Quest for the Perfect Strawberry: A Case Study of the California Strawberry Commission And the Strawberry Industry: a Descriptive Model for Marketing Order Evaluation

Book Description

Swaziland has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners. This report puts these executives on the fast track. Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources). Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given.

Book Description

The first complete look at one of America's legendary business leaders

This groundbreaking biography by Kevin Maney, acclaimed technology columnist for USA Today, offers fresh insight and new information on one of the twentieth century's greatest business figures. Over the course of forty-two years, Thomas J. Watson took a failing business called The Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company and transformed it into IBM, the world's first and most famous high-tech company. The Maverick and His Machine is the first modern biography of this business titan. Maney secured exclusive access to hundreds of boxes of Watson's long-forgotten papers, and he has produced the only complete picture of Watson the man and Watson the legendary business leader. These uncovered documents reveal new information about how Watson bet the company in the 1920s on tabulating machines-the forerunners to computers-and how he daringly beat the Great Depression of the 1930s. The documents also lead to new insights concerning the controversy that has followed Watson: his suppos ed coll usion with Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

Maney paints a vivid portrait of Watson, uncovers his motivations, and offers needed context on his mammoth role in the course of modern business history. Jim Collins, author of the bestsellers Good to Great and Built to Last, writes in the Foreword to Maney's book: "Leaders like Watson are like forces of nature-almost terrifying in their release of energy and unpredictable volatility, but underneath they still adhere to certain patterns and principles. The patterns and principles might be hard to see amidst the melee, but they are there nonetheless. It takes a gifted person of insight to highlight those patterns, and that is exactly what Kevin Maney does in this book."

The Maverick and His Machine also includes never-before-published photos of Watson from IBM's archives, showing Watson in greater detail than any book ever has before. Essential reading for every businessperson, tech junkie, and IBM follower, the book is also full of the kind of personal detail and reconstructed events that make it a page-turning story for general readers. The Maverick and the Machine is poised to be one of the most important business biographies in years.

Kevin Maney is a nationally syndicated, award-winning technology columnist at USA Today, where he has been since 1985. He is a cover story writer whose story about IBM's bet-the-company move gained him national recognition. He was voted best technology columnist by the business journalism publication TJFR. Marketing Computers magazine has four times named him one of the most influential technology columnists. He is the author of Wiley's MEGAMEDIA SHAKEOUT: The Inside Story of the Leaders and the Losers in the Exploding Communications Industry, which was a Business Week Bestseller.
Residence: Clifton, VA.

"Watson was clearly a genius with a thousand helpers, yet he managed to build an institution that could transcend the genius."
-from the Foreword by Jim Collins

"Like all great biographers, Kevin Maney gives us an engaging story. . .his fascinating and definitive book about IBM's founder is replete with amazing revelations and character lessons that resonate today."
-Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, bestselling author of Evolve! and When Giants Learn to Dance

Customer Reviews:

A good read.......2006-12-29

Before I get to the review, let me say that this book gets a 10 for content. It gets only a 2 for style.

I was drawn to this book shortly after reading Lou Gerstner's "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance" (truly an excellent book, esp since it was written without a ghost writer), who makes many references to the old IBM. This book certainly paints the complete picture of what old IBM was.

Manney begins by talking about Watson's upbringing, then draws you into his times at NCR and quick rise to the top. He makes many pauses to describe the nature of character of the folks that would become major influences on Watson's business sense. He even throws in a few amusing anecdotes along the way. Then he dives into the incitement and the flood that would convince Watson of true value of integrity.

The first chapter or so on C-T-R, how Watson got the job, started off and some initial challenges are good. Then the book goes into non-linear time line and starts to loose you. For instance, Maney divides chapters into sections. One section could end in 1934 talking about Watson's big break, the next would be a personal anecdote from 1920s, the next would start off in 1917 and talk about events that lead to Watson nearly bankrupting the company. The next chapter would be a repeat, and you would again seemingly randomly jump from 1930s to 20s for no apparent reason. I found myself going back and forth many times trying to figure out how this even in '34 relates to the other event in '34 five pages ago.

