The Wanderers: Masters of Nineteenth-Century Russian Painting : An Exhibition from the Soviet Union

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Catalog of an Exhibition of the Wanderers (Itinerants).......2007-07-18

If you are primarily interested in precise color as well as good explanations of the movement in all of its stages, I'd strongly recommend this exhibition catalog, which does include a number of well-known (to those familiar with the artists) paintings of the Itinerants/Wanderers. Entire sections on the patrons and critics of the artists as well as biographies of artists are an added bonus in this catalog. That three of my favorite paintings, which weren't part of the exhibition, were at least shown in black and white and discussed also made this catalog well worth purchasing.

If, however, you are looking for a comprehensive study that includes all of the major works, if you are willing to spend a lot more money and if you can find a copy of it, I'd strongly recommend Elena Nesterova's THE ITINERANTS: THE MASTERS OF RUSSIAN REALISM. The only criticism I have of it is that the color is a bit off, especially in the larger paintings. Nevertheless, that this book includes 2-page color spreads of Repin's "Ceremonial Sitting of the State Council" and Surikov's "Morning of the Streltsy Bodyguards' Execution" is worth much, as are the excellent explanations of the movement and its members.

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Carlotta Corpron, Designer With Light
Carlotta Corpron
Manufacturer: Univ of Texas Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 029271064X

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Carlotta Corpron: Designer with Light
Martha A. Sandweiss
Manufacturer: Amon Carter Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IMSN1S

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Carlotta Corpron: Designer With Light
Carlotta Corpron
Manufacturer: Olympic Marketing Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORYO7Y

Book Description

The transformation from a carbon-based world economy to one based on high efficiency and renewables is a necessary step if human society is to achieve sustainability. But while scientists and researchers have made significant advances in energy efficiency and renewable technologies in recent years, consumers have yet to see dramatic changes in the marketplace?due in large part to government policies and programs that favor the use of fossil fuels.

Energy Revolution examines the policy options for mitigating or removing the entrenched advantages held by fossil fuels and speeding the transition to a more sustainable energy future, one based on improved efficiency and a shift to renewable sources such as solar, wind, and bioenergy. The book:

examines today's energy patterns and trends and their consequences
describes the barriers to a more sustainable energy future and how those barriers can be overcome
provides ten case studies of integrated strategies that have been effective in different parts of the world
examines international policies and institutions and recommends ways they could be improved
reviews global trends that suggest that the transition to renewables and increased efficiency is underway and is achievable

Energy policy represents a linchpin for achieving a broader transition to a more sustainable economy. Energy Revolution offers a unique focus on policies and programs, and on the lessons provided by recent experience. It represents a key statement of the available options for reforming energy policy that have proven to be successful, and is an essential work for policymakers, researchers, and anyone concerned with energy and sustainability issues.

Customer Reviews:

a pragmatic approach to renewable energy in the U.S........2004-04-01

ENERGY REVOLUTION presents a sensible strategy for promoting the necessary transition to renewable energy in the U.S. I would say the title is misleading (revolution?), but even sensible reforms seem like revolutionary changes in the face of the entrenched power of the oil companies, auto industry, nuclear power lobby, and the rest of the empire of the fossil fuel status quo.

Howard Geller is an old hand and an expert in the field -- he headed the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy for two decades in Washington D.C. He has stepped out of the Beltway, and is now Director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project based in Boulder. With that background, you can bet he knows what we're up against.

The core of Geller's book are his presentations of Clean Energy scenarios for the U.S. and Brazil, where he studied. His U.S. scenario has 10 policies:

1) increase passenger vehicle fuel economy standards,

2) establish a national system benefits trust fund (a utility surcharge used to promote energy efficiency),

3) adopt voluntary agreements to reduce industrial energy use,

4) establish a renewable energy portfolio standard for power generators,

5) adopt new appliance efficiency standards and stronger building codes,

6) provide tax incentives for innovative renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies,

7) expand federal R&D and deployment programs,

8) remove barriers to combined heat and power systems,

9) establish renewable or carbon content standards for vehicle fuel, and

10) strengthen emissions standards on coal-fired plants.

Geller calculates that the impact of these policies would be a $600 billion cost and a $1200 billion savings, for a net savings of $600 billion compared to a baseline scenario of continued promotion of fossil fuels. He knows that this economic analysis is critical, given that the fossil fuel lobby will try to portray renewable energy as more costly. Notice that Geller avoids proposing any sort of energy or CO2 emissions tax -- such "green taxes" are already being used to great effect in Europe, but Geller is experienced and pragmatic enough to know that the U.S., the land of cheap gas, long distances and gas-guzzling SUVs, requires a different approach.

