Since about the time NAFTA passed Congress, we have heard endless paeans of praise for free trade, the mobility of capital, and the new competitive global economy. We have heard less about the costs of globalization. This book takes the free trade issue and brings it down to earth by showing how jobs that originated in Paterson, New Jersey were sent to Mississippi, and later on Mexico, by corporate conglomerates searching for higher profits and a pliable, docile (and above all cheaper) workforce. The book focusses in on one firm, Universal, which specializes in making electrical fixtures. At first, the firm offers good jobs at good wages to all comers in New Jersey. However, as the founder of the company sells his interest out to a large railroad conglomerate, the firm heads south for cheaper labor....and then south again into Mexico. The story of how these jobs migrate is also the story of how institutions that are supposed to protect the American worker fail that worker in the end. Labor unions become complacent and somnolent, spending more resources on jurisdictional disputes and factional feuding than on organizing the workers. And when they aren't lazy, they are corrupt, doing deals with the Mafia for added perks. Federal agencies pull back from their duties as the nation drifts to the right. Read the segment in this book on how the U.S. Commerce Department (funded in great part from employee taxes) cheered on American businesses relocating to Mexico and your blood will boil. Read the segment on the so-called transitional assistance offered to displaced American workers (pamphlets given to people in their 40s and 50s on how to join the army) and you will get apoplexy. The book ends on an especially bitter note, as the conglomerate prepares to move to an even more depressed area of Mexico, with a woman worker wailing "must I chase my job all over the world?" Indeed.

In a larger, balance sheet sense, globalization may be beneficial. But ultimately, as Mr. Adler makes it clear with this well-written, thoroughly documented book, somebody is footing the bill with a lost job, a defaulted mortgage, missing benefits, and dread of the future.

Among the various beliefs which make up the American civil religion surely the dogma of Free Enterprise is dominant. Business and enterprise have made us the best, richest, freest, and most just country in the world. Almost any action can be explained and excused as an economic necessity; whether downsizing, i.e. firing your workers, or moving the plant or polluting the environment. The company must remain competitive, and the firm profitable. Free Enterprise is good for you, ever and always. As Ivan Boesky put it, six months before he went to prison for three years: "Greed is alright. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself." (P. 241) This story deals with the effects of American industrial progress over the past fifty years, not in abstract terms and numbers, but in the history of what happened to Mollie James' Job as it went south to more liberal climes, where wages are low, unions weak, environmental laws unenforced, and workplace safety nonexistent. The book reads very well, almost like a novel, but it deals with real people, names, and places. In fact, it is a good idea to keep a map handy to follow the action from Paterson, New Jersey, to Mendenhall and Gallman, Mississippi, to Blytheville, Arkansas, and Matamoros, Mexico. The action begins at the end of the War with an immigrant, go-getter, entrepreneur who builds an electrical components company from nothing. A classical, paternalistic workplace in which the boss works alongside his employees and knows everyone by name. He even welcomes organized labor for electricians will not install his product unless it bears a union label. Yet, neither he nor his workers can rid themselves of a crooked and corrupt teamster local. In the early sixties the company expands into rural Mississippi, a county without equal rights, without NAACP, much less CORE or SNCC. It is a place where the whites celebrated the assassination of President Kennedy. Yet, it is the company which in many ways escorted the region into the late twentieth century. In control of the only work and wages and backed by federal law the company could defy the Klan, the Sheriff, and the white newspapers, by insisting on an integrated workforce. Which, incidentally, helped to hold down wages as well. The founder's death in 1968 marked the passing of an era of management by men who thought as industrial manufacturers. While he venerated the bottom line as much as any capitalist, he achieved success by "a steely-eyed focus on high quality and customer service"(p. 220). The company was sold to a multi-branched electrical products company, which soon after was swallowed whole by another conglomerate. It thus fell into the hands of people who had no idea of the realities of production, nor did they have any interest in the nuts and bolts of the operation. In fact, the company, now a mere subsidiary, changed hands several times in the financial go-go years of the eighties. By now the personal relationships and life long job security of the early days were well forgotten. A cavalier attitude infected all aspects of the company. A director of human resources fired many of the old line leaders and executives. The company used their new maquiladora plant in Mexico to hold a loaded gun to the union local's negotiation committee. Reduce hourly pay or we close the plant. None the less, the reprieve was brief. Workers in Mexico earned as much in day as Americans in an hour, and by 1997 all manufacturing operations in the U.S. were shut down. Wages in Mexico were insufficient to raise a family. Workplace conditions are described as stiflingly hot, with air unbreathable from polluting chemicals, and without break, cafeteria, or adequate toilets. Living conditions were not one whit better. Yet, young women workers continued to stream in from the rural areas. At the end, ironically we may all "Thank God for NAFTA" the title of the epilogue.

