History Books

Let me just say, I have read two books by Jim Collins and his research team and I have not been at all disappointed. All chapters were explained without complex sentence writings and without all the extra stuff. For example, "Resiliency (not perfection) is the signature of greatness, be it in a person, an organization, or a nation." Jim Collins provided within each chapter insights on how to achieve at any position within a corporate company such as an employee, manager, senior executive, board member,and CEO. The book does mainly talk about people at the "top" but, the research information speaks for itself. Comparing companies such as Procter and Gamble, Walt Disney, Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Wal-Mart to Colgate, Columbia Pictures, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Ames, respectively. The researchers group and Jim Collins provided and proved what facts can represent to a reader. If you are willing to take your time and read with a understanding that anyone can create a "visionary company" of tomorrow. Highly Recommended to all future leaders with the pursue of how to develop what works and what doesn't.

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

This is one of my favorite book!!

Finally, a book that includes ideas that are based on research, not just someone's good ideas and stories. If this doesn't change what you are doing in your business, you'd better stop reading, start writing and tell us all your secrets.
Jim Collins is a great, inspiring author wh will engage you the whole way through.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It seems the company and the organization as an organic system within a larger system, and which purpose is not simply to make money (although, companies managed this way always do). It brings also the importance of the human side into management and how important it is to have a solid system of core values, beliefs, principles and mission. I highly recommended together with Good To Great, even in spite of the fact that some of the covered companies (like Ford, Sony, and Motorola) not being able to keep their greatness consistently.

The authors spent six years studying visionary companies to see what accounts for their success. Their goal: to uncover the underlying factors that helped the visionary companies outperform the competition.

The authors chose eighteen visionary companies for their book: 3M; American Express; Boeing; Citicorp; Ford; General Electric; Hewlett-Packard; IBM; Johnson & Johnson; Marriott; Merck; Motorola; Nordstrom; Philip Morris; Procter & Gamble; Sony; Wal-Mart; and Walt Disney. These are the premier organizations in their field; firms that have a long record of having an impact on the world. They have distinguished themselves as a special and elite breed of institution. And, with an average founding date of 1897, and stock-return performance of fifteen times the general market since 1926, they are companies that have stood the test of time.

Some of the main factors for success were: To preserve the values that set your company apart from others; to set audacious goals; and to experiment freely.

The authors use the following analogy: Suppose you read of a person who could tell the exact time just by looking at the position of the sun or stars. "It's April 23, 1996, 2:36 A.M." Wow, you'd think. What a remarkable person. Yet wouldn't it be more remarkable--and useful for the world--if that person built a clock that anyone could refer to, even after the clockmaker had died? Having a great idea, or being a charismatic, visionary leader is like "time telling." Building a company that's healthy long after the visionary leader is gone, or after the great product is passé, is "clock building."

Visionary company founders concentrate first on the organization's systems and values, then on products. In fact, you don't need a great product idea to begin. William Hewlett and David Packard of Hewlett- Packard, for instance, had no product in mind when they got together in 1937. They just wanted to start a company together. Early products included a bowling foul-line indicator, a clock drive for a telescope, and a device to make a urinal flush automatically. They persisted until they figured out how to build a firm that could pump out great products. Likewise, Masaru Ibuka didn't have a single product in mind when he launched Sony in 1945. The company survived selling heating pads. Paul Galvin, Motorola's founder, didn't dream about making battery eliminators for radios, its first product. He dreamed foremost about building a great and lasting company. He did that by developing people. He encouraged dissent, discussion, and disagreement, and he gave people freedom to make contributions. He set challenges and gave people responsibility to achieve them.

Here are some interesting notes I took:

Though many visionary companies have had high-profile leaders like Henry Ford or Sam Walton, charismatic leadership is not necessary for success. 3M, for example, has never had a charismatic CEO.

The firm is not a vehicle for products or personalities; products are a vehicle for the company. Looked at in that light, Walt Disney's greatest creation wasn't Snow White or Disneyland, it's the Disney Company and its ability to make people happy.

Purposes are your organization's fundamental reasons for existing beyond making money. They are broad and enduring. For example, Robert W. Johnson founded Johnson & Johnson "to alleviate pain and suffering." Purposes are not about specific products or services. The Disney Company doesn't exist to "make cartoons for kids," for example. It exists to "use our imaginations to bring happiness to millions." Asked whether he started Marriott Corporation to create an empire, J. Willard Marriott, Sr., said no. He wanted to give friendly service to guests, provide good food at a fair price, and work hard to make a profit to create more jobs.

Merck has long used its values to guide its actions. For example, it once developed a drug called Mectizan to cure a Third World disease known as "river blindness." While it hoped to sell the drug to government and relief agencies, the return on investment would be small. When it came time to sell Mectizan, however, no one bought it. So Merck gave the drug away to the millions who needed it. This was good public relations that could pay off down the road. But it was also because the company has never forgotten George Merck's words: "We try never to forget that medicine is for people. It's not for the profits. The profits follow . . ."

To come up with a purpose, ask: What is our reason for being? What would be lost if we ceased to be?