Still, if you are a fan of start-from-nothing-climb-to-the-top stories, this is an absolute must read. Maney captures the essence of Watson, like very few authors could. He gives a balanced view of his personal and public lives, and most importantly, he understands that IBM's success was dependent on many people, not just Watson and so he gives them a significant amount of screen time as well.

A critique of Watson senior by Kevin Maney.......2006-01-06

This book is generally pretty good, as evidenced by my 4 stars I quite enjoyed it. There is a lot of insight into what the biographer believes Tom Watson was, and I put it that way because there is a lot of interpolation by the author on what the goings on were around the company. It's an enjoyable read, but very repetitive and you can tell by the writing that it is written by someone not accustomed to writing books (the writer is a journalist). It lapses in and out of formal and informal narrative, repeats itself constantly, the author has a particular fondness for describing Watson's diatribes as "cuttingly" (which is a word?).

In any case this is the first book I've read about either of the Tom Watson's and IBM and I assume that it has done a good job of dispelling some of the myths of other books which were written about him. It's an intriguing book because the subject was so utterly obsessed and consumed by his company and his outrageous luck and "bet the farm" gambles.

Good read, I recommend it but I don't think is top class.

Highly Recommended!.......2003-10-16

This book seems to have been written primarily because the author learned about the existence of boxes of Thomas Watson's papers that had never been read by any biographer or journalist. In some cases, the author's access to these new materials does help fill in some minor gaps in the existing accounts of Watson's life. And cumulatively, they take some of the shine off the legend, impressing upon one how humdrum the daily life of even a business titan must be. This book is reasonably well written and packed with memorable anecdotes. While it doesn't offer stunning new insights, we commend it as a readable, accessible and balanced introduction to one of the greatest executives of the twentieth century.

The Story of a Leader.......2003-07-24

All great stories have a good guy and a bad guy. In this story, it's the same guy. Thomas Watson, Sr., by sheer force of personality, created IBM.

The best part of this book is the IBM songs at the end of every chapter. They are hillarious, but probably no more so than some of the silly cheers dot.coms used to pump up their employees.

But back to the story: Mr. Watson created the first tech growth company of the 20th century. Mr. Maney had unbelievable access to Mr. Watson's personal notes and correspondence as the primary resource to tell how he created IBM. Some of the details about meetings, drawn from the transcribed minutes, give an eerie "you are there" quality to the book. One feels almost as terrorized as the executives in those meetings.

In reading the book, one gets the clear message that Mr. Maney would have really liked to have met Mr. Watson. He truly admires his subject while at the same time showing warts and all. This is not a soft treatment of Mr. Watson. Yet, you can almost hear Mr. Maney saying between the lines, "I just wish I could have met that old S.O.B."

This book holds great detail but is an easy read. Mr. Maney's style covers the point without belaboring it. The book is often funny, sometimes sad but never disappointing.

A classic.......2003-07-23

If IBM and computers are synonymous, so are Watson and IBM. Whatever the criticisms and the controversies surrounding the 3 magical alphabets in blue, IBM is IBM. To build such a company from ground up, offering solutions to business and scientific computing and thereby acting as the catalyst for the process of economic progress during the most part of the twentieth century is by no means an ordinary feat. That was exactly the material Thomas Watson Sr was made of. Watson has done his job and done it well and now Kevin Maney completes the rest by bringing this story in a truly remarkable manner to our bookshelves.

It is difficult not to fall in love with Watson Sr and his beloved company even half way through the book. From his humble beginnings to the misfortune at NCR, for nearly forty years Watson Sr is just another story of struggles, ups and downs. But to him, life just begins at forty with his job at CTR and of course the birth of Tom Watson Jr. The birth of IBM and its growth under the paternalistic care of Watson Sr through depressions, wars, booms and uncertainties gets a lion's share of coverage in this book. Watson Sr took big business risks bordering on a propensity to gamble, pushing IBM into higher orbits. Luck is the word the author takes recourse to while describing these successes.