I've read a little of this and that about Chinese history and religion, and I needed a book to fill in the basics and the details. This was perfect.

First, the selections included excerpts of almost everything I'd ever heard of: Shang Oracle Bones, the Analects of Confucius and the Confucian classics including the I Ching; Mozi; the Tao Te Ching; Zhuangzi (who famously dreamed that he was a butterfly); Mencius; Xunzi; the Zuozhuan; Sun Tzu's art of war; all kinds of stuff about Chinese schools of Buddhism including the Lotus Sutra and the Flower Garden Sutra and the history of Guanyin and Wutai Shan; Li Po (Li Bo) and Tu Fu (Du Fu); and neo-Confucianism (which was so influential in Korea). In short, this is really, practically the "Eatern Canon" and the selections are deserving of such a label. I was in turns morally and intellectually challenged, uplifted, informed and surprised; but rarely bored and never disappointed.

Second, the introductory essays were exactly what I wanted to know: who might have written it, and when, and who read, and what it meant to them. For all that information, they were still brief and the bibliography was sufficient to help me chase the points that left me curious. An important thing these essays did was to cover the political, historical and social backgrounds (and foregrounds) of the texts, so I learned about Chinese history as well as literature and religion. If that is what you want to do, this book will serve you well.

The binding is excellent, and while the price might look steep I have to say it's a bargain considering what you get.

I didn't read Volume Two, and so I don't know if it is as good. It is certainly a lot smaller!

This second edition of a classic provides an update on a reference recommended for college-level collections specializing in Chinese literature. Sources of Chinese Tradition has been recognized already as a scholarly staple: in its new form Sources of Chinese Tradition has been extended to include the Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin eras of China and includes invaluable source readings on history and literature of the times, from the 18th-century Qing civilization onward.

This is the book that got me hooked on the stories of Fiona FitzGerald, Warren Adler's woman D.C. homicide detective. There is not much mystery here since the killer is made known early in the book. However, it's a great story that uses bits of Washingtonian history into its well-constructed plot. I highly recommend it.

this is better than rivers by far-44 cases that you do with another person acting as the examiner, or do half as the examiner & half as the candidate, with a friend who is also studying for the orals-rivers is ok, but this more accurately simulates the exam process & has enough repetition that is becomes second nature-they especially look for the picky details that are easy to overlook & presumably a big part of your score in the real thing-i recommend both rivers & pearls, but this has a higher yield

I used this book as a central guide for study for the 2000 Boards in Family Practice. Unlike typical board review texts using the multiple choice format, this book uses short questions followed by brief answers and review. It made study fun.

The book gives history and insight on his life and follows his working history from Macon to Florida to Atlanta. His attention to detail is pointed out in many chapters and the photography along with the orginal drawings are a good touch. If your looking for some ideas or maybe a facade to copy this would be a excellent book. Most of his houses are timeless designs and the interior views and elevation views are stunning.

I lived through this period (late teens) in Detroit and can attest to the influence of the Detroit Drug organizations. In fact, they are probably understated in this book. It was an invigorating, exciting, yet somewhat frightening time to be alive.

But enough about that, it's an excellent read, perhaps a little on the "academic" side with the sociological profile of Arkansas.

But rest assured, Billy Joe, White Boy Rick, Larry, and some of the others were definitely celebrities. As a high school student, we knew who they all were.

