This book does an excellent job of demonstrating the effects of a factory closing in a small southern town. As a former resident of the town (childhood home) and a former worker in the machine room and rubbing room of White's Furniture Factory, I was amazed at the depth of analysis and truthfulness in this book. This book demonstrated how the closing of a factory not only affects the workers, but prior workers, and the entire population of the town. I was surprised to see the pictures that were included that told a story all to themselves. This book is highly recommended for college professors wishing to pursue the effects of a factory closing and other downsizing efforts on a small town's population. A great story line supplemented by outstanding pictures as the authors take the reader through the last years of a 100+ year factory that the entire town centered their lives around. Highly recommended for those interested in the effects of a closing on the local population.

a reasonably balanced view of a factory closing that doesn't make the owner out to be a devil (although some former workers clearly feel that way). Shows the human side of what happens when decisions are made based on the aseptic "bottom line". If anything, the book is not hard enough on the original family, the 1st generation that admirably built the company and the second generation that let it deteriorate (the book details how the 2 family members at the top didn't even talk to one another and used separate entrances to the building! Is it any wonder the financials deteriorated and they had to sell?)

The only thing missing is an interview with the capitalist that closed the plant. If they tried and he refused the book ought to say so, otherwise it seems that at least a few pages could have been devoted to his side of the story.

All in all, though, a great book to read, as a counterbalance for all of us that invest thru our 401Ks and retirement accounts expecting great returns and divorced from how those returns are obtained (and at what cost to some people).

This book, and a traveling exhibit due at Yale this fall and The Smithsonian in early next year, captures the feelings and human aspect of what happens when a family owned furniture factory is closed due to a hostile takeover. The pictures and accompaning text document from an historical and extremely personal perspective the lives of workers in a small town in North Carolina, dependant on each other and the factory, and the devastation that occurs when big city, outside forces make an impersonal decision regarding people 1000 miles away.

Nations of Nations tells the history of our country in a very tangible way that is accessable and interesting. It is a rare history book that focusues as much on the culture and the people from different time periods as the country's leaders and law makers. Which, when studying American History, is of the utmost importance.

NATION OF NATIONS VOLUME TWO: SINCE 1865 WAS A FABULOUS TEXT BOOK. THIS BOOK HELPED ME TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ALL ASPECTS OF THE INFORMATION WITHIN. AS A FRESHMAN THIS YEAR I HAD A HARD TIME ADJUSTING TO MY CLASSES BUT WITH THIS TEXT I HAD NO PROBLEMS UNDERSTANDING MY READING ASSIGNMENTS AND ENDED UP DOING VERY WELL IN THE CLASS. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE A HARD TIME PICKING OUT THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH BECAUSE IT HAS GOOD OUTLINES. IT WAS A FANTASTIC TEXT BOOK!

:::2020 Vision::: Stan Davis and Bill Davidson Simon & Schuster (c) 1991 ISBN 0-671-73237-4 I just finished the book last week, and I think I want to read it again already. There are so many new ideas and concepts that it's hard for me to really remember them. Besides, this new economy that the book is about is such a different way of thinking for me that it's not just a matter of incorporating some new suggestions into the same mindset that I've always had -- 2020 Vision is really about looking at business and management in a whole new way; the mindset itself is different. When I read phrases like "the new economy," or "informationalize your business," I'm usually a more than a little skeptical. "Yeah, right," I used to think all this talk about an "information economy" was about looking up answers to questions and trying to sell each other last week's baseball scores. I no longer think so. I took the book home largely because one of the promotional blurbs on the back cover was by Tom Peters, who said "If Stan Davis' Future Perfect was the 'book of the decade' for the '80s (and I think it was), then his and Bill Davidson's 2020 Vision may well be the 'book of the '90s.' 2020 Vision is not for the faint of heart. It is a provocative masterpiece that puts almost all other 'futurist' treatises to shame." Well! How could I resist a challenge like that? Besides, I read Future Perfect back in the '80s, and it was indeed brilliant. I'd have to agree with Tom Peters about Davis and Davidson's book. Not only did I begin to understand that we really are in the midst of a new economy -- and thus a new era of mankind's social relationships, thinking and enterprise -- but even as I was reading through the chapters my mind began to be crowded with all sorts of new ideas not just for improvements in the way I'm already doing business, but whole new businesses! Now, how many books have you read lately that both stimulate the imagination and suggest immediately practical solutions for everyday problems, all at once? Practical and exciting, 2020 Vision has important lessons for virtually every business, not just those we may first think of when things "high tech" or "computerized" are mentioned. Officers of large corporations as well as one-person home-based business-people will all be doing themselves, their customers, and their businesses a tremendous favor by reading this important and entertaining book.

