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Fans of The New Yorker will be dazzled by The Complete New Yorker, a collection that includes
every page of every issue, from full-color covers to spot drawings, from poetry to Profiles, from cartoons to advertisements--all on
8 searchable DVDs. No need to save old issues, with this package, you'll have every article, cartoon, illustration, and advertisement, as it appeared in print, at your fingertips. The Complete New Yorker covers the magazine's entire history, from February 1925 to February 2005, providing a detailed yet panoramic history of the life of the city, the nation, and the world.
With The Complete New Yorker, you'll be able to:
Browse by Cover (click to zoom):
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Search by Keyword (click to zoom):
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View Entire Articles (click to zoom):
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Search the archives for your favorite articles, cartoons, covers, and
see them exactly as they appeared in print:
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(August 31, 1946)
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(September 23, 1961):
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(September 10, 2001):
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Book Description
EVERY PAGE OF EVERY ISSUE
ON 8 DVD-ROMS, WITH A COMPANION BOOK OF HIGHLIGHTS.
A cultural monument, a journalistic gold mine, an essential research tool, an amazing time machine.
What has the New Yorker said about Prohibition, Duke Ellington, the Second World War, Bette Davis, boxing, Winston Churchill, Citizen Kane, the invention of television, the Cold War, baseball, the lunar landing, Willem de Kooning, Madonna, the internet, and 9/11?
Eighty years of The New Yorker offers a detailed, entertaining history of the life of the city, the nation, and the world since 1925.
Every article, every cartoon, every illustration, every advertisement, exactly as it appeared on the printed page, in full color. Flip through full spreads of the magazine to browse headlines, art work, ads, and cartoons, or zoom in on a single page, for closer viewing. Print any pages or covers you choose, or bookmark pages with your own notes.
Our powerful search environment allows you to home in on the pieces you want to see. Our entire history is catalogued by date, contributor, department, and subject.
4, 109 ISSUES. HALF A MILLION PAGES. YOURS TO SEARCH AND SAVOR.
Customer Reviews:
this version is outdated!.......2007-09-16
Buy the 9 DVD set directly from the New Yorker at half the price. I discovered this AFTER I bought from Amazon and when I pointed this out, they were of no help. Amazon basically told me it was my problem - caveat emptor!
6 stars for content; 1 star for presentation.......2007-08-12
To have finger-tip access to the complete contents of the New Yorker magazine throughout its entire publication history, even with the inconvenience of swapping discs, is a dream come true. One cannot have any criticism that the content of this product is an incredible value--the asking price is entirely fair.
The proprietary client that users are forced to access the contents through, however, is among the worst pieces of software design I have ever seen. The various panes, for example, cannot be resized, so that the abstract view, in most cases, is cut off. The `Article Abstract' pane is always 756 pixels wide and 88 pixels high, no matter how long the abstract is. Only by clicking in the abstract pane and using the up and down arrows can one view the full text of the abstract.
The client was designed by Bondi Digital Publications, whose slick website proudly claims credit for it. Bondi's developers should be forced to crawl on their knees from Manhattan to Murray Hill to beg forgiveness for their programming sins. I purchased and installed the 1.1 DVD, but the client remains the same DOS 5.1-era obscenity it was before.
The index is also less than trustworthy. Touted by its developer, Innodata Isogen, as "99.995% accurate," it has, in fact, some gaping flaws. From a fairly thorough browse through most of 1933's issues, for example, I found that no material beyond page 40 of most issues was actually captured by the indexing engine. So, despite the fact that virtually every issue included a "Books" section, according to the index, only four 1933 issues contained this section (and only one in 1932 and only nine in 1931). Clifton Fadiman wrote most of the main reviews in the "Books" section in 1934, yet there is a gap from the 17 Feb to the 9 June issue where no author is credited. Such omissions mean that serious researchers should think twice before relying on the search tool. I suspect the true accuracy figure is under 95%, which is pretty poor by today's standards.
It's a real shame that the management of the New Yorker didn't put this product into the hands of a technical team of the caliber of the one that implemented their website. The net result of their poor choice of subcontractors is akin to taking the Hope Diamond and wrapping it up in a used Big Mac wrapper.
Wow! A Great Gift for any New Yorker Fan!.......2007-05-24
First, I applaud the guys at the New Yorker for bringing this remarkable gift of the last 80 years on 8 CDs. You can reprint or print as often and as much as you want. I have to say that I didn't care for the book included. But this is truly a complete New Yorker with ads, indexes, authors, dates, subjects, etc. I have to say since I'm a big fan of Janet Flanner's who wrote Letters from Paris from 1925 to 1975. Fortunately, I don't have to spend a fortune seeking New Yorker magazines for a lot more money. It's easy to install and easier to use all the time. I love it. It's the perfect gift for anybody who loves to read, for any New Yorker fan, or anybody who has acquired the New Yorker Taste. It's not for everybody but it's for me.
I have to say that was the main purpose behind this purchase was the opportunity to have the magazine without collecting too much dust and space as magazines have been known to do. As a fan of Janet Flanner for the last couple of years, this complete New Yorker edition on dvd and book is fabulous and quite a bargain. I'm so glad that I got it and now I can print as much without having to go elsewhere to get the magazine editions. Janet Flanner was one of the most important voices of the last century and more so was that she was the voice of Paris from the American point of view from 1925 to 1975. Her name was synomous with New Yorker and the Letters from Paris edition. I am so happy to receive this wonderful item at a fraction of the price and be able to use it on my computer. I wonder what Janet would say about today's technology, the smoking ban everywhere but home, and the state of Paris, London, Rome, and New York City today. I won't say that Janet was a New Yorker because her heart was truly in Paris where she spent most of her life. We were very lucky to have her there reporting from 1925 until 1975. She was there between two World Wars. I think some of her finest writing came about during World War II and afterwards until she was no longer to write. I have to say that I think Paris changed after World War II. It wasn't so much about the lost generation of American expatriates like Flanner, her partner Solita Solano, Natalie Clifford Barney, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Beach etc. who relocated. Sure the hardcore expatriates like Flanner stayed behind but the change in Paris was obvious after the war. Nothing after the war was ever the same. In a way, all of Europe lost it's innocence during World War II and even Janet probably fondly remembered days before the war that ripped everybody apart. Nothing is for sure, nothing can last forever, maybe that's what Genet would say today.
