Average customer rating:
- An Excellent Book
- Passion and poetry at it's most intense.
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Stickman: John Trudell
Paola Igliori
Manufacturer: Inanout Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0962511986 |
Book Description
writings & talks by Native activist/songwriter
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Book.......1999-12-08
I really liked this book. It is insightful, and Trudell explains Native Issues so that just about anyone can understand what is really going on. I would recommend this book to all people who care about Native rights, free thought and Mother Earth.
Passion and poetry at it's most intense........1999-07-31
Many years ago, I heard John Trudell speak for the first time...I was ten. I was intrigued by the way the words flowed out, ordinary words forged in fire and flame, in sycronicity with the passion of the cause. Years later, I was gifted "Tribal Voice," and later still, found "Aka Grafiti Man" near the side of the road, where I wandered at the time. Today, many years later, I still find solace in the passion of the spoken word. These writings can only be decribed as a symphony from the heart, and truth, as only a surviver can tell the tale.
Book Description
During the reigns of Louis XV (1723-74) and Louis XVI (1774-92), fashion and furniture were not simply meant to be beautiful but were also intended to arouse, attract, and seduce. Published in response to the critically acclaimed and hugely popular exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum in the fall of 2004, Dangerous Liaisons focuses on fashion and its interplay with the paintings, furniture, and decorative arts of eighteenth-century France. Featuring beautiful color photographs of the exhibition’s installation, details of the garments, and supplementary historical material, the book demonstrates how the extravagant clothing of the period reiterated the splendor of Rococo and Neoclassical interiors.
Customer Reviews:
Oh, my goodness.......2007-09-08
Great text and pictures. I only wish there were more details of the fashion.
Disappointment.......2007-07-31
An overblown production that does not deliver. A waste of photography and an even bigger waste of money.
Reference to 18th century costuming.......2007-07-23
I make porcelain dolls and found this book invaluable for costuming the dolls in authentic dresses.The settings for the costumes is also very inspiring
Angonita Blue Ribbon Dolls
Magnificent detail.......2007-02-13
If you have a penchant for 18th century fashion this is the book for you. As I turned each page I was more and more enamoured with what I saw. The most delicious fabrics and designs, accompanied by authentic furniture and settings.
You can just imagine Marie Antoinette swishing down the corridors of Versailles in one of these magnificent creations... absolutely wonderful!!
Absolutely Beautiful.............2006-11-05
An absolutely beautiful book showing the rooms and dress of that period......
Book Description
Widely lauded by critics, colleagues, and readers, Zits is on the brink of appearing in 1,000 newspapers-the unspoken threshold of the comic strip elite. The strip has been twice honored with the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award as the Best Newspaper Comic Strip, and received the Max and Moritz Award in 2000 for Best International Comic Strip.This second treasury represents a compilation of Don't Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Man! and Are We an "Us"'. With friends and family, Jeremy ponders life's great philosophical questions, such as, "If the universe is constantly expanding, how come the sky never gets any bigger'" He tackles serious issues too, deciding with his buddy, Hector, to shave his head to support a friend's mom who's battling cancer. Big Honkin' Zits masterfully guides its readers through the real-life joys and heartaches of being a teenager.
Customer Reviews:
4-and-1/2 Stars!.......2006-07-17
Like the first 'Zits' treasury, this book will provide you with a lot of laughs, and you will probably want to return to reread the strips again in the future. I enjoyed this book immensely and plowed right through it in two sittings, even though I had planned to stretch it out over a week.
My one quibble with the book is that several of the strips are exact duplicates of strips from the first treasury.
Heehehhahahahahheeheeheehhe, yukyukyuk!.......2004-05-03
I evaluate funnies by the drawings, and, of course, is it funny or not? With that said, here we go.
In some ways, I think this comic is influenced by Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most memorable and classic strips. This comic strip is drowned in sarcasm and irony. The drawings have a sort of sketchy quality about them, something that makes them loose and very cool-looking. They have shading and scribbly detail, but are still very clear and easy to understand.
It has more than 4 characters, allowing the cartoonist to come up with many interesting character traits. Exploring these personalities is very fun to read. A boy and a girl never seen not hugging each other, a mom, a dad, a big brother, and a boy with a guitar are just some of the characters. I think this strip has about the right amount of characters.