Boeing's core value, "being in the leading edge of aviation; being pioneers" is permanent. Whatever your business, strategy and tactics, operations, culture, and products are they must change over time. The only thing that shouldn't change is core ideology. When Eastern Airlines said it needed a jet with precise specifications, Boeing took on the challenge. The plane had to land on runway 4-22 at La Guardia Airport in New York, a notoriously short runway. This jet also had to be able to fly non-stop to Miami without refueling, seat six abreast, and hold 131 passengers. Most agreed this was an impossible task. Boeing met the challenge with its 727. It succeeded because, once it got going, it had no other choice. Such goals are always aligned with a Boeing core value: to be on the leading edge of aviation.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing's initial idea, to mine corundum, failed, and the company searched desperately for something to do. 3M settled on sandpaper and grinding wheels, which kept it afloat. Such troubles led CEO William McKnight to insist on diversifying. But rather than chart the course himself, he built an organization that would continually change based on the initiative of employees. McKnight hired good people, let them alone to do their work, and encouraged experimentation. The result was many unplanned, successful products. For example, 3M employee Dick Drew was visiting an auto paint shop when he saw a problem to solve. Two-toned paint jobs had become popular, but shops had trouble separating the two colors. Drew went to work and came up with a solution: masking tape. Five years later, he used his experience to develop Scotch tape. Note that 3M hadn't planned to get into tape, now a huge part of its business. It was an outgrowth of the organization McKnight created.

Visionary companies don't ask, "How well are we doing?" They ask, "How can we do better tomorrow than we did today?" This question requires constant self-criticism and investment in the future for a race with no finish line.

Motorola has used an "innovate or die" technique. It has been known to cut off mature product lines that still account for significant sales volume in order to keep innovating.

Boeing uses a process called "eyes of the enemy." It assigns managers the task of developing strategy as though they worked for a competitor and wanted to wipe Boeing off the map. What weaknesses would they exploit? What markets could they invade? Boeing then figures out how it would respond to each threat.

A visionary company is like a great work of art--magnificent in detail, with all elements working together in concert.

This is a great read for every age. Young and old need to better understand the Vietnam War.

I served in NAM as an infantry platoon leader with the First Infantry Division in 1969-1970. The book brought back many memories.

Of particular interest was the last chapter on War. the authors make it clear that the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq by "W" is not on their list of acolades for the President. Who would better understand this than a Vietnam Veteran.

Read this book and share it with your children and grandchildren.

Author of Mr. NewHeart (New Heart): Heart Attack to Transplant and Beyond

Preview my next book "The Face of War" when you Google "David Hollar's Storefront." It is my memoir of my year in Vietnam and how I came to be a wager of peace

Hal Moore sums up his interesting life in this short book. It's only partially tied to the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley. Still, he describes moving events in 1993 when he, Joe Galloway, a few veterans and a couple of former North Vietmanese officers meet to reflect, re-live and celebrate sacrifice on both sides. They even hold hands and pray.

The book is more about the important events in Moore's life: how he got to West Point,side-trip to Dien Bien Phu, assignments to Korea, leadership lessons and views on warfare.

One of the problems I had reading the preface is I couldn't figure out who wrote it. I also question why the authors characterize the war as good nationalists driving out the bad foreign invader,namely the United States. Moore seems to say in the end, the good guys won: "...they (the North Vietnamese) were fighting so hard because, like America's own revolutionaries, they had a burning desire to drive foreigners out of their native land...and now that the guns had fallen silent and peace had return to their land they proved to be proud fathers, good husbands, loyal citizens, and, yes, good friends."

My impression was and is the North Vietnamese were fighting to unify the country under an NVA banner. The real losers were not the Americans but the South Vietnamese. After the NVA victory an estimated 100,000 South Vietnamese were executed, others died in reducation camps and at sea. Despite what Moore/Galloway write, I don't think there's any moral equivalency between us and the North Vietnamese on one side, the South Vietnamese on the other.

I was a member of the original cast of their first book. Today we are met in Franklin, Tennessee, to remember the 17th November of '65, the happy few who made it out of Albany, the second part of the Ia Drang Valley battle that Randall Wallace would not film about. I'm sure that this book will be as good as the one I had the great honor though maybe not the pleasure of participating in its making. I only heard that it was finally out in print today and as many of those of us who are here gathered rushed to acquire an early copy. When I have read it, I shall send a sequel review and though I'll have to wait til my return home to peruse it, I highly recommend it, cite unseen.

On November 13th 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley an American battalion of only 450 men engaged three regiments of North Vietnamese soldiers in the first major battle between American and Vietnamese forces. The Americans were outnumbered by TWELVE-TO-ONE! "Over the next four days and nights 234 American soldiers perished in desperate hand-to-hand combat along with THOUSANDS of attacking North Vietnamese troops." This battle was "the bloodiest of the entire Viet Nam War." The co-author's Lieutenant General (Ret) Moore who was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time and Joseph Galloway a reporter at the time (and by force of necessity and courage, became a soldier during that battle) were also the author's of the now infamous book "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young", which was also made into a big name Hollywood movie. The basis of this follow up book... was to have some of the remaining survivor's from the American side... not only go back to the actual physical battlefield where the ghosts and souls of their fallen comrades remain... but to meet face to face their counterparts from the North Vietnamese Army.

Completing this story to the satisfaction of the author's, entailed multiple trips back to Vietnam, and the overcoming of multiple hurdles made of red tape. There were many gut-wrenching situations that included tears and overcoming deeply engrained biases, that festered for four decades. It is amazing the mutual respect that was shown between the two countries commanders... and the eventual friendship... between two men... whose only goal in 1965 was to kill each other... and kill everybody associated with them. There were many lessons learned... that were learned too late to save thousands of lives. As a Vietnam era veteran myself... what was rewarding for me... as well... I believe... as for the loved ones of all the departed... was the utmost respect each commander had, not only for the bravery and courage of their own troops... but that each held the same opinion of the opposing soldiers. Both men stated in their own words, that after post battle intel was discussed... both commanders collaborated, that so many of the dead from both sides... were literally intertwined... so fierce was the "HAND-TO-HAND-COMBAT".