Anyway, the product is excellent. There are a couple of pages missing in old issues but the quality is adequate. You get 80 years of print on 8 compact discs which I found accessible and easy to use on my computer. The first disc is to install the information which includes by author, subject, title, year, etc. This index is invaluable tool. It would also be a great addition to the schools for students to research. They have a wide variety of literature like cartoons, poems, short stories, non-fiction, profiles, reporter at large series etc. It would be a terrible shame not take the opportunity to buy this treasure.
20th century in a box!.......2007-05-13
Name a subject and the Complete New Yorker addresses it ...and probably from many perspectives and in every decade! This collection is a goldmine of research and personal library of literature.
how about it mac users?.......2007-05-01
all of the problems listed in all of the, amazon, reviews dealing with computer problems seem to be software conflict with various hardware suppliers. all of the, mac, users seem happy with the product. is this true mac users?
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
A landmark study that offers an alternative history of the Cold War from the point of view of the world's poor.
'"Europe" is morally, spiritually indefensible. And today the indictment is brought against it…by tens and tens of thousands of millions of men who, from the depths of slavery, set themselves up as judges.'—Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism
Here, from a brilliant young writer, is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movement—the idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the twentieth century attempt to knit together the world's impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II.
Spanning every continent of the global South, Vijay Prashad's fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship, it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, and Indonesia's Sukarno—as well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals, artists, and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World, whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced a much impoverished international political arena. 12 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
still waiting.......2007-08-29
In 1927, two hundred delegates from thirty-seven states and regions gathered in Brussels and formed the League Against Imperialism. In doing so they gave an institutional voice to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the vast majority of the people in the world who eventually found their countries sandwiched between the "first" world of the United States and the "second" world of the Soviet Union. Not wanting to align with either empire, from that meeting onward the "third world" (a word coined in 1952 by Albert Sauvy) became a prolonged international project and not just a place of misery. The setting was fraught with irony, for Belgium was then led by King Leopold II, whose shameless pillage of the Congo had few peers. In this history of the majority of the world's peoples, Vijay Prashad traces their elusive quest, its problems and pitfalls, and the causes and consequences of its failure.
Prashad's organization takes one on a global tour; each one of his eighteen chapter titles is a major city of the third world project. In Part 1 he considers the quest (Paris, Brussels, Bandung, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Tehran, Belgrade, and Havana); in Part 2 the pitfalls (Algiers, La Paz, Bali, Tawang, Caracas, and Arusha); then in Part 3 the "assassinations" of the project (New Delhi, Kingston, Singapore, Mecca). The third world sought three goals, he says: political independence and self-rule; peaceful co-existence and non-violent international relations; and using the United Nations as the means to push its agenda, all in contrast to the militarism, economic dominance, and ostensible superiority of the American and Soviet spheres. Along the way Prashad tackles most every aspect of this struggle, including education, bureaucratism, land reform, suffrage, religion, revolutionary violence, foreign aid, transnational corporations, the "villigization" of millions of people, the debt crisis, natural resources, and women's discrimination.
The third world project failed badly for many complex reasons. After freeing themselves from the shackles of imperial overlords, countries tended to centralize power in the state instead of establishing effective social democracies, stifled dissent, ignored rule of law, plundered national treasure, and set up military regimes ruled by dictator-thugs ("Nothing good comes from a military dictatorship."). The predator first world continued their economic plunder thanks to the threat of overwhelming military, political, and economic means (globalization, the IMF, etc.). And thus the "catastrophic demise" of the third world project. Crushing debt and widening income gaps between rich and poor nations are only the most obvious signs that most people in the world remain marginalized by their own states and exploited by the first world. But at least they now have a history of their struggle, thanks to Prashad.
The Bruised Peoples.......2007-06-15
This book gets high marks for its sheer wealth of information, though it's not a casual reading experience. Here Vijay Prashad has continued the spirit of Howard Zinn's classic "A People's History of the United States," and this book is a strong inaugural release in what will hopefully be a continuing series. Here Prashad constructs the "Third World" as a Cold War term for all the disadvantaged nations that were caught in the crossfire between the First and Second Worlds, and were usually abused as pawns in the era's strictly bilateral games of geopolitics and development. Specifically, most of Prashad's work concerns the Non-Aligned Movement of nations that tried to resist taking sides in the bilateral Cold War, and attempted to build a coalition of nations that could stand as a viable entity with its own ideologies and political strategies. Prashad provides a wealth of little-known information on the nations and leaders that attempted to build this movement, and the political and economic realities faced by the peoples and societies that were being used and left behind by the superpowers.
Those familiar with Zinn's book will recognize the travails of the passionate historian who can't figure out how to synthesize vast quantities of historical knowledge. The first half of this book is tough to digest, consisting of an interminable laundry list of names and events with little over-arching analysis, giving the impression that Prashad is trying to describe every single thing that happened during the Cold War era outside of the US, Europe, and USSR. Occasional snippets of theory also seem forced and awkward, such as Prashad's examinations of unnatural borders or the behavior of military dictators. Fortunately, the book improves in the second half, as Prashad manages to develop his previously disconnected bits of history and theory into a strong overall analysis of how the superpowers "assassinated" (in his rather hyperbolic term) the Third World movement and its promises of social and economic progress, through globalization, conquest, and corporatism. Most importantly, Prashad does not refrain from criticizing the Third World nations too, as many of them have compounded their own misery by reverting to old styles of inequality and dictatorship. While this book has some real readability issues, and Prashad can sometimes be faulted for steering historical data toward his own theories, the reader is rewarded with a great amount of knowledge on peoples and leaders who have been forgotten in the histories of winners. [~doomsdayer520~]
Good.......2007-04-15
The Third World is a Cold War term, meaning mostly former nations that were ruled by Europeans and won their political independence in the decades after the second world war. That's how most people understand it anyway. It started off as a term of empowerment and hope by the leaders of the newly independent countries in the 1950s, after years of trying to bind the colonized into a single cause. These leaders saw that the First capitalist world and the Second Soviet-bloc world needed the Third world for its resources, people, and support in the global cold war, and they did not want to be pawns anymore.