This book must be purchased as a companion to the better-known, "Contempt." I belive this book is Moravia at his best. "Contempt" is better known only due to the film. One Moravia is not enough. These books are seductively elegant--covers illustrated by Pierre Le-Tan--an award winning classic/clever book design--all housing a literary treasure. A magnificent collection! Literature and art combined.

Originally published in 1972 and now out of print, Cut-Off is the story of a skirt-chasing 23 year old GI reporter for Yank magazine who haplessly stumbles right into the opening hours of the Battle of the Bulge and results in an extraordiary odyssey to save the lives of two orphaned Jewish children, 6-year old Lisa and her 7 year old brother Friedrich. The children, as Davidson makes clear, are the true heroes of this book.

It's just over a week before Christmas, 1944. The German army, thought to be nearly "kaput", has just opened the surprisingly brutal Ardennes offensive - smashing through lightly held American lines in the countryside of Belgium. Davidson, having just completed a romantic interlude in Brussels, smells a story and jumps in his Jeep - the "Lootwagen" - which he keps well stocked with Nylons, Liquor and Cigarettes - neccesary currency for a young reporter in search of the "action". Some of the dates and places don't quite seem to jibe with historical fact, but Davidson's self-deprecating humor overrides concerns over historic accuracy of the account.

There's a little of everything - heroic soldiers, deserters, the Belgian resistance, black marketeers, and a drunken, clueless Ernest Hemingway. This is a tale the of small acts of humanity, hilarity, and self-preservation which rise from the terror of war. We learn the true meaning of the terms TARFU, FUBAR and SNAFU. A masterfully told tale with a profound message which captures the surreal chaos of wartime and its impact on children on a very personal level. Unforgettable.

This is an excellent guide to the art of mixology and setting up a home bar. It shares the same features as "Ultimate A-to-Z Bar Guide" such as the alphabetical format which I find very useful and convenient as quick reference at the bar; and the appended listing of drinks following certain typologies - a great help finding the right drink appropriate to the occasion or what one has in stock. The presentation and layout however is more appealing and inspires neophytes like me to explore more the diverse world of wine and spirits. It is an alternative but will not replace the "Ultimate A-to-Z Bar Guide."

I'll admit that I was impressed with the cover as well as the little green ribbon used to mark pages, but when I browsed the book it impressed me enough to buy it.

This book is chock full of information and recipes pertaining to the past 130 years. It has trivia, origins of liquors and pictures as well as history of drinks that are famous today.

Examples include: did you know that Absinthe was eventually replaced with what we use nowadays called Bitters? Also has origins of liquors (you know "Eau-De-Vie"? No, I didn't, but if you don't either it's the pear-in-the-bottle liquor -- they literally fasten the bottle to the pears before they get too big and the pear grows inside the bottle.)

If you're looking for a guide to help you make that "time period" party just right, this is the one for you. Tells you how to stock your bar properly, glasses to use and drinks for special occasions, such as Wassail for Christmas and tropical drinks from the 40s. You name an ingredient -- they've got a drink for it.

If you're not a social drinker, this pretty much makes a good read. I've literally curled up in bed just browsing the information aside from the recipes.

A must have for the serious bartender-wannabe for authentic drinks and history.

I bought this book for my History course and its absolutely Great ! All the main points have been neatly written on the side, which makes reading very easy. If you are purchasing this book, you may also want to buy the Study guide which comes along with it.

This book lets you know all the concepts just by reading it through. I bought it for the history class and this is by far the best book i've ever read in the classes.

I loved Othello . Next to Hamlet it catches the attention and the heart of the reader . This play wraps one up in the world Shakespere recreated of Love Hate Lust Desire and Greed . I say Read it , think about it Tell a friend . I was especailly touched by the actions of Iago. Even though he was Evil incarnate one can find a little of him everywhere . Still this cant compare to the effect the drama gives one if they view it being preformed firsthand.