There are very detailed and interesting historical discussions regarding the Battle of Dien Bien Phu where the French were defeated by the Vietnamese in 1954. Vietnamese Senior General Giap said: "that he simply didn't understand why the Americans had not carefully studied the French war in Vietnam and the Battle Of Dien Bien Phu, particularly since, by the end, the United States was financing more than 70 per cent of the cost of the French military actions and providing much of the equipment and ammunition in that war. He told us if we Americans had studied what happened to the French surely we would never have come halfway around the world to take their place in Vietnam and pursue a long bloody war that ended just as badly for us as it had for the French."

On November 8, 2003 at one of the annual Ia Drang reunions in Washington, D.C. one of the survivor's Jack Smith gave a speech:

"AT ONE POINT IN THE AWFUL AFTERNOON AT ALBANY AS MY BATTALION WAS BEING CUT TO PIECES, A SMALL GROUP OF ENEMY CAME UPON ME AND THINKING I HAD BEEN KILLED (I WAS COVERED IN OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOOD), PROCEEDED TO USE ME AS A SANDBAG FOR THEIR MACHINE GUN, I PRETENDED TO BE DEAD. I REMEMBER THAT THE GUNNER HAD BONY KNEES THAT PRESSED AGAINST MY SIDE. HE DIDN'T DISCOVER THAT I WAS ALIVE BECAUSE HE WAS TREMBLING MORE THAN I WAS. HE WAS, LIKE ME, JUST A TEENAGER.

THE GUNNER BEGAN FIRING INTO THE REMNANTS OF MY COMPANY. MY BUDDIES BEGAN FIRING BACK WITH RIFLE GRENADES-M79'S TO THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW ABOUT THEM. I REMEMBER THINKING: OH MY G-D, IF I STAND UP THE NORTH VIETNAMESE WILL KILL ME, AND IF I STAY LYING DOWN MY BUDDIES WILL GET ME. BEFORE I WENT COMPLETELY MAD, A VOLLEY OF GRENADES EXPLODED ON TOP OF ME, KILLING THE ENEMY BOY AND INJURING ME. IT WENT ON LIKE THIS ALL DAY AND MUCH OF THE NIGHT. I WAS WOUNDED TWICE AND THOUGHT MYSELF DEAD. MY COMPANY SUFFERED NINETY-THREE PERCENT CASUALTIES... NINETY-THREE PERCENT!"

To undertake this trip... to not only go back to the battlefield your friends were killed on... as you killed the enemy... to keep from being killed yourself... but to meet and befriend that same enemy... I can tell you from first-hand experience... that takes a unique-different individual... and not everyone on this earth who's been through war... could come to grips with that. I know I still have too much inside of me... in hidden... and un-hidden chambers... of my very soul... to want to take such a journey. G-d bless America... and an extra blessing deservedly goes to all of us who have served.

I think the title We Are Soldiers Still is most fitting. It is pretty commonly felt by most vets that the experiences of youth while in uniform never really leave us. The old saying "once a Marine" is true for most folks who have served in the military. "Once a sailor", "once a soldier", etc. That Harold Moore, Lt. Gen (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway, a former correspondent chose to write We Are Soldiers Still in the way they did is a tribute to their honesty and integrity that many authors today could learn from.

We Are Soldiers Still is not really about war. Instead it is about old warriors, both American and Vietnamese, finding it within them to put out old fires and bury old hatreds and travel to the site of one of the most intense battles of the entire Vietnam War; a crucible where brave boys on both sides gave all.

In November of 1965 the 1st Battalion of the 7th U. S. Cavalry, about 450 troopers landed in a small clearing in the central highlands near the Cambodian border. In the area were three regiments of the PAVN (Peoples Army of Vietnam); 66th, 32nd, and 33rd. What ensued was a battle to the death that tested the metal of young boys in both armies. In the end the American were the victors. Victory is always a relative thing, however. 305 casualties for the Americans and an estimated 3000 to 5000 for the PAVN.

The battle for the Ia Drang valley was the first head on engagement with regular army troops on both sides. The participants were highly trained and highly motivated. This battle was one of the few times that the North Vietnam Army stood toe to toe with the Americans and slugged it out. No hit and run tactics here. The results were expensive.

Harold Moore, Joe Galloway along with Sgt. Major Plumley, Bruce Crandall, Lt. Gen. Nguyen Hu An and Chu Huy Man, and others make the trip to Landing Zone X-Ray. Old enemies become new friends and the killing ground simply didn't look the same.

For those interested in the war in Vietnam We Are Soldiers Still is moving and insightful and is a must read. As others will point out the world in 2008 is a far different place than it was in 1965 and countries that once fought each other are now trading partners. It is fitting that men who once tried to kill each other should become friends. That's really a strong part of We Are Soldiers Still.

I highly recommend.

Semper Fi

It was a beautiful story about something that I really knew nothing about. I laughed and cried and learned a lot.

This is one of the most beautiful, powerful books I have read. Images from this book have stayed with me for years. I strongly recommend it.