Much more could be said about this excellent book. But given the political campaign now going on, let me add a word about Democratic political strategy and vision. The current debate is over who will do a better job of keeping gas prices low. Kerry is certainly realistic in this, and I hope he wins in November -- with Bush/Cheney and the oil industry in the saddle, renewable energy is going nowhere. But keeping gas cheap is doing nothing to encourage renewable energy -- it's sending the wrong price signal. Kerry needs to go on the offensive, making the case that we've got to rapidly wean ourselves from oil for the sake of national security as well as ecological survival. His policy team should take a look at the bold program of the Apollo Project, which includes major labor unions -- a proposed all-out push for renewable energy comparable to the 1960s race to the moon. This would create jobs and revitalize the economy while making the environment cleaner and making the U.S. self-sufficient in energy. Put Bush on the defensive! Renewable energy needs to become the focus of a mass movement, starting now.

For a truly revolutionary strategy for renewable energy, see THE SOLAR ECONOMY by Herman Scheer, a member of the German parliament, the Bundestag, and a Social Democrat (SPD) -- see my review. See my OVERSHOOT AND COLLAPSE? list for more on oil and energy.

Energy Revolution - an inspiring, practical vision.......2003-04-03

I would recommend "Energy Revolution" to anyone interested in energy policy. Howard Geller provides an inspired, yet extremely practical and down to earth vision of a path towards sustainable energy use. It is an understatement to say that most people in the energy industry assume that energy demand will continue to grow, and that the increasing supply needs should be met mainly through a mix of coal, nuclear, and natural gas. To successfully debate with the tremendous inertia of this business as usual view, it will be extremely valuable and essential to have available the depth of research and documentation that Geller provides in this book.

Of course all discussions of future energy use scenarios are debatable, but Geller provides numerous examples of policies to promote efficiency and renewables that are currently in use in various countries, as well as the successes and results they have achieved. The bottom line is that an intelligent and rational energy policy in the U.S. or any country would consider the least-cost options to meeting energy needs (including social and environmental costs as much as possible). Analyzed in this way, policies to encourage energy efficiency and renewable sources are clear winners, more often than not. As Geller clearly illustrates, the main obstacles to more sustainable energy use are not technical, but a variety of other obstacles that can be overcome through different types of policy instruments. However, there are also serious political obstacles to smarter energy policies. For example, U.S. oil and automotive companies continue to oppose and successfully block any new standards for increasing the fuel-efficiency of cars and trucks, in order to increase their own short-term profits and despite the negative impacts of wasteful U.S. oil consumption.

Even many people with only a moderate interest in energy policy would enjoy the reading at least the first and last chapters of Geller's book. Hopefully, "Energy Revolution" will become an important part of rational discussions of energy policy issues by policy- makers, researchers, progressive business leaders, students, and informed citizens for at least the next several years.

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Energy revolution: policies for a sustainable future [A book review from: Energy Policy]
P. Craig
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RR0NVM

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Energy Policy, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:

Customer Reviews:

Down to earth cases and solutions for retail.......2001-03-18

This book opens with a case study of a buyer's squabble about over whose territory it is to buy a certain dress. Then we get the solution and action plan about the squabble. Who in retail has not experienced this. Yet it is refreshing to hear the solution, and to read the rest of the excellent case studies in the book.

My retail business is not a department store, yet every case study in this book was relevent to my business. The authors cover display, direct import, vendor relationships, budgets, purchasing and pricing strategies, marketing, hiring practices, and everything pertinant to retail today.

It is difficult to find a good book on retail strategies. There are hundreds of books on marketing, but only a few that cover the purchasing side of retailing. This is the best purchasing book I have found.

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Concepts and Cases in Retail and Merchandise Management: Instructor's Guide
Nancy J. Rabolt , and Judy K. Miler
Manufacturer: Fairchild Books & Visuals
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1563670992

Book Description

A radically new interpretation, offering a unified explanation for the growth of Western Europe between 900 A. D. and 1700, provides a general theoretical framework for institutional change geared to the general reader.

Customer Reviews:

A Liberal Analysis of Modernity?.......2001-02-16

North and Thomas seek to explain the "rise of the Western world" by illuminating the causal importance of an efficient economic organization that guarantees a wide latitude of property rights and both incentives and protection for economic growth. Although they pay homage to both Marxian and neoliberal theory, they take a theoretical middle ground that privileges the sociopolitical backdrop of economic affairs (as opposed to solely private or class-based activity) and in doing so identifies the roots of modernization as far back as the 10th Century. To justify the novelty and originality of this approach, they write that most analysts have misidentified the symptoms of modern economic growth (technological change, human capital, economies of scale) as the causes. In doing so, previous scholars have failed to answer the question "if all that is required for economic growth is investment and innovation, why have some societies missed this desirable outcome?" (2). Their answer is that some societies (England and the Netherlands) were better than others (France and Spain) at providing an efficient economic organization that could guarantee conditions favorable to per capita economic growth among a rapidly growing population.

These conditions are conceptualized as mechanisms to reduce the gap between "social" and "private" rates of return, the key operating concepts in the analysis. Indeed, any old economic undertaking can provide private gains, but the "social" costs or benefits of this undertaking will affect the society's well-being, and a given discrepancy between the two rates of return means that a third party will absorb benefits or costs of this undertaking (an example would be the lack of intellectual property rights for inventions, leading to copying and piracy by third parties). A lack of strong property rights gives these third parties the institutional incentive or imperative to absorb social costs or benefits, and if private costs exceed private benefits then no rational chooser would ever undertake any risky new private economic activity (trade, inventions, investment, etc.). In a sense, then, the analysis becomes a refreshing neoliberal justification for strong government power.

