Customer Reviews:
God of the Left.......2002-04-21
Besides leaving behind a freeway named after him, Reuther is a modern Father of the Radical Left, and has left behind a legacy of Union corruption, crooked party politics, and collective brainwashing. A fascinating book, a fascinating man, and a heck of a story, it's ideologically incorrect in that it exalts Reuther toward legacy status, and it appeases those that believe in the power of government, and the collective mentality of the masses. It's all good and well, says the author, because unions and government usurpation and regulation are all glorious. Horrible mentality, but good writing and research. Reach your own judgements.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 1217 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: Most dangerous man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the fate of American labor.
Publication:
Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 41
Page: 288-90
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Confucius: in life and legend
Betty Kelen
Manufacturer: T. Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
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ASIN: 084076152X |
Customer Reviews:
Irrelevant rehash.......2000-07-29
I can't really see a point to this book. It brings nothing new to the Arbuckle story, and the writing is weak. There's nothing here that wasn't covered in more detail -- and better -- in David Yallop's "The Day the Laughter Stopped."
Engrossing And Shocking True Tale Of Early Hollywood.......1999-12-11
Being a longtime fan of Buster Keaton and his pal Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, I had to pick this up. This story has all the requisite Hollywood characters and themes; the millionaire star, the bigamist old shrew out for money and blackmail, the Hollywood "Party Girl" with a past, a prosecutor with an eye on reelection instead of justice, witnesses threatened, illegal booze...it's all here. Arbuckle's career was ruined in a scandal. Ruined is not the correct word. Imagine a raw egg hitting a brick wall, and you get some idea of Arbuckle's life that Labor Day weekend back in '21. Arbuckle was innocent, but that didn't stop unscrupulous people from using him as a scapegoat for the "sins of Hollywood". This book also contains the only actual version of what REALLY happened. Arbuckle evidently related the actual story to very few people. Read on, the answer's at the end!
Sensationalist Title, Compassionate Book.......1999-05-14
Don't let the sensationalistic-sounding title throw you -- this is an EXTREMELY well-written and compelling book about Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, the silent film comic who was wrongfully accused of rape and murder. A wonderful, funny man lost his career and his good name -- all because his Hollywood bosses wanted to save a few bucks. This book is well worth the out-of-print wait!
Customer Reviews:
Pop culture in the sewer.......2006-11-06
Steve Allen rightly criticizes the media for its tasteless excesses in violence and sexuality. However, he falls into a few logical traps along the way. He praises the bawdy humor of Benny Hill yet decries Madonna's erotic displays in concerts and videos.
He also makes a point critical of religion that made me raise my eyebrows, on page 344: "Religious believers of the world, you are free to continue to debate the simple, narrow question that divides you from atheists, but you have no right , in so doing, to treat the Humanists of the world with contempt." Most religious people I know daily question their beliefs and are capable of rational, logical thinking. Had it ever occurred to Mr. Allen that perhaps some of the filth coming over the radio, television, and out of Hollywood is the product of humanist thinking? Most, if not all, of Hollywood routinely mocks religion, as well as parental authority.
There are many humanists like Allen who have strong moral fiber. Then again, there are many humanists who couldn't find the moral high ground, much less occupy it. I agreed with most of the points Mr. Allen made, but he lost me when he abruptly attacked religious belief.
Get an inside opinion on the morality of entertainment.......2005-05-27
The late Steve Allen, a comedian, writer, show host, actor, and producer discusses "the general ugliness and immorality of much of popular culture." He offers statistics and data that support the idea of the downhill-path of society's viewing habits. The focus of this riveting book is mainly television and radio programming, and the writing is very compelling.
good synthesis of sleaze facts.......2004-02-07
Allen's book may not seem like anything new, because many have gone before him on this topic. Nevertheless, _Vulgarians_ is an excellent synthesis of current theories about the effect of media sleaze on young people.
