Every so often an author creates a book that propels one through time into a place where we can measure how far we have come and how arduous was the journey. Dr. Doumani has created such a work. Antarctica is a place as foreign to me as the moon or outer space, yet through skillful narrative with wholly human contacts and foibles, this geologist has given us all a vivid texture of a forbidden, wondrous continent. A place that I doubt I shall ever experience first hand but one which I feel has come to life through this book's fascinating story of early exploration. It is scientific without being burdensome, compelling without being pretentious, delightful and funny yet captivating in mystery and danger. Why do we want to have such a book by our side? As Dr. Doumani states: "One conquest was not enough. It never is. It is...a response to a challenge, a decisive test of man's endurance" which will always bind and attract us as long as our curiousity and love of life continue.

The Frigid Mistress is very well written, factually educational, and throroughly enjoyable. Dr. Doumani, a geologist of world repute and a veteran of several Antarctic expeditions, uses plain but powerful language to make the reader feel part of this remote and desolate corner of the world, so much so that I shivered as I read the book. Equally important, the visits to Antarctica delivered proof of many scientific facts which hitherto had been largely theories. For example, it was long suspected that the Southern Hemisphere continents had once been one large continent including Antarctica, and then, over geologic time, they broke up and drifted apart. Now there can be no doubt; it is a fact. This and many other discoveries described by Dr. Doumani provide scientific validations, and always in a fascinating way. For enjoyment, entertainment, and being eduated in the process, this licid, highly recommended reading deserves five stars--or more.

Everyone who has spent time in the field in the Antarctic will identify with this book--armchair explorers will find it intriguing. In this authentic account, Dr. Doumani gives readers more than a passing glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who know Antarctica. As part of the United States team of geophysical researchers during the International Geophysical Year in 1958, and several later expeditions, Dr. Doumani relates the day-to-day hardships as well as the triumphs that this inhospitable land can generate. He writes in a style that brings the reader along with him not as an observer only, but as a participant in his expeditions. He obviously kept a detailed diary and it is the foundation of the book, but the excellent writing recreates an authentic dialogue of events, description of people invloved, and account of exploration in the field that is personal and up close. Dr. Doumani is not out to created heroes of himself or others, but to describe the role that each person played in the drama--allowing all to emerge as heroes. In so doing he has developed a story that is engaging, personal and, above all readable. Several old polar hands from this era of exploration stated to me that they could not put the book down--it moved them, took them back to a time past, and refreshed their sense of having been "on the ice". There is no finer testament!

This book is the most comprehensive guide to the suffering paruretic. It defines and provides a self test to determaine your level of severity. It relates numerous stories and experiences that you can identify with. The President of The International Paruresis Association, Steven Soifer speaks of his own suffering and eventual triumph. Some of the topics include How Paruretics Cope-Isolation and Avoidance and The Causes of Blashful Bladder Syndrome: Unravelling the Mystery. It also outlines the working of the urinary system. It offers methods of self treatment through Graduated Exposure Therapy and addresses the topic of The Medical Community and Paruresis. Have you ever thought about telling others?. Why not start your own group?. This book will show you how step-by-step. Need to tell a friend or loved one. This book can help. Each page is clearly written is easy to understand terms and is finished with a summarization of each chapter. All you ever wanted and needed to know is found in this book written by four of the leading Avoidant Paruresis research specialists. This book is the first step to treating and conquiring your Paruresis. Don't suffer alone anymore. Begin the road to recovery.

Raise a gallon jug of Spring Water and toast the best (and only?) book on Shy Bladder Syndrome to ever hit the shelves!!!

If you ever thought that you were alone and that no one else in the world suffered from a shy bladder - or paruresis, this book is for you. After living with this problem since junior high, I was amazed at how much information this book book contained on how to finally get your life back to normal.

The nine chapters contained in this book are well written in easy to understand language that is a must read for anyone that suffers from paruresis. Starting with a brief overview of how the mind and bladder work (or don't work), this book leads you down a carefully laid path that shows how to regain control of your life.

Filled with true stories and first hand accounts from real life paruretic's, this book puts a very human face on something that is usually shrouded in secrecy and shame. If nothing else, simply reading this book will make anyone living with paruresis feel human again -- and not so alone. Thousands of people will read these stories only to be amazed at how similar their situation is to those in the book.

