Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait

Book Description

An architectural gallery of the city of Hudson featuring antique maps and more than 200 photographs, most dating from 1850 to 1930. The city of Hudson, founded in 1783, has been called "a dictionary of American architecture design" because of its many 18th and 19th-century buildings that have survived to the present day. From an unlikely, but very successful, whaling and merchant seaport 120 miles from the sea, to a boom-and-bust factory town, and then to a depressed and failing city with a frontier reputation for prostitution, gambling, and official corruption, the city of Hudson, New York, founded on the shores of the upper Hudson River by New England Quakers in 1783, has recently blossomed into a vibrant antiques and arts center with a national reputation.

Through these cultural and economic ups and downs, much of the city's remarkable architectural legacy somehow survived the plagues of the centuries, making Hudson today "a dictionary of American architecture." As remarkable as the survival of so many of Hudson's 18th and 19th-century buildings, is the survival of a magnificent collection of photographs intimately documenting the city from the 1850s to the 1920s, published herein for the first time.

Customer Reviews:

Good browsing, good reading.......2007-02-05

A thoroughly entertaining account of a Hudson River city with a truly fascinating history. I recommend it to anyone interested in nineteenth-century America, American architecture, especially the vernacular architecture of the northeast, and America as it once was. The vintage photographs are wonderful!

NYCUES .......2007-01-17

This is/was a great book and it is beautifully written I have spent many weekends and summers in this area of the hudson valley. This book brought to life, the colorful past of this wonderful city.

Could have been so much better..........2006-12-30

The old photos are the best part, but everything else, especially the quality of the printing & the total lameness of the writing is inexcusable. A very sad exercise in vanity publishing.

Book Description

Carve beautiful, realistic model of popular songbird. Expert instructions on preparing templates, selecting woods, sawing the pattern, burning in feather detail, other aspects.

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Michael Langford's 35mm handbook

M.langford 35mm Handbk
Michael Langford
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0394713699
Release Date: 1983-05-12

Customer Reviews:

Michael Langford's 35mm handbook.......2000-03-26

Good book for learning the basic techniques. Don't expect anything special about composition. Teach the technics in such a way that let you focus in the feeling of the camera.

Book Description

At different levels this book addresses: 1: the challenge of improving health conditions in deprived urban settlements; 2: the challenge of sustainable urban development in a globalizing world; and 3: environmental justice and urban development.

It analyzes how environmental and health risks arise in cities, who has to bear them and why, focusing on cities in Asia, Africa and South America. On the basis of this understanding it explains how conditions can be improved for those living in these rapidly growing cities and argues that environmental justice provides a more meaningful measure and goal for urban environmental improvement than 'sustainable development'.

Book Description

Don't be overwhelmed by hundreds of software choices. Find the package that's right for your retail business—quickly, easily, and with confidence.

You may know exactly what you're looking for in a software package, but with close to 400 vendors offering over 1,000 products, you could be drowning in brochures long before you find the package that's right for your retail business. Fortunately, The Software Directory for Retailers, Fifth Edition is here to help. This completely updated directory provides fingertip access to clear, concise information on virtually every software package currently available to retailers. You'll find descriptions of software used across most operating systems and hardware platforms

Organized alphabetically by vendor name, this unique resource lists system functions, hardware platform and operating system required, programming language, pricing information, and the number of current users for each package. Once you have narrowed your choices to a manageable few, take advantage of the Directory's detailed vendor contact information—phone and fax numbers, contact name, and number of clients—to learn more about the packages that address your particular needs.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on July 1, 1991. The length of the article is 916 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A close second: from Brooklyn to big time, how Sam Ash grew. (America's Top 100 Music Retailers) (directory)
Publication: Music Trades (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 1991
Publisher: Music Trades Corp.
Volume: v139 Issue: n6 Page: p99(2)

Article Type: directory

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Largest area computer retailers. (San Diego, California) (directory): An article from: San Diego Business Journal