Allen doesn't propose outright censorship, but he reminds us that that self-policing by the media congloms is never going to happen as long as sleaze remains profitable.
He also explores a point that is sometimes missed by media critics: The CEOs of the huge companies that sponsor the TV shows, as well as the CEOs of the huge media congloms, are "country club conservatives" who no doubt support Bush and conservative politics. Yet they mysteriously become amoral when it comes to propagating media garbage because they'e making so much money from it. FOX network comes to mind...
Allen observes, ironically, that few of these people would want their own six year-old daughters to be exposed to the junk they're selling, but they don't mind exposing the masses' children to it.
Worthy topic. Worthy author. Unworthy results........2004-02-02
It's very interesting reading the reviews on Amazon.com for Vulgarians At The Gate: people seem to either love it or hate it. In my opinion, Allen offers a few good insights. Unfortunately, the book ultimately fails to fully persuade, and Allen comes off as more than a little cranky & bitter.
Steve seemed to fall into an obvious trap in considering that the period in which he was involved with television as the medium's "golden age." In my opinion, television never had a "golden age"! The vast majority of television programs have been infinitely banal, slavishly imitative, and/or predictable shock-garbage.
Steve gripes about how TV now resorts to "depraved vulgarity," whereas his era's comedians were cleanly funny. The only problem is that, by in large, the comedians of that era were NOT funny. How can anyone find the obnoxious ranting & screaming of Jackie Gleeson or Danny Thomas funny? The television of that era was dominated by the sexist view that a woman is either a screwball (I Love Lucy), a naive wife-child (Leave It To Beaver), or a verbal, and possibly a literal punching bag (Honeymooners). In this light, I guess TV has actually made some progress.
Allen's arguments are also more than a little confusing. He complains about the "tastelessness" of a Grey Poupon commercial that implied flatulence, yet praises Benny Hill! He (rightly) criticizes the role religion has historically played in censorship, yet encourages religious groups to boycott dubious programs. He disdains the "fourteen-year old mentality" of TV's earlier era programming, yet seems to want to return to the banality of The Brady Bunch.
I do believe that Steve makes some very good points. The vast majority of TV shows ARE puerile garbage. Without a doubt, the television has dumbed-down America considerably; and taking into account that we have never been the most intellectual of societies, that's quite an achievement! The oafish self-promotion of Madonna, Howard Stern and Jerry Springer are rightly criticized by Allen.
There is a definite line between vulgarity and pornography; the chapter on rap lyrics really demonstrates this. I personally cannot believe that music that espouses sentiments like rape, murder and necrophilia are actually available to kids. In case you are wondering, I'm not a 60-year old conservative, but a 27-year old liberal. I most definitely do not endorse blanket censorship; I do believe, however, that the "parent advisory" stickers are worse than useless. If a buyer is required to be of a certain age before he or she can purchase cigarettes, porn, or alcohol, then buying this crap should require the same discretion and maturity. I propose that music such as this should be "behind the counter," and not available to kids at all.
Unfortunately, Allen seems to really lose it when he praises the former movie censorship code. He states that classics like Citizen Cain were made despite the code. Citizen Cain is indeed a classic; unfortunately, many classics would NOT have been made if that code were still in place. He also states that artists should have a responsibility in providing "clean" entertainment for children. The fact of the matter is that great art is never merely entertainment. For my money, the greatest artistic achievements of the Western world in the last thousand years are William Shakespeare's plays and Richard Wagner's operas. These works are rife with murder, rape, incest, and violence. They amount to MUCH more than that, of course. But what gives them their power is their emotional scope, and censorship doesn't allow that latitude.
Finally, Allen rightly criticizes the state of Kansas for banning the theory of evolution from its school textbooks. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. The problem is that Steve seems to want to court the support of those social conservatives who made an atrocity like that possible. It seems that liberals are fighting a two-front war; on one side is puerile, lowbrow shock-garbage, the other is religious fanaticism.
