Book Description
In this groundbreaking new history, Adam Tooze provides the clearest picture to date of the Nazi war machine and its undoing. There was no aspect of Nazi power untouched by economics—it was Hitler's obsession and the reason the Nazis came to power in the first place. The Second World War was fought, in Hitler's view, to create a European empire strong enough to take on the United States. But as The Wages of Destruction makes clear, Hitler's armies were never powerful enough to beat either Britain or the Soviet Union—and Hitler never had a serious plan as to how he might defeat the United States. The Wages of Destruction is an eye-opening and controversial account that will challenge conventional interpretations of the period and will find an enthusiastic readership among fans of Ian Kershaw and Richard Evans. BACKCOVER:
Advance praise for The Wages of Destruction:
“One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force.”
—Niall Ferguson, author of Colossus
“Unputdownable epic history . . . Transforms not only our reading of Hitler's sordid regime, but the history of the twentieth century itself. Brilliantly written, its original scholarship is telling and lightly borne on every page.”
—John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII
Customer Reviews:
An enlightening analysis of economic factors behind the Third Reich.......2007-10-08
Tooze occasionally mentions in passing how companies or individuals benefited from fueling the Third Reich's war effort, but his real topics are far broader and more interesting: showing how economic factors drove Hitler's war goals and timing and how the continual feedback between industrial needs and war goals drove war strategy.
Tooze starts by describing the quandary which faced Germany in the late 1920's. Germany was not self sufficient in either food or raw materials and needed to be able to export in order to finance essential imports. Germany also needed to be able to sell its exports in order to obtain hard currency to pay the reparation demands from the World War I victors. Despite these difficulties, the German finance ministry was managing to navigate Germany through a slow and painful recovery from WWI. Then disaster struck with the Great Depression. First there was an inevitable shrinking in export markets and then, much more seriously, there were conscious protectionist decisions in America, Britain, and France to block German exports in order to protect home employment.
Before reading The Wages of Destruction, I had loosely understood how the Great Depression had been a key factor in Hitler's rise to power, especially due to widespread unemployment. But Tooze clarifies that Germany was facing a much deeper strategic dilemma than a simple economic depression. Germany was dependent on the goodwill of other powers for its export markets and for its essential food and material imports, but those powers were demonstrating that in a crisis they would look entirely to their own interests and would quite cheerfully close their markets and let Germany suffer. Given this behavior, the long-term economic and political future for Germany looked extremely grim. Hitler offered a radical solution to this problem: Germany needed to expand to the East and become self sufficient in resources in the same way as the British Empire or America. Given the depth of Germany's problem, it becomes easier to understand why many thinking Germans either enthusiastically or reluctantly accepted Hitler's solution.
In succeeding chapters, Tooze describes how Hitler rapidly switched the Germany economy to focus on rearmament. He argues that while the Nazi propaganda machine emphasized efforts to increase employment and visionary projects such as the autobahn system, this was really mere window dressing and the regime was massively focused on military preparations for war. More interestingly, he also highlights how the continual shortages of hard currency (and thus of key materials) continually constrained and shaped rearmament. By 1938 lack of currency and other economic constraints were limiting further military expansion. Hitler was thus faced with a situation where Germany could see its own military abilities peaking and simultaneously see other powers starting to accelerate their own rearmament, weakening Germany's relative advantage. Hitler being Hitler, this drove an impatience for war, while Germany had its best relative position. As the war progresses, Tooze revisits this theme from several angles. Hitler was continually faced with situations where enemy military production would quickly eclipse Germany's and he reacted by trying to knock particular opponents out of the war quickly.
Tooze's major focus is on the operations and outputs of the German wartime economy. Overall, he shows us an economy that was reasonably well run and efficient but where production was dominated by shortages of key resources, especially steel and skilled manpower. By making high-level decisions about reallocations of these resources the Reich leadership could cause major leaps (or declines) in production in target sectors such as aircraft or tanks or munitions. Typically these resource shifts would take about six months to work through the system. The lucky Nazi bureaucrat who happened to be in charge of a target sector at the end of the six months would then happily boast of his productivity miracle as his sector suddenly produced startling jumps in output.
Tooze does not shy away from describing and condemning the many darker aspects of the Third Reich's war economy. A major aim of the expansion to the East was to improve Germany's food supplies. But that land was already inhabited and that food was already being consumed. So the Nazi solution was the "Hunger Plan" which quite casually assumed that food would be diverted from Poland and the Western USSR to Germany and that many millions would be deliberately starved. Tooze argues that this appalling plan was widely circulated, understood and accepted among the German political and military leadership in 1941. Thankfully, it proved difficult to execute and while there was widespread suffering, the East avoided the systematic mass starvation called for in the plan. However, in subsequent years the same desire to remove what were seen as "useless mouths" and free up food supplies was one of the many input factors towards the holocaust. In parallel, Germany manpower shortages led to large drafts of forced labor from occupied countries to German factories. Tooze illustrates both the appalling conditions of the laborers and the folly of a regime that for ideological reasons oppressed and starved the very labor it was trying to exploit.
