The New Imperialists

Amazon.com

If you use a personal computer or automated teller machine, make purchases online, or consume media of any kind, your life is directly impacted by the five digital-age visionaries profiled in The New Imperialists. Reams have already been written, of course, about Microsoft's Bill Gates, AOL-Time Warner's Steve Case, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, and Cisco's John Chambers. But Mark Leibovich, national technology reporter for The Washington Post, digs deeper here to present insightful individual portraits of these "generals of the networked world's ruling empires" that reveal what has really driven them to the leading edge of today's business universe. Based on some 400 interviews with relatives, friends, associates, and adversaries, in addition to one-on-one sessions with its usually more reticent subjects, the book offers a very readable account of key formative events and subsequent reactions that are not typically part of such titans' shared résumés. From the personal experiences that helped shape their generally serene youth--Ellison "had difficulty telling the truth," for example, while Chambers "battled dyslexia and for a time believed he was stupid"--to the public manifestations that now affect millions, Leibovich presents eye-opening accounts recommended for anyone drawn to the human stories behind our day's most ubiquitous corporate names. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

Up close and personal with the New Economy's business tycoons

Microsoft's Bill Gates, AOL-Time