The best part, however, is that this book offers a successful plan to overcome paruresis that has been tested and successfully used in workshops around the world. After using the methods in this book, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my ability to use public restrooms with success.

If you're reading this review, you probably need this book or know someone that could benefit greatly from its priceless advice. Get this book...get it now...get on with life!

Looks like a plan !!!

As social phobia is finally being recognized by the public and professionals alike as a serious condition, affecting nearly 20 million in the US alone, so is avoidant paruresis - one painful, disabling, and embarrassing manifestation of it. As one who suffered from both for years, I can tell you this book provides you with everything you need to know to overcome this form of performance anxiety.

Starting with what "bashful bladder syndrome" is, it takes the reader through its causes, different treatment approaches, what to expect from the medical community, and how to gain support from family, intimates, and friends. It has one chapter on the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to mandatory drug testing and another on the evolution of the bathroom and its effect on avoidant paruresis which makes for fascinating reading.

This breakthrough book gives hope to people worldwide who live restricted lives because of this debilitating human affliction. It is essential reading for medical and mental health professionals, sufferers, and their family and friends!

This is Fraser's memoir, written decades later, of his experiences as a teenaged infantryman fighting the Japanese in Burma with General Slim's army in World War II. He doesn't exaggerate those experiences or attempt to twist them into a novelish coming-of-age story or a Flashman-style comic adventure. There is a strong element of the old-style "dialect story" in the recreated dialogue between Fraser and his comrades, most of whom are from Cumberland in the North of England, but these are both convincing and fun, and when the group comes under fire you share Fraser's feelings of comradeship with them in part because of that dialogue.

What surprised and pleased me most about this book is the imprint of Fraser's own personality and strong opinions --- Flashman he is not. He's an old man now, and has grown more conservative and just a little cranky, but he's no less sharp an observer, resulting in a voice that's perfect (for my tastes) for first-person narration of and commentary on witnessed historical events. He indulges in some sentimentality that his famous character Flashman would have mocked --- about the characteristics of "Englishmen," for instance --- but knowing what he experienced in Burma you feel that he's more than earned the right to sentimentalize. Toward the end he leaves his narrative to defend the use of the atom bomb against Japan; he says that to protect his grandchildren he'd "gladly throw the switch on the entire Japanese nation," and that if you can't say the same you've got no business being a parent. I was shocked and delighted with the honesty of that sentence, and of this book as a whole.

As a young man, George MacDonald Fraser was a "ranker" (enlisted
man) assigned to the 17th (Black Cat) Division of the British 14th
Indian Army as it pursued the Japanese south through Burma after the
latter's resounding defeat at the gates of India, at Imphal. Fraser's
narrative history of his personal contribution to this campaign is
QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE.

Written decades after the fact, this book
does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of the Burma Theater in
the last months of World War II. Rather, it's the war from the
perspective of Nine Section in which Fraser fought, first as a
Private, then Lance Corporal. (A "section" is the smallest
operating unit of an infantry platoon, i.e. 8-10 men.) Besides being a
vivid retelling of the author's recollections to the extent that he
remembers, it's also an intimate portrait of the organization,
weapons, tactics and camaraderie of the British Army at section level
at that time, place, and conflict. It's a story told with the humor,
intelligence and introspection that comes with maturity and
hindsight. And, though some of Fraser's bitterness towards his old foe
occasionally shows, age does dull the sharp edges.

"I remember
watching, a year or two ago, televised interviews with old Japanese
soldiers who had fought in the war ... sitting in their gardens in
their sports shirts, blinking cheerfully in the sunlight, reminiscing
in throat-clearing croaks about battles long ago. It crossed my mind:
were any of you on the Pyawbwe slope, and lived to tell the tale?
Well, if they did, at this time of day I don't mind."

Fraser is a
truly gifted writer. After VJ Day, he applied for, and was awarded, a
commission as a subaltern (2nd Lieutenant) in a Scottish Highland
division posted to the Middle East. In this capacity, his experiences
served as the basis for his quite wonderful and comedic McAuslan
series of fictional stories (collected and available from Amazon.co.uk in THE COMPLETE MCAUSLAN). I unreservedly recommend both of
these two books to anyone who has ever served in any branch of the
armed forces, no matter what country. I myself was in the U.S. Navy,
and Fraser's works are in the "can't put down" category.