Overall, I found this book a very enlightening read. Tooze's thorough analysis of the details of exports, imports, and production constraints provides a convincing base for his explanation of how the constraints and limits of the German economy drove high level German economic and military planning.
A PROFOUND AND FAR-REACHING STUDY.......2007-09-17
I certainly agree with other reviewers who give "Wages of Destruction" highest praise. The only wonder is why it took so long to get the story out. We've been reading histories of the war for more than sixty years, and yet I cannot recall reading anything that lays out the economic choices and consequences as well as Adam Tooze has done here. My only criticisms in this regard would be that Tooze tends to look through a lens of economic determinism, as though weight of resources would inevitably result in Germany's defeat, no matter who was in charge. What Tooze does not delineate with any degree of specificity is Hitler's confidence in the risk aversiveness, if not downright cowardice, of the Western democracies. That was certainly the case with France, which went to war profoundly divided, and whose failure of leadership echos to this day. Great Britain under Nevelle Chamberlain was hardly better. As late as May, 1940, members of the Cabinet were still debating whether to try to cut a deal with Hitler. As for the Soviet Union, the idea that Germany could defeat the Red Army in the field and expect to hold onto captured territory was wishful thinking at its worst; even if Moscow had been captured, which Napoleon did in 1812, Hitler had to know that in Stalin he faced a man as ruthless as himself. The idea that he could repeat the German Imperial Army's success against Russia in 1917, and then confront the Western Allies, throws all rational calculation to the wind. The only other comment I would make about Wages of Destruction would be that Tooze tends to summarize the events between the Summer of 1943 and May, 1945, as though that 18 month period simply followed on what had been in the pipeline before.
Profound Analysis of Nazi Germany's Economic Situation.......2007-09-11
Recently, there has been a spate of excellent books arguing that Germany was a much weaker state than it has generally been thought to be, and that the tactical brilliance of its military obscured economic inadequacies and strategic incompetence. Isabel Hull's "Absolute Destruction," Ian Kershaw's "Fatal Decisions," and now Adam Tooze's "Wages of Destruction" all make a similar point in their very different ways. They also suggest something very interesting -- that given the insane premises that Germany should be a hegemonic power and that war and conquest were the means to attain that power, Germany's military decisions in World Wars I and II made sense.
Tooze points out in convincing fashion that not only was Germany an economic basket case compared to the United States (capable of produing perhaps 1,000 warplanes at the same time the United States could produce perhaps 50,000), but that even if it were matched against the British Empire alone, its long-run prospects were little better than 50-50.
Tooze goes on to show that after France fell and Britain would not make a separate peace, Hitler faced an economic and strategic dilemma. The United States was not likely to stay out of the war indefinitely; when it inevitably entered the war on the allied side, Germany would be grossly outnumbered and outproduced.
The only possible answer was Russia, either as an ally or as a colony. As an ally, the Soviet Union was unreliable, opportunistic, and probably treacherous. Moreover, Germany would have to bend a great deal to Stalin's wishes to keep the Soviet Union happy. As a prostrate colony, Russia might just provide the material to resist Britain and the United States. So, Tooze suggests, Hitler was not so irrational when he invaded Russia (provided, of course, one does not ask the question "If Hitler faced such a daunting situation even after France was unexpected defeated, how could he ever have figured on winning the war while France was still in the allied camp"?)
If anything, Tooze suggests, Germany got lucky -- it had no business being as successful as it was by June 1941. Even at that, so many things had to go right for Germany to come out of the war in any decent shape that total victory was an impossibility. Could he successfully invade England? Little or no chance. Could he starve England out? Not with the United States on Engalnd's side. Even if he had conquered Russia where would he be -- Facing the United States across a narrow strait with his army streched from the Bering Sea to the English Channel. This was not a winning hand.
Tooze presents plenty of evidence to show that the Nazis ran a miserable war economy; that it had no idea how to put together a coherent economic or military strategy; that its solutions were ad hoc, duplicative, inefficient, and ultimately monstrous. The famous "German efficiency" takes a terrible hit, at least on the strategic level. In sum, Tooze concludes, absent a complete collapse of allied will, Germany never had a chance. But given the fact that it never had a chance and chose to take one anyway, its seemingly irrational moves made a certain kind of mad sense.
Wages is Scholarly Blut Dull.......2007-07-21
Adam Tooze has made a great contribution to the history of Germany under Nazi party rule, breaking into territory trod by few hisorians. His scholarship is superior. Few have found a way to enliven economic history and Toonze has failed to break that barrier. This along keeps the book from a five star rating.
great book.......2007-07-07
Germany lost the Second World War was because the allies out-produced them. I've known that for a long time -- but until I read The Wages of Destruction I never really understood what that statement meant, and all that it entailed. The Wages of Destruction explains, in gripping, readable detail, how the Nazi war machine worked, how it failed, and how it shaped the strategy and some of the worst crimes of the Third Reich.
