Foreword by Michael Uslan. Stories reprinted from Action Comics #37 (Jun 41)-#52 (Sep 42). All stories written by Jerry Siegel. Art by Fred Ray, Paul Cassidy, Jack Burnley, Ray Burnley, Leo Nowak, John Sikela, and Ed Dobrotka.

Some great old superman stories. By this time supes was starting to square off against super-villains a bit more often. Action #42 was probably my favorite, and has an interesting plot twist.

This book is for the reader who is new to investing. If you are interested in investing in the stock market, but are worried about the outcome, then this books provides some good advice. The investment approach recommended is truly for very conservative types - but the truth is, that the author's recommendations have worked well in the past and are worth consideration by all investors. Reviewed by the author of THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS.

As a veteran financial broadcaster, Fred Siegel loses nothing when shifting to the print media. He is just as clear in these pages as he is on his talk show on WWL. He believes that profits drive value, and the investor must look for them, not some hot Dot Com or 2020 high tech product that is unproven and unnecessary. As much as there is good advice on what an investor should do, the really valuable advice is on what not to do, and who not to do it with. This book is a real eye-opener for the average investor.

There are those who are very comfortable investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and a host of other vehicles that can earn lots of money . . . or not. Then there are those who are chicken-afraid of making the wrong decision, losing their shirts, and suffering the ridicule of everyone who knows them. This book is written for chickens.

Fred Siegel is president of an investment management firm in New Orleans, widely respected for knowing the investment field very well. In addition to running his advisory firm, Siegel also runs The Siegel Group International, providing financial news analysis to broadcast media in the United States and other countries. He has been on the air continually since 1984, broadcasting from WWL-TV and WWL radio in New Orleans. His advice is heard far and wide-and can now be read in a fun sort of book.

Fun? Investing? Chickens? Scary. The book is written in a light vein so it's easy to move through. The type is large, so that readers don't have to squint to get his message. There are several unusual features in the book-like red and black ink on the pages. Illustrations of chickens abound. There are lots of call-outs and sidebars, including testimonial quotes from his clients. The book is almost too self-serving in that regard, but one might expect a talk-show personality to be a bit self-promoting.

The book is organized into twelve chapters, dealing with the stock market, jargon, and then the focus on chicken stocks. Siegel makes his point that buying particular types of stocks is wiser than buying others, and explains. He doesn't like mutual funds, but talks about them, trusts, bonds, and annuities. Even on-line investing is covered for the reader.

As you might suspect, this book is going to give you a "once over lightly." It's not really deep, nor does it need to be. It meets its design of giving chicken investors enough knowledge to feel comfortable looking more deeply into the opportunities. As with any investment advisor, it's smart to take the advice carefully and understand that biases are present and influential. Whether you agree with everything Siegel says or not, you will have a broader understanding of the world of investing after reading this book.

This book is excellent dissection of the failure of American urban policy since the 1960s, but it does have some flaws of note. Fred Siegel has a clear point to make, but all too frequently he gets waylaid by his own grudges. It is obvious that this man is a Democrat in the conservative mold furious at the disastrous manner in which Liberals in the late 1960s and 1970s ran three of America's finest cities. Fine. 1960's Liberalism was a disaster for Americas cities, particularly New York, Washington & Los Angeles. Point taken and agreed upon, but time and again this point is made in an angry and confrontational manner.

Siegel's publisher would have done good to convince his author to adopt a more conciliatory tone. This book is angry, and the author's anger perhaps serves a dual purpose- to showcase how angry moderate, suburban Democrats (such as this reviewer) are at how urban liberals led the party astray, and to mirror the anger and contempt these liberals felt towards their critics.

Good message. Uneven delivery.

There is really not a lot that is contentious about the central argument in THE FUTURE ONCE HAPPENED HERE. The book looks at the fate of three once great American cities - New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC, and argues that their demise over the last few decades is a direct result of the following: After the urban riots of the 1960's the ruling liberal urban elites convinced themselves that this anger was justified by the poverty of urban blacks. To ameliorate this situation they decided to create a vast social welfare system. This, Mr Siegel calls the "riot idelogy" and it is characterized by the replacement of a belief in personal responsibility with a philosophy of life that instills dependence on government.

Another reviewer rightly says that this concept of riot ideology is reminiscent of Edward Banfield and his cultural basis for urban behavior as argued in THE UNHEAVENLY CITY; I think the argument here is less focused on culture but more simply on discipline in economics and morals. It is certainly more plausible that what was offered by Banfield. The riot idelogy has caused an explosion in urban crime and a huge increase in government expenses, and concomitantly an increase in taxes; all of which have driven private industry out of the city and contributed to fiscal chaos.

This argument is not originally Mr Siegels', nor is it new; it however remains controversial. William Julius Wilson in THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED, years ago similarly argued that the liberal creators of the Great Society programs were wrong headed for believing that simply providing welfare programs would cause poverty to shrink; reduction of poverty is influenced much more by economic growth. Both authors in stressing the role of the economy have been heavily criticized by the left. Neither book however is partisan and Mr Siegel certainly is critical of conservative politicians, who with their anti-urban bias, use the inner city poor as whipping boys for the cultural forces that so scare suburban and rural voters.

While Mr Siegel is lucid and certainly vocal in ascribing blame, if there is a weakness in the book, it is with solutions. In contrast to THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED, Mr Siegel is rather silent on what to do about the inner city poor. Certainly fiscal and moral discipline, economic growth, and private sector initiatives are fine but that is broad based. At the individual level it still comes down to people. Hopefully Mr Siegel's silence here does not mean that in the end he supports the view that all that the poor need to do is change their culture and get a job. After all is said and done, the dire situation that the inner city poor still find themselves in requires government assistance; the debate is really about what forms and level this should be.

An excellent history coverage, Fred Siegel's The Future Once Happened Here examines three major U.S. cities which are metaphors for American social life. From urban problems and solutions to historical trends which have changed the face of these cities, New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles are treated to expert analysis.

I have used this book as a supplemental reader in Urban Sociology, not only do I find it to be the worst sociology book I ever read, but it is so boring to read, and very uninteresting, I have read other urban sociology books that capture the readers attention, this book fails to do so. I did not like this one at all. I am suprised it is even in the annual editon series.