The Third World Project started in the 1955 at the Bandung Asian-African Conference, when the Nonaligned Movement was founded (NAM) in opposition to the 1st and 2nd Worlds. From here, the Third World was split by internal divisions, attacks by the West and Eastern blocs, and finally outright destruction of the "Third World" by economic policies pushed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States, as well as political and military attacks by the USA and its allies. In "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World" by Vijay Prashad, the history of this push for unity, the contradictions of the class of leaders in trying to build this better Third world, the splits within the movement, and the final assassination of the Third World Project.
The book switches between different locations and different situations. Prashad points out that there was a strange contradiction in the work of building a Third World. The ruling class of the decolonized countries supported the new rulers, in many places, who wanted to stand up for themselves. But at the same time, as time went on, they also supported all-powerful dictators and neo-liberal economics that lead to the resources of the country being drained out like vampires (leading to continuation of places which have some of the richest resources of the world and some of the poorest people, like in Congo.) Projects like OPEC started as the "darker nations" tried to control their own politics, though it soon disintegrated into just rulers enriching themselves. In the end, they worked better with ruling classes of the 1st world than the people of their own countries.
Prashad goes to each place, from Singapore, to Indonesia and Suharto, to Baghdad, and explores the rise and fall of the Third World. Today, he ends, the Third World is dead. However, an international movement, free of imposed movements from above or directly by the elites of the government, has arisen and the world is changing to oppose the US. The book is an interesting look at an attempt by the leaders of former colonized places to fight back, though it can be a little disorienting traveling across so many places so fast (which is probably what trying to organize all those places to act together would have been like.) How the First World was able to destroy this movement is a pretty good lesson of history for any person to know.
Excellent.......2007-03-14
I've heard Prashad occassionally on WBAI and am kicking myself for taking so long to get around to his work. This is one of the greatest books ever written on the Third World. Its cogent, lucid and thorough. What I found very interesting was the book's balance. I can imagine how diffult it must've been to explicate each Nation's history in a few hundred pages adequately. He also excelled at depicting just how connected - Poitically / Sociologically and Economically - Third World Nations really are. This is indispensable in understanding the current state of the Third World. Undoubtedly, one for the shelves.
Worthy read for those interested.......2007-02-27
Well done. Bringing together material usually found in national, regional, and international histories the author orders material topically with chapter titles of cities where major events related to each theme happened.
Although not easy reading because much of the material is unfamiliar to most readers, the discussions are handled well and judgements usually sound. It is a wonder that this book could be written at all because of the breadth required. If you know one region of the world this volume will open your eyes and provide rich information for comparison.
Even if one is put off by views reflecting sympathy for the "Darker Peoples", critical of colonial mythmaking and neoliberal globalization alike - the control of the facts and history demands attention.
Book Description
The children in this book defy the stereotypes of urban youth too frequently presented by the media. Tender, generous and often religiously devout, they speak with eloquence and honesty about the poverty and racial isolation that have wounded but not hardened them.
The book does not romanticize or soften the effects of violence and sickness. One fourth of the child-bearing women in the neighborhoods where these children live test positive for HIV. Pediatric AIDs, life-consuming fires and gang rivalries take a high toll. Several children die during the year in which this narrative takes place.
A gently written work, Amazing Grace asks questions that are at once political and theological. What is the value of a child's life? What exactly do we plan to do with those whom we appear to have defined as economically and humanly superfluous? How cold -- how cruel, how tough -- do we dare be?
Customer Reviews:
A compelling eye-opener.......2007-09-10
Kozol's Amazing Grace is a true eye-opener. After reading it, I feel that I had nothing close to an accurate image of the conditions of poverty that people still live in in some of the inner city neighborhoods. The reality Kozol awakens us to shatters the illusion America holds of "equal opportunity for all," and the book is an indictment of a far-too-unaware society run by politicians who must think about quick fixes (prisons, tax cuts) that try to please voters or address problem symptoms rather than causes (terrible schools, decrepit surroundings, congestion of the homeless, and the not-always subtle discrimination that continues in society). A truly important book, which will challenge any readers who are supportive of Rudy Giuliani to defend his startling insensitivity to the issue, displayed by his cutting of funding of public services that are so crucial to many people Kozol writes of.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind.......2007-08-20
Jonathan Kozol has dedicated his work on bringing light to the inequalities that exist within our nation. These inequalities are best seen, unfortunately but not unexpectedly, along racial lines. "Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation" is a book with a lot of questions, a lot of shocking information, but not a lot of answers; if only because the answers may not exist. It is a stunning look at the deep disparity between rich and poor within our nation.
Kozol focuses on the South Bronx ghetto of Mott Haven, the poorest borough in New York, clearly segregated from the middle and upper classes, where two-thirds of the population are Hispanic and one-third African-American. Through interviews with school children, teachers, ministers, and community members, Kozol paints a bleak picture of the equally bleak lives led by those who live in this area. He recounts stories of buildings where wires have been eaten through by rats that are the size of squirrels, of drugs being bought and sold openly on the streets (although the drug dealers have enough respect to break when school lets out), and of families too numerous to count who are being killed off one by one by AIDS. The way these children see the world is frightenly dead-on; they know when they're not wanted because it's proven to them everyday in the way they have to live.