This book is my first encounter with the comic and it is very appealing. I won't tell you to buy it, because I'm not a salesperson. I'm merely telling you why I like it.
You will love ZITS.......2003-06-22
If you have or have had teenagers, you need to red Zits. The adventures of all the characters will keep you laughing. They even manage to capture the angst of both parents and teens.
You'll pop with (laughter with) Zits!.......2002-06-22
In Big Honkin Zits (hey, it's named after ME when I was 16..or 26) you can clearly see WHY this strip by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman is one of the fastest growing and most popular strips EVER.
The best way to explain it is: it's on the same quality level as Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes at it's funniest, most irony-laced and visually comedic BEST. Once again we have Jeremy...the self-absorbed 15-year-old who is constantly (in his view) humiliated by his parents' mere existance (except when he lowers the posture and briefly show he really cares). The strip shows things from the adult point of view but ALSO does a good job of pointing out how a teen might view the parents (his parents ARE dorky).
There are several reasons why this strip is such great COMEDY, and holds up so well in a treasury form such as this. The artists use a story-line of sorts (akin to the story-line Watterson would use where a given daily strip would stand alone but is part of a group with a theme). The shorter strips work as well as the longer ones. As in Calvin & Hobbes we often see things from the teen or parental view in the form of a fantasy (his father dressed like a clown; Jeremy with huge ears after his girlfriend mentions his ears are big).It's a strip that shows character evolution: his girlfriend finally gets her braces off; he goes to his first real rock concert; sneaks into his first teen porn film etc.
But above all it's the world-class visual comedy, character facial expressions and actual irony-heavy comedy that makes this strip among the best EVER. Since there are tons of strips I'll share one that is my favorite. Jeremy's mother reads an article that says "the average teenage boy thinks about sex once every eight minutes." They look at each other and each says "Wow." She thinks: "That much?" He thinks: "That's all?"
You're going to want to read Big Honkin' Zits again and again and each time you're going to laugh as much as the first time. SUPERB selection of a SUPERB strip that happily continues to quickly grow in circulation, artistically and comedically.
A second helping of a great comic strip.......2002-04-06
Jeremy returns in his second treasury, combining strips from the books "Don't Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Man!" and "Are We an Us?" Not much has changed since the first treasury. He still wishes his parents would get off his back, he still doesn't understand women, and he still dreams of making it big in music. But whether he's trying to decide what to do about the upcoming Gingivitis concert, win back Sara from a sophomore, support a friend's mom who has cancer, or sneak over to his girlfriend's babysitting job, he's sure to find the humor in any situation.
Unfortunately, I don't get the strip in my local paper, so I have to wait for these books to enjoy it. But I can certainly see why it has become such a popular strip. Everyone can appreciate the humor in the storylines, which poke fun at everyone equally. The visual gages are some of the best in the papers today and make for some of the best strips in the book as well. And it's easy to like these characters because they really do have good hearts just beneath the surface. My only complaint with this book is that the strips don't appear to be in order. It makes for a little confusion when a character is first introduced after we've already met him or her, but over all, it really is minor.
This is a wonderful collection that should win new fans and satisfy the old. Buy it today and enjoy the laughs.
Book Description
"They misunderestimated me."
Or did they?
Judge for yourself. Here are over 100 memorable misstatements by our syntactically challenged president, collected, annotated, and introduced by Slate magazine's Jacob Weisberg.
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."
"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
"I do know I'm ready for the job [the presidency].
And if not, that's just the way it goes."
Download Description
Judge for yourself. Here are over 100 memorable misstatements by our syntactically challenged president, collected, annotated, and introduced by Slate magazine's Jacob Weisberg. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." "We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers." "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." "I do know I'm ready for the job [the presidency]. And if not, that's just the way it goes."
Customer Reviews:
Nobody Could Dream This Stuff Up.......2007-03-22
This book could not have been dreamed up as a work of fiction unless...well, it just couldn't have been! I have owned this book for quite a while, and pull it out whenever I need a reality check on what is happening in Washington DC. The quotes are amazing, and what is even more amazing is that someone who speaks so poorly could have ever been elected as President of the US.