In the time of the Butterflies was a confusing book. This book was confusing to me because it was hard to understand. Some parts of it didnt make since to me. When Dede was writing in her little book, that was hard to understand i didnt know why she was doing that and why she loved the book so much. Even though this book was confusing it was also very good. It had good details, they were very descriptive and they told you alot. For example, Dedes father tells her that she will bury them all in "silk and pearls". That line is one of many that is very descriptive. Julia Alvarez did a good job with details, but i still felt that it was very confusing. In the Time of the Butterflies was worth reading.

My sister-in-law bought this as a gift for me years ago and it ended up being one of my top 5 favorite novels of all time.

"In the Time of the Butterflies" is the true story of 4 sisters living in the Dominican Republic during the reign of the dictator Rafael Trujillo ("El Jefe"). Trujillo's reign was incredibly violent and he took personal pleasure in using fear and torture to achieve his political gains.

The 4 Mirabal sisters ("Las Miraposas") took on enormous personal risks in engaging in a systematic, underground movement to undermine Trujillo's dictatorship. Sadly, the Mirabals were caught for their involvement in the movement and 3 of the sisters were murdered in 1960, one year before Trujillo himself was assassinated. The remaining sister still lives in the Dominican Republic, where she tends to a museum that memorializes her sisters.

Julia Alvarez presents this incredible story of the Mirabal sisters with an amazing aptitude for language and a meticulous attention to detail. The book is very well researched and Ms. Alvarez does an awe-inspiring job of weaving historical fact into the narrative while maintaining a story rich with character and feeling.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in these extraordinary, courageous women and, in reading their story, you will pay homage to the considerable risks they took to protect their country and their people.

This historical fiction takes us to the Dominican Republic during Trujillo's dictatorship. Alvarez's courageous story inspired by the lives of the three Mirabel sisters, who were part of the underground revolution attempting to overthrow Trujillo, effectively communicates the societal and political complexities of the time. Readers will feel the character's despair and hope as they fight to live in a free country. The tough choices they make are frightening and inspiring. The author makes you feel as if you are part of the revolution. At times, you have close the book and remind yourself it's not happening to you.

It's rather drier and more academic than I'd hoped for, though terrifically erudite. It's enormous too. A fascinating subject, and a very important book, but hard to sustain an interest in. Suited to the more academic reader.

I admit I didn't finish the book. I was bored by much of it and read parts here and there. But what I looked for and didn't find was what seems to me to be obvious...We're less social because we're more mobile. Corporations shuttle families around the nation so rapidly that after a few generations of this nobody is really part of any community anymore, they're just living/working/earning there. Nobody you grew up with lives near you. You have no reputation to protect. We're a nation of strangers. I think it's less important that people join formal groups and more important that they actually know each other and relate in a way that indicates that the relationship is permanent. But in our mobile society it's not permanent.

I know from being displaced myself that when you move to a new area you don't expect to be in long, you simply do not care about it in the same way as "home". And related to that, the inhabitants there sure do not care for you!

I agree with another review that overcrowding and urbanization may be a part of the problem too. If you're constantly having to deal with crowding on roads and in shops and at events, you may just prefer a nice basement media room to sitting on the porch chatting up neighbors.

Also, if you know you're living with people for the next 40 years, your attitude toward them is quite different than if you're just a transient in their lives for the next year or so. Till you either change jobs, move to another suburb, or retire to where you really want to live. Corporations' needs for workers in different cities force us to either choose financial security or social stability. There is little effort given to ensuring workers can have a career in one city anymore. Even fractional advantages in costs/etc will cause companies to move hundreds of workers. I've been affected by it.

Overall, a very disappointing book that had a good premise but came to the wrong conclusions.

Robert D. Putnam's BOWLING ALONE provides what is, arguably, the most robust scientific treatment in a single volume of the conversation about friendship and its benefits begun by Aristotle nearly twenty-four centuries ago, a conversation about what has now come to be called "social capital" :

"...how can prosperity be guarded and preserved without friends...And in poverty and in other misfortunes men think friends are the only refuge. It helps the young, too, to keep them from error; it aids older people by ministering to their needs and supplementing the activities that are failing from weakness; those in the prime of life it stimulates to noble action." [And,] "Friendship seems too to hold states together..." (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics).

No less importantly than this Aristotelian connection, Putnam joins earlier 20th Century writers to enlarge Adam Smith's emphasis on the productive effects of `capital.' Smith wrote:

...the produce of a man's own labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional wants. The far greater part of them are supplied by the produce of other men's labour, which he purchases...with the price of the produce of his own...A stock of goods of different kinds, therefore, must be stored up somewhere sufficient to maintain him, and to supply him with the materials and tools of his work... (Introduction to Book II, Wealth of Nations)

BOWLING ALONE demonstrates how this "stock of goods" including the effects of friendship, reciprocity, sympathy, trust, and integrity, become the "materials and tools" fundamental to the health of the community. Thus, emphasizing the productive nature of affiliation, social capital - a smile, a kind word, a helping hand, group participation - gets "saved," in our rolodexes or their hippocampal versions, to be used advantageously another day. Here one notes that, though little emphasized by most contemporary cheerleaders for unfettered Capitalism, Adam Smith, too, emphasized sympathy, rather than petty selfishness, as one of Capitalism's essential ingredients.