The next logical part of the book deals with the succession plan at IBM that is a story by itself. Father, Son and Co by Tom Jr is widely quoted in these pages. The father's affection for his sons Tom Jr and Dick, his struggle to reconcile their differences and the frequent fights with Tom Jr are very close to what Tom Jr himself has described in his book.

The chapters on transformation of IBM into the era of electronics under Tom Jr and the trust suit that had a severe personal impact on Watson Sr deserve commendation.

While reading the pages where the old man bids goodbye to IBM and to this world, I stood up in salute to this great man.

Average customer rating:

Great Advice For Running A Small Business

Must Have Business Book

Articulate, comprehensive, practical, reader-friendly.

Don't do business without Janet.

Janet has outdone herself this time!

Business Know-How: An Operational Guide for Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses With Limited Budgets
Janet Attard
Manufacturer: Adams Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1580622062

Customer Reviews:

Great Advice For Running A Small Business.......2002-07-21

While some books, such as "The Entrepreneurial Mindset" and my own "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur," are great at providing philosophical guidance and strategic insight into becoming an entrepreneur, other books are great at providing practical, hands-on information for dealing with specific, small business situations. "Business Know-How" provides excellent, hands-on information which will help you run your small or home business.

"Business Know-How" is jam-packed with hints, tips, resources, and suggestions for saving money, growing your sales, and running your business more effectively. The lessons are particularly useful to small and home-based businesses.

Half of U.S. small businesses are home-based. Attard says that although hard work and good products are necessary to succeed in small business, hard work and good products alone aren't enough. Attard writes: "To be successful, you need to know how to do business. You need to know the best ways to find customers, to sell to them, to use technology, to cut costs, and to deal with problems that inevitably arise. And you need to know how to do it all on a shoestring."

The First Chapter, Finding the Real Opportunities, will help you generate ideas for a new business. Attard suggests: "Businesses don't just happen. They are made... your success relies on what you bring to the business. If you love what you do, your passion for the business will drive you to be knowledgeable, creative, and persistent."

One of Attard's recommendations is "Look for Avalanches" which will help carry you in a successful direction. As an example, Attard discusses Cheyenne Software, which jumped on the Local Area Network trend by developing enhancements to Novell LANs. She also discusses demographic trends and points out a few particularly lucrative areas, such as corporate training. We learn that corporate training is a $50 billion market.

We also learn that African Americans represented a $300 billion market by 1994. Attard advises: "The secret to successfully targeting these and other cultural markets is to pay attention to your audience's heritage and lifestyle. Don't just replace pictures of white people with pictures of African Americans or Latinos, and don't translate English word for word into any other language. Your marketing efforts will fail if you do. Instead, tailor the sales literature or ads to accurately reflect the lifestyle of the targeted market."

But, your business doesn't need to be earth shattering or target a huge market. One of Attard's first businesses was making beanbags shaped like frogs. Attard writes: "I filled them with birdseed instead of beans to make them pliable and less lumpy to the touch. ... I could produce them quickly and kept my costs low by making the frogs from inexpensive fabric remains."

Attard also suggests considering "Mundane Moneymakers," such as home cleaning or plumbing for your start-up business. Attard writes: "The key to making money with the mundane is to sell something your customers can't do, don't want to do, don't have the time to do, or can't get done elsewhere."

As a great example of a mundane, but potentially profitable, business, Attard tells us about a doggy do-do clean-up business which cleans up doggy waste in dog owners' back yards. Now, there's a good example of an unromantic business! After a few years, the founding entrepreneur sold the company for a quarter of a million dollars.

(Passion for doggy clean-up probably doesn't last too long. Attard doesn't say how big a market doggy do-do clean-up represents. But with the help of her outstanding chapter on business research, you probably could make a fairly good estimate. Exercise for Entrepreneurship students: Estimate the market size of the doggy do-do business. Extra credit: Measure the market size in Kibbels N' Bits.)

Most of "Business Know-How" isn't about starting a business. It's about operating your business effectively.

One money saving tip from Business Know-How's Chapter, Keeping the Tax Collector at Bay, is "Employ Your Spouse and Deduct the Entire Amount of Your Medical Insurance Premiums."