I have read Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, and I consider Othello to be Shakespeare's greatest tragedy that I have read to this point. The villain, Iago, is unlike any other villain. His character seems to be pure evil and is, in my mind, the most intense villain created by a writer known for his intense villains. I believe this play has a more enduring value than other Shakespeare works and can still be enjoyed by all today. It puts a clear boundary between good and evil unlike any other Shakespeare tragedy. The play centers on Iago's attempt to ruin Othello after he is passed up for a higher position in Othello's forces for a young, inexperienced soldier, Michael Cassio. He hatched an elaborate plan of evil and Othello falls perfectly into his trap. It is painful to read the play, with the knowledge of Iago's plan, if you develop sympathy for the unsuspecting Othello as he gets closer and closer to the final trap. I find it unbelievably ironic that so small an article as a handkerchief could start off such a chain of death and sadness at the end of the play, but I won't spoil the rest for those who have not read it. If you have not read Othello, please do. It is a brilliant, passionate, tragic, timeless work by perhaps the greatest writer ever.

This superb play by Shakespeare somehow reminded me of Antigona, the first play which directly examined the always complex interplay and usual confrontation between political reason and moral reason. This play is an excellent account of the immediately previous and subsequent days of Julius Caesar's assasination by Brutus, his best friend, and other conspirators. Brutus is persuaded by the resentful Cassius that Caesar has betrayed Rome by abandoning the Republic and turning to Dictatorship. Brutus gets to be convinced that, in order to save the Republic, Caesar must be killed. This puts him in a great dilemma, for he loves Caesar and he's his closest friend. Here we see in an acute form the way in which political power gets in conflict with morality and feelings. Friendship, power and betrayal are the basic subjects of this excellent piece of work.

This is certainly one of Shakespeare's greatest works. Every individual character has been perfectly planned before the play was written, and each has his/her own unique characteristics. The plot is well-known, but Shakespeare adds the themes of betrayal, love, and distrust into the mix, making it a nonforgetable story. This is definately a masterpiece to be reread over and over again. LONG LIVE JULIUS CAESAR! GO SM!! WE ARE HIS #1 FANS!!!

A while back, a friend of mine and I decided to pick a Shakespeare play every couple months, read it, then get together and discuss it.

It worked with pretty good results for ROMEO AND JULIET, but then we ran out of gas somewhere in the middle of our next selection, JULIUS CAESAR.

Now that I've finally finished reading the play long after our allotted "couple months," I have to say that the fault (the mutual disinterest that effectively brought our little Shakespeare club to a halt) doesn't lie in the play itself, but rather in my preconceptions of what the play was about.

I can't speak for my friend, but since I took the Cliff Notes route in high school when we were supposed to be reading about Caesar and Brutus and the rest of the treacherous Roman senate (and didn't do a very thorough job at that) I always assumed the play's action revolved around the plot to kill Caesar and culminated with his death scene. I wasn't prepared to find Caesar dead halfway through the play, with two-plus acts remaining. I think I just lost interest once Caesar blurted, "Et tu, Brute?" and slouched over lifeless on the cold marble.

But thankfully I eventually kept going, and discovered what the play is really about: the manipulation of the public that goes on after Caesar's death. The speeches in JULIUS CAESAR, given by those who would take his place, are full of the damage-control, image-making spin that happens everday on our "all news" channels. It's an interesting play, maybe not Shakespeare's best, but one that has certainly has some modern relevance and is worth examining.

Now if my friend and I can just get our club back on its feet. Maybe a comedy next time...

'As you like it' is one of those Shakespearean plays that is considered 'great' by critics, but never really found true popular acclaim, perhaps due to the absence of charismatic characters (the romantic hero is particularly wet) or compelling dilemmas.

It shares many features with the great comedies - the notion of the forest as a magic or transformative space away from tyrannical society ('A Midsummer night's dream'); the theme of unrequited love and gender switching from 'Twelfth night'; the exiled Duke and his playful daughter from 'The Tempest'. But these comparisons only point to 'AYLI''s comparative failure (as a reading experience anyway) - it lacks the magical sense of play of the first; the yearning melancholy of the second; or the elegiac complexity of the third.

It starts off brilliantly with a first act dominated by tyrants: an heir who neglects his younger brother, and a Duke who resents the popularity of his exiled brother's daughter (Rosalind). there is an eccentric wrestling sequence in which a callow youth (Orlando) overthrows a giant. Then the good characters are exiled to Arden searching for relatives and loved ones.

Theoretically, this should be good fun, and you can see why post-modernist critics enjoy it, with its courtiers arriving to civilise the forest in the language of contemporary explorers, and the gender fluidity and role-play; but, in truth, plot is minimal, with tiresomely pedantic 'wit' to the fore, especially when the melancholy scholar-courtier Jacques and Fool Touchstone are around, with the latter's travesties of classical learning presumably hilarious if you're an expert on Theocritus and the like.