There may also be a little bit of sad commentary here, as this reflects on the Bush Family tradition of not reading. It also is somewhat of a commentary on the "excellent schools" that Bush went to. How could they let someone with such poor grammar graduate?
Need a laugh...get this book...unless your a diehard W supporter!
The Joke is On Us.......2007-03-13
This book makes me think of the classic, "Everybody Plays the Fool" because "there's no exception to the rule." The line "don't you think the joker laughs at you" from the Beatles' 1967 classic, "I Am the Walrus" is also startlingly a propos. Dumbya is a genuine fool.
This trenchant, very funny book underscores just how subliterate, inarticulate and lacking in intelligence Dumbya really is. While Dumbya's malapropisms are funny, it is also scary to think of somebody of such limited ability as president. Dumbya's administration is of the emperor's new clothing genre and I am glad to see more people coming out and publicly admitting that the emperor is naked.
Dumbya has proven yet again his overall incompetence by causing a federal deficit and his gross bungling the most senseless, needless and useless war involving America. Although much of this book covers 2000, it heralds what is yet to come from the worst president in history. For those who voted for him, I apologize if any offense was taken as none was meant. I do think that the joke ended up on everybody as we have been saddled with this incompetent person since the bungled election of 2000. Oh, and the election mess in Florida? No surprise there - Dumbya's brother Jeb's political state! Haven't they heard of the Voters' Rights Act of 1965? Apparently not, as many people were denied access to voting in the 2000 election.
There are many, myself included who feel the 2000 election was stolen. Had the fouled up election not taken place, we would not have ended up with this sad excuse of a president. I am very glad I didn't vote for him either time. Still, if you want some comic relief during these tense times, this book is for you. It is trenchant, cleverly written and well worth the read.
Great Gift!.......2007-02-13
To the anti-bush family or friend. Will bring a spark of humor to the otherwise angered person! heh
Having a few laughs on the worst president ever.......2007-01-02
I'll make this review short and to the point. Reading the quotes in this book shows what a moron George W. Bush essentially is. It's very funny but it's not at all funny to realize that such a cretin is the most powerful man in the world. Although he tries hard to not make such glaring mistakes in his public speaking these days, he has proven his inborn stupidity by racking up an astronomical federal deficit and mismanaging the most useless war America has ever been involved in. Most of the content of this short book is from 2000 but it was certainly a warning of things to come if enough people were stupid enough to vote for this stupid man. Of course, the 2000 election was stolen but if it hadn't been so close, the hijacking of the presidency couldn't have happened. However, stupidity reigns in America so just read this book and have a good laugh. The joke's on us all.
Someone please kill me!!!.......2006-06-21
Try this one on for size
I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003
That says it all there. I really can't explian how this guy got elected but his quotes make for some hilarious reading.
Overall-If you ever need to laugh make sure you have this book handy.
Book Description
Doing It Right brings together the very finest in reviews and criticism of The Wild Bunch since its release in 1969.
Often misinterpreted because of its graphic violence, the film initially generated considerable controversy. Sam Peckinpah, who made the film after a four-year forced hiatus in his career (he had been blacklisted), created it as a depiction of the savage behavior possible in the post– World War I era. However, the ensuing controversy was not restricted only to the explicit story and images. Producer Phil Feldman’s withdrawal of Peckinpah’s cut of the film drew tremendous sympathy for Peckinpah from American and European film critics alike.
This casebook should be read as a supplement to a viewing of the film, which is now available in its uncut form in video. Edited and with an introduction by Michael Bliss, the book explores the film’s production history, giving an overview of its release problems and highlighting its stylistic characteristics, classic structure, use of the widescreen frame, and innovative editing techniques. It also discusses in detail the film’s underlying moral message and its representation of camaraderie and loyalty. In addition to Bliss, essayists include Robert Culp, Paul Schrader, Stephen Farber, Paul Seydor, Jim Kitses, Cordell Strug, John L. Simons, Aljean Harmetz, and Michael Sragow. The book concludes with an appendix and an extensive bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
Appreciate the movie The Wild Bunch even more.......2005-10-04
I think that I have read the Best Criticisme on Sam Peckingpah's Wild Bunch, which I bought trough Amazon, about four times. This book is dedicated to Paul Seydor. Very correct because it was he who has been very important for the legacy of the movies from Sam Peckingpah. I enjoyed the crtitics of Robert Culp and the other contributants. After reading this book I saw the movie since then, off course the director's cut, with different eyes.