So let me add to the chorus of five-star reviews. I consider The Wages of Destruction required reading if you want to understand Nazi Germany, particularly if you have an interest in economics or business. Also, if you have read Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich, you'll be interested in this book for the counterpoint it provides.
Book Description
Wal-Mart isn't just the world's biggest company, it is probably the world's most written-about. But no book until this one has managed to penetrate its wall of silence or go beyond the usual polemics to analyze its actual effects on its customers, workers, and suppliers. Drawing on unprecedented interviews with former Wal-Mart executives and a wealth of staggering data (e.g., Americans spend $36 million an hour at Wal-Mart stores, and in 2004 its growth alone was bigger than the total revenue of 469 of the Fortune 500), The Wal-Mart Effect is an intimate look at a business that is dramatically reshaping our lives.
Customer Reviews:
Good read about off shoring and big business.......2007-10-22
This is a great book about how Walmart works with some good examples of the good and the bad. The stories about certain companies and products that walmart deals with gives a good example of some of the effects of off shoring on quality and our own health. Good look at the effects of our drive for bargains and the true cost.
Walmart at it's best and worse!!.......2007-10-11
Amazing writting! Very informative as well as entertaining!
The author covers all the ends. I recommend this book 100%.
You won't see this book selling in Wal-mart any time soon!
Good cover of the topic.......2007-10-06
Provides a good coverage of a subject which is not obvious to the naked eye. May attenuate your shopping habits and the way you define a good deal. A must read for americans
Impact beyond price.......2007-09-24
Having spent the past 18 months researching and writing on the negative impact on the economy of poor customer service, go to ACSI research at University of Michigan School of Business, I have found that Wal-Mart's fanitical focus on price, and consumers that focus only on price are having a very negative impact on our country and society. Of all of the books I have read on Wal-Mart, Fishman presents the most detailed factual and insightful information on which to base an opinion on the impact Wal-Mart has made on our communities.
Balanced & Comprehenisve .......2007-09-17
Like many, I begrudgingly shop at Wal-Mart familiar with the arguments of it's negative impact on locally owned business's, and it's poor wages and benefits--------trying in vain to strike a balance between social responsibility and self-interest. It's always struck me as large version of the beloved "five and dime" where I bought my baseball cards growing up. I marvel at the low prices, and the sheer variety of merchandise. Fishman has permanently purged me of the that nostalgia. His backstory on Wal-Mart is utterly convincing in it's pernicious effect on our economy. He ably tells the story of Wal-Mart's rise with it's hyperfocus on pricing. But he's after something bigger here, and that's corporate secrecy. Like many large corporations, Wal-Mart is a closed and secret society. Consumers are robbed of the information that would assist them in identifying the true cost of consumption. Fishman is saying that the rise of the mega-corporation, with their ability to dominate a whole sector of the economy, is both anti-free market and anti-consumer. Though vague, he argues that we must consider stronger governance and regulation. This is where his book left me wanting. I wanted to know what exactly that would look like. That said, this is a well-researched, balanced and important book for our times.
Book Description
This book is for users wanting to understand the impact of international economics. Therefore, the economic theory is low-level, but it is very applied with an emphasis on managerial or public policy decision-making. For instance, the book gives heavier treatment to international production and international development than most international economics books.
Customer Reviews:
a global study.......2007-07-28
Reinert explains the current workings of the global economy. Explaining the basic precepts of international trade. Within the context of the postwar trade agreements. The rise of the newly industrialising countries of East Asia (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) is keyed to the massive amounts of export-driven manufactured goods that those countries produced.
Related to this are ideas like the enabling of foreign direct investment, which can act as a capital supplier and a spur to future growth of a country that gets the investment.
The book also delves into economic theory and accounting frameworks needed to quantify international trade. Given the global scope of the book, currencies and exchange rates between those currencies are discussed. Hence the idea of purchasing power parity, as a different way to compare countries, instead of purely by exchange rates. The Big Mac index, introduced by the Economist magazine, is given as a vivid instantiator of PPP.
Book Description
In 1945, many Europeans still heated with coal, cooled their food with ice, and lacked indoor plumbing. Today, things could hardly be more different. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the average European's buying power tripled, while working hours fell by a third. The European Economy since 1945 is a broad, accessible, forthright account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II. Barry Eichengreen argues that the continent's history has been critical to its economic performance, and that it will continue to be so going forward.
Challenging standard views that basic economic forces were behind postwar Europe's success, Eichengreen shows how Western Europe in particular inherited a set of institutions singularly well suited to the economic circumstances that reigned for almost three decades. Economic growth was facilitated by solidarity-centered trade unions, cohesive employers' associations, and growth-minded governments--all legacies of Europe's earlier history. For example, these institutions worked together to mobilize savings, finance investment, and stabilize wages.