"Amazing Grace" is not an easy read due to its topic matter. Kozol's style is matter-of-fact, made up of usually uninterrupted comments by those he's interviewed, sometimes with his questions thrown in, and his own comments and hypotheses as to how this can go on. But Kozol doesn't necessarily have answers or even blame. Surely, some blame has to go to a system that keeps the poorest people with the least chance for success segregated from others, a separation of the haves and have nots to the greatest degree. And certainly others would place the blame on the poor people themselves. Perhaps it's a combination of a lot of factors, not one or the other, but what is certain is that too little is being done (or maybe can be done) to make a difference before it is too late.
An important book.......2007-06-25
It is a book about children. Children who live in Mott Haven, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the South Bronx. I have almost never read anything that has moved me and at the same time disturbed me as this book has. Jonathan Kozol has with great care and sensitivity interviewed children living in this place that's both crime ridden and run down. Most of these kids start off as being trusting and innocent but grow into becoming more and more disillusioned about their surroundings and hope for survival. The HIV and AIDS virus has really hit hard in these places and this is connected to the large amount of the population that abuse heroin. The heroin has such self-mocking names as "Jungle Fever", "Black Sabbath", "DOA"(dead on arrival), and "True Power". Many of the children are born to addicted mothers, some of who are in jail, already contracting the disease in utero. First time mothers have an average age between 16 and 17, while grandmothers can be in their late thirties and great great grandmothers in their late 50s.
Its incredible how close Jonathan Kozol manages to come to these kids. They really take him in and open up their hearts. They share with him their stories. These stories are full of horrible and painful things that are so far from the realities that we experience here in modern day big city Stockholm. The segregation in these South Bronx neighborhoods is total, whether it's the schools, hospitals, or prisons. And almost always the kids receive the short end of the stick. Children tell of how they see murders on the street, get attacked by rats, how some are killed or burned from household fires, how some eat cold oatmeal out of the box for dinner, many of the kids live with chronic asthma due to anxiety, others live with mothers dying of AIDS, and often have classrooms that are decrepit and completely rundown. There are less qualified doctors and teachers here than anywhere else in the state of New York. There have been major tax cuts in the city that have hit these citizens hardest. Like cuts in sanitation that has resulted in mountains of garbage lining up inside buildings drawing hordes of rats. Cuts in maintenance of buildings that leave elevators broken, often resulting in playing kids falling down the elevator shafts and dying. The police refer to some of the housing projects to as "death camps" because so many drug dealers and addicts dominate them. The tax cuts have also led to many social workers losing their jobs as well as closing of several youth centers that allow kids safe places to be while their parents work. Prostitution is also common among the women. Mostly serving the truck drivers who drive through the neighborhood to deliver goods to the Hunts Point market that is close. They turn tricks for 3 to 5 dollars that go to feeding their addictions. This happens all hours of the day and night, even when the children can see. Many times when the children or adults are asked how they manage to survive they mention their faith in god and heaven. That the place that they are in now is more reminiscent of hell, but this is not where they will end up.
As a atudent of theology I cannot help but see this book as a strong wake up call. The gospels of the New Testament took the part of the poor, saying the last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the Christian nation of America that prints "In god we trust" on their coins-this is how they treat the poor. One priest who works in the South Bronx took a little kid with him when he had to drive to Queens to do some errands. There he took him to Burger King to eat. The kid had never been outside of the Bronx before. The priest later learned from the kid's teacher that he wrote an essay in school about their lunch called "My trip to Burger King"-the same way a rich kid might write about a trip he made to Florida. Most of these kids never get any Christmas or birthday presents. They don't even have their own rooms. Sleeping on sofas or on mattresses on the floor. One child says, " it feels like I'm hidden", and this is a good observation. Nobody wants to be reminded of what these children are going through. Therefore their stories are seldom, if ever, heard. This is why Jonathan Kozols book is so important. Only a short distance away just across 96th street lies the park avenue apartments that houses some of the wealthiest people in the nation, households with an average income of 300,000 dollars a year. Toward the end of the book the author talks to an old poet living in the Bronx and the start to discuss the Nazi holocaust and the concentration camps. How there are certain disturbing parallels to what happened then and whats happening now. How the outcasts and those human beings viewed as being "superfluous" are quarantined. "Its not the same" he says, "but there are some similarities. There is the feeling of eclipse. There is the likelihood of death for many. There is a sense of people watching from the outside but seeming paralyzed and doing nothing. And then there are the miracles."
Amazing Grace: Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, The .......2007-05-07
I ordered a series of books for my daughter. Excellent email response, timely receipt and accurate updates of the order. More than what I expected. The materials were in good condition on arrival. Very satisfied with the service.
A Disappointing Look into a Terrible Problem.......2007-01-29
Having read Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, I expected something similar in style but different in content in Amazing Grace. I was not happy with Kozol the first time around but willing to try again, and despite my second chance this was just as disappointing. Normally in a book like this there would be a story that would connect the reader to the problem and personalize it, lots of fully cited statistics, and a workable solution. The book had only two of those, a story and statistics, which is my problem with Kozol. An excellent storyteller, he wraps you in page turning narratives, an unexpected plus in a book about America's most destitute victims of racism. Endless numbers prove his every point and bring you to his side of the table. That is not where the problem lies. Kozol's writing is simply annoying! Reading this book is like being guilt-tripped for something he makes you seem powerless over. I cannot stand that in either book he does not discuss a solution. The weakness is that it gets repetitive, going on and on with little difference between his rich people/poor people examples, however, the writing manages to stay interesting. What was most interesting was the similarity of Amazing Grace to Savage Inequalities. I thought that book was repetitive and mostly unhelpful, but now this? He even used the same school in both books and a critic of the book noted that the school he re-referenced has been repaired but Kozol had not bothered to redo his research. It is a strange feeling to read a book where the author has poorly plagiarized his own work. What is disheartening is that Kozol could write in such a selfish way. It cannot be articulated in one quote, but read the book and you will understand how he makes you feel like he is the only person in the world with a heart. It feels incomplete, and I am baffled that he did he not come across any way to help during his extensive research. I would not want to read another guilt tripping Kozol book and believe this is not an extremely important read. I would even recommend Savage Inequalities over this. I took away knowledge of a racial problem in America, but was put down by the seeming impossibility of any solution and the unnecessary jabs at anyone who is white or above the poverty line.