Because there are limitations on the tax deductibility of medical insurance premiums providing coverage to sole proprietors and S-corporation owners who hold more than 2% of the corporate shares, but no such deductibility limits on health insurance coverage provided to your other employees, Attard suggests employing your spouse.

Attard writes: "There are no such limitations on the deductibility of medical insurance premiums you make on behalf of your employees, however. If your spouse is an employee of your business, the business can pay for (and deduct the cost of) his or her medical insurance. Your spouse would then add you as a dependent on his or her policy. This would make the entire premium deductible by your business as a business expense. If you don't have employees other than your spouse, and don't have any other good source of health insurance, this strategy offers significant tax savings by converting a personal expense to a [tax deductible] business expense."

Attard notes one important caveat. If you have other employees, you might be required by law to provide them the same health care coverage as your spouse.

"Business Know-How" has outstanding chapters about conducting business research, finding suppliers, shoestring marketing, selling to the government, home office equipment, and dealing with taxation of your home-based business. A primary focus of the book is saving money and reducing your costs, which is crucial to success. The book also provides a wealth of referrals to gather more information.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur."

Must Have Business Book.......2000-06-01

This is a must have business book to add to your shelf. It has very practical simple advise that you will want to start implementing right away.

Articulate, comprehensive, practical, reader-friendly........2000-02-04

Janet Attard's Business Know-How tells how to make a small business profitable, from obtaining publicity and locating customers without expensive ad budgets to cutting business costs and becoming involved with the Internet. All are excellent business guides with practical information for those just starting out.

Don't do business without Janet........1999-12-17

Janet Attard is a familiar name to most people doing business on the Internet, especially on AOL.

She has been the force behind the growth of the Business Know-How discussion boards & newsletter. She plans over 70 weekly live chats, as well as compiling thousands of articles, tips, & hints on every aspect of small business you can name.

This book begins after you've done all the basic start-up work for your business. There is no discussion of the best legal form for your business to take & you won't find questionnaires to test your entrepreneurial skills. Attard assumes you've passed that point & are ready to go to work.

What you will get is insight on topics such as:

=> finding suppliers => mailing & shipping strategies => trade show savvy => selling to the government => building a web site without going broke => making cash flow => how to make a big impression on a small budget => using the mail to build business => choosing & using office equipment

I must admit that I thought Attard would have nothing new or of interest to me. After all, I've been in business for some time. (egotistical, isn't it?)

But, she surprised me with a number of interesting & useful ideas. Briefly, here are a few:

=> make use of a CD-ROM phone directory. Attard suggests one called SelectPhone costing about $150. It will allow you to find customers & suppliers. (p. 84)

=> ask for an editorial calendar. The editorial calendar briefly lists the types of stories that will be covered each month for the calendar year. Newspapers & magazines plan far ahead for special topic issues. (p 91)

=> advertise where your competitors advertise. If your competitors have been advertising for many months in a specific media, their ads are probably working.(p. 104)

=> familiarize yourself with advertising laws. Just because you're small doesn't mean you can ignore or avoid complying with laws regulating advertising.(p 120) There follows a page and a half of laws that might trip up a small business owner.

=> buy US postage stamps at less than their face value. Buy your stamps from a stamp dealer rather than the post office. Stamp dealers often buy stamps in quantity hoping they will go up in value.(p. 149) I really liked this one and * never * would have thought of it.

I could give many more examples, but that wouldn't be fair to Attard, who's obviously put blood & sweat into this book

Let me leave you with some more topics of interest:

=> using the web ferret for quick web searching => the when & how of yellow page ads => what's a press room & why you want to use it => your trade show toolbox -- what's in it & why => what you should know about credit card fraud

You're all getting used to the fact that I'm as much a stickler about the design of a book as I am about content.

This book is well laid out, the type is large enough to read easily, & typefaces are consistent through out the book.

The few gray boxes used are well placed & don't interrupt the flow of the text. My only dislike is this: to make the * tips * boxes stand out from the other gray boxes, all the text contained within them is underlined. They are the only part of the book I found difficult to read & found myself skipping over them most of the time. I know I missed valuable information because of it.