However, this inheritance of economic and social institutions that was the solution until around 1973--when Europe had to switch from growth based on brute-force investment and the acquisition of known technologies to growth based on increased efficiency and innovation--then became the problem.
Thus, the key questions for the future are whether Europe and its constituent nations can now adapt their institutions to the needs of a globalized knowledge economy, and whether in doing so, the continent's distinctive history will be an obstacle or an asset.
Book Description
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.
Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. It recounts how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur, Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a massive industry that slashed the cost of transporting goods around the world.
But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential.
Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe.
Customer Reviews:
A Box is more than a box........2007-10-18
A good review of the transportation & shipping industry.
A little tedious at times but the points are well made.
I would like to have had a side bar on the boxes used in the
air cargo network to round out the topic.
No where near technical enough.......2007-10-03
Like many jounalists' stories this is set around a particular factor. In this case an entrepeneur who no doubt had a big role to play.
But there were lots of other factors which are not given much play and others bearly alluded to. Also, not even one drawing of a container or its fittings!
So OK as an intro but by no means a comprehensive history.
Global supply chains explained.......2007-08-13
It's hard to dispute that containerization has dramatically altered the rules of the game: global supply chains, logistics, and outsourcing are all direct consequences of the massive trade flows enabled by modern containerships. Marc Levinson's account of this industry is an interesting mix of politics and history. A good section of the book is dedicated to labor disputes, and the general resistance of the dock workers and US unions to mechanization. In retrospect, they were worried for the right reasons, modern ports require very little human involvement and the days of breakbulk shipping are long gone. In all, 'The Box' offers a good mix of the politics, strategy, and historical research.
Interesting Look at the Building Blocks of Globalization.......2007-08-08
Although THE BOX may be somewhat too American centered, economist and business journalist Marc Levinson has written an eminently readable history of the advent of the modern logistics industry that goes a long way toward bringing the attention of a nonspecialist audience to the topic. Despite his belief that his subject has "all the romance of a tin can" (p. 1), his account is anything but dull because he builds much of his narrative around a cast of colorful entrepreneurs, engineers, and union leaders. The most significant character is Malcom P. McLean, who launched modern containerization in April 1956 by having fifty-eight truck trailers loaded onboard a refitted oil tanker that sailed from Newark, New Jersey, to Houston. The main background to Levinson's account, however, consists of the various roadblocks to containerization put in place and enforced by government regulators in agencies such as the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the United States Maritime Administration, and the Federal Maritime Board. In the author's opinion, the bureaucrats, far from having the consumer's best interest in mind, usually undertook to protect established commercial interests by limiting competition in the transportation industry....
Levinson's treatment of the revolutionary days of container shipping, which lasted until the early 1980s, is very thorough, but his account of the more recent past is much less so. Indeed, people familiar with the industry may get the impression that a final (non-American) chapter is missing from the book. For example, although Levinson describes the rise of container ports in western Europe and East Asia, he devotes only two paragraphs to the fact that European and Asian firms that were late entrants in the game now dominate the industry. No U.S. firm is currently listed in the world's top eighteen container ship companies. Five of these top firms (including the three largest) are headquartered in Europe, three in China (two in mainland China and one in Hong Kong), three in Japan, two in Taiwan, two in South Korea, and the remaining three in Singapore, Chile, and Israel. (See Ted Smith-Peterson, "Railroading's New Economy: The Spigot," TRAINS 66, no. 9 [2006]: 34-41.) In Levinson's opinion, these late entrants achieved success because they "arrived with financial and managerial skills foreign to many of the carriers they replaced, skills appropriate to an industry in which raising capital and managing information systems were far more important than maritime knowledge" and because they were not burdened with "the legacy of government subsidies and directives that had crippled many of their predecessors by forcing them to buy ships built in their home countries or to sail routes determined by regulators" (p. 275). No doubt many readers would like to know more about these developments and about which skills Levinson means.
Levinson also barely alludes to more recent technological advances and to the amazing fact that the rest of the world now handles only one-third as many containers as the Chinese do (for both domestic and international trade). Furthermore, in the words of one industry analyst, China has now become the "U.S. railroads' growth engine" and has been the cause of an American "rail renaissance" (Tom Murray, "Railroading's New Economy: The China Factor," TRAINS 66, no. 8 [2006], p. 28).
Despite such shortcomings, however, THE BOX is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in understanding the emergence of our contemporary "globalized" world economy.
Superb for non-specialists.......2007-05-08
I read this book a few months ago for my nonfiction "foreign policy" book club and we loved it. I continue to rave about it and recommend it to others in diverse fields from national security to development to leadership studies. As generalists unfamiliar with shipping, this book was incredibly readable and engaging. Chapters treated a diverse range of topics, which we found well covered and incisive, such as the discussion of the role of labor unions, business entrepreneurship, and interplay between containerization and globalization. Kudos to Mr. Levinson for a superb effort.