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Largest area computer retailers. (San Diego, California) (directory): An article from: San Diego Business Journal
Lisa Thomas
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008SDAIS
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from San Diego Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on April 3, 1989. The length of the article is 2439 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Largest area computer retailers. (San Diego, California) (directory)
Author: Lisa Thomas
Publication: San Diego Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 3, 1989
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: v9 Issue: n37 Page: p18(1)

Article Type: directory

Distributed by Thomson Gale

1991 Directory of Computer and Software Storefront Dealers (Directory of Computer & Consumer Electronics Retailers)

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1991 Directory of Computer and Software Storefront Dealers (Directory of Computer & Consumer Electronics Retailers)

Manufacturer: Chain Store Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Computer Science | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0867301430

1993 Directory of Computer and Software Retailers

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1993 Directory of Computer and Software Retailers

Manufacturer: Chain Store Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0867305738

Average customer rating:

1993 Directory of Computer and Software Retailers

Manufacturer: Chain Store Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9991284486

Directory of Computer & Software Retailers

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Directory of Computer & Software Retailers

Manufacturer: Chain Store Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9993935980

Directory of Computer & Software Retailers 1996

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Directory of Computer & Software Retailers 1996
Michael L. Jarvis
Manufacturer: Chain Store Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9995408902

Directory of software for retailers 2: Retail-specific programs, currently installed & functioning

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Directory of software for retailers 2: Retail-specific programs, currently installed & functioning
Robert M Zimmerman
Manufacturer: Information Systems Division, NRMA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Retailing | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0871021250

Retailers software directory 3: Proven programs for profit!

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Retailers software directory 3: Proven programs for profit!
Robert M Zimmerman
Manufacturer: Information Systems Division, National Retail Merchants Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Retailing | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0871021366

Amazon.com

Always something of an enigma to Westerners, Russia has become a veritable paradox in the decade following its transformation from communism to capitalism. In Sale of the Century, journalist Chrystia Freeland offers a riveting bird's-eye view of this conversion that should prove fascinating to everyone still hoping to do business there, and to anyone intrigued by the erstwhile superpower. Be forewarned, though: Freeland, who began reporting on the country in 1995 as Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, describes a nation of troubling extremes. The nation has evolved into a giddy utopia for some of its citizens, but one unable so far to handle its sudden affluence. The author portrays trendy Versace boutiques and bustling Mercedes-Benz dealerships lining Moscow's fashionable streets, whose sidewalks are patrolled by machine-gun-toting policemen trudging through the corrosive chemical waste used for melting the snow.

In well-written first-person accounts, Freeland goes on to describe how scrappy entrepreneurs made overnight fortunes and then lost them just as quickly to widespread corruption and the 1998 Russian stock market crash. By the end of the 1990s, the economy was half what it had been at the start of the decade, producing less than Belgium and only 25 percent more than Poland. Meanwhile, power blackouts, wildcat strikes, and water shortages had become commonplace. Additionally, the ordinary citizen often grew worse off than before the fall of communism, while a powerful few came to own nearly everything. This cautionary tale ends with a more "workaday economy" emerging from the wreckage, and the author's hope that Russia's economic leaders can stay this new, more-balanced course. All signs to date, however, leave her decidedly pessimistic. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

In the 1990s, all eyes turned to the momentous changes in Russia, as the world's largest country was transformed into the world's newest democracy. But the heroic images of Boris Yeltsin atop a tank in front of Moscow's White House soon turned to grim new realities: a currency in freefall and a war in Chechnya; on the street, flashy new money and a vicious Russian mafia contrasted with doctors and teachers not receiving salaries for months at a time. If this was what capitalism brought, many Russians wondered if they weren't better off under the communists.

This new society did not just appear ready-made: it was created by a handful of powerful men who came to be known as the oligarchs and the young reformers. The oligarchs were fast-talking businessmen who laid claim to Russia's vast natural resources. The young reformers were an elite group of egghead economists who got to put their wild theories into action, with results that were sometimes inspiring, sometimes devastating. With unparalleled access and acute insight, Chrystia Freeland takes us behind the scenes and shows us how these two groups misused a historic opportunity to build a new Russia. Their achievements were considerable, but their mistakes will deform Russian society for generations to come.

