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There are, of course, characteristics that can be found in most IT professionals. I'd say it's even remotely possible that all MBAs share a pencil tick or two in common on the Myers-Briggs. But to lump all people who in any way interface with computers into one group, and label them with an insulting name, is indicative of a small-mindedness not at all appropriate to any kind of leadership.
I don't believe any offense was meant, but the tone was extremely insulting. No matter how many times the authors protest that these are "intelligent and creative" people they're writing about, they're still making sweeping generalizations and advancing offensive stereotypes. These factors tend to overwhelm what useful advice may wait within.
This book should be read by both new and seasoned managers and supervisors that have or will be managing technologists, scientist and engineers. Leading Geeks has clearly illustrated why I have succeeded/ failed in managing geeks in the past and given me new insight into what makes them tick.
(Each chapter is concluded with a summary and Key Ideas. Read these first for a Chapter Road map.)
Here, Warren Roberts display a very lucid understanding of the chronological events of the French revolution as it unfolded and has written a key account, linking it specifically to the lives of two artists who were inextricably linked up with the key events.
The book is divided into 5 sections. An introduction outlines the situation that France found herself in shortly before the French revolution took place. Then the next section focuses in on the key events of the revolution, linking them up to practically all of the chronological engravings of J Prieur. The true value of this book really is in the 60-odd historical tableaus drawn by Prieur and the marrying of the somewhat confusing chronological events of the French revolution to these tableaus. The author gives a thorough description of each historical tableau within the text, not in the captions, and this is what makes the book so readable. With hindsight, Prieur apparently recorded quite faithfully all the key events iand this contemporary visual evidence is the closest that we have to unbiased visual documentation of the period. The third section gives a very comprehensive essay on Roberspierre and the various factions within the French republic. This is then followed by a section on J.L. David and his accomplishments. Most readers will probably be familiar with David's biography and there are no surprises here. A concluding section brings all the threads together.
The two artists selected and contrasted here are J.L. David and J. Prieur, both Jacobin members and the contrasts in their abilities and fortunes could not have been more dramatic. Both artists worked for the revolution and recorded them, David in a painterly academic style which created the classical movement in art whilst Prieur was an unremarkable jobber, whose 60-odd historical engravings are now housed in the present Carnavalet museum, Paris, and has been rescued from relative obscurity by Roberts in this enlightening and entertaining book. While David survived the revolution, Prieur was beheaded shortly after completing his last scene.
I came away with a good understanding of the French revolution due to the complete empathy that Roberts gives to the period.
The only complaint that I have is that the book is physically quite small and hence, the reproduced engravings are small, too, hence 4 stars.
Highly recommended even for the layperson.
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Carter becomes embroiled in the mystery revolving around the death of President Warren G. Harding and thus he becomes a shadowy and elusive fugitive of sorts, playing cat-and-mouse with the Secret Service (which consists of an awfully villanous cast of characters of its own). Through an imaginative blending of historical fact and pure whimsy, Gold manages to weave a tale that is absolutely and purely entertaining. His Carter is a man of depth, tortured by guilt, who searches for inner peace and who can find real happiness when he is on the stage, creating a world of awe inspiring illusion for his audiences.
The plot moves fairly well and even with all the twists and turns, it never became confusing for me. Pay careful attention, though, or in the maze of details you may neglect to pick up on something important. Allow yourself to enter this magic world. Suspend your disbelief and let your imagination take flight. Go with Mr. Carter and let him amaze you.