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
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Chinese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Augustine, Saint
| ( A )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Doctors & Medicine
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Love, Sex & Marriage
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Early Civilization
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Historiography
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asian American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Asian American
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Victorian
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Epic
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
German
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conspiracy Theories
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
War on Drugs
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
English (All)
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Arabic
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Armenian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Czech
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Greek
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Hungarian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Korean
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Norwegian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Persian & Farsi
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Polish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Portuguese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Romanian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Swedish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Turkish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Science
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Online Research
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Native American
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Magic & Wizards
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Sailor Moon
| Popular Characters
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Pilates
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Fashion
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Children's Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Health Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Reference Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Romance Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
-
History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
-
Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored
-
Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
-
They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
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
This comprehensive introduction to international relations focuses on what has changed and what has remained the same since the end of the cold war. Providing a strong conceptual, historical, and theoretical foundation, it identifies key perspectives and the actors in world politics, explains the concepts, tracks the trends (global interdependence and crises of authority), and examines current and future global concerns.
KEY TOPICS: The volume provides an introduction to trends, perspectives and concepts, and examines security and statecraft, international security, civil society and the global economy, religion, nationalism and conflicting identities and civil society.
For political science and international relations professionals and others interested in the global agenda.
Customer Reviews:
Great Intro to IR.......2006-12-28
Unbiased evaluation of international relations focusing on key issues of security, economics, and identity. Other themes include globalization and resource managment. Each segment includes web links to locations which further your study. Each chapter includes historical perspective as well as theroetical underpinnings. The end of the book has a handy glossary from which to quickly recall previously discussed definitions. Whether you are a realist, internationalist, structuralist or feminist, or a little of each, you will improve your understanding on the state of nations and how we got here and hopefully develop insight into where we are going.
Book Description
Twilight in the Desert reveals a Saudi oil and production industry that could soon approach a serious, irreversible decline. In this exhaustively researched book, veteran oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons draws on his three-plus decades of insider experience and more than 200 independently produced reports about Saudi petroleum resources and production operations. He uncovers a story about Saudi Arabia’s troubled oil industry, not to mention its political and societal instability, which differs sharply from the globally accepted Saudi version. It’s a story that is provocative and disturbing, based on undeniable facts, but until now never told in its entirety. Twilight in the Desert answers all readers’ questions about Saudi oil and production industries with keen examination instead of unsubstantiated posturing, and takes its place as one of the most important books of this still-young century.
Customer Reviews:
MATTHEW SIMMONS.......2007-07-28
Peak oil. That's the 100B$ question?
Technical analysis shows as that oil is in a bull market...
If this book is right 200$ oil is not science fiction, but rather reality.
Is that the end of oil or just another milestone
in the neverending story of oil bull and bear markets.
The future will tell...
It may be later than twilight in the desert.......2007-06-08
I heard so much about this book that I started to not buy it, thinking I knew what it said. I'm very glad I read it. I spent 30 years in the oil patch and I have to say that I think the author knows what he's talking about. He makes a very good case for Saudi Arabia's oil production being on the verge of a steep decline. For more on getting ready for very expensive oil see The Long Emergency.The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
An important analysis, but too long by half.......2007-05-24
Saudi Arabia's economic foundations are increasingly fragile despite the run-up in oil prices during the past three years, driven in part by the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Simmons' work points to a looming problem - that Saudi Arabia has vastly overstated the country's oil reserves and production capacity. He gives sound technical analysis drawn from opinions of independent oil experts.
While it is an important book, the author could have covered the same ground in about half the 464 pages that he used.
For a succinct, fictionalized account of the types of non-economic problems besetting the Saudi regime and the future stability of oil markets, you might take a look at SAUDI MATCH POINT, published recently and available online from Blacksmith Books.
Lots of Food for Thought.......2007-05-10
Some have called Simmons a doomsayer. Others a prophet. With so many reviews of this book already posted, this one will be a bulleted list of some of Simmons' most salient points:
-The last big oil fields were found in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and most are in the middle east. This small part of the world produces most of the planet's oil. With little prospect of new oil discoveries, this is the 'twilight' phenomenon of the book's title.
-The U.S. is too dependent on foreign oil. This is not new. But even if we wanted to be self sufficient, our energy infrastructure is terribly outdated. Our average drilling rigs are 25 years old, and human drillers need 10 years of training--and we're not doing a good job of training new ones.
-Bottom line: we've used too much oil and paid too little for it during the past 50 years, while we've let our global energy infrastructure get too old. Now we all (China, Russia, Europe, and the U.S. in particular) need to work together to undo 50 years of mistakes.