Book Description
This book is intended to assist experienced teachers make thoughtful decisions regarding music teaching and learning that are essential to effective practice. It emphasizes issues and matters specifically pertinent to the teaching of music in all settings, and it provides the structural knowledge and seminal questions that need to be addressed in making good choices about what and how to teach in music. Coherently organized into five chapters, this comprehensive book covers music education context; the educational landscape; the significance and process of decision making; organizing instruction; and becoming and being a music teacher. For music teachers in all school settings; as well as music store managers, owners, and employees.
Customer Reviews:
Whats there is good, but the subject is so broad that more would be better.......2006-12-24
100% worth buying.
The book touches upon many ideas in budding systems.
But it left me wanting more. The book is just a starting point. It wouldn't really help you much if you were designing a system.
This book is of most value to someone who isn't familiar with several systems, philosophies, and lots of conventions.
It brings you up to speed, but then you are left on your own to do the real work.
It's an interesting book, but by itself wont be enough to design any worthwhile system.
Solid overview, good introduction to this subject.......2005-10-14
The focus is on components of bidding systems, rather than existing systems like Precision or Polish Club or 2/1.
The book does a good job of covering bidding system components, such as relay systems, transfers, diaglogs (where both partners share information, like in Standard American), using frequency of hands to structure the responses, constructive vs. destructive bidding, preemption, complexity.
while the book does a decent job covering these components I don't think it teaches the reader much on how to design their own system. Maybe that should be in another book, hopefully a sequel.
I would have liked to see sections on:
1) Common problems with home made systems (complexity, hidden holes, gaps, etc.). Example - introducing a weak NT to a 2/1 system. What do you have to change?
2) Problems and evolutionary fixes to some modern systems. What were the initial problems of Precision, how did it evolve to corrcet them? Learning from the past to avoid future problems.
3) Checklist of things to test and look out for.
4) problem hands to bid. Test your system against these 100 hands to see how well you do. The hands would have a rough frequency of occurence and how well they are handled by current popular systems like 2/1, Polish Club, Precision, etc.
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2006. 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:
The bidding process is one of the most important phases in the construction industry. The major objective of construction companies is to expand business volume by successful bidding on various projects. For this reason, companies must prepare realistic bid proposals. However, the traditional bidding process is time consuming and requires a great deal of effort. This paper proposes a model that enables the companies to reduce the bid proposal preparation time and cost by using e-technology.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Business North Carolina, published by Business North Carolina on July 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1060 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: State's bidding system muddles who's the boss.(Brief Article)
Publication:
Business North Carolina (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2000
Publisher: Business North Carolina
Volume: 20
Issue: 7
Page: 26
Article Type: Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Business North Carolina, published by Business North Carolina on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 381 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: Was bids' farewell sad for taxpayers?(Tar Heel Tattler)(college contract system)
Author: Kathy Brown
Publication:
Business North Carolina (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: Business North Carolina
Volume: 23
Issue: 10
Page: 20(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The largest company in the world by far, Wal-Mart takes in revenues in excess of $280 billion, employs 1.4 million American workers, and controls a large share of the business done by almost every U.S. consumer-product company. More than 138 million shoppers visit one of its 5,300 stores each week. But, as recent news stories show, Wal-Mart's "everyday low prices" come at a tremendous cost to workers, suppliers, competitors, and consumers.
The definitive portrait of the juggernaut that is reshaping American, The Bully of Bentonville exposes the zealous, secretive, small-town mentality that rules Wal-Mart and chronicles its far-reaching consequences. In a gripping, richly textured narrative, Anthony Bianco shows how Wal-Mart has driven down retail wages throughout the country, even as their substandard pay and meager health-care policy have led to a double-digit employee turnover; why their aggressive expansion inevitably puts locally owned stores out of business; and how their pricing policies have forced suppliers to outsource work and move thousands of jobs overseas. Their power even influences what Americans can read, watch, and listen to; in the name of protecting its customers, Wal-Mart bans "racy" magazines and insists on sanitized versions of popular DVDs and CDs.