This is one of the best personal memoirs of any war. Fraser's experience as a young man fighting in Burma during World War II is recalled in wonderful detail. He manages somehow to bring out all the horrors, oddities, laughter, and comaraderie that characterize many similar military units, and we get to know each member of the small band with all their strengths and failings. Particularly striking is Fraser's occasional use of official historical accounts of the Burmese campaign as preface pieces to his own descriptions; the cold eye of the historian paints a very different picture compared to one who was there, when every shot fired could end in the death of yourself or a comrade. Fraser's introduction alone is a gem, and his brief discussions of the ordinary soldier's view of the Nazi concentration camps and the Hiroshima bombing provide a stark contrast to the moralizing that surround these subjects today. Fraser's book reminds us that at bottom, all wars are characterized by the men who fought in the lowest ranks: men whose efforts make them stand out and who deserve our admiration, thanks and respect.

If you love pugs, you will LOVE this book! Kendall Farr does an excellent job describing the history of the pug as well as the character traits that make them so lovable. I found myself laughing out loud a lot.

This is the perfect gift for a Pug owner! If you love dogs, especially Pugs, this is your book. Darling bios on pugs and their owners. Should be titled "Pugs in the City". This is an homage to the breed not a training book or breed standard information. This is pug entertainment.

Nice book about and for people who pamper their Pugs. Not intended to be a "useful training tool" (I don't know where the reviewer below got the impression that it was supposed to be..!) but just a cute fluffy book about a select group of upscale NYC pugs and their eccentric owners. Photos and more info of "Pug Hill" in Central Park would have been nice (but perhaps too common?). Makes a good mini-coffee table book or x-mas gift for your uppity Pug pals.

How well I remember World War II, but only from the safety of my childhood in the United States, unlike Dr. Burnell whose youth during the occupation of his beloved France is the subject of this memoir. It provides us with historic data that is particularly relevant as our own country faces another major war. As a Jewish family working with the French Resistance, life for young George life became a series of escapes, moving from city to city to avoid execution. George's beloved step-father died for his heroic efforts, but mother and son managed to survive the ordeal. This easy to read book is written with sensitivity and intelligence during a period fraught with atrocities that one should never forget. I couldn't put the book down.

"A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France" is a compelling story of a Jewish family in their struggle to keep one step ahead to stay alive.
As a master story teller, Dr. Burnell retained a vivid and close memory of his personal experience, as a youth, surviving the horrors of war.
His mother was a very strong and resourceful women, allowing the family to land on their feet each time they were to forced to move from city to city. The family was tested in every way.
Dr. Burnell's extrodinary book will take some readers to a place
they have never been and others from a place they have never forgotten.

"Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.

Many people are familiar with the story of the boys on tracks, first featured nationally on TV and then in the very anti-Clinton "Clinton Chronicles" video, which, despite some apparent inaccuracies, still contains a great deal of truth, and changed my own view of political corruption forever. The book "The Boys On The Tracks" is the real story of what happened in Arkansas, and is endorsed by Linda Ives, the mother of one of the boys who was killed and placed on the railroad tracks on that fateful night in August, 1987. Mrs. Ives is the central character in this book. The reader is presented with not only the entire story of the unfathomable corruption, but much of this incredibly detailed story is as if from Ives' diaries, written or mental.

The author, Mara Leveritt, takes the reader from the time the two boys are killed, through the complete story of what Ives goes through to try to find out the truth (and she still hasn't found the truth about what happened that night). First, we encounter the unbelievable and outrageous behavior and incompetence of the Arkansas State coroner, Famy Malek, who is protected countless times by top state officials despite absolutely false determinations he makes. Malek rules the boys deaths suicides from drug intoxication, and it takes the Ives family a long time to prove this false due to lack of cooperation from Arkansas officials. Only this is just the beginning of the obstructions of justice the

Ives face.