Getting America out of the gutter and back up on sidewalk.......2004-01-29
Mr. Allen doesn't say that certain expletive words are bad, in and of themselves, but that used for simply shock value they lose their appeal and meaning. His book reminded me of a PBS special I saw a few years back with Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner and Larry Gelbart from the old Show of Shows program when I was a toddler. It was Mel Brooks who made the astute observation as Steve Allen does so well in this book, that as television became more available to the masses, often an uneducated masses, television dumbed down. That when television first came out, only those with money and alas the education to have a great job could afford a television. And it was this same population that being well educated, didn't need things spelled out for them. They could hear an innuendo in a joke and "get it". But as more and more people could afford a television the more crude shows became.
Steve Allen was one of the biggest supporters of the late comic genius Lenny Bruce who in December 2003 month, was granted a posthumous pardon by the Governor of New York, George Pataki, for his (Lenny Bruces) 1964 conviction for using obscene language in a Greenwich Village nightclub act. Lenny Bruce appeared in nightclubs where his act included routines on controversial themes (religious, political and social) often done in very strong blunt language.
He isn't advocating censorship, but some way of getting dumbed down America out of the gutter and back up on the damn sidewalk. And he fully supports Lenny Bruce style "mature" humor which Bill Maher (whom I like) does. Mr. Allen wants to prick the readers consciousness and get them to think for a change and raise the level of intellect so that the Howard Sterns of the world are seen for the sophomoric people they are and the Lenny Bruces and Mort Sahl's are respected for being the social, religious and political genius provocateurs that they are, by using language often harsh or profane, for intellectual discourse and positive change.
Book Description
A must-have for all fans!
·Exclusive pix of the audition process, set, and contestants
·American Idol explained! Everything you wanted to know and more!
·Weekly recap and personal profiles of the Top 12 contestants
·The Best of the Worst: Profiles of William Hung, Scat Girl and others
·Behind the scenes gossip from the sound stage to the red carpet
·What the judges had to say
Customer Reviews:
!!!THIS BOOK IS THE BEST!!!.......2004-11-13
I got this book in the U.S.A. while visiting my cousins, because they didn't have it in Canada. When I first got this book, I couldn't stop looking at the book and I still can't!!! "American Idol Season 3: All Access : Prima's Official Fan Book" has everything about American Idol Season Three!
It has . . .
-Bio of the Judges
-Bio of Ryan Seacrest
-Quick reviews on the worst but remembered auditions
-Bio's of the top 32 contestants
-Bio's of the top 12 contestants
-Review on what the top 12 did during the competition
-and MUCH MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVERY AMERICAN IDOL FAN MUST GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!
American Idol Rocks with This Book.......2004-07-30
Being a huge Idol fan I love this book!! It has a ton of pictures, bio's, behinde the scense stuff and ton's of other stuff. I love this book!! Being a a fan of American Idol and completly obssesed this really helps bring along American Idol where ever I go. Also if someone hasn't seen the show you can show them the book and then they can sort of know what the whole seaon was like. Great guide and book for and handy for American Idol fans/freaks.
Way better than the Season 1 book!.......2004-06-30
This book is GREAT for the American Idol fan, documenting the whole season into one book! From the first auditions, to Fantasia being crowned the new American Idol!
This book features the Top 12 AND the Top 32, with info/bio and interviews and pictures with each contestant. I thought that was really cool to talk about the whole top 32. Then the book goes through each week on the show, including who sung what, who was voted off that wekk and behind the scenes pictures. The behind the scenes pictures and info are really cool!
I think this book was VERY well documented and written! This is a must have for American Idol Season 3 fans!
What about season 2???.......2004-06-19
A book on season 3! What happened to season 2? As good as season 3 was, season 2 was way better. I'm still waiting for books to come out for that season! And a dvd set too.