Putnam provides a vast array of empirical data documenting the productive effects of friendship and communal action on politics (Chap. 2), community involvement (Chap. 3), religious participation (Chap. 4), workplace association (Chap. 5), informal social activity (Chap. 6) and altruistic activity (Chap. 7). In any of these venues, reciprocity, honesty, and trust compose the yeast for productive social activity (Chap. 8).

Putnam's interpretation of the data convincingly indicates that some generations are equaler than others. Over the half-century leading up to the publication of Putnam's book, the combination of television, suburbanization, the changing nature of work, have been factors in the dwindling of our social "goods." But most significantly, shifts in generational norms (Chaps. 10-15), have resulted in "anticivic contagion," the substantial decline in the activities that generate social capital (Chaps. 2-8), though there are exceptions (Chap. 9). In astonishing geographic detail, Putnam graphs (Figures 80-89) the correlations between social capital and its deficits in American community life, public affairs, volunteerism, sociability and trust (Chaps. 16). These are tied quite demonstrably to costs for education and children's welfare (Chap. 17), safe and productive neighborhoods (Chap. 18), economic prosperity (Chap. 19), health and happiness (Chap 20), and participatory democracy (Chap. 21). In the last two chapters (Chaps. 23, 24) he details what might be done to replenish social capital and "walking the walk" has introduced websites and seminars promoting social capital under the auspices of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Putnam recognizes other earlier uses of the phrase "social capital" with varying degrees of specificity, tracing its earliest use to L. J. Hanifan, a state superintendent of rural schools in 1916:

"good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse...[result in] an accumulation of social capital which may immediately satisfy [the individuals] needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community."

Others who have used the phrase include Jane Jacobs, who applied it to the health of neighborhoods (The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961), and Pierre Bourdieu who emphasized it in the contexts of social competition (The forms of capital. In: John G. Richardson (ed.): Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press 1986). But, Putnam goes further than any earlier writer, applying the concept to the communal health of a nation.

The concept of social capital, and particularly Putnam's rendering of it, is not without its critics whose objections are on semantic, philosophical, empirical and policy terms. Andy Blunden objects to its quantification and to the causal ambiguity of correlations that Putnam uses to support his inferences, though I think Putnam does not dismiss the likelihood of hidden variables that might be influencing the more apparent ones. The eminent sociologist Alejandro Portes takes up similar issues (Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology, Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1998. 24:1.24), though, in fairness, his critique was on Putnam's earlier work in this area and BOWLING ALONE effectively addresses some of them. Theda Skocpol tellingly argues that Putnam's approach essentially blames the victim (cf. Unraveling From Above, The American Prospect no. 25 (March-April 1996): 20-25.).

The critiques notwithstanding, Putnam's work has been enormously influential even beyond the halls of academe, insinuating itself into state of the union addresses (Clinton, 1995) and the current presidential campaign (bridging v. bonding capital). For more specifics about how social capital has interrelated effects up and down the conceptual ladder from the genome to community life see A. R. Cellura's The Genomic Environment and Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2006).

In reviewing Putnam's work it is important to remember that the discourse about social capital not only educates as to the health of individuals and societies but also as to the health of political systems. De Tocqueville marveled at Americans' as joiners because he correctly theorized that intermediate organizations are crucial for the healthy working of modern democracies. Thus the evidence that Americans are joining fewer organizations should also cause us to question the health of American democracy.
The recent acceptance by large swaths of the American public that torture is an acceptable method in defending democracy shows a kind of extremism not far removed from that of Nazi Germany where again intermediate organizations are said to have been were few and opened the way for mass organizations and the state to isolate the individual and place him/her one on one with the demagogue and his mass party.
Differences with Germany's case are enormous of course yet evidence that democracy is not in a healthy state should make us ask questions. It is in this light that Putnam's work takes an even greater significance.

Putnam accurately articulates that odd malaise many boomers deeply feel; loss of "community" (whatever one may take that to mean). He then tangentially reasons that the culprit is "diversity". The fact is that this particular boomer angst is far more the product of population density. In the '50s and '60s (his "Golden Age") solitude was far more easily acquired. Even in urbania, a short walk or a brief drive could deliver the needed dose of peace and quiet that reknits the "ravell'd sleeve of care". No more. Today, we can't get away from the crowd. It is overpopulation that drives us to seek relative social isolation. And whether the crowd looks like we do or not, it is still the crowd.

Putnam commits the endemic error of improperly linking cause and effect. Because the America he bemoans the loss of was whiter and far more insular, he attributes its unfortunate transformation to diversity. Anyone who has studied mammalian behavior will know that once a certain population density is reached, the behaviors that Putnam collectively refers to as "community" drastically decline.

This book, as many have stated, is great for understanding the psychology of someone returning from the battlefield. But for those who have yet to enter the battlefield, or will shortly find themselves returning, I suggest they read On Combat. That book deals much more with the subject of the physiology and psychology of the act of combat itself and how to prepare for it, rather than how to recognize and deal with it after the fact.

This is a very good book but pales in comparison to Col. Grossman's second book on combat. This book has a lot of data a is a little dry reading. However, the data is excellent and this book contains great information.

A bit of slow read but does get interesting every few pages. It is very easy to take the factors in this book and apply them to the business world - why do people get stressed out and burned out at work.

It is interesting book for those who have illusions concerning any war. The book confirmed the basic thought that the fright to kill a person is more important than the fright to be killed. The nature programmed us to avoid killing a human being! Every war does not cost every life! Certainly, there is CONSCIENCE! The conscience torment to kill innocent children and women, fathers of mothers of somebody!