Casey Gollan
Customer Reviews:
The most influential theorist of nationalism.......2006-12-15
Start with Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities" to understand the contingency of modern nations, but then read Gellner. This is a master opus and the most elegant treatment of nationalism in print.
Interesting, super important, but his diction bores the dead.......2005-02-02
First, a few words on nationalism itself. Nationalism is important to study because during the 20th century, it has been one of the most despicable forces to ever hit this world and as such, needs to be understood. (And yes, I consider fascism a form of nationalism).
The twin founding fathers of nationalism, Hans Kohn and Carleton Hayes, construct the skeleton on which other authors (Gellner, Smith, Hobsbawm, Hutchinson, Breuilly, Armstrong, Anderson, etc.) try to fill in the gaps by narrowing one component, and exploring that area in extreme detail. Breuilly looks at solely the political aspects, Hutchinson and Anderson look at the cultural, etc. Gellner looks at the political tied to the cultural. In short, culture for Gellner is everything.
As Mel Brooks says in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, "the short, short version..." Gellner thinks that industrialization homogenized cultures, which in turn was bound to state-led educational facilities (schools, etc.). Teaching everyone the same thing, having them dress the same way, in short, nurturing a single identity created nationalism. Once culture bound with politics, nations emerged. Then nationalism came (independently).
Now for the more detailed review:
Gellner asserts the following explanation for the rise of nations and nationalism (two distinct things):
Nations are self-defined by the inhabitants within them. All nations share a culture.
Nationalism is a modern force which holds that politics and nations are congruent and inseparable.
Without one, you cannot have the other.
The reason for its modernity is simple to understand: allegiance to one's country hundreds of years ago was immaterial because people did not think in terms of nationality or country (and prior to 1648, there was no such thing as country). They may have thought in terms of religion or King, but certainly not nationality. And because of that central tenet, politics did not square with nationality. Politics was always present, but it squared with religion or king.
Gellner contends that there exist 3 general, but distinct, stages of human societal development throughout history:
Hunger-gatherer, agro-literate, and the industrial.
It is during the industrial stage where Gellner sees the emergence of both nations and nationalism. Both the hunter-gatherer stage as well as the agro-literate fall flat in producing either nations or nationalism, the first because HG's had no states (hence politics not bound to that region) at all, and the latter because cultural diversity was the hallmark of the day. The prerequisite, which emerged only after peasants moved into the cities to find work, was cultural homogenization. In short, there glue binding politics and culture was homogenization.
Once industrial societies emerged, however, all hell broke loose: shared culture, customs, languages, etc. replaced local, village-type culture. Regional dialects gradually gave way to a universal dialect. And the reason for homogenization? One Gellner offers is to maintain the status-quo. This homogenization shaped individuals into a more cohesive unit, and thus emerged collective group-think (dress alike, think alike--almost like Truman Show).
In addition, when societies moved from the agro-literate stage to the industrialized state, the nature of the type of work changed: it went from manual and static, to more sophisticated and fluid. According to Gellner, this feature produced the unintended effect of leading to both impersonalization and homogenization amongst the masses (within a region). Regional differences dissipated. So at this point in his argument, we have a standardization of culture.
Another secondary point that he adds to his thesis is that any society based on capitalism needs to grow, and that growth spurs more societal transformations. This has the effect of a catch-22: on one hand, the need for a high-level of technical skill promotes egalitarianism because it is mobile. Contrast this with agro-literate days, where work was static and hence people were stuck in societal roles. On the other hand, specialization was not so great as no one could learn it--quite the opposite: give workers generic training, and they will venture off on their own and become masters of their trade.
Gellner posits that since industrialization spurred great transformations in education, with little instruction after having acquired the basics, people can fluidly move from one position to the next (like going from HR to marketing to sales to data entry) within a company. Here is the gravy: people's fates are bound to education, because it is the key to societal mobility. And since educational institutions needed to be standardized, that is where the state comes in. Thus, politics is bound with culture.
And as for nations and nationalism?
They can emerge only when social conditions result in homogenization across the entire populace.
Isolated pockets that retain their old, immature culture (in contradistinction to high culture) eventually acquire the high culture because inhabitants that seek work in the cities return to those very villages (more or less, civilized). In short, they saw their own shortcomings and adopted a higher level of culture (which is exactly what John Plamenatz contends in his distinction between the Eastern and Western types of nationalism).
So there you have it.
Some issues I have with his contentions:
Clearly, Gellner looks only at the outcome of industrialization as nationalism. In short, if a society did not undergo industrialization, guess what? No nationalism or nations! That is why it is too Euro-centric (and Gellner's thesis is SILENT on the case of the Slavs--who had NO IDENTITY & did not even undergo industrialization until way later.
Not to mention the developing countries. Are the Kurds industrialized? Do they not constitute a nation? And the Palestinians?
Gellner confuses the differences between nationalism based on unity and nationalism based on independency (+ unity). He offers a cookie-cutter approach, a one-size fits all thesis that is profound, and certainly helps us to understand how Western Europe, which underwent industrialization, adopted a universal culture, and then had a nationalist movement, but he should have stopped there. It certainly was the case in England, France, Germany, Italy, and the US, but how about Romania? Or the Slavs? When did they industrialize? It was when the Austro-Hungarian empire split after WW1 did they undergo a nationalist movement. And then, arguably, came their nation.