Janet has outdone herself this time!.......1999-11-05

Over the years I've come to expect excellence from Janet Attard -- whether at her website, in her books, or on her excellent AOL forums.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that, when reading her newest offering "Business Know-How," I was once again blown away by her ability to take topics that are near and dear to the hearts of all micro- and home-based business owners and make them not only helpful but enjoyable.

The subjects she covers are especially important for smaller businesses -- like how to keep your costs down and how to maximize your exposure and publicity (on and off line). The book is written in a very "user-friendly" style -- short, pointed paragraphs and lots of practical bullet charts and lists.

It's a must read and a good investment in your business.

Book Description

The Dynamics of Mass Communication: Media in the Digital Age focuses on aspects of the media -- history, organization, ownership, economics, feedback, and career -- with increased focus on ethics and the critical cultural perspective. New to this edition is a section on the impact of the digital age in each media chapter. Dominick's cogent and lively writing style has made this text a student favorite.

Customer Reviews:

It's a textbook..........2007-01-05

The book covered many concepts of the world of communications. I found the text to be rather slow, but I was able to continue to the end, not only for the course I bought it for, but because I am interested in the field. It is a college textbook, so the organization is a bit more formal and less reader friendly, but it has a great deal of interesting information.

Book Description

A well-timed question can shake us out of complacency, and a good proverb will help us think, obey, improve, and succeed. Combine these elements with the wisdom of the Bible, focus them for the business community, and you have Business Proverbs.

This uniquely structured book provides everyone in business, from the CEO to the newest employee, with practical wisdom that will increase workplace effectiveness. Each one-page reading includes a poignant question, Scripture, a brief business application, and a verse from Proverbs.

Relevant and timely topics addressed in Business Proverbs include quality of service and product, achieving success, human resource issues, making tough decisions, planning, hiring and firing decisions, working relationships, and much more.

Business Proverbs offers 200 readings, each of which are written adaptations of the radio program with the same name, currently heard on more than 650 radio stations nationwide.

Customer Reviews:

This Book is Badly Marred.......2004-12-08

Every once in a while, a book comes along that rises triumphantly above the sea of mediocrity and provides stunning insight, a deep well of wisdom, and brilliant counsel. This book is not it. What you will find in Business Proverbs, however, is a full scale assault on the sanctity of scripture. In his zeal to wring some type of business application out of every last verse of the Bible, Mr. Marr abandons the KJV 1611 version and uses whatever version he thinks might fit with the topic of the moment.

To say that Mr. Marr takes liberties with scripture would be a gargantuan understatement. He doesn't just take the scripture out of its context - he twists, mutilates, manipulates, obfuscates, tortures, stomps and (if necessary) gives it an atomic wedgie in order to drive home his point, which is always rudimentary and, more often that not, rather inane. As the former CEO of the fourth largest export/import company in America, Mr. Marr inexplicably failed to recognize the need to export this epistle to the nearest refuse depository.

Full of Insights on Biblical Ways to Behave in Business.......2004-05-11

Steve Marr has been an inspiration to me to conduct my business affairs by the book--God's Book. He's got an uncanny way of analyzing everyday business problems--from a leader's perspective or a worker's point of view--and presenting a course of action that is solid both business-wise and God-wise. This book resource reflects that good sense with page by page of helpful perspectives on ways to address common business issues and challenges. Each page delivers pratical advice with a Scriptural backbone. I highly recommend you get a copy for yourself if you desire to conduct your business activities with wisdom from the Bible. I also enjoy his daily email full of similar nuggets: (...)

Hyprocrite.......2003-11-09

This book is unoriginal and uncreative. It just takes words from the Bible and puts them in different words. Anybody could have written this book. I wish I could give it 0 stars. I use to know Steve Marr and he has treated his employees very harshly. He is not a Christian businessman. He only wrote this book to make a profit. He does not practice what he preaches. How can he write a book on how to run a business if he can't run his own?