That's Simmons' book in brief. It's thought provoking, although certainly many consider its arguments debatable. Despite one's position on available global oil supply (as well as global warming), in its most lucid and impassioned moments 'Twilight in the Desert' is a stirring call to action.
Well written & excellent analysis.......2007-04-29
Simmons presents a phenomenal analysis of Saudi Arabia's oil production (both their production claims & reality). In it, he presents the history of Saudi Aramco, walking you step by step through the production analysis, injecting definitions of key terms and technology primers along the way. This book presents a skeptic's view of the Saudi claims, and presents much research to back up his skepticism. One thing to note is that he never comes out and says that the Saudis are actually lying about production, but rather, suggests (rightly so), that they are not forthcoming about the reality of their situation, almost goading them into making public their production information.
I only have two minor complaints. First is that the reader is skewed into believing that the Saudis *cannot* substantially increase their production. This may be true, but the better claim would be to show that to do so would require substantial investments. Also, he never acknowledges that if the price of oil were to skyrocket, that market forced would make it quickly fall to a more reasonable level. Simmons is a financial analyst, and anyone who believes in market theory should acknowledge this, especially in a work this comprehensive.
Overall, this book will teach you more about how oil production actually occurs than anything short of a geology textbook, and presents an insight into the whole industry that is nothing short of a tour de force.
Book Description
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy takes the reader on a fascinating, around-the-world journey to reveal the economic and political lessons from the life story of a simple t-shirt. Over five years, business professor Pietra Rivoli traveled from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory to a used clothing market in Africa, to investigate compelling questions about the politics, economics, ethics, and history of modern business and globalization. Using the story of the t-shirt to illustrate the major issues of the globalization debate, this uniquely entertaining business book offers a surprising, enlightening, and balanced look at one of the major topics of our time.
Prize or Award
- Business Book of the Year 2005, Finalist
- AAP Awards for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing, 2006
Customer Reviews:
Great Read.......2007-09-24
The book is a good read, since I am taking my international trade class, this is actually one of the require reading. If someone who is very liberal, or cuddle to grave type of mentality, this book does not offer the cuddly senstivitive that the faint hearted people are looking for. But it is quite realistic. If you can look pass the sweatshops and all, this is a good read.
Good, but light-weighted.......2007-09-11
The book is an advocate of free market and a defender of the globalization. Basically the author portraits non-market forces to be bad (examples: artificial constraint on the labor worker's mobility, international trading protection, and restriction of new technology applications). She also proposes that free trade is good (example: used apparels in Africa). It is an interesting angle with which to examine the globalization phenomena. By recognizing that there are non-market forces at play, one should, or so the author seems to suggest, attribute negative effects (such as sweatshops) to these forces and work on eradicating such forces. The ideal situation would be, as author implies, an absolutely free market operating in bringing everyone maximum benefit.
While there may be novelty in this theme, I do not feel that it merits all the details and tidbits as presented in the book. In fact, I find this book more like a research log than a final product. The stories and observations are definitely interesting and well-written. However it is not always clear where they lead to and what conclusion they are designed to support. I think the book can be reduced to 1/3 of its volume and still be able to make the same points.
On the other hand, many conclusions are not well supported. For example, about trade restrictions, the author argues that US quota systems impact how capital and labor flows in the world, and shape the economy of other countries. While it is obvious that all US trading partners would behave under the influence of US trading policies, more quantitative evidences are required to ascertain the extend of such influence. Such details are lacking in the book. As another example, the book stated that China lost more textile jobs than the US. Therefore, the US jobs are not going to China, but are just disappearing due to technology advances. Such claim is not well-supported, either. These two forces (technological advances and job relocations) can both contribute to the job loss. Their relative importance in the US cannot be indicated by how much textile jobs are lost in China. (In addition, the book does not point out that most Chinese factories operate at a lower technological level than their US competitors. Therefore, the job loss rate due to technological advance is not the same in US and China.)
On a more grand scale, the book fails to address the following issue, which is very relevant to the topics at hand. Globalization in essence is a process of integrating many previously local markets into a unified global market. Previously, each market has different states of balance and is supported by different Government infrastructure. After integration, capital, labor and product flow to maximize profit for the capitalists. Such flow disrupts all local balances before a global balance is reached. For example, the labor cost in the US today is reasonably high because most people have the choice of working as blue collar or white collar workers. Some people are willing to work for lower wage to avoid the extra training and investment required for white collar jobs. However the difference in wages cannot be too large. In China, on the other hand, the pool of unskilled labor is huge and opportunity of getting trained and advancing into white collar jobs is very limited. Therefore, the unskilled labor cost is very low in China. Moreover, the tradition and culture in China allows for lower safety standards and environmental standards as imposed by the Government. Now the current state of balance in the US is the result of adjustments over generations and is relatively optimal. In a global market, however, the US cannot keep its balance until the whole world reaches the same balance. In the long run, such re-balancing is not a big problem and is even desirable. However, in the short run, it brings shock to the US markets, and such shock is unevenly bore by the arguably most vulnerable population: the workers. To me, this is a very important issue in globalization. Economically, globalization is win-win and everyone eventually will benefit. Humanitarianly, however, there are people who suffer in the process and it is the duty of the society to help them and (God forbid) protect them.