This is a very incite-full read and should be read before on combat. Very deep subject content and makes very good points about how our society is changing and not in a good way.

The difficulty in reading about centuries past is adopting the mindset of those who lived then; how can we, with our 21st century knowledge, grasp a world in which people washed their babies' diapers next to the local drinking supply and thought nothing of it? Yet, Johnson weaves such a detailed picture of London life at the time that the commonplace miscomprehensions held by both the academics and uneducated are understandable. Johnson's greatest narrative gift is capturing the extent of the devastation and its commonplace nature in 19th century London, where people lived with the constant threat of epidemic.
The last fifth of the book is given over to Johnson's theorizing about the future of city planning, trying to tie it into the work of the pioneering researchers of the cholera outbreak. This non sequitur weakens the overall book, but only slightly. The mystery is real, the medical discoveries ingenious and Johnson's research and narrative compelling.

The Ghost Map describes a series of events more than a centory and a half ago, but the warnings are still timely. Crowding vast numbers or people together without proper sanitation and with primitive understanding of medicine is a deadly cocktail, and cholera the villain of the book is still frequent killer in the underdeveloped world. WE must all stay alert to te potential ravages of lethal diseases. The book is a sharp warning against complacency and at the same time a captivating good read.

A fascinating read, in fact, the story line that weaves the two main characters together, Snow and Whitehead, has an almost cinematic sense of drama especially set against the Dickensian squalor of mid nineteenth century London.

Dan Mandish

This book should make you appreciate how far public health and sanitation have come in the past 150 years. Did you know, most of modern society's gains in life expectancy precede major medical breakthroughs like antibiotics? You can thank improvements in water, sanitation and housing. This book highlights the inviolable fact that preventing someone else's poop from entering your mouth is a good thing. Thank God and John Snow for water treatment plants.

Steven Johnson's Ghost Map is the fascinating story of the beginning of modern public health. It highlights the desperate search for the cause of a London cholera epidemic in the 1850's. The book has the pace and readability of a medical thriller combined with strong science/invetigational story telling. While the science end of the story shines, the reader still feels the human suffering of this tragic event. I liked the book so much I bought multiple copies to give to other teachers.

I had to order this text book since the university did not have enough on campus. I got a better deal and actually received the book in only a couple of days. Couldn't have worked out better.
Thanks.

Greenspan is smart and gives a good picture of how the U.S. economy works(and sometimes doesn't).
Near the end of the book he talks about the regulation of markets, in particular the investment industry. He doesn't think much of regulation and says things like hedge funds perform a fundamental good in the economy. Would the country be worse off if a hundred highly leveraged hedge funds closed down tomorrow? I personally don't think so....the country may be better. Charlie Munger thinks that a lot of liquidity brings out a bad side in humans. I think this has been shown with the credit/real estate situation now.
Charlie Munger says that Greenspan overdosed on Ayn Rand. I think so too.
Other than that chapter near the end of the book, its a fairly worthwhile read.

before reading this book i never understood why so many people i consider smart think that Greendpan is extremely intelligent.
Now i do

GREAT book, and red it non stop. I was ready to read it a second time when reached the last page. Very well written, good English, amazing explanation of the FED, the US Capitalist system, and most institutions. Great Bibliography too. Loooooooooooved it.

This book is an insightful collection of thoughts and predictions from an economist of Greenspan's stature. Age of Turbulence can be separated into two distinct section. In the first, Greenspan traces his steps from a curious boy in New York through experiences in college, private sector, government and ultimately as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The rest of the book explores economic and policy issues providing Greenspan's opinions on the main problems confronting the World today and into the future. This second portion of the book is a denser read, but contains enough background to allow the casual reader to follow.

Of the whole book, I found his experiences on how government works to be very interesting and revealing. Complementing this, I also found interesting his candid perceptions on the strengths and weaknesses of the major policymakers in the last century. These were formed after working at various levels of government across multiple administrations.

I also appreciated his down to earth analysis of the trends that will shape domestic and foreign markets and how social factors play into these equations. He not only tackled issues of population aging, social security, energy , political stability, globalization and economic growth from a technocratic perspective, but also from a social and philosophical one.

Overall, I gained a lot from this book in terms of policy and economics, and also was entertained by his mix of anecdotes, opinions and analysis.

Outside of some of the economic jargon this book was very easily read. Not only was it a bit of an autobiography but also a great historical perspective of the last 50 years in America. What I enjoyed most was the enlightenment he gave on the role of politics in economic policy. A must read.

The first part of the book in Cairo, as others have mentioned before me, was intriguing for a reader like me who loves to read about people and places outside of my sphere of experience. And especially I seem to be drawn to Middle Eastern/African settings.
The elegant Cairo of a long gone era was very interesting as were the family members.
But the book went downhill in the second half. I kept hoping for a larger understanding from the author and a comprehension and conclusions drawn about her family and their situation that would raise it above the whine level.
And as an animal lover as much as I tried the nagging thoughts of how the cats who were so much a part of their family were cast aside so easily became symbolic of the family's ethics in general.
So basically I ended the book feeling more sorry for the abandoned cats than the family members who I increasingly found harder to like.

I found the book very interesting and the story well told. Her conclusion that that the bureaucrats who wavered about bringing her father over should be pleased that he was a good credit risk is totally wrong. Yes, he paid back the JEWISH relief agency for their passage, but sold ties under the counter, for cash so never had to report any income and pay any taxes to this country. His family had large medical expenses paid for by the welfare system of this country. None of his children served in the military of this country. So as far as the United States is concerned all this family did was take. They also seem to have no appreciation for the large economic burden they placed on the citizens of this country.