Along with a gripping account of the incredible events in Russia's corridors of power, Freeland gives us a vivid sense of the buzz and hustle of the new Russia, and inside stories of the businesses that have beaten the odds and become successful and profitable. She also exposes the conflicts and compromises that developed when red directors of old Soviet firms and factories yielded to -- or fought -- the radically new ways of doing business. She delves into the loophole economy, where anyone who knows how to manipulate the new rules can make a fast buck. Sale of the Century is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall economic thriller -- an astonishing and essential account of who really controls Russia's new frontier.

Customer Reviews:

Caveat Emptor.......2005-03-11

The book is somewhat entertaining, but its style is a bit too sardonic and her attitude vis-à-vis Russians is patronizing. Even Russians who, admittedly, are not my favorites characters, I feel like defending. She calls Alexander Korzhakov, an influential former head of Yeltsin's Security Service, a Russian illustration of the Peter Principal', because he `climbed to a position of power that far outstripped his intellectual resources'. Granted, Korzhakov is no Socrates, but his college degree in jurisprudence and current post of the deputy chairman of the Duma's (Russian Parliament) Defense Committee is a confirmation that perhaps behind a façade of a simpleton is hidden a smart individual. Even notorious (and wanted by the Russian government) Boris Berezovsky, whom the author calls `a jumped-up car salesman', is much more than that - a highbrow Russian `enfant terrible' with a Ph.D. in mathematics for starters.

However, the most important thing is that the book appears, as the French say, engagé. I believe this book's real purpose is to divert attention from the individuals and institutions, which are really responsible for the debacle of the Russian privatization. For one thing, she mentioned the name of Gregory Yavlinsky only once in her 360-page long book about Russian capitalist revolution and only at the end of the book. Yet, Yavlinsky, who is household name in Russia and twice-also-ran-presidential-candidate, was one of the midwives of Russian privatization. His `500 days' program was written in the late 1980s with Mikhail Gorbachev's blessing. It was supposed to transform Soviet centralized economy into a market economy by the end of 1993. Yavlinsky resigned form the government after Gorbachev rejected the program in 1990. Neither this is mentioned in the book, nor the fact the Harvard University fellows, like Graham Allison, were promoting ideas and giving intellectual impetus to Yavlinsky and Shatalin (another Russian co-author of the program).

In the late 80s and early 90s Boris Yeltsin was competing with Gorbachev for power. He decided that the road to power lies through economic radicalism. Yeltsin assembled a competing set of pet economic advisers - most famous among them were Gaidar and Chubais. These two well-educated English-speaking Russians had even more far-reaching ideas than Yavlinsky. Eventually Yeltsin prevailed over Communists, and Gaidar and Chubais moved into the government. They had their own set of Harvard intellectuals to assist and advise them, among them was the Harvard professor Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs is a very interesting figure, whose liberalism and market fundamentalism are fused into one. Freeland mentioned Sachs only once in passing (on page 75), but his personality and ideas were of paramount importance. He was the real intellectual father of Russian `shock therapy'. All in all, the Harvard advisors look to me like sort of collective `éminence grise' to the Russian privatizers of both camps (Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's). What interesting to me is the fact that the author doesn't mention Harvard in the book, except mentioning in `Acknowledgments' that the Harvard University provided her with nonresident fellowship and `stimulating environment to complete the book'.

As I see it, `shock therapy' came from the West, more precisely from the U.S., and specifically from the group of radical Harvard professors, most notably Andrei Shleifer and Jeffrey Sachs, who both were directly advising the Russian government in 1992-1993. These were the years Russia plunged into abyss. And yet, there is nothing of this in the book. There is also nothing to explain how Yegor Gaidar managed to stumble into `shock therapy' idea. He was, according to Freeland, a big fan of Samuelson's textbook `Economics', which `became his bible'. But there is nothing the textbook about `shock therapy'. Indeed I doubt that Samuelson would have approved such an outrageous idea.