Every fan MUST have this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2004-06-16
I have to say i truly enjoyed reading this book. I just could not put it down. I've been a fan of the show since the beginning, but this has been by far my favorite season. And for less than $10, you definitely get your money's worth. This book takes you behind the scenes to show you what each of the potential american idol's go through each week. There schedule is very hectic. You also get a backstage pass of the set, as well as the mansion that they live in during the show. This book takes you from the beginning at the audition process, and continues with a breakdown of each show all the way down to the finale. Breaks down every performance, what the finalists sang, the judges comments, and the audience reaction. Included as well are profiles for the top 32, as well as profiles for all the judges,(Randy,Simon, and Paula), and the host(Ryan). Find out what they're hobbies are, favorite foods, horoscope sign, hometown, etc. And find out what they had to say about this whole experience. All that and more are included here in this 144 page book, much, much, bigger than the 62 page book for season one. So relive all the great performance, drama, memories, and surprise vote offs from this season. Order today!
Amazon.com
Want to fire up creativity in your company? When Sparks Fly just might be the fuel you're looking for. Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap describe a method that can help people become more innovative and better at teamwork. "Whether you lead a group of three in a nonprofit foundation or 300,000 in a Fortune 500 business, the basic process of creativity is the same," write Leonard, a Harvard Business School professor, and Swap, a Tufts University dean. The process involves five steps: selecting the right mix of people to spark creativity; identifying the problem needing novel ideas; developing alternatives; taking time to consider choices; and selecting one option.
Leonard and Swap bolster their ideas with real-life examples of corporate creativity and analysis of dozens of psychological studies about human innovation. The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), for instance, generates breakthrough ideas by teaming up such diverse people as artists, anthropologists, and computer scientists. And to support diversity's role in creativity, they cite a 1992 study of 199 bank CEOs. The research found that top management teams are more innovative if they include people with varying expertise. Each of the book's chapters begins with a fictional management scenario and concludes with a summary of key points. It also includes chapters on designing the best physical and psychological environments for igniting new ideas. When Sparks Fly is a good tool for managers and others interested in fanning the flames of creativity. --Dan Ring
Book Description
How does a leader manage for creativity?
Many managers fall into the trap of assuming that only gifted individuals--readily identifiable "creative types"--can produce breakthrough thinking, and if you don't have an eccentric genius on your team, your efforts are doomed to mediocrity. Some even argue that creativity is an art that can't possibly be planned or managed without extinguishing the vital creative spark. Yet, say Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, today's most innovative, complex services, products and processes spring from well-led, well-managed group interactions.
Blending their backgrounds in business and psychology into a fresh perspective, Leonard and Swap sweep aside conventional thinking about creativity to show how managers can actively shape group processes to enhance creative output. They offer proven strategies based on a deep understanding of human behavior for stimulating and directing the group dynamics that lie at the heart of innovative thinking. The book clearly outlines and analyzes each step in the creative process and gives practical suggestions for managing creative teams, including specific techniques for composing groups to maximize creative abrasion, re-channeling the tensions of conflicting points of view into new ideas and alternative options, and failing forward to success.
Leonard and Swap explore how all aspects of the work environment, from leadership style to the promotion of passion to the use of space to maximize serendipity, can enhance innovation. Drawing on examples in companies that range from small startups to Fisher-Price, Intel and Hewlett-Packard,
When Sparks Fly shows how sophisticated managers can galvanize groups to maximize their creative potential.
Customer Reviews:
The Creative Mindset.......2003-12-05
In Leonard and Swap's book, "When Sparks Fly: Igniting creativity in groups," the authors acknowledge that with the right physical and psychological group environment, creativity can easily emerge from all members of a group. This creativity can be brought forth in groups ranging from five to five-thousand. The authors present their views and information in a congenial way, which gives the book a lighter sense. Their overall intention was not to create a guide which would be viewed as mentally cumbersome to absorb, but rather to write a book which bestows fresh ideas upon the reader in a non-technical way.