Overall, I'd say that this is a very interesting and thought provoking book. I enjoyed reading it at my leisure. However, I don't consider it to be of the caliber of an Economics textbook.
Can you understand global economics?.......2007-07-05
It's all about the money, someone said. This wonderful book starts with the growing of cotton subsidized by the US government, the spinning and weaving in China, the T-shirt making in Bangla Desh or wherever, its wear in the United States, and its ultimnate fate as second-hand clothing in West Africa, the only free market found by the author.
A simple and elegant account of interconnected global economics, of who gets value, who adds value, and who gets the money. Fun to read.
Doesn't take sides; just informs........2007-05-14
An intelligent, fair minded, well-researched, and very interesting book. I was assigned to read it for a class, so I had to force myself to open it, but once I did, I had a hard time putting it down. The book is not only informative, it also reads like a good story. The author is an economics professor whose writing style is friendly and accessible. Rather than being yet another abstract book about the global economy, it's about how everyday people function in, and are affected by, the global economy. The book doesn't take sides, it just informs the reader about something that affects us all.
Good, casual read offering good perspective.......2007-01-15
This book takes a pretty balanced approach to questions of globalization by tracing how a T-shirt is produced, from raw materials to the folded T-shirt in a department store, to the used T-shirts that are reprocessed or go to developing countries for a second life. Probably everyone can learn something from this book, and the narration is fairly engaging (it was good plane reading for me). The writer tries to keep the book agenda-free, putting forth both economists' and anti-globalizers' perspectives and describing how, to a certain degree, an effective global economy needs pushes from both camps.
Book Description
Bangladeshi villagers sharing cell phones helped build what is now a thriving company with more than $200 million in annual profits. But what is the lesson for the rest of the world? This is a question author Nicholas P. Sullivan addresses in his tale of a new kind of entrepreneur, Iqbal Quadir, the visionary and catalyst behind the creation of GrameenPhone in Bangladesh.
GrameenPhone—a partnership between Norway's Telenor and Grameen Bank, co-winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize—defines a new approach to building business opportunities in the developing world. You Can Hear Me Now offers a compelling account of what Sullivan calls the "external combustion engine"—a combination of forces that is sparking economic growth and lifting people out of poverty in countries long dominated by aid-dependent governments. The "engine" comprises three forces: information technology, imported by native entrepreneurs trained in the West, backed by foreign investors.
Customer Reviews:
For the masses.......2007-06-20
You Can Hear Me Now will interest a wide variety of readers. On a personal level, the story of Iqbal Quadir, who at age 36, single-handedly coordinated the effort to bring cellular phone service to one of the poorest countries in our world, is an inspriration. Moving beyond the completion of his college studies in America and entering the workforce, Quadir had not forgotten the struggles of the rural poor of his homeland, Bangladesh. Iqbal Quadir's story is one of creativity, passion, and perseverance not only for a project, but for a people. Beyond the book, the story grows. Readers can expect Mr. Quadir will continue to work toward the alleviation of poverty in Bangladesh through continued efforts with new projects.
As an academic book, readers will discover a revolutionary economist in Quadir. He has used traditional economic theories to develop, solidify, and test his own. He is a noted original thinker and a man of action. "Connectivity is productivity" is Quadir's cry. He is changing the world's view of the risk of investment in developing countries. He is a victor of the race to end poverty.
Mr. Sullivan's well-written references to and explanations of economic concepts are clearly written and easy to understand. This book is a must-read for all students of economics, business, and entrepreneurship. If instructors do not require the book, students should be delving into the material on their free time.
Globally, the impact of Quadir's work in Bangladesh has rippled throughout the developing world with his economic practices and business models duplicated successfully. Iqbal Quadir's story brings hope for a better future for millions of people, and personally, his actions inspire me to question what role I play.
Worth it!.......2007-03-14
It is a story about a man with a vision to empower the poor in Bangladesh (one of the 50 poorest countries in the world according to many global economic reports). Iqbal Quadir had faith in his strategy and the intelligence to lay it in ways to get investment from Grameen Bank and other powerful investors, who may have once been reluctant. If you already have grassroots business ideas, this book is not only an inspiration but it also loosely illustrates the challenges in BOP markets.
Wonderful example of thinking outside our cultural constraints..........2007-02-25
To the typical American (and other developed nation citizens), the cell phone has become part of the normal fabric of life. Communication with anyone at any time from anywhere is just expected. But in countries like Bangladesh, only a very small number of people have access to any type of telephone communication. The book You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World's Poor to the Global Economy by Nicholas P. Sullivan does an excellent job of showing how something as simple as the cell phone can break the cycle of poverty and aid for millions of people.