Freeland's conclusion is a master stroke. She likes ideas of Richard Pipes, who was her professor at Harvard (déjà vu). These ideas in a nutshell - the tsarist, communist or re-born capitalist Russia represents hypostases of same imperialist, semi-barbaric, Asiatic despotism, which is driven by the eternal messianic zeal.
For Freeland, the free-market-through-minimum-government regime is the best economic system that Russia could have established, but the neo-Bolshevist zeal of `young reformers' spoiled the whole thing up.

With a straight face she is saying `The problem was not that the young reformers were too radical, but that they were too fanatical'. Or `I am convinced that the central failure of Russia's capitalist revolution was that it did not go far enough' (page 344). It is a folly. Shock tactics of Gaidar and his western advisers didn't work and couldn't have worked in Russia, regardless how far they would go. They caused nothing but pain and social strife. Withdrawing price control and unleashing unregulated free markets had caused a continuous 25% monthly inflation and falling industrial production of 25% per quarter (faster than during the Great Depression in America). The hyper-inflation wiped out most of people's life savings, which in combination with general decline of living standards and crumbling infrastructure, caused millions premature adult deaths in Russia through the 1990s. During this hurried transition to market democracy, Russia became a society with Third world mortality rates and First World birth rates. This should have been mentioned in the book as the real price of Russian privatization. All in all, the book feels to me like a Disney version of events, nothing more than an attempt to divert attention or may be even reassign the blame to vaguely defined by the author `Russian messianic tendencies'.

Crime of the century!.......2004-11-22

The author clearly intends us to appreciate the characters she portrays as dynamic and progressive entrepreneurs. But she actually gives us a picture of a bunch of greedy criminals who have shamelessly looted and wrecked their country.

The government sold off several huge oil companies including LUKoil, Russia's largest company, Yukos, Russia's second biggest oil company, and Sidanco. Mikhail Khodorovsky loaned the government $159 million for a 45% stake in Yukos in 1995. He sold it to himself in 1996, using a shell company, for $160 million. The state got $1 million profit; Khodorovsky got the company, valued at $15 billion in 2002. He bought oil cheap from the extractor companies, and pledged it, at high export prices, to secure the loans. This transfer pricing stripped the assets and values from the producers, who got only the debts and expenses. Goldman Sachs profited from the looting: they underwrote Khodorovsky's $500 million loan against future oil sales.

In 2000, Sibneft bought 27% of its shares for $542 million from shareholders. Less than a year later it secretly sold those shares, for far less, back to the same shareholders. It then announced a $612 million dividend to the stockholders - one of whom, Roman Abramovich, now the owner of Chelsea Football Club, owned 87% of the stock. He had stripped Sibneft's cash to fund his repurchase.

The government sold off other national assets at knock-down prices, including tax concessions, TV channels, radio frequency licences, export licences and government bank accounts. Yeltsin privatised Channel 1, which reached 200 million Russians, without the legally required auction, selling it to his ally Berezovsky, whose capital was only $2.2 million. The government sold bonds to the capitalists' banks at a huge discount. The banks resold the bonds at market prices, raising cash supposedly for Yeltsin's re-election campaign, but the owners pocketed most of it.

The capitalists looted state funds and the Soviet Union's gold reserves. The new banks took billions of dollars of party, government and trade union funds, and transferred the money to foreign bank accounts. Russia's central bankers defrauded Russia by transferring profits to offshore tax havens, and used the profits to pay themselves bonuses.