Based on countless interviews with Wal-Mart employees, managers, executives, competitors, suppliers, customers, and community leaders, The Bully of Bentonville illuminates the story-behind-the-headlines and brings the truths about Wal-Mart into sharp focus.
Customer Reviews:
Everyone should read this book.......2007-08-23
After reading this book I will never shop at Walmart again.
I recommend this book to everyone who shops there and works there.
It's a real eye opener...
Good, but not good enough.......2006-06-09
Most of the Amazon reviews written of this book so far are irrelevant. In truth, Bianco mostly doesn't exhibit bias in his work. He points out that Wal-Mart is anti-union not because he is pro-union, but because Wal-Mart is anti-union. And I think his argument for the idea that that actually weakens Wal-Mart is a good one. But I don't necessarily agree with it, and it's not necessary to agree with his thoughts and conclusions for this to be a good book. Bianco is not an Ann Coulter or a Michael Moore, and this is not like one of those kinds of books which is an unabashed attack on a target. As other reviewers have said (and then ignore), he actually points out a lot that's good about Wal-Mart as well as the bad. Yeah, a lot of poor people have benefited from those low prices. It's just that they're the ones most hurt by the low wages and benefits as well.
But put all that aside. The reason to read this book is that it is one of the most concise histories of Wal-Mart in a book. It uncovered a fascinating history of Wal-Mart and its founder, Sam Walton, that otherwise I wouldn't have known. Others might say that you need to read Sam Walton's book because who would know Wal-Mart better? But the truth is that the most unbiased history comes from outsiders, and heck, Sam Walton does come off pretty good in this book. It's certainly not a personal attack, and Bianco is less critical of Walton and his choices than I personally am.
Overall, the book is well-written and informative, but the problem is really that he doesn't explore his themes deeply enough. I was left wanting more about the connection between a Wal-Mart and the depression of the local economy, and I really wanted a further exploration of the employee pay vs. profitability comparison that he made between Costco and Sam's. In a nutshell, that's what I wanted from the whole book. That's why it's 4 out of 5.
Bully or bumbler? Hard to tell.......2006-06-01
It is easy, popular, and politically correct to criticize Wal-mart. Better yet, dump on the world's largest retailer, engaging in hyperbole. Catalog anecdotes from disgruntled former employees but never present the voice of a customer. Complain about how the retailer bullies vendors yet never explain why most vendors benefit from doing business in Bentonville. Sure, some vendors let Wal-mart push them into ridiculously low prices, below the vendor's costs, even bankrupting the vendor. But it takes a pretty poor firm to pursue this death spiral. A good vendor knows that some business is not worth having. It reminded me of what a misguided student once said when told that his business plan called for losing money on each and every sale. "We'll make it up on volume," he unwittingly replied. And for each vendor that goes bankrupt, one hundred thrive on doing business with Wal-mart and five more show up at Wal-mart's door.
Better yet, skip the process of really making the case that "Wal-mart's everyday low prices is hurting America." In fact, ignore evidence of how Wal-mart helps the poorest consumers and makes millionaires of those who stick out the long, difficult road to upper management. And, in the end, criticize Wal-mart for wanting an increase in the minimum wage to bring Wal-mart customers more income and to punish firms with wages even lower than Wal-mart's wages.
The startling facts of the history of the firm is that it excelled at mastering a basic value proposition, sticking to its basic principles, using information technology, leveraging customers interests over those of manufacturers, offering employment and productivity growth to the American economy and hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to American consumers, only to see this basic business model run into trouble in the last ten years. Saturating the market with cheap goods can only succeed for so long. There are only so many customers and even Wal-mart's "loyalists" (about 40% of Americans) aspire to something more, more value, better quality, more local products, less driving twenty miles to save $10.