As an English pastoral, 'AYLI' doesn't approach Sidney's 'Arcadia' - maybe it soars on stage. (Latham's Arden edition is as frustrating as ever, with scholarly cavilling creating a stumbling read, and an introduction which characteristically neuters everything that makes Shakespeare so exciting and challenging)

Anyone with a working knowledge of Shakespeare's plays knows that As You Like It is a light, airy comedy. It is clearly not one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. As You Like It is more obscure than famous. Even amongst the comedies it comes nowhere close to the popularity of plays such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, or Twelfth Night. That said, it is a treasure in its own right. This is so, if for nothing else, because it contains one of the greatest pictures of a woman to be found in Shakespeare's works, excluding the Sonnets.

Ah, sweet Rosalind. In her are encapsulated so many ideas about the nature of woman. She is first pictured in a rather faux-Petrarchan manner. This quickly fades as an intelligent woman comes to the fore. While the intelligence remains, she is also torn by the savage winds of romantic love. Rosalind, in all her complexity and self-contradiction, is a truly modern female character.

Most of the women in Shakespeare's tragedies and historical plays are either window dressing (as in Julius Caesar) or woefully one-sided (Ophelia, Lady Macbeth). This is not the case with Rosalind. Rather than being marginalized, she is the focus of a good chunk of the play. Instead of being static and [standard], she is a complex evolving character.

When Rosalind first appears, she outwardly looks much like any other lady of the court. She is a stunning beauty. She is much praised for her virtue. Both of these elements factor in the Duke's decision to banish or [do away with] her.

Rosalind falls in love immediately upon seeing Orlando. In this way she at first seems to back up a typically courtly idea of "love at first sight." Also, she initially seems quite unattainable to Orlando. These are echoes of Petrarchan notions that proclaim love to be a painful thing. This dynamic is stood on its head following her banishment.

Rosalind begins to question the certainty of Orlando's affection. She criticizes his doggerel when she finds it nailed to a tree. Rather than wilting like some medieval flower, she puts into effect a plan. She seeks to test the validity of her pretty-boy's love. In the guise of a boy herself, she questions the deceived Orlando about his love.

Yet Rosalind is not always so assured. Her steadfastness is not cut and dried. Composed in his presence, Rosalind melts the second Orlando goes away. She starts spouting romantic drivel worthy of Judith Krantz. Even her best friend Celia seems to tire of her love talk. This hesitating, yet consuming passion is thrown into stark relief with her crystal clear dealings with the unwanted advances of the shepherdess Phebe.

Rosalind contradicts herself in taking the side of Silvius in his pursuit of Phebe. She seeks to help Silvius win the love of Phebe because of his endearing constancy. Yet the whole reason she tests Orlando is the supposed inconstancy of men's affections.

This idea of Male inconstancy has made its way down to the present day. Men are seen, in many circles, as basically incapable of fidelity. Though a contradiction to her treatment of Silvius' cause, Rosalind's knowing subscription to pessimistic views on the constancy of a man's love places her on the same playing field as many modern women.

Rosalind takes charge of her own fate. Until and even during Shakespeare's own time women largely were at the mercy of the men around them. This is satirized in Rosalind's assuming the appearance of a man. Yet she had taken charge of her life even before taking on the dress and likeness of a man. She gives her token to Orlando. She decides to go to the Forest. She makes the choice of appearing like a man to ensure her safety and the safety of Celia.

Rosalind finally finds balance and happiness when she comes to love not as a test or game, but as an equal partnership. Shakespeare is clearly critiquing the contemporary notions of love in his day. His play also condemns society's underestimation and marginalization of women. However, the Bard's main point is more profound.

As You Like It makes it clear that the world is never picture perfect, even when there are fairy-tale endings. Men and women both fail. Love is the most important thing. With love all things are possible.

"As You Like It" is bar none, one of Shakespeare's VERY best works. It is probably the most poetic of the comedies and contains perhaps as many famous quotations as any other of his plays. Rosalind is perhaps his greatest female character and this work, along with the equally (or even more) brilliant "Midsummer Night's Dream," is the best example of Shakespeare's theme of the "dream world" vs. the "real" world. This play, especially the scenes in the forest, is a celebration of language and the power of the freedom of the imagination. It consequently can be read as a criticism of the "real world," here represented by Duke Ferdinand's court. Like many of the other comedies, Shakespeare is mocking the "ideal" which many in his society would have praised. Though this play deals with some pretty dark themes (which of his plays doesn't?) it is a light-hearted and fully enjoyable read!