Focuses to much on getting rich and twists God's proverbs.......2002-05-06

This Book fails to realize that religion should not be used to make money for personal wealth it should be used instead to help others. I was very disapointed. This book downplayed charities and looked down on the average worker. It tended to support rich people or those with many workers under them. It was not original at all most of the work was just taken from proverbs from the bible and twisted into the theme of making a quick buck. Please don't buy this book donate to charity instead. I'd like to know why Steve Marr is trying to make a profit off of religion.

Focuses to much on getting rich and twists God's proverbs.......2002-05-06

Average customer rating:

Changes Our Money Attitudes

Making Peace With Money
Jerrold Mundis
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0740700405

Book Description

Making Peace with Money is about creating a relationship with money that is free of stress, worry, and pain. It offers practical advice on getting debt under control and living within your means, and then outlines principals and practices for changing emotions, psychological attitudes, opinions, and beliefs about money. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of our relationship with money such as earning, debt, work, generosity, flow, wealth, and others. After a brief descriptive essay on how we can heal our financial/emotional attitudes, the book provides hands-on activities and exercises, and then a group of quotes and meditations from such diverse sources as the Bible, Zen Buddhism, literature, the Talmud, and both ancient and contemporary philosophy. Making Peace with Money encompasses the results of Mundis's inner journey from recovered debtor to a person who is truly at peace with the demons that haunt both him and millions of others. This book is a tool for inner change-certainly one for a nation of debtors, but also for families who are making more money but spending what they make; for the people who are treading water, earning plenty but filling an emotional void with the shopping sprees and binge-spending; and for people who may not be in serious debt, but are nonetheless unhappy with their inability to save for the things that will make them feel fulfilled.

Customer Reviews:

Changes Our Money Attitudes.......2000-04-05

"This program works. I give you my word on that," Jerry Mundis writes in the introduction. And I believe him. Although the focus is an inward journey towards changing our relationship with money, it's not a book that one just reads and puts on the bookshelf but works in order to get the most benefit from it. It contains both insights and practical exercises that bring changes in our attitudes and then our actions towards money.

The chapters are divided into different areas of our relationship with money--debt, spending, generosity, vision, etc.--with each chapter containing essays, exercises and then quotations, anecdotes or meditations on that particular area. This book seems to take off where Mundis's first book, "How To Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously", left off. I found his first book to be more matter-of-fact with a 12 step program foundation for debtors and only a relatively small amount of space dedicated to the attitude changing or more spiritual aspects of money problems. "Making Peace with Money" addresses debt in the first chapter but then is more focused on changing inner thoughts and attitudes about money. Therefore it's more useful to a larger number of people, those who may not have a debt problem but want to come to terms with their money relationship.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the last chapter that addresses special circumstances such as being out of work or problems with being able to spend money on oneself, what the author calls 'Anorectic Spending'.

I think this book would be especially useful to the person with serious debt problems when coupled with Mundis's other two books, "Getting Out of Debt,..." and "Earn What You Deserve". By diligently doing every practice in these books, one's attitude towards money couldn't help but change. Don't positive attitudes plus positive actions equal positive results? No wonder Mundis guarantees his program.

Average customer rating:
The making of civilization and new style government: How every nation may operate with plenty and peace for all its people. The value of gold and silver and paper money revealed
T Day
Manufacturer: American Book Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Systems Of Government | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008CDI9A

Book Description

The Martin is considered the finest acoustic guitar in the world, a distinction it has held for more than 150 years. Philip Gura chronicles the career of C. F. Martin from his humble start as an importer and repairman of musical instruments in New York City in the 1830s through the founding of C. F. Martin & Company and its move to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Gura is the first historian to study thoroughly the Martin company records dating back to the 1830s: letters, account books, inventories, and other documents. Using this rich archive, he establishes how a German immigrant from Saxony's guild tradition became the finest American guitar maker of his time and created a uniquely American business that successfully eclipsed its competition.

As Gura shows, Martin's success was based on his astute navigation of the rapid economic expansion and industrialization of his time. Martin adapted his artisanal craft to modern industrial methods, maintaining quality while meeting increased demand. After Martin's death in 1873, the company continued to grow, and it thrives today, producing instruments that are still the most sought after in the world.