In sum, Gellner's book is so profound because it explains how nations and nationalism emerged--at least in the industrialized, Western-European societies. A bit dry reading--certainly dont take it to the beach! Better yet bring a lot of coffee, highlighters, and keep the lights bright. But such an important work.
A classic...but classic isn't necessarily good.......2004-06-05
At first I thought this was going to be an enjoyable, positive reading exercise since Chapter 1 was clear and thought provoking. But by the sixth chapter I literally wanted to tear the book to pieces. Gellner's book is considered "a classic" in the literature on nationalism, but I contend that its weaknesses equal or outweigh its contributions. I found Gellner's theory extremely Euro-centric and remarkably exasperating. Moreover, Gellner's style of writing was excessively repetitive, "tedious and pedantic" (something he claimed in his conclusion to have avoided), besides being overly assertive.
Gellner's typology, in my opinion, is based on the faulty idea that there are only two types of societies: agrarian and industrial, and that the modern state is omnipotent vis a vis the society. While agrarian Europe was stagnating, other areas of the world had flourishing cultures based on trade *and* agriculture *and* small-scale industry. Some even had local identities (early ersatz nationalisms) that set them apart from the other localities with which they had regular contact through trade, diplomacy, wars and exploration. And while modern European societies are fully industrialized, with omnipotent states, many modern "third-world" societies are mixed agrarian/industrial, and the state vies with other groups in society for loyalty.
I do agree with Gellner's appraisal that nationalism and nationalities are not inevitable aspects of the human condition. But I disagree with his theory that industrial society led to the homogenization of cultures and appearance of nationalism. Much of my disagreement lies in his a priori assumption that the state is "only too conspicuously present" and that power is highly centralized in the state of the industrial era. In fact, Gellner went so far as to claim that having no state is not an "option". Certainly, having a state is the norm in the modern world, but it is by no means impossible that a state can fail, leaving a society essentially `stateless'. Moreover, presence of a state does not necessarily indicate that the state is able to control the society over which it nominally has authority.
Gellner's use of the term of culture is very ambiguous. Rather than rely on an anthropological definition of culture as a "system of ideas and signs and associations and ways of behaving and communicating" Gellner claims it is better to focus on "what culture does". But, his explanation of what culture does is inadequate. According to Gellner, culture in agrarian society favored "horizontal" cleavages, whereas industrial society is more egalitarian and favors "vertical" cultural cleavages. In other words, cultural differences led to regionally cross-cutting societal hierarchies in agrarian society but in industrial society, cultural differences led to national divisions and culturally homogenous groups - which, according to Gellner, industrial society required for survival.
Do societies *need* to be homogenous or do individuals themselves *want* to assimilate in order to get ahead? And does assimilation necessarily mean the fading away of sub-cultures? These are the types of questions that came to mind as I read Gellner's theory, and his rejection of Elie Kedourie's theory that nationalism forces homogenization. Certainly, a common means of communication becomes crucial in a highly specialized industrial society. But Gellner's theory does not explain why people would die or kill to promote or protect their culture. His theory also implies that people can belong to only one culture.
Gellner, if alive today, would probably agree with Francis Fukiyama's and Ron Unz's assessment that the survival of the United States relies on the continued supremacy of Anglo-Saxon culture and the end of bilingualism and multi-culturalism. But I whole-heartedly disagree that a mono-culture is an "inescapable imperative" of industrial society. Especially in today's `global village', education should support awareness of other cultures and the skills needed to interact confidently with those other cultures. That, in my opinion, includes a strong basis in one's own sub-culture, the "national" culture and international cultures. I also disagree that traditional, kin-based groupings have no place in our modern society. In fact, I believe that educational systems in developing states should make use of traditional forms of education. This would require rejecting the industrial -age mode of education that Gellner described - unspecialized and suffering from "Diploma Disease" in favor of a return to the specialized training of the `agrarian era' that Gellner says it is impossible to return to. Let's hope he is wrong about that too!
The Siren Call of Nationalism.......2001-06-11
A densely-written and concise book, as befitting Gellner's style, which is not usual in English writing. There is for example, a paucity in examples, unlike (say) Benedict Anderson's "The Imagined Community", another modern work on nationalism.
As an Irishman, I can see that parts of Gellner's thesis does fit Ireland. I can see how Irish Nationalism developed in the last century from the aspirations of working-class and middle-class townsmen adopting a metropolitan culture, and shifting away from their former communal and rural bonds. However, I am less sure that some historical memory did not play any part in this, the struggles of post-Reformation Ireland to maintain some independence from the English crown in the 17th century must have had its own influence. However, the arrival of French Revolutionary ideology at the end of the 18th century set the stage definitely for Nationalism, which at the time allied itself with democracy/ republicanism, possibly because as national communities were majorities in their own territories, these ideologies lent themselves to the nationalist case.
This is a facinating subject, and this book is a major contribution.
classic modernist account of nationalism.......2000-08-17
Truly one of the most important books ever written about nationalism, this is also one of the few modernist accounts of nationalism that ages well. While this book was published in 1983, it is basically an expanded version of a chapter from Gellner's earlier _Thought and Change_ (1964) with some alterations. However, even 36 years later his thesis is still as strong as ever: nationalism is a result of the transformation from agrarianism to industrialization. I'll try to summarize his thesis briefly.
Gellner describes the agrarian society as one where power is concentrated at the top with a complex division of labor and an emphasis on informality and intimacy. Basically each group lives in their own happy little world cut off from the rest.
But then things begin to change. The transformation to modernity involves a huge number of changes in society: the peasants have to pick up and move to the city for work. There mobility, formality (the 'Diploma Disease') and a universalised high culture replace intimacy, informality and various low cultures, and the peasants feel alienated (a touch of Marx?). The intelligentsia of the peasant group then decide to save their low culture by turning it into a high culture, which can only survive through state-supported education. Thus the peasant people decide to return home, seceed to form a new state and - presto - they've become a nation. This part of the story is obviously the violent part: Gellner claims that things will get better in late industrialism, where we'll have 'muted nationalism' after all those secessions have taken place.