And let's be clear, China is not taking American manufacturing jobs. China's manufacturing share of employment is the same as America's, and China has lost more manufacturing jobs in the last ten years than America has. China may be the new market for Wal-mart, with hundreds of millions of compliant employees and even more customers, but success in China would more likely represent Wal-mart's own death spiral into the oblivion of lower and lower prices. Bianco's book is illuminating yet not really revealing or ground breaking, and it is certainly not compelling. And he doesn't really offer a solution. Going green, going upscale, or going for better employee retention are expensive, risky options. Should Wal-mart unionize? Raise wages? Raise prices? Drive off loyal customers? That's a lose-lose proposition, even for a bully.
Flawed But Still Worth Reading.......2006-03-29
Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world. It brings in revenues in excess of $280 billion, employs almost one and half million American workers, and controls a large share of the business done by almost every U.S. consumer-product company. More than 138 million shoppers stroll through its 5,300 stores each week. With a company so powerful and so immense, it is easy to find much to complain about. And really, grumbling about Wal-Mart has become popular--chic even.
The Bully of Bentonville is one in an increasingly long line of books, documentaries and articles detailing "how the high cost of Wal-Mart's everyday low prices is hurting America." It is written by Anthony Bianco, a senior writer at BusinessWeek who in 2003 coauthored an acclaimed cover story dealing with Wal-Mart.
To be honest, there is much about Wal-Mart that can and should concern us. Among the statistics Bianco wants American to know are:
* The average Wal-Mart employee working full-time earns just $9.69 per hour, which adds up to less than $18,000 per year.
* Only 44 percent of Wal-Mart employees are enrolled in the company medical plan. Most who are not enrolled cite the high cost of insurance premiums as the reason they are unable to enjoy the medical benefits.
* 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart employees are either uninsured or are on Medicaid.
* The company has faced multitudes of lawsuits alleging that it forces employees to work extra hours without pay. Wal-Mart's internal studies have reached similar conclusions, but the company has taken little or no action to correct this.
* Wal-Mart is a strongly anti-union company. When a store in Jonquiere, Quebec voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the company simply shut down the store and fired all of the employees.
* Annual employee turnover is nearly 50 percent, meaning that Wal-Mart must hire almost 600,000 new employees every year.
* Wal-Mart alone accounted for over 13 percent of the U.S. trade deficit of $162 billion. Studies have concluded that over 80 percent of Wal-Mart's international suppliers are based in China where labor costs are very low. Wal-Mart is increasingly dealing with international suppliers for this very reason. This is done, of course, at the expense of domestic suppliers, and thus, domestic jobs.
Suffice it to say that Bianco sees Wal-Mart as a great danger to America. He is pro-union, Wal-Mart is anti-union. He appears to be strongly anti-Republican, while it seems that Wal-Mart is pro-Republican. He is clearly and unashamedly biased in writing this book. And from that perspective it is difficult, at times, to take him too seriously. Still, on the whole his attacks on Wal-Mart are measured and avoid falling into senseless rants (despite, at a few spots, using alarmist language and even comparing Sam Walton to the likes of Mao Zedong). He raises many interesting and important critiques of the company. He is more sympathetic with Sam Walton and the company he started, than his successors and the company Wal-Mart has become since Walton's death. While he portrays Walton as a shrewd and calculated businessman, he seems to give him the benefit of the doubt more than those who are now responsible for the company.
While Bianco is long on diagnosis, he is quite short on cure. He seems to feel that many of the most pronounced of Wal-Mart's problems would disappear if the company were just to allow its workers to unionize. And in many ways he is right, though such a move would also sound the death-knell for the company as the rising costs of employee wages would quickly eat up the thin margins and destroy Wal-Mart's very niche. After all, people shop at Wal-Mart not for the experience or the atmosphere, but for the low prices. Unionization would inevitably cut deeply into these margins. As a Christian I have great difficulty with unions, or at least unions that encourage employees to rebel against their employers. He seems to sympathize with and even advocate the type of rebellion that has happened in many stores across North America, where employees have turned their backs on their managers and have tried to unionize. Yet the Bible tells us that we are to respect and obey our employers. If they are not treating us properly, we cannot advocate this type of open rebellion.