With more than 175 illustrations, many of them in color, this book is a handsome and valuable history of the nineteenth-century American music trade told through one man's participation in it.

Customer Reviews:

Charming book...well-researched...thoughtfully written.......2003-12-08

Who was Christian Frederick Martin? By the time you finish reading "C.F. Martin and His Guitars 1976-1873," you'll have a keen appreciation of and better understanding about the German immigrant, cabinetmaker's son, craftsman, entrepreneur, and guitar maker. Because C. F. Martin left virtually no personal writings, you may not learn much about his personal life, but you will be presented with a fascinating view of American business during the first half of the 19th century.

Philip Gura, historian and Professor of English and American Studies at the University of North Carolina, has a lot of zeal for the history and culture of America's music industry. Gura's interest in the subject was explored in his 1999 award-winning book, "America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century." Since then, Dr. Gura spent over a year reading and digesting Martin's letters, account books, inventories, and other unique archival documents that had not been previously examined in any thorough manner. Gura sets the stage by explaining the importance of music to antebellum Americans, along with the concomitant public infatuation ("guitarmania") with the guitar and guitarists. Early photographic processes documented the instrument and its players, and this book portrays many excellent illustrations of how Americans embraced the guitar. In fact, the book has 175 illustrations, many in color. Before the mid-1830s, there were few guitar makers in the U.S., and none had contributed significantly to the instrument's development. This changed when 37-year-old C.F. Martin arrived in New York in 1833 to find his opportunity under a free market system without restrictions.

Martin had learned the trade, in the European guild system, by studying for 14 years with Austrian guitar maker, Johann Georg Stauffer. During the 1830s in New York, Martin was a craftsman, importer, repairman, and merchant. It's interesting to read about the custom instruments he built, his business dealings, the kinds of items he stocked, his sources of income, and his expenses. Some of his employees and business acquaintances are also profiled. Martin was an astute and successful businessman, and he moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839 to concentrate solely on guitar making. Unfortunately, his first decade in Pennsylvania is not well documented, but author Gura was able to find accounting journals and business letters from about 1850 on. There are interesting anecdotes about such characters as Ossian Dodge and Martin's guitar displayed at the Crystal Palace Exhibition which opened in 1853.

Gura writes about Martin's standardization of his instruments and how the guitar maker adapted to economic conditions and industrialization. By the late 1840s, for example, a steam engine ran Martin's equipment for sawing and shaping lumber. I found it fascinating to read about Martin's emphasis on quality hand craftsmanship and business independence, while other makers (like James Ashborn and William B. Tilton) used other approaches. Another well-researched chapter in Martin's history is the importance of C.A. Zoebisch & Sons, who eventually became Martin's wholesaler for his guitars. The author points out that some unscrupulous people even attempted to build forgeries of Martin's guitars during his lifetime. By the time of his death in 1873, C.F. Martin had built an excellent reputation as a master, and the company continued to successfully thrive under the direction of Martin's son. Today, the company still produces some of the best guitars in the world....under the able direction and oversight of C.F. Martin IV.

There are other fine books that deal with the guitars themselves. Philip Gura, however, has successfully painted an insightful portrait of C.F. Martin, a man with vision and keen business acumen. If only more of Martin's personal letters survived, we would've been given a very unique glimpse at that side of the expert craftsman. There is little offered about his family, pets, hobbies, interests and beliefs. While some biographical information is presented, this book's central theme is a historical one about music business and culture in 19th Century America, as illustrated by one seminal man's involvement in it. Philip Gura's charming book is well-researched, thoughtfully written, beautifully illustrated, and professionally executed.
There is still considerable mystique about C.F. Martin, his instruments and the company he built, but this historical perspective captures the American spirit of this legendary merchant and artisan. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

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C. F. Martin & His Guitars, 1796-1873.(Instruments and Instrumental Music)(Book Review): An article from: Notes
Gary R. Boye
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B0007URCSQ
Release Date: 2005-07-13

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This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1727 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: C. F. Martin & His Guitars, 1796-1873.(Instruments and Instrumental Music)(Book Review)
Author: Gary R. Boye
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 61 Issue: 1 Page: 147(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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