What a wonderful book. In may ways it is a book that anyone who's family has immigrated from another country can identify with and enjoy. She is a wonderful writer, you will find yourself laughing out loud at some passages and terribly sad at others, but it is worth reading. I enjoyed every page and have already passed it on to others who feel the same way. Don't pass this one up.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! There are too few stories about Sephardic Jews from the Middle East. I had no idea about Cairo being so cosmopolitan in the 1920s to 1940s. As an Ashkenazi Jew the Jewish stories I'm familiar with are mostly of Jews from Europe and Russia. This is extremely well-written and compelling. The characters are intimately portrayed, and the story moves along quickly. I couldn't put it down. This is a book that I'm recommending to all my friends and family.

This is my favorite book of the year. It combines all of my interests - Jewish history, family struggles, impact of culture, and so much more. The author spent her early years in Egypt and the family was forced out by anti-semitism. While in Egypt, they lived a glamorous life for many years, but with a father whose moods ranged from loving to abusive. From there they entered a generation of poverty. The writing is beautiful. Too often personal memoirs seem to wane 1/2 way through, but this book continued to engage me and I really didn't want it to end.

Frantz Fanon's political commentary on colonization is the perfect example of revolutionary literature with a pulse.

It explores the entire ordeal of colonization: from the early pangs of colonized animosity, to armed rebellion, to the destruction of the colonial bourgeoisie, all the way up to the psychological effects of colonial warfare. Fanon asserts that for the colonized: "To live simply means not to die. To exist means staying alive." Thus, it can be inferred that Fanon's portrayal of the Algerian Revolution is one that deals with individuals stripped of the human faculties of identity and forced simply as human beings to exist in the sense of breathing: a morbid assertion at best.

The entire book thrives on the notion that, in order to harness a sense of social identity among the "wretched of the earth," or the colonized masses, it is imperative that violence, or any other possible means, be used to destroy the colonialist foreignors (specifically, in Fanon's case, the French colonists in Algeria). Jean Paul Sartre, who wrote the controversial preface to the Wretched of the Earth, asserts that the only thing keeping the predominantly dehumanized wretch humanized is his desire to kill the colonist, to take his place (an idea also asserted by Fanon himself). Fanon does an excellent job merging the different ideals espoused by the respective sections of the colonized movement, including the urban proletariat, the lumpenproletariat, the tribal leaders, and the colonized intellectual, who Fanon holds in contempt for submission to Western thought (though he later asserts that the intellectual can regain his bearing in the liberation movement if he/she integrates with his/her brethren in the mountains and villages).

The work extensively examines the economic portion of decolonization, and demonstrares Fanon's vehement support for a redistribution of wealth and a unification of resources in order to distribute among the people seeming trivialities, such as grapes and other commodities previously witheld by the colonizer. The memorable conclusion demonstrates Fanon's ideals in his call for the Third World to create a distinct delineation between itself and Europe in order "to create a new man."

Overall, the Wretched of the Earth is one man's cry for a Third World reawakening delivered in miltantly abrasive prose that still resonates to this day.

This book should be required reading in schools worldwide. It explains and reveals the true condition of colonialism, which is just a euphemism for conquering. All of the European conqueror nations used the same pattern of heinous and inhuman tactics on millions of people all over the world. This book is life-saving for those who inherited the "conquered/colonial condition".

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 - December 6, 1961) was a Martinique-born French author and essayist. He was perhaps the preeminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization. His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades.

"The Wretched of the Earth" (French: Les Damnés de la Terre, first published 1961) is Frantz Fanon's best-known work, written during and regarding the Algerian struggle for independence from colonial rule. As a psychiatrist, Fanon explored the psychological effect of colonisation on the psyche of a nation as well as its broader implications for building a movement for decolonization. A controversial introduction to the text by Jean-Paul Sartre presents the thesis as an advocacy of violence. This focus derives from the book's opening chapter `Concerning Violence' which is a caustic indictment of colonialism and its legacy. It discusses violence as a means of liberation and a catharsis to subjugation. It also details the violence of the colonialism as a process itself.