The book begins by challenging the typical myths associated with creativity, and subsequently proving them to be incorrect. The authors assert that by using certain motivational and managerial techniques, greater overall creativity can be achieved, even by those who would not typically be referred to as the "creative" type.
The chapters cover all of the basics of group formation and management, beginning with basic creative group problems, addressing techniques with which to harness creativity and keep it focused in the right direction, and leaving the reader with the knowledge and motivation to foster the proper environment for the foundation and formation of a creative group. This is achieved through a five-step process defined by the authors as: 1) preparation, 2) innovation opportunity, 3) generation of options, 4) incubation, 5) the convergence on one option. These steps are intuitively arranged and thoroughly explained throughout the course of the book.
Overall, this book seeks to leave you with the idea that creativity, while an inherit ability to some, can also be thought of as a process. Once creativity is learned to be viewed as a process, many new avenues with which to inspire creativity can be realized and achieved through careful manipulation of the work environment. These authors truly provide a great prospective on a somewhat perplexing topic to most managers.
True organizational crativity.......2001-12-01
THis book shows how the true creativity (the one for everyday work) arises and how managers should do in their corps to leverage this invaluable asset.
An Essential Tool for the Internet Age.......2000-06-08
Innovation in the workplace is difficult to achieve for all organizations. Most businesses do not have a resident genius, but rely on the creativity of many people over multiple disciplines. Managing these different perspectives and expectations can be a nightmare. Risks of alienation, creating winners and losers and outright failure inhibit even the most self-assured manager. Within the first 15 pages of the book the authors, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, introduce Ken Iverson, the chairman of Nucor Steel who reported that, "when his company took on a new, extremely high-risk creative project, he slept like a baby -- he woke up every two hours crying!"
According to the authors, group creativity requires thoughtful preparation, cultivation of different options, time to reflect and careful culling of the "right" ideas. Each step in the process will either energize the team to work harder or become part of a demoralizing and fractious process. As Leonard and Swap write, "Two (or more) heads are better than one, however, only if (1) there is useful knowledge inside the heads; (2) all that useful knowledge can be accessed; and (3) all that accesssed, useful knowledge can be shared, processed, and synthesized by the group."
While reading the first section, I "borrowed" a legal pad from my spouse to pilfer the numerous creative ideas suggested. By the time I was done, I had filled the entire pad and was writing on the cardboard back, with designs for programs to reward creativity and groundrules for initiating appropriate creative sessions. Just about everything is covered -- from why preppy Tommy Hilfiger can design for urban youth to how Weyerhaeuser created new, cost effective particleboard. While the reader may not want to use every single idea, there are many new ideas to choose from, representing the best-of-breed these authors have found from around the world's corporations in their considerable body of research.
When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups marks the publishing debut for a team of seasoned professors: Dorothy Leonard, of Harvard Business School, and Walter Swap, dean of the colleges at Tufts University. It is a rare business book: accessible, fresh and realistic. Perhaps it is no accident that the book was written shortly after the marriage of these two well-respected academics. Sparks do fly.
Creativity is an attitude and a learnable process.......2000-06-08
This is a successor to Dorothy Leonard(-Barton)'s excellent Wellsprings of Knowledge, and expands the treatment of knowledge generation or creativity that forms one of the important chapters of that book.
The central message is that group creativity is a social process and that the process needs a sympathetic climate in terms of norms, beliefs, attitudes and physical environment and needs to be managed through a series of stages. Neglect of any stage seriously inhibits the process. The authors do not deny individual creativity but insist that all of us can contribute to group creativity if the conditions are right - and that individual creativity can be destroyed or at least suppressed if the conditions are wrong.
These are very similar to the conditions required for organisational learning (see Nancy Dixon: The Organizational Learning Cycle), which is not surprising as knowledge generation and learning are different perspectives on essentially the same phenomenon. The two books in fact make good companions to each other.
Chapter 1 draws out some principles, defines creativity and innovation for the purpose of the book and outlines the creative process.