Then we see that, at least in part, practically the entire state of Arkansas's legal and law enforcement agencies are rampant with corruption, to the point that felons hold high-level positions in government and law enforcement. Clearly these state officials will go to any length to prevent the truth of the boys's deaths from being revealed. A very prominent figure in this aspect of the story is Dan Harmon, a county prosecuting attorney. Harmon brutally beats people up, incl. his wives and ex-wives, and even steals confiscated drugs, and yet is held completely unaccountable for his actions and is returned to office again and again. Harmon is eventually and surprisingly convicted of certain offenses, but any crimes related to events around the time of the boys's deaths are deliberately ignored. Oddly enough, though not at all surprising once you read the unbelievable things revealed over and over in this book, Harmon is initially depicted as an ally of Linda Ives!

Of course the biggest, most outrageous part of this story is the cover-up of large-scale drug smuggling done through the Mena Airport, incl. the Barry Seal story, which is never dealt with by Arkansas officials. The details of this horror story are so phenomenal that you have to wonder how the people involved in these crimes can take part in such corruption and hypocrisy, and do their misdeeds with such impunity!

If you want the complete story, this is undoubtedly the book to read. If you don't have time to read this very well-written, 300+ page book, see "The Clinton Chronicles" and the more accurate (according to the participants) "Obstruction of Justice" videos.

This is, in my view, the best full account of the "Train deaths" I have seen yet.

This story and the events surrounding the Mena airport in Arkansas are unknown to most Americans, due to narrow-minded journalists and partisan political hacks on both sides.

This story and the whole story of Mena is very real, and will haunt America for years to come.

It is a true story of a parents worst nightmare. And a nightmare for the nation that few are aware of--our government and system of justice has become corrupt and lawless.

I would deeply recommend this book for anyone who is interested in getting the word out about Mena and the "Train Deaths" and who is interested in helping reclaim our system of justice to prevent it from failing our children again.

A mother's determination to learn the truth about the deaths of her teenage son and his friend, who were hit by a train late at night in Arkansas after being laid side-by-side on the tracks. Local authorities offer absurd explanations and try to brush it off as an accident, but in time it becomes clear that a cover-up is in the works, and that the deaths were possibly related to a large-scale, international drug-smuggling operation of the 1980's, which was condoned and covered up by authorities because of its links to Iran-Contra. Don't let this sound too confusing or far-fetched. Mara Leveritt is a respected reporter with the Arkansas Times, and the entire story is carefully explained and well-documented. This is a must read for anyone interested in American government policies in relation to the drug war, Iran-Contra, and covert activities, or Arkansas state politics in the Clinton era.

Even if you're not a fan of singer Connie Francis, this is a hearwarming, romantic story of the strugles and triumphs that only love can edure and conquer.

It also shows how the power of song, sung by a power of a voice can influence our lives.

Reading you won't want to put down until the very last word. And then pick it up and read again!

I attended the book launch for With Love, With Connie.
The story intrigued me. Now that I have read the novel, I want to compliment George Henaut on his creative talents. I've had the characters and plot floating through my head since I began reading the romantic journey of Robert and Rachel. Of course, the songs of Connie Francis take on new meaning.I can understand why the last chapter was not entitled, "Who's Sorry Now?" The novel does a commendable job of revealing the influence that entertainers have on our lives.It has satire, wit, humour and suspense, and of course, romance.

I note that novel summary and comments about the author are not provided so I'll take this opportunity to provide both.

About the Book:

December 12, 1997 is an extraordinary day in Robert Mascaux's life, involving him in a family funeral, his second wedding and a birthday party for a celebrity.

This romantic novel begins with a flashback to 1959, in Northumbria, a coastal community in Nova Scotia. Robert, a high school student, resides at the Manor, a private nursing home owned by his parents, Bertha and Camille, immigrants from Belgium. Robert's home life is enriched by his 'foster grandparents', the Manor residents. When Robert becomes a member of a Connie Francis fan club, he begins a lengthy correspondence with Rachel Turner, the club's teenage president, who lives on an estate in Flanders Cove, Connecticut, with her reclusive, artistic aunts, fondly called 'the bouquet'.

The reader discovers the enduring power of love through the struggles and triumphs that Robert and Rachel encounter during their friendship, spanning 38 years. The novel depicts the influence that singers can have on their fans and also reveals parallels that can exist between the lives of singers and their admirers. The music of Connie Francis is the thread of continuity for the couple for whom fate, an international border, family responsibilities, and a sinister villain delayed their marriage until December 12, 1997.