Anatoly Chubais, head of the State Privatization Committee, said of Russia's capitalists, "They steal and steal and steal. They are stealing absolutely everything and it is impossible to stop them." By 1999, 38% of Russia's people existed below the poverty line. 90% of the people endured worsening conditions, while the handful of arrogant capitalists made colossal profits by theft and corruption. That's capitalism for you!

well-written.......2003-05-02

Chrystia Freeland, Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, chronicles Russia's roller-coaster ride from communism to crony capitalism. She writes poetically, with creative metaphors, colorful word pictures, and a keen insight into Russian history. The copious adverbs, adjectives, and details--sometimes superfluous-may, however, irritate those reading her book for the "bottom line." The book also omits analysis of organized crime in general. On the other hand, a key strength of Sale of the Century is Freeland's ability to bring to life the key players in Russian politics: Yeltsin, Gaidar, Chubais, and the handful of wealthy oligarchs. As a journalist, she was able to meet most of them often. The book enables the reader to develop a more refined and differentiated understanding of the oligarchs.
Among these are Mikhail Friedman ("the outsider") who heads the Alfa Group, an oil, industrial, trading, and financial conglomerate. As a Jewish Ukrainian barred from prestigious educational establishments, Friedman began his entrepreneurial ventures early, starting with illegal bartering of theater tickets and later obtaining Western consumer goods for top officials (p. 115).
Mikhail Khordokovsky ("the apparatchik") is also Jewish and leads Menatep, the bank and financial-industrial conglomerate. Outwardly docile with a soft voice and slight stutter, Khordokovsky is adept at winning the trust of the government officials, having pursued a parallel career in the Komsomol. Beneath the subordinate exterior, however, lies a ruthless person who installs hidden video cameras in his buildings and does not hesitate to fire slackers (p. 121).
Unlike Friedman and Khordokovsky, Vladimir Potanin ("the blueblood") was the son of a senior Soviet trade official and already had a promising Soviet career. He realized in the nick of time that, as the Soviet Union's collapse accelerated, "the advantages that had ensured Potanin's advancement suddenly threatened to become golden handcuffs" (p. 129). He started his own business, which eventually became Oneximbank, which now handles the "juiciest" government accounts, including the State Customs Agency .., and the state arms-trading company "Rosvooruzheniye," which keeps "a few tens of millions" on Potanin's books (p. 131).
Vladimir Gusinsky ("the impresario") dabbled in many entrepreneurial activities (driving a gypsy cab, peddling blue jeans, and "medicinal" copper bracelets) and also worked as a theater director before founding the consortium of banks (the Most group) and persuading his patron Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow, to transfer money to them from Soviet-era banks. He founded inter alia the newspaper Segodnya and the first independent television channel (NTV).
His main rival is Boris Berezovsky ("the nomad"), although the two oligarchs have functioned temporarily as allies. Perhaps the most unsavory of all the oligarchs, Berezovsky, also Jewish, has been particularly good at winning the favour of members of Yeltsin's entourage (especially the latter's youngest daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko) and directly influencing the presidential elections of 1996 and 2000.---Johanna Granville, Ph.D.

A Fabulous Read!.......2002-11-20

This book was both easy to read and interesting. Freeland has a gift for writing in a way that both speaks to not only people with Finance backgrounds but laymen as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in expanding their horizons in a new and exciting direction while learning something at the same time.

A Indispensable Account of the Human Side of the Story.......2002-02-17

As other reviewers and readers have noted, Freeland's book _The Sale of the Century_ offers a vivid account of the human side of the story that is so essential to grasping the magnitude of what really happened in the Russian Nineties. The narrative clearly reveals the author's exceptional competence in the area of Russian current affairs. Her familiarity with the turns of history so central to Russia's shaky experiment in marketization makes this work indispensable for the student of contemporary Russia. While the myriad anecdotes, names, and intricate descriptions of events can definitely require slogging through, a careful reading will be an excellent education in the political and economic history of contemporary Russia. Also included, scattered amidst the detailed journalistic narrative, are intense historical insights on the nature of Russia's destiny and self-image in civilizational history. Overall, highly recommended.

Sale Of The Century; Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism

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Sale Of The Century; Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
Chrystia FREELAND
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OIR8TE

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