While simplistic, there is a lot of truth to this story, which is well documented in the large number of nations which emerged in this way, especially in eastern Europe. However, Gellner neglects several things, most importantly what basis these peasants have for feeling like they have something in common besides their class. He also relies too much on the structural changes in society - nothing is left up to individuals or even groups, since nationalism is socially, not ideologically determined. Therefore the peasants themselves have no say in any of this: they're just riding the wave of history (Marx again?).
Yet for its faults, this book is still a classic: it has influenced all other writers on nationalism and will continue to do so for quite some time. Definitely a worthy read.
Book Description
An unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the men who protect us from the most frightening prospect of life in the age of terrorism"In my mind it's all business; I don't worry about my family, I don't worry about a function that I'm doing after work, I just worry about what's at hand. And what's at hand is that package." --Detective First Grade Joe Putkowski, NYPD Bomb SquadThe New York City Police Department Bomb Squad is the oldest such squad in the nation, founded in 1903. Each year its thirty-three members make more than two hundred stress-filled "bomb runs," in which they check suspicious briefcases, defuse hand grenades, and even respond to "art" projects constructed with real explosives. The public rarely sees these men -- and when they do, it's usually from a distance, telephoto pictures of helmeted figures in ninety-pound suits of Kevlar armor.Starting on December 31, 2003, in the heart of the New Year's Eve action in Times Square, journalists Richard Esposito and Ted Gerstein had exclusive access to the nation's most elite police unit for an entire year. Their often chilling, never-before-told tales from the front line provide an extraordinary view of the domestic war on terrorism.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for those interested in EOD........2007-09-11
As a military Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, I recommend BOMB SQUAD. The authors spent a year in the field with the NYPD BOMB SQUAD. The result is a narrative that strikes the right balance between history, human interest, and blowing stuff up. By the time I finished BOMB SQUAD I understood what it means to be a disposaleer in the Big Apple. I am particularly impressed and amazed with the number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that New York's Finest face on a regular basis. This book is a must read for anyone interested in EOD, police work, and homeland security. Thank you, Messrs. Esposito and Gerstein.
Boring, Boring, Boring.......2007-06-18
Mr. Gerstein should keep to writing for television. I was completely disappointed in this book. The character development was so minimal you really didn't care what happened to them. Each chapter jumps to a different era making a dry read that much harder. The writer was so constrained by the NYPD to NOT go into any details about bombs or methods to diffuse them the reader was left totally in the dark. While this book may have some minimal value to someone who is either obsessed with bomb squads or is directly connected to this one, for the rest of us this book is a bore. I had to consciously will myself each time to pick it up, hardly a page turner.
To make matters worse, the writer's political leanings are strongly to the right as he obviously is a big fan of the Patriot Act and has strong animosity towards former president Clinton. If you are a Fox News fan, you may enjoy this book.
day to day.......2007-04-11
great book as an emergency first responder in a haz mat specialty position I really enjoyed the story and could identify with the team in many ways.
I purchased this as a gift for my son........2007-04-06
I will wait until he reads the book. Therefore, I can't review it at this time.
A "must read" that's as important as it is informative.......2007-03-21
I knew this book was going to be a good read but I must admit I was greatly surprised to realize how important this book is. Not only is it a great history and peak inside the daily working of the NYPD Bomb Squad, but the fact, figures and observations of the many bomb technicians interviewed make you see the terrorism that has engulfed us for so long with fresh eyes. It's more informative than any Congressional hearing and I would wager that anyone reading this book is not only going to have an exciting read - my heart was racing - but is going to feel that reading this book was time and money well spent. I wish there were more books and authors like "Bomb Squad" and Richard Esposito and Ted Gerstein.
Customer Reviews:
A fantastic book for a very much loved park.......2006-07-26
Did you know that the elm lined mall leading to the Bethesda fountain and the view of the ramble are actually based on the layout of a church? Or that all of the lakes in Central Park are manmade. This and many other very interesting facts are interspersed with lovingly taken photographs of the park which were taken by the author of the book as well. Miller starts decribing how the park came to be and the leading ideas and ideals that lead to its creation by Olmsted and Vaux. She proceeds to describe systematically the various sections of the park providing historical information as well. She delves into the some of the controversies and compromises that Olmsted and Vaux encountered in the creation of one of the finest examples of 19th Century art but it is not a comprehensive history of the park. There is a 2 page map of the park at the of the book with a legend identifying each of the features discussed in the book. If you are first time visitor to the city wishing to explore the park in detail or a life long New Yorker this book will delight and surprise you.
Definitive Review of the Finest Work of Art in NYC.......2006-02-20
As an avid fan of Central Park who has been exploring it and studying the books on it for decades, I was amazed at what there was still to learn about it from Miller's book. For example, other historians allude to a connection between Central Park's design and the Hudson River School of landscape art: Miller provides actual sources of the designer's inspiration and shows the results explicitly in the photos. And all in a way that is not at all "bookish" but instead makes you want to go right in and see for yourself the scenes she shows so well in the book's illustrations. The beautiful photos and fascinating stories and the well chosen historical prints all work together in such a compelling and entertaining way that one might never realize one is being educated by a superb textbook in the field of art.
With her emphasis on the past of the park, and its present restored beauty, it is understandable that the author does not use very much of the book's valuable space on the remaining present-day problems, but she might at least have alluded to the incongruity of the city's insistence on using this artistic matepiece as a through route for motor traffic during the majority of daylight weekday hours. In effect, the city's Dept. of Traffic is providing a refuge from the chaos of the surrounding streets during rush hours - but for the cars, not for the people. If you want to appreciate the park shown in this book, go during the times when the traffic noise does not drown out the wind in the trees, the birdsong, and the happy voices of children!