While saying that creativity is resistant to linear progress, the authors identify five steps as capturing the essential features of the creative process. They are: preparation, innovation opportunity, divergence (generating options), incubation, convergence (selecting options).
The steps of divergence, incubation and convergence are the central (usually iterative) engine of creativity. Effective management of these steps is vital, and it is the balance or rhythm of the steps that has to be got right.
The rest of the book is basically about the conditions necessary to ensure that each of these steps and their combination are fully productive. How should the group be structured? What norms, beliefs and behaviours are necessary for them to interact creatively? What leadership behaviours are needed? How should the process be managed and when, if at all, should there be external facilitation? What psychological and physical conditions are conducive to creative success?
The authors conclude: "Creativity, like learning, is not only a process but also an attitude. Managing creativity is all about the values we enact."
Activating the Maverick Synapses.......2000-05-10
There are many books now available on the general subject of "creativity" but relatively few on the subject of "group creativity." Leonard and Swap have selected an appropriate title for theirs. As they explain, if you create the appropriate physical and psychological environments for a group, creative "sparks" can "fly"...perhaps igniting a department, a division or even an entire organization. For whatever reasons, others do not share my high regard for this book. So be it. What I expected -- and what it delivers -- is a solid conceptual framework within which to generate and then sustain collegial creativity. If you've read Robert Fritz's The Path of Least Resistance for Managers, you are already aware of his assertion that an organizational structure can be designed for success. Leonard and Swap agree with Fritz, not only that such a design is possible but also that it is imperative. Their book consists of six chapters:
What Is Group Creativity?
Creative Abrasion
Generating Creative Options
Converging on the Best Options
Designing the Physical Environment
Designing the Psychological Environment
These chapters are followed by several pages of Notes and a superb Bibliography. Their concluding thoughts reiterate that "creativity is a process -- and can be encouraged and influenced....Thinking of creativity as a process removes, we hope, some of the mystery -- and the temptation to step back from the challenge....Creativity, like learning, is not only a process but an attitude. An attitude that promotes creativity is a kind of alertness to innovation opportunities -- a constant mental challenge to routine and openness to change.... Some individuals thrive on the challenge of constant change and improvement; others recoil from the implicit chaos....But it takes only a small spark to ignite a large fire. Let the sparks!"
I provide this brief excerpt for two reasons. First, it gives you at least some idea of how the authors think. Also and more importantly, their remarks imply some of the barriers to "group creativity" which must be overcome, if not eliminated: fears of being "wrong", of embarrassment, of rejection, of seeming "dumb", etc. As Leonard and Swap correctly suggest, it is as important to be alert to human sensitivities and vulnerabilities it is to "innovation opportunities." Without mutual respect, there can be no mutual trust. Without mutual trust, there can be no creative collaboration.
If you share my high regard for this book, you may wish to check out the works of other authors such as Guy Claxton, Edward de Bono, Doug Hall, Michael Michalko, Joey Reiman, and Roger von Oech.
Books:
- The New Imperialists
- The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency (Sloan Technology)
- The Rediscovered Benjamin Graham: Selected Writings of the Wall Street Legend
- The Vital Few: The Entrepreneur and American Economic Progress (Galaxy Book)
- Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe
- Unseemly Man
- Untitled
- W.R. Hearst An American Phenomenon
- Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors
- William and Henry Walters, the Reticent Collectors
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us
- Fruits and Vegetables/Frutas y vegetales
- Long Time Gone: A Novel of Suspense
- History: Fiction or Science
- Grandparents & Grandchildren: Shared Memories
- History: Fiction or Science
- Field Guide to Old-Growth Forests: Exploring Ancient Forest Ecosystems from California to the Pacifi
- How to Borrow Your Way to Real Estate Riches
- Leadership Aikido: 6 Business Practices That Can Turn Your Life Around
- Entering the World of Plants
V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War II
State of the Union: A Century of American Labor (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America)
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