Structural politics of race and making oneself is a continuous theme of Pan Africanism 1950', 60's. Colonialism is toppled , growing awareness of colonial conditions and kinds of people that emerge from it, no one comes out of it unchanged both colonizers and subjects recognize colonialism is product of Enlightenment reason a perversion of what it stood for and its ideals. Justify feelings of superiority people of science over people of mythology. All people are transformed by colonization. Justify economy of colonization. The colonizer has to invent a new human being, the colonized. Sigmund Freud and W. E. B. Du Bois are intellectual fathers of Fanon. Colonialism depersonalizes people in their own country. Theory of Manichean logic. Binary thinking, thinking in duality. A society structured around race is Manichean. Social and racial structure of colonialism is Manichean. Us or them, no in between. Black is bad, white is good, etc. Fanon argues to get over this, a new world must be created. A Utopian idea. He advocates revolution and violence. 20th century preoccupation with violence that which is formative of the subject. Theme of 20th century philosophy and psychology. We finally recognize we are violent. 1968 Algerian revolt shakes French society and history to its core. Algerians were promised full democracy for years, they finally get suspicious. Men were cheap labor and biggest import to France. Economic downturn in 1950's causes France to bar Algerians from working in country, so violence ensues. French intellectuals push out old guard and old thinking, student protests, etc. Jean-Paul Sartre led the movement, and wanted to find a genuine authentic voice of this revolt, he finds it in Fanon. Fanon questions who is crazy, tortured or torturer.
For Fanon, there is nothing more consistent than racist humanism since the European has been able to only become a man thru slavery. 2 groups are opposed they can't get along. Empire needs slaves. He critiques Enlightenment. 2 people live as perpetual protagonists. Colonizer and colonists are backed in a struggle. Colonization is good and colonized are amused by this. Both see each other as morally superior. Colonizer uses violence to keep colonized in check, so they learn to use more violence to overthrow colonizer. Colonizer has their history, and history books on their side. Colonized see them as delusional they see the propaganda as a form of violence. Colonized people will accept servitude because they fear death. Once they don't fear death you can't control them. Anger and rage starts to build and 1st violence against their own people and family, and finally they turn violent on colonizers. As soon as they see colonizers can be killed, they will revolt, it gives them self-respect. Oppression is practiced and institutionalized violence. Oppression must be done cruelly and violently. This is what will overthrow Manichean world. A different kind of person will now emerge. He is openly celebratory of violence. He is shaped by his history. Fanon's work in Algeria changes his way of thinking. He concludes counter violence will make a new man. Violence leaves scars on people. Subject consciousness in his book violence is dialectic of master slave process. Colonialism is another stage of slavery. Colonial racism in crudest form anthropologists say colonized have no culture, then they say there is a hierarchy of culture colonizer higher than colonized. He makes links to culture and economic relations and how change in one changes the other. Fanon argues that when the oppressed are lazy, it is one more way for them to sabotage. Laziness is passive resistance. This is a stage in process before colonized is ready to fight back. Colonized can use subtle ways to resist laws and mores. Colonized do this to revolt against oppression. Colonized must develop framework of collective struggle to fight against oppressor. Fanon believes that to have a new person violence is necessary to destroy category of blackness and whiteness Manichean racial duality. Decolonization is always a violent phenomena. Replacement of 1 kind of man with another kind of man. Must have a clean sweep of change in society. Fanon's insistence on violence grounded in his history and personal nature. Psychoanalytic theory of his is different than Freud's, they come from different society and culture. Freud never took race into account in his theories.

On his return to Tunis, after his exhausting trip across the Sahara to open a Third Front, Fanon was diagnosed with leukemia. He went to the Soviet Union for treatment and experienced some remission of his illness. On his return to Tunis, he dictated his testament "The Wretched of the Earth." When he was not confined to his bed, he delivered lectures to ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale) officers at Ghardimao on the Algero-Tunisian border. He made a final visit to Sartre in Rome and went for further leukemia treatment in the USA. Ironically, he was assisted by the CIA in traveling to the United States to receive treatment. He died in Bethesda [Maryland, US], on December 6, 1961 under the name of Ibrahim Fanon. He was buried in Algeria, after lying in state in Tunisia.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, or philosophy.

Approximately one hundred and fifty years after the Gaul- tites wreaked havoc on the island of Hispanola, they've unleashed themselves again, this time behaving badly in Algeria. Using colonialism as the weapon of mass destruction the author gives a first hand analysis of the psychological and physical warfare during a time when he was assigned as a physician by the colonizing country to this geographic location. He leaves no stone unturned, including his depiction of the petty indigenous elite some of whom are highly educated, but are unqualified, unable to run the government and lead the people without going to their daddy, the colonist, for answers. And though the piece is somewhat over analyzed and redundant in some cases, this work is essential for gaining a clear understanding of colonialisms collateral damage, its affects on the colonized and the psychology behind detestable invaders. The long term destruction , as seen first hand by the author, undeniably can be seen openly now .

I find that most reviewers have based their evaluation on their agreement or disagreement with the ideas of the author. Although I liked many of his ideas, this book was very poorly written and contained very little new thinking, so I give it the rating it deserves.

Fanon doesn't state his idea and then support it, he just rambles on and beats around the bush and it's up to the reader to figure out what he's trying to say exactly. The result is that he uses a great many words to say very little. This makes for a very frustrating read.

The ideas he presents are not original either. Most of them can be found in Gandhi's "Hind Swaraj" (it's easy to download free English translations of this work off the internet and I stronlgy recommend reading it; plus it's much shorter than Fanon's book). Considering that "Hind Swaraj" was written almost 50 years earlier than "The Wretched of the Earth", the ideas Fanon presents were already old by the time he wrote the book!

Although Gandhi advocated non-violence while Fanon believes violence is inevitable in anti-colonial struggle, there isn't much that Fanon says that Gandhi hadn't already discussed. For instance, Fanon is often credited for predicting (or warning about) the fact that the intellectual and political elite of newly independent countries may simply replace the foreign oppressor. Gandhi had already warned his people about that, when he said that the leaders who overthrow colonialism by violence will also govern by violence. The example if India, which is one of the few colonies that gained independence by non-violence and which is one of the few that has been and remains democratic, proves that Gandhi's predictions were better than Fanon's since Gandhi also knew that violence was not inevitable in the fight for independence and that non-violence was the best way to avoid a simple substitution of the opressor.

In other words, if you want to read well-writen work and interesting ideas about anti-colonialism, don't waste your time with Fanon, read Gandhi instead...