New York's Oasis.......2005-09-21
Central Park is breath taking and this book does a fine job of giving the reader a feel for what makes this 850 acre masterpiece so special. The book is quite thorough and does an commendable job of disecting various sections of the park. The color photos are vivid and well thought out and the text is highly informative. The author has a real love for the park and it comes out in her writing. If you have never visited Central Park or have visited and fell in love with it like so many others, you will love this book. This oasis really is the heart of New York City and to understand New York you have to understand the parks history and its vast importantance to the city. Central Parks importance to New York and New Yorkers cannot be overstated, I can't imagine the city without it.
A Gorgeous Book Commemorating America's 1st Public Park.......2004-03-16
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of Central Park, photographer and historian Sara Cedar Miller celebrates the aesthetic, cultural and historic significance of America's first public park with the book "Central Park, An American Masterpiece." This is the park's definitive illustrated history, and offers some of the most gorgeous photographs I have seen on the subject - a difficult task given the number of pictures that have been drawn, painted and photographed of the Manhattan landmark. The book includes over 200 color illustrations, original plans and drawings alongside modern photos, giving the viewer/reader an historical perspective.
Accompanying Ms. Miller's work, portraying the park throughout the seasons, is a well written text which highlights the conception and creation of the park and its art and architecture. This is a big, beautiful picture book that would make a wonderful addition to any home or library. It's a wonderful gift idea. I know as I have given it numerous times.
Ms. Miller is the parks official historian and photographer and has been since the mid-1980s.
JANA
A book as worthy as the park it celebrates.......2003-11-26
Sara Miller has put together an outstanding book: a book as vast and detailed as the Great Park itself. For those not familiar with the park and its history, this is an invaluable introduction to the political, demographical, economic and, especially, aesthetic thinking that went into the creation of 800 acres of gorgeous park space in the middle of Manhattan. For those seasoned veterans of NYC history, this is a welcome reminder of the enormous vision and efforts of Calvert Vaux and Fredrick Law Olmsted, as they conceived the park.
Nota Bene: A lot of books have gorgeous photos but the print job is miserable ... Others have high-qualtity prints but the photos aren't that interesting ... This book has glorious prints and an expert print job. Pick up this book.
Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points and The Five Points Concluded
Book Description
In Nonprofit Nation, the new edition of his classic work, O'Neill takes a fresh look at the nonprofit sector and the power it has to use its growing visibility and strength. Like the first edition, this new book is an up-to-date, comprehensive guide to understanding the nonprofit sector. Identifying and examining the major nonprofit subsectors-health care, arts, social service, and religious organizations, for example-and detailing their particular concerns and impact enable O'Neill to explore their influence on business, government and society. The new edition also features:
- Expanded sections on scope and impact
- Updated and enlarged statistical information
- New insights on the development of the nonprofit sector
- A new section on theories of the nonprofit sector
Customer Reviews:
Nonproft Nation Review.......2006-03-10
This is a fantastic book. It is filled with thought provoking statistics and charts, accompanied by an easy to read history of the multi-faceted nonprofit sector.
Good Resource for Strategic Thinkers and the Curious.......2005-04-26
This book does a great job of answering basic questions about nonprofits and the nonprofit sector. It also analyzes each segment of the nonprofit sector and brings out some key data and observations about each one. Finally, it seeks to look into the future of nonprofits. Anyone interested in the sector, and especially nonprofit executive directors, consultants, and others who should be involved in global nonprofit strategy will find this book to be a valuable resource.
The first striking lesson I learned from Dr. O'Neill's book is that, while the nonprofit sector has been growing significantly in the past 30 years, in many ways it has just kept pace with the rest of the economy. Personal, corporate, and foundation giving are remarkably stable, and the percentage of charity dollars given by donors to segments such as education, health care, the arts, and international causes have remained constant since the 1970s. Even the growth in the number of new nonprofits seeking IRS recognition has been relatively constant (in percentage terms) since at least the early 1980s.
The dollar totals change, but the percentages are constant. Knowing this prompts important questions about how charities plan, how and whether they solicit for funds, and where likely support is to be found for new initiatives.
Dr. O'Neill doesn't shrink from acknowledging the vast amount we don't know about the nonprofit sector. Anyone analyzing the data recognize that policymakers and researchers alike are making best guesses rather than reaching definite conclusions in many areas of analysis. We're a long way from having "census" data on the nonprofit sector.
There are almost 1 million charities recognized by the IRS, but we don't know for sure how many are active and how many are defunct. There are almost 2 million nonprofits of all types (charities plus churches, labor unions, chambers of commerce, private clubs, etc.) that the IRS lists. The Form 990 returns -- that only IRS-recognized charities with revenue greater than $25,000 are required to file -- are works of interpretation by filers as well as researchers.
In fact, much nonprofit activity occurs outside record-keeping capabilities. Giving a friend's child the money to attend college, organizing a softball team, or countless other activities never reach the level of IRS recognition, much less scrutiny. We can study what we know, and guess about the rest based on other data sources.
Dr. O'Neill has done an admirable job of interpreting these other sources, adding the IRS and other government data, and presenting a plausible picture of the nonprofit economy.
Nonprofit Nation: A New Look at the Third America.......2004-11-29
Don't waste your time! If you want to read a boring, poorly researched book of statistics at least four years old, then I suggest you buy it. But the statistics are even out of date. If you have lived on this planet for a few years, you already know about the examples he uses. Pathetic writing. If for some reason the examples are new to you don't trust them. He says Ralph Nader advocated for a safer Chevrolet Corvette. If the author doesn't know it was a Chevrolet Corvair, then he is clueless! Read Greater Good by Claire Gaudiani if you want to learn something.
Average customer rating:
- How they govern
- Fascinating
- A new way of looking at nations' identities
- A great collection of short histories.
- Level 101: Explanation of World Events
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The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall
Ian Bremmer
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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