Bianco often compares Wal-Mart to COSTCO, a company that is, in many ways, similar. Yet COSTCO does not deal with the skyrocketing employee turnover and pays its employees far better wages. The difference, he feels, is that COSTO takes care of its employees. In the long-run, this lowers company costs, even as wages increase, for the cost of training new employees cuts deeply into Wal-Mart's profits. While he does see some incremental improvements in the way Wal-Mart has run its business in the face of growing criticism, he cannot help but conclude that even Wal-Mart may be unable to survive in the world that it has helped create.
As I read the book, I began to wonder if Bianco is blaming Wal-Mart for something that is a product of American society more than the working of a single company. After all, America has become an increasingly consumer-driven nation. Americans (and most Westerners) want and demand stuff! We want it and we want it now. We want to fill our homes and our lives with gadgets and trinkets, the quantities of which would shock people of other nations and other generations. A few weeks ago I was at the local landfill site, emptying out another van-load of junk taken from my garage. I turned to the man beside me, who was also emptying a great load of trash into the bins and remarked that we truly are a wasteful society. We stood there, almost ashamed, looking at the vast mountains of junk - things we needed not too long ago, but now were tossing away.
And so I wonder, is Wal-Mart creating this consumerism, or is it doing little more than giving us what we demand? It seems to me that Wal-Mart caters perfectly to this Western mindset, giving us more for less. By reducing the costs of manufacturing, distribution and sales, they can give us items of moderate quality for a low price. A quick trip to the local store, and a look at the long lineups at the registers, will show us just how successful they have been in doing this. Wal-Mart's shame is, in many ways, our shame.
The Bully of Bentonville is an interesting book, even if it is not required reading. It is the type of book that may convince people to stop shopping at Wal-Mart, and I am not convinced that this would necessarily be a bad thing. There is something to be said for good old-fashioned service - something that rarely exists anymore. But like most people, I am rarely eager or willing to pay extra for it.
Goes Full Circle to Examine the Wal-Mart Effect.......2006-03-14
It is not often you find a book that looks at both sides of the coin for a given issue. Authors usually tend to take up one side of an argument and stick to it. In "The Bully of Bentonville" I expected it to mostly stick to how Wal-Mart has harmed the American economy more than it has hurt it and to focus in on the tactics they use to get things there way or no way at all.
Therefore, I was surprised when I began reading this book to find out that the author does point out a lot of problems and questionable activities within the Wal-Mart empire, but he also devotes a great deal of time to also outline some of the things Wal-Mart has done right in his opinion as well as cover some of their more innovative ideas.
Make no doubt about it, though, this book was written to shed light on some of the practices behind those "Everyday Low Prices". You will see how Wal-Mart treats their workers as a disposable resource, often forcing many of them to be on public assistance just to get by. You'll find out how Wal-Mart bullies around suppliers, often forcing good-paying American companies to have to move overseas just to meet the price that Wal-Mart will pay them. And you will also gain insight into how a company that some would say was run strict, but fair, under Sam Walton has become a bully that noone wants in their neighborhood anymore.
A well rounded book that gives the reader food for thought. Even if you are a regular Wal-Mart shopper this book could provide a lot of insight and make you finally realize that you could very well be "shopping yourself out of a job" and not even know it.
Book Description
The largest company in the world by far, Wal-Mart takes in revenues in excess of $280 billion, employs 1.4 million American workers, and controls a large share of the business done by almost every U.S. consumer-product company. More than 138 million shoppers visit one of its 5,300 stores each week. But Wal-Mart’s “everyday low prices” come at a tremendous cost to workers, suppliers, competitors, and consumers.
The Bully of Bentonville exposes the zealous, secretive, small-town mentality that rules Wal-Mart and chronicles its far-reaching consequences. In a gripping, richly textured narrative, Anthony Bianco shows how Wal-Mart has driven down retail wages throughout the country, how their substandard pay and meager health-care policy and anti-union mentality have led to a large scales exploitation of workers, why their aggressive expansion inevitably puts locally owned stores out of business, and how their pricing policies have forced suppliers to outsource work and move thousands of jobs overseas.
Based on interviews with Wal-Mart employees, managers, executives, competitors, suppliers, customers, and community leaders, The Bully of Bentonville brings the truths about Wal-Mart into sharp focus.
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