Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly, has received critical acclaim from professional caregivers and grateful family members alike for its inventive method of communicating with and bringing joy to the bed-bound and the home-bound.

A Loving Voice II: A Caregiver's Book of More Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly

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A Loving Voice II: A Caregiver's Book of More Read-Aloud Stories for the Elderly
Carolyn Banks
Manufacturer: Charles Pr Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KNQKJW

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This five-volume set presents some 1,000 comprehensive and fully illustrated histories of the most famous sites in the world. Entries include location, description, and site details, and a 3,000- to 4,000-word essay that provides a full history of the site and its condition today. An annotated further reading list of books and articles about the site completes each entry.

The geographically organized volumes include:
* Volume 1: The Americas * [1-884964-00-1]
* Volume 2: Northern Europe * [1-884964-01-X]
* Volume 3: Southern Europe * [1-884964-02-8]
* Volume 4: Middle East & Africa * [1-884964-03-6]
* Volume 5: Asia & Oceania * [1-884964-04-4]

Amazon.com

Nearly a century has passed since the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer endowed the journalism prize that bears his name, observing, "Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to known the right and the courage to do it, can preserve the public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery." Over that period, The New York Times and its writers have taken more Pulitzer prizes than any other newspaper, and the sampling of their work that Anthony Lewis offers in this collection ably shows why this should be so.

Taking in book reviews, commentaries on art and architecture, editorials, news pieces, and work that falls into the comparatively new genre of "news analysis," that sampling is more than a celebration of a single newspaper, influential though it may be; it is also a record of historical events as they have unfolded. An entry by Harrison Salisbury, for example, documents the Soviet Gulag system, "so routine, ordinary, and common ... that local residents seem not to have the slightest embarrassment about such phenomena." Another, by Sydney Schanberg, renders a surreal slice-of-life portrait of a Cambodian town undergoing round-the-clock shelling. Still another, by Nicholas Kristof, relates the tragedy of Tiananmen Square as "bullets swooshed overhead or glanced off buildings." Closer to home, the anthology also includes pieces on race relations in America, now-forgotten crimes, and the Reagan-era initiative to build the "Star Wars" antimissile system.

For readers with an interest in world history, contemporary affairs, and good writing alike, Lewis's anthology offers many rewards. --Gregory McNamee

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With each news day, history unfolds as steadfast journalists uncover facts and public opinion. Drawn from the New York Timess archive of an unparalleled eighty-one Pulitzer Prizes, Written into History offers a fascinating record of the twentieth century.The Timess award-winning reports range from Antarctic dispatches on the Byrd expedition to the eyewitness account of the atomic bomb, from the First Amendment battle to publish the Pentagon Papers to the personal narrative of an interracial friendship. Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis culled the newspapers most acclaimed writing to chronicle life and history as it was happening, with such highlights as David Halberstam on Vietnam, J. Anthony Lukas on hippies, Anna Quindlen on AIDS, and John F. Burns on the Taliban.Lewis tells the stories behind the stories, describing journalisms changing role in the world. For armchair historians and aspiring reporters, this is a rich and memorable portrait of a century by the men and women who most artfully observed it.

Customer Reviews:

Reflections of the Twentieth Century.......2002-02-13

In his 1904, Joseph Pulitzer left $2 million to Columbia University to establish a journalism school.

Believing an "able, disinterested, public spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and the courage to do it, can preserve the public virtue without which the popular government is a sham and a mockery," he reserved 25 per cent of the amount for prizes to reward excellence in the field.

During the twentieth century's remaining years The New York Times won 81 of those prizes. In his introductory essay and story forwards, the editor, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis relates the stories behind the stories and documents journalism's evolving role in society. For the reader, a vivid, moving portrait of the century emerges, as told by a group of talented, dedicated observers.

Included in a section entitled "What the Government Didn't Want You to Know," David Halberstam's December, 1963 think piece on the Vietcong growing strength. Published 15 months before President Lyndon Johnson committed hundreds of thousands of U.S troops to assume the brunt of the fighting from the South Vietnamese.

In 1967, J. Anthony Lukas exposed a growing gap between children and their parents in "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick," a well-to-do Connecticut girl who was found murdered in Greenwich Village with a hippie friend. The story, which contrasted her privileged up-bringing with her squalid, drug-ridden lifestyle, caused numerous families to reconsider this wide spread and dangerous split.

Dave Anderson won the prize 1980 for his column on George Steinbrenner's ceremonious - complete with finger food for the assembled press -- firing of Yankee manager Dick Howser.

It is tough to ignore the prizes for commentary won by Anna Quindlen on AIDS and Russell Baker's two prizes for being serious and his reflections on working with Norman Rockwell.

Journalism maybe rift with faults, but the stories contained in this volume demonstrate what results when gifted, hardworking journalists follow their noble ambitions and dreams.

Book Description

This comprehensive book contains illustrations and photographs of artifacts, sites, and digs in progress and surveys the most important archeological sites, described in lay terms.

Customer Reviews:

Houston Area Library System comments:.......2006-10-17

Probably the most comprehensive look at archaeology in Texas that is targeted to non-professionals and still in print, this book is properly described as a "first step" into the sometimes inscrutable world of archaeology, with its arcane jargon. Well illustrated and up to date, with information about many recent and highly important discoveries.

Poorly done.......2004-12-16

Disappointed in this book. Poorly done drawings of points and of other things. Subject matter jumps around too much, reads like a "People Magazine" version of archaeology.

An exciting and practical resource for archaeology buffs.......2003-01-04

Digging Up Texas: A Guide To The Archaeology Of The State by archaeologist Robert Marcom is a solid and thoroughly "reader friendly" archaeology guide to over 15,000 years of history, researched and discovered in the archaeological endowed state of Texas. Ranging from the remains of ancient proto-historical Native American cultures, to the contemporary and diverse resources available for avocational archaeology, Digging Up Texas is an exciting and practical resource for archaeology buffs of all experience levels, from the amateur enthusiast to the trained professional.

Book Description

This set brings reprints more than 100 of the most important articles published in the field of development over the past 20 years. Articles cover topics such as agribusiness, industrialization, NGOs, corruption, sustainability, regulation and all of the major concerns in development studies.

Sustainability: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences

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Sustainability: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences
Michael R. Redclift
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415340357

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Sustainability: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This four volume set reprints vital scholarship on sustainability as concept, contested idea, and political goal. It brings together a range of articles and published papers which have influenced the course of social science thinking, and examines the links between the natural and social sciences, as well as public policies, which thinking about sustainability has helped to develop.

The Editor's introduction to the volumes spells out the innovativeness and utility of the concept of sustainability as well as the difficulties in applying it in the real world.

Coverage includes:

* The intellectual origins of sustainability, and includes material from both classic writers and social scientists who have taken the concept into policy analysis and the social and economic theory.

* Consideration of sustainable development from a number of vantage points, both in the international environment forum and in its applications to planning and policy.

* Application of sustainability indicators and the development of indicators from their simple conceptual beginnings to quite refined policy instruments today, which meet different demands.

* The ideas and policy discourses which have developed from sustainability, including ecological modernization, a concern with human security, deliberative democracy and environmental justice.

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Sustainability: Life Chances and Livelihoods shows that the scope of sustainability thinking needs to be widened to embrace public policies and experiences in both developed and developing countries.

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