Just hours after being dismembered and returned to life by Carter the Great, US President Warren G. Harding is dead. While doctors declare that there is no evidence of foul play, Secret Service Agent Jack Griffin is not so sure. Griffin he doggedly pursues the truth of what happened the night the President died. At the same time, the reader is launched back and forth in time with Carter from his earliest days with magic to his return to the business after a tragic accident involving his wife. Throughout the novel, the only person with more tricks up his sleeve than Carter is the author himself. Gold not only the portrays the real Charles Carter but also ropes in a diverse cast of additional period figures including Houdini, borax tycoon Francis Smith, and television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth. As Griffin becomes convinced of Carter's guilt, the magician struggles to find joy in his life, works to create a new act with which to dazzle increasing hard-to-please audiences, meets a mysterious women who steals his heart, and guards against the treachery of one who he believed to be a friend. With an ending that holds a surprise for everyone, not least of all the reader, Carter Beats the Devil is the real deal in a literary world filled with imposters.
A writer for television and movies, Gold delivers dialogue that is fast-pitched and fun to follow and creates characters that are larger than life. While the novel occasionally gets bogged down in some point of obscurity, these slips are brief and do not detract from the intelligent pace of the plot. All in all, this is a work of the first rank, an excellent display of erudition and a fine tale with adventure to spare. Carter Beats the Devil is highly recommended, and I will eagerly await Gold's next book.
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Though war with fascism forced him into a sort of hiatus, Coughlin's decline had actually begun with the 1936 Presidential Elections. Unsatisfied with GOP front-runner Alf Landon, and seized by an outright hatred for FDR, Coughlin campaigned fiercely for the Social Justice candidate, William Lemke. Those left unfulfilled by FDR and unimpressed with Landon, flocked to Coughlin and his allies. Among them, Francis Townsend seemed more dignified, GLK Smith had more energy and Huey Long had more savvy, but Coughlin possessed something of the qualities of all three. Though Coughlin had the power, he displayed little interest in using it for even his idea of a greater good, and the social justice ticket ballot was dwarfed even by Landon's showing. By then, Long was dead by an assassin's bullet, and his political machine in Louisiana collapsed under the weight of its own corruption. Emboldened by his landslide, FDR embarked on a strategy to fast-track the New Deal with legislation designed to end run a hostile supreme court and thinly veiled threats to pack the high court if the first idea didn't work out. Coughlin, on the other hand, now embittered with politics, lost much of his dignified veneer. Both in his own tone and those of his followers, Coughlin became more closely identified with all that was bigoted in domestic fascism. By 1940, Coughlin had been sufficiently cut down to manageable size for his own church's hierarchy, and the Bishops silenced him. The threat of prosecution for sedition further kept him in line.
Doanld Warren argues persuasively that Coughlin's defeats - both in 1936 and when war broke out against those he had championed - were far from certain. Coughlin and others had long fed anti-Semitic hysteria in their warnings against the war. When the severity of the war was realized, hysteria against the Jews could have exploded in Coughlin's favor. Warren even cites outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence in American cities. Further, despite the consent decree that immunized Coughlin in return for his silence, the radio priest remained active in using the mail system to search for a new generation of adherents among wartime servicemen. Warren highlights the depths of anti-Semitism in wartime America, but doesn't do the same for the horrific conditions of the depression - conditions that made us ripe for Coughlin and his followers. Also, he loses his focus after 1936, when Coughlin and company become more outright in their bigotry. Lastly, Warren frequently telegraphs his own sentiments against more modern day Coughlins like Pat Robertson and the Moral Majority. Whether today's right wing approximates that of 1936 America is a worthy subject, but one that Warren's asides seem to cursorily accept as true - an indisputable yardstick of conservative religious bigotry. Worse, it telegraphs the author's intention to write for a narrow readership - something Coughlin was doubtless famous for, though admittedly on a higher scale. These faults wouldn't matter if "Radio Priest" wasn't already a compelling book. Luckily, the book is not only compelling, but substantive enough to rise above what's wrong with it as well.
It is hard to believe that Father Coughlin was allowed to stay on the air and spew his poison for as long as he did. I wonder what he would have thought of the death camps? Or would he have found a way to deny the fruit of his hateful, unchristian ravings?
How can anyone not see what going on in the media with the soul murder of the American people by the people the good priest warned us about.
God bless Father Coughlin