George Henaut:

George R. Henaut has an abiding interest in language - its power and its beauty. His career as an educator provided many opportunities to enhance and share this passion with others. Since 1990 he has written, directed and produced ten dramas for audiences in his native Nova Scotia. His plays and short stories have been influenced not only by life on the Atlantic seaboard, but also by his Christian spirituality and appreciation of traditional family values. All of these influences have culminated in his first novel, With Love, With Connie, which also reveals his enduring appreciation of the music of Connie Francis. His greatest desire is to share this romantic, yet turbulent story of Robert and Rachel with others.

How does a teacher go about teaching? It is a hard trick. Written and published in the '40s, and then again subsequently Polya's "How to Solve It" is an attempt to describe the general paths to the student's Eureka! moments. As such it is also of interest to those who go about the task of discovery, and you must constantly rethink their strategies, in the face of a stubborn unknown.

Polya's consideration of the Various Approaches to problem solving hangs on several key structural bands that take the forms of a teacher's questions: Do you know any related problem? Do you know an analogous problem? [Parallelograms are considered.] Here is a problem related to yours and solved before. Can you use it? Should you introduce some auxiliary element in order to make its use possible?

These ring true to this recently mustered parental pedantic.

Polya's actual treatise is just 30 pages; the associated 'dictionary' definitions section is quite extended, actually, making up some 200 pages. He describes going back to first principles in problem solving. January 1, 2003 is a day perhaps to remember such back tracking is sometimes in order.

In fact, do you want to be a robot? I talked to a woman who took a whole semester in computer science and came out learning nothing. She told me this. My love affair with Real Math started with this book in a library. I was reading a book which had a bunch of interviews with the most successful programmers in the world. One was Czech and I do not remember his name. But he was asked the following question. "What in your opinion is the biggest mistake that programmers are doing in their educations or their work today?" He answered, "It's simple. They don't know how to solve problems. At our company, we have some simple books that tell you how to do this. The best is Polya's 'How to Solve It'. It has a little diagram in the back that completely runs you through a series of questions on solving math problems. But even in schools, they don't take this approach. Everything is by rote and repetition! You solve a problem and YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SOLVED! We have a lot of these little books." The late Isaac Asimov wrote a beautiful little book called "The Realm of Algebra". It's out of print. But he explains the entire realm of algebra in something like 150 pages. The best book I've ever seen about math. Math can be fun. Programming can be fun. But only if you ask Polya's questions in the back of this book. "What do I have to do to make this problem complete?" "What is missing from this problem?" "What could I add to make this problem solved?" A two page diagram in the back. And everybody knows that programming is just "crummy mathematics". BUY THE BOOK! BUY THE BOOK! BUY THE BOOK!. 2 pages in the end of this book and at least 50% of your math/programming problems are down the drain. Buy the books for your son if you are a Betty Crocker. Or your daughter. Or they will end up in the "Valley of the Dead". Solving problems in school for years and years and simply not knowing what they did! Good luck. Oh yes. One last thing. BUY THE BOOK!

It's delightful to see this book is still in bookstores after 60 years, and I can still remember how much fun it was to read it 30 years ago. I came across it recently in a local bookstore, and after poring over it again, I was inspired to write a little review about it.

The most important thing about the book is Polya's little heuristic method for breaking down math problems and guiding you thru the process of solving them. Try to visualize the problem as a whole. Diagram it at first, even if you don't have all the details. Just initially try to get the most important parts of the problem down. Then try to get some sense of the relationship of the parts to the whole. Then tackle each of the component parts. If you get stuck, ask yourself if you could approach it another way, what could be missing, and so on. To this end, the questions at the back of the book are worth their weight in gold.

Polya's little heuristic and methods book is a timeless classic. This and Lancelot Hogben's "Mathematics for the Millions" have done more good for suffering math students than all the the dry textbooks put together that really don't teach you "how to solve it."

This is a blockbuster! The author goes into stark detail about life on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Neill tells all about the misery, pain, sorrow and frustrations experienced by the infantry soldiers who built and manned the foxholes beyond the front. He has written these accounts down in stunning detail and helps the reader appreciate and "feel" what it was like to live out in the open in the snow, cold, slush and mud, without adequate winter gear. He couldn't have done better. This book is riveting from beginning to end.

