This book is not out of print. I do not know why you list it that way

I expected this collection to be maudlin, melancholy or wistfully reminiscent. WRONG!

This is a marvelous collection of sonnets (a feat in itself) that gives the reader a glimpse into the life of a man whose wife died at an young age, leaving him with two sons to raise. His grief is obvious, but so is his love of life, of his sons and of having and sharing new experiences. His sense of humor endures the hard times. I laughed out loud at the Classified Ad series. My favorite poem is the lighthearted "Canny Shopper".

If you love poetry, even if you don't know that you love poetry, buy this book. It is a beautiful little book. I have now purchased half a dozen for dear friends. Each one has been impressed with my (until now hidden!) literary sense of fine poetry.

The Everlasting Sky is a reissued collection of classic essays that portray stark details of Anishinabe reservation life in Northern Minnesota, along with human histories and tragic imbalances between Anishinabe and dominant culture individuals. A recurring theme that is the search to honor the vision of the artist, particularly the Anishinabe artist, and the quest to refine or even reforge a definition of "indian," Anishinabe, and cultural art and learning. These chapters are compelling, vivid, and go beyond linear verbal traditions with their impact. They do not make for easy or comfortable reading, for the dominant culture reader. But they are treasures laced with bitterness, but treasures nevertheless. There is something medicinal and bracing about the writings of Vizenor. In his new introduction he writes about manifest manners, "the apish continuance of manifest destiny," and the educational value of daydreaming: "Ted Mahto, the literary artist and philosopher, celebrates the natural Anishinabe custom of daydreaming as 'a very constructive kind of behavior' in public schools...'We are going to have to find ways to recognize what it is that is happening to a child when he daydreams, because this kind of visual thinking,you know, might be of more value with respect to learning how to live with one another than learning how to work a mathematical problem...There is something spontaneous and religious about visual thinking which is being ignored in the public schools. (p. xiii).'"

This dialectic underlies much of The Everlasting Sky. And even that trivial insight is not key to understanding or experiencing the dazzling Anishinabe voices under Vizenor's pen. Perhaps it is necessary to allow oneself to experience the pain in it, even vicariously, to progress to something like a starting point, or common ground. Then the elusive beauty that pervades the underlying cultural vision can perhaps be glimpsed or imagined.

Though it is difficult to understand those whom we have so badly hurt, it is not a punishment to read The Everlasting Sky. Rather, it is an experience of richness, like the final series of paintings of George Morrison, that work to "create a sense of that imagic moment when the water on the horizon of the lake merges with the sky (p. x)."

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

Although some of the examples used are a bit dated, the insights and conclusions about what makes a good or bad employers are still valid. This is a well-written book that shows how some employers actively strive to generate trust between the company and employees. If you don't like the company for which you work, this book will illustrate some of the practices of companies that truly value employees as their most important resource instead of just paying lip service.

The only way this book can help you is if you first read the latest list of best places to work published in a business magazine. Compare the that list with this one, and then read about the companies in this volume that appear on both lists. That will give you a sense of where the company's environment was back in the early 1990s. That consistency of being a superior place to work increases the likelihood that you will have located a place that will continue to be a good place to work in the future.

As the authors point out, between 1984 (when they published the original research on this subject) and 1994 (when this paperback edition was published) only 55 of the original 100 companies persisted on the list. I suspect that the fallout since 1994 has been even greater. The list contains many companies that went through dire times in the 1990s like Armstrong, Compaq, Cray, Cummins Engine, Donnelly, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Inland Steel, Kellogg, 3M, Motorola, J.C. Penney, Tandem, and Xerox. In fact, companies that are riding for a fall in their business peformance are often the ones that have been great places to work. Before its performance plummeted in the early 1990s, IBM used to be on the list . . . just before it laid off an enormous percentage of the total workforce.

So a weakness of this backward-looking research is that it is not very good at predicting what will be the best companies to work for. The list is obviously dominated by very big companies, and they are the ones that offer the least job stability these days, even though the authors try to make the opposite point. "Job security is not a relic of the past for them."

The more obvious point is that for tens of millions of Americans the best employer is themselves. That point is not considered in this book.

The majority of the organizations and companies that will provide the best pay/benefits, opportunities, job security, pride in work/company, openness/fairness, and camaraderie/friendliness (the criteria for selection by the authors) in the next 10 years either were tiny or did not exist in 1994. So you need more contemporary sources for your search.

A good example of the need for newer information is that many companies now encourage you to work at home, due to the Internet. If you want to do that, this book won't help you find those companies. If you want to avoid doing that, this book won't help you avoid those companies.

My main concern about studies like this is that they focus your attention on what your employer can do for you. I suspect that thinking about your personal life goals would be a better starting point. Then, within those goals, what kind of career works best for the future in light of important future trends? Then, what jobs should you consider to develop that career? Next, should you work for someone else or be on your own? Finally, how should you screen potential employers to meet your personal criteria? After you have finished doing all that thinking, I doubt if this book will be very helpful to you.

Don't let the old paradigm of the employer as the source of paternalism and stability distort your judgment of what's right for you!

Make your life a joy by following the road to health, happiness, peace, and prosperity!

found the research very informative. The book has very elegant style of writingand tons of data. As HR consultant i used the book extensively to educate a number of my colleagues in innovating with hrm policies

found the research very iformative. the book has very elegant style of writing. as Hr professional i used the book extensively to educate anumber of My colleagues in innovating with hrm policies