If you enjoy the movies Scarface, Goodfellas and Blow you will love this book. I personally think it is the greatest Gangster book of all-time. The Chambers brothers were the John Gotti's of Detroit in the early 80's, they completely ran the city. They had one goal in mind and that was making money, and they made some serious, serious money. The thing that made the Chambers brothers famous was the fact that they ran this operation like a business, they weren't just petty small-time punks, they were very similar to Tony Montana in the movie Scarface,[....]

I work with inner city youth and grew up in Housing projects during the 70's and 80's I actually watch with morbid curosity crack seduce and control our young black men and destroy families. This book was so close to home that at times I felt as if I was reading an autobiography of my childhood. What struk me most about this portrayal of drug dealers were their business savy and at same time their studipity. How four young men from the south could actually take over drug trade but yet didnt have sense to move away from the hood or to open bank accounts. I've always felt that street hustlers are smarter than the average wall street tthree piece suit wearing man. I would like to see a follow up on where the brothers are now in 1998 if any are actually out of prison and moving on with their lives.

...but a tiring survey of previous typologies that must be read before you get to Jung's version.

Jung's theories are absolutely amazing. Anyone who is interested in psychology should read this book!

A deep look at the mechanisms of the "psychic functions". Surely instructive for layman with its analysis of human behaviour in everyday life. This work best explores the Jung's concept of the unconscious and proves that his concept is far from being a mystical one as some critics wrote. It also gives a historical perspective of the thoughts of some great thinkers (Schiller, William James and some others )on the problem of psychological types.

I was obsessed over the movie for a long time and when I read this book it had the same theme and characters but it was vastly different than the movie. The ending was almost the same, but it was shocking how much they did to each other. Everyone seems to think it was about materialism only. I disagree. It was about investing twenty years of your life and wanting something to show for it, and I think their anger and revenge stemmed more from an attitude of 'How dare you waste my life' or 'How dare you ruin our family' that it was more the main theme than the house. The house just happened to be caught in the crossfire. It definetly makes you think, and is by far one of my favorite books.

It sent the message that material things can be dangerous in any relationship. I have read this book many times and each time I read it, it reinforces that idea.

It's Adler's best book, and yes, it's better than the movie. A funny, scary look at how far people can go when everything is at stake.

Jeff Greenfield is not primarily a fiction author by trade, and it shows in this effort. While he occasionally comes up with laugh-out-loud funny scenarios, he is more often than not doing workman's duty to fill out a fairly convoluted plot about what would happen if the president-elect died before the electoral college members officially cast their ballots. Only some of the characters are very interesting, and none are particularly complex.

Greenfield is at his best when he describes the news media covering the politics beat, and the novel is ultimately successful for its target audience of political news junkies. At times, the characters engage in unbelievable and dry conversation designed to let Greenfield speak directly to the reader and set up his various premises--but the language is exactly the sort of dull, mind-numbing analysis of minutiae that politics fans love to watch and spew. To that extent, one could say the book works as satire, but it is clearly not meant as such. Greenfield has written the kind of book he would like to read, I expect. Heavy on event-oriented plot and light on its stumbling and ineffective efforts at examining the people behind the story, the book is exactly like television news. If you enjoy CNN, give it a read.

A well-written, very funny book. Subtle satire and laugh-out-loud scenes co-exist in this thought-provoking novel which digs up the underside of the Electoral College system and turns it over so we can see it in all its so-called-glory.

I've given copies of this book to several people, all of whom have been inspired by it to go read the Constitution of the United States, to see just how plausible the plot is. That's not a bad effect for a book to have on people.

In any case, whether it makes you think or not, it is undeniably a very funny book with unforgettable characters and situations. The writing is fine: realtively fluent and unobtrusive. And Jeff Greenfield has a very good eye for the ridiculous, while maintaining a high level of compassion for people who are doing the best they can.

Definitely recommended in an election year.

Jeff Greenfield is best known as a political commentator for ABC. He uses his enormous experience to craft an intriguing yarn which is basically about how the Electoral College works. Dry subject, great book. Some of the characters are thinly-veiled caricatures of real people, and it was great fun guessing who was who (Avi DuPois is a great name for Limbaugh, but is the "Distinguished Commentator" supposed to be Brinkley or George Will?). It's all too believable that something like what's in the book could happen. Must-read for all politics junkies.