I remember what a Political Science professor told me about a book we had to read for his class. The book, The Theory and Practice of Hell, by Eugen Kogan, was about life in the Dachau concentration camp. He said, "This book should only be read while you're out in the cold, sitting on a concrete slab, with inadequate clothing and starving." The same holds true for Infantry Soldier. Mr. Neill can't do any better in making the reader understand the horrors, dangers and tragedies of war. The reader is propelled into the middle of battle and can actually feel the cold and hunger experienced by these soldiers. We have no idea of what these men went through, even by reading accounts of the war by others.

No other author comes close. Nothing by Shirer, Manchester, Tuchman, Pyle or Eisenhower can hold a candle to this book. Even All Quiet on the Western Front pales in comparison. It is a must read! My hat is off to Mr. Neill! A splendid work!

If there is just one book that you read about the Battle of the Bulge, make sure that is George Neill's book, "Infantry Soldier. Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge." It was absolutely eerie for me, a buddy of George's in L Company, 395th Regiment, 99th Division, to have such long-dormant memories so poignantly revived. From the early days of induction from college into the Army, basic training and ASTP in Texas, "assignment" to the 99th Division, to landing in England, France and Germany, George vividly recounts the incredible experiences we college kids went through until we arrived in the little German village of Hoefen, during that terrible winter of 1944. His book is a loving and fitting tribute to all those who suffered there and to our many close friends who gave their lives during the massive assault made in December by troops of the German Wehrmacht. On reading his story, I felt myself reliving those absurd day-to-day experiences, the incredible cold and freezing wetness of that miserable winter and the fantastic haphazardness of war that some of us somehow survived. George is at his best when he describes his own remarkable trials, and he pulls no punches in decrying the irregularities in the supply lines that left us on the front lines without proper clothing and equipment (I, myself, arrived at the front with no rockets for my bazooka and with no snow boots--hence my evacuation because of my avoidable affliction with frozen feet. My own outrage and anger match George's, when I recall having later seen so many well-shod and well-clothed support troops behind the lines).

For anyone who has witnessed the inanities of warfare this book will serve to revive the joys, frustrations, suffering and anger of infantry life in battle. For those who have been spared these unreal experiences this book is a "must" for insuring that such needless, even criminal, waste of life is never forgotten--and, hopefully, never repeated.

I had to read this book for a course on WWII. Neil does an excellent job of "putting you there" as the cliche goes. The complexities of battle, to the horrid conditions to the mindstate of men about to die are all covered well in this novel. Neill really does a good job of keeping the reader attached to the book, and helps bring to life something that many people have only read about in history text books. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in War in general, and of course in WWII.

This revealing book covers a highly charged and controversial period of American investment history. George P. Baker and George David Smith study the emergence of the investment house Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts (KKR), and follow it during the decade KKR ruled the world of leveraged buyouts. The authors begin with the early days when the partners worked together at Bear Stearns. They track the men as they build their own firm and create their own success. In clear, straightforward language, the book presents KKR's intentions and the economics of leveraged buyouts (LBOs). It discusses KKR's role in structuring and managing the deals. We [...] recommend this book as a must read for anyone interested in LBOs or the history of KKR. Executives at all levels will find the KKR saga interesting and useful.

Baker and Smith have accomplished two objectives in their short book. On the surface, they have expertly captured the key elements in the development of KKR as the frontrunner of the LBO firm. However, on a deeper level, they have also captured many of the elements that managers and entrepreneurs should consider when running or starting a firm. In this regard, the Preface and Chapter Five are worth the price of admission. For anyone interested in the evolution and history of modern American finance, read this book.

When in 1976 Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis, and George Roberts left Bear Stears to form KKR, Wall Street realized these three dealermakers might become a major force in the restructuring of American big business then beginning. What could not be predicted was the heights KKR would achieve. It has risen from the ranks of upstarts to become a major player in "The New Establishment." While KKR has been the subject of other books and articles, none could be considered "definitive," as is "The New Financial Capitalists." It is more than a history of a bank, however. Baker and Smith have addressed the problem posed by the separation of ownership and management delineated in 1934 by Adolph Berle and Gardner Means in "The Modern Corporation and Private Property," indicating how the leveraged buyout programs of the 1980s helped resolve it.