Population growth serves as a convenient control variable for this analysis, because by holding population growth constant across all the countries concerned, the authors are able to pinpoint their causal variable (parity between private and social rates of return) in the cases where it spurred the rise of capitalism (England and the Netherlands). Population growth serves as a control because the authors show that the rise of the Western World happened only after the second population boom in the period being studied (16th Century) - the fact that it didn't happen during the first population boom (10th through 13th Centuries) means that population growth alone cannot be seen as accountable for modernity. But how did the two population booms differ from each other? Only during the second one were England and the Netherlands able to provide per capita growth by providing a climate of incentives and protections (rule of law, property rights, insurance companies, joint stock companies, etc.) that reduced the gap between private and social returns and laid the groundwork for the industrial revolution to begin.

The evidence provided to back up this causal argument comes in two primary forms: citations of historical scholarship (often quoting large passages out of encyclopedias) that are given a "new" economic spin, and a great deal of quantitative evidence, in the form of graphs and charts, to verify the cycles of population growth and economic growth and recession being identified. The authors admit that the quality of statistical data from the early period under study is rather dubious, but if one can grant the integrity of the historians that uncovered such incomplete and partial data then one can probably take this data as high-quality evidence of the trends being identified.

The authors are intentionally ambiguous about their theoretical implications. Clearly, they seek to refute Marx by showing that technological change alone could not have been the cause of capitalist development, since this change itself was a symptom of both population growth and a favorable institutional climate (what Marx would dismiss as the superstructure). However, it's not clear how much they wish to refute neoliberal theory, since they follow much of its logic regarding the role of incentives in economic growth. They admit that Adam Smith himself went too far in his laissez-faire beliefs, since a weak state would not be able to provide the kinds of efficient economic organization that our authors advocate. But their analysis does not clarify just how strong of a state is required for such organization, especially in the information age economy.

An Examination of Property Rights.......2000-10-01

An outstanding book that clearly explains how `our' current understanding of property rights can be found and more fully understood through the feudal history of western Europe. The breath and sweep of this book is truly impressive. The roots of how nations protect property rights are found in western feudal history. The case is made that economic efficiency, or more specifically economic prosperity, is dependent upon how a society defines and protects property rights. Therefore, differences in economic performance among nations can be in part explained by how that particular nation's notion of property rights evolved. North and Thomas compare and contrast the development of property rights and the resulting economic performance during the feudal period in several nations, such as France and England, to make their point. Transaction costs, intellectual property, and negative and positive externalities are also discussed.

First-Rate, But Not For Amateurs.......1999-06-30

I read this excellent book in preparation for the writing of my senior thesis. It is the most thorough and comprehensive tretment of the economic reasons for the rise of the western world. Every sentence is information dense, and I often found it necessary to reread sentences or even whole paragraphs to digest the wealth of information and analysis. That said, it should be kept in mind that firm backgrounds in both European history and economics are necessary prerequisites for a full appreciation of this book. Moreover, this book is a crucial but nevertheless incomplete explanation for the rise of the western world. In this sense, it has everything on something (economic history), but nothing on anything else. For a broader analysis, see McNeill, "The Rise of the West." (McNeill has something on everything, but everything on nothing. Get it?)

The Rise of the English Town, 16501850 (New Studies in Economic and Social History)

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The Rise of the English Town, 16501850 (New Studies in Economic and Social History)
Christopher Chalklin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Western | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This volume examines the growth and development of English towns in the critical period between 1650 and 1850. Christopher Chalklin surveys market and county towns, port and manufacturing centers, new dockyard towns, spas and seaside resorts. He discusses house and public building, education, work and leisure activities, public duties and politics, and contrasts the emerging middle classes with the artisan and laboring masses. This concise study draws especially on recent publications incorporating new knowledge and interpretations. It will be a valuable resource for students of economic, social and urban history.

The Rise and Rise of Road Transport, 17001990 (New Studies in Economic and Social History)

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The Rise and Rise of Road Transport, 17001990 (New Studies in Economic and Social History)
Theo Barker , and Dorian Gerhold
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Western | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Industry | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Traffic & Safety | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Most books about Britain's transport history have concentrated on canals and railways. It is now clear that a great deal of traffic went by road even before turnpikes, and that goods as well as passenger services were much more highly developed than previously thought. Development of road transport continued during the Canal and Railway Ages and expanded with the advent of more efficient but more environmentally damaging motor vehicles. This book will be an essential book not only for transport specialists but also for genealogists, geographers, motor engineers, and those interested in technical change.

Rise O fthe Western World a New Economic History

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Rise O fthe Western World a New Economic History
Douglass North
Manufacturer: Cambridge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000X6GNS4

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Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History
D.C.; Thomas, R.P. North
Manufacturer: Cambridge Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KWFOOU

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