Contents:
Part 1 - The GrameenPhone Story: Connectivity Is Productivity; Dish-Wallahs of Delhi (and Other Early Models); Cell Phone as Cow - A New Paradigm in Search of Investors; On The Money Trail in Scandinavia; Building a Company; Building a Network
Part 2 - Transformation Through Technology: Wildfile at the Bottom of the Pyramid; Cell Phone as Wallet; Wealth Creation and Rural Income Opportunities; Beyond Phones - In Search of a New "Cow"; Eyeing the Dhaka Stock Exchange
Epilogue; Notes; Resources; Index
The book is split into two parts. The first part covers the story of GrameenPhone's launch in Bangladesh, and the second part is more of a look at the forces behind using technology at the "bottom of the pyramid" (the vast number of people who globally live at poverty level) to connect them to the world's trade economy. Iqbal Quadir was a Bangladeshi who studied and worked in the US and was doing quite well. But he was also concerned about the massive levels of poverty in his home country. Once day he was standing on the street and had an epiphany about communication equaling productivity. His people worked hard, but they had no way to reliably communicate with others except by face to face meetings. All that wasted time meant there was untapped potential just waiting to be utilized. He started talking with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank (originator of microloan programs) to see how communication technology could be rolled out to the entire country, making a phone available to anyone near a village. Without government aids and grants, Quadir put together a consortium of foreign investors and Grameen Bank to build GrameenPhone, a life-altering company. Using a fiber-optic line already laid next to the country's rail line, they were able to place cell towers in areas to cover all the rural areas of Bangladesh. Then using microloans from Grameen Bank, "phone ladies" could buy a cell phone for the village, offer the phone service, and sell the time in small increments. The cell phone gave a business to the village, in addition to creating subsidiary jobs and opportunities with the communication that was enabled by having phone service throughout the country. It's this use of technology that's advocated in the second part of the book as an example of how business opportunities can remove the grip of poverty from nations and lead to living wages instead of handouts.
You Can Hear Me Now is an inspirational book with plenty of lessons for those who are willing to look outside the normal constraints of what we consider business opportunities.
An excellent book that shows how ICTs are effective development tools..........2007-01-29
This is a well-written, well-researched book that clarifies the substantial role that ICTs are playing in developing countries. It showcases Iqbal Quadir, who founded GrameenPhone in Bangladesh, and shows how he risked his investment banking career on Wall Street to go back to his native country to improve it. There is a lesson here not just for US/EU immigrants from poor countries, but for everyone interested in developmental economics and aiding poor countries: charity is not the only way. In fact, as the World Bank conceded, its efforts at poverty alleviation are failing. This book shows how GrameenPhone, a company that generates profit and is majority-owned by a European telecommunications company, is a positive force for improving Bangladesh. It has provided cell phone service, where no telephones existed. It has created jobs and made the entire economy more efficient. Indirectly, it has empowered the masses and connected them to the global village.
For readers with an interest in Grameen Bank, Professor Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize), telecommunications, but also entrepreneurship, I think you will find that this book is a must-read. Also, for those following the Jeffrey Sachs, Bono, Bill Gates, UN Millennium Goals, Stiglitz, Easterly debate this is also very relevant. I hope that Mr. Sullivan follows this book up with another one that showcases how innovative men and women like Quadir can change the world and also make a profit for investors (which encourages them to continue to invest in developing countries).
After reading this book, I bought several copies for people I know in Business School, because I think it will inspire them to be successful and also think about how to improve economic opportunity in the developing world, through bottom-up entrepreneurship.
Books:
- The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
- The Working Poor: Invisible in America
- Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
- Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
- Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New
- Training to See: A Value Stream Mapping Workshop: A Value Stream Mapping Workshop (Lean Enterprise Institute)
- Transfer Pricing Methods: An Applications Guide
- Understanding Emerging Markets: Building Business Bric by Brick (Response Books) (Response Books)
- A Thousand Barrels a Second: The Coming Oil Break Point and the Challenges Facing an Energy Dependent World
- Accident Prevention Manual for Business & Industry: Administration & Programs (Occupational Safety and Health) (Occupational Safety and Health Series (Chicago, Ill.).)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Global Strategy
- The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques
- Right Honourable Insults: A Stirring Collection of Insults and Invective
- Mexico & Central America, 16th Edition
- Sudoku Easy to Hard Presented by Will Shortz, Volume 3: 100 Wordless Crossword Puzzles
- Where Did I Come From
- The Pony Club Quiz Book
- Learning Maya 5: Rendering
- Japanese Accounting: A Historical Approach
- The Debauched Hospodar: The Eleven Thousand Virgins
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947
After the Reich: The Brutal History of The Allied Occupation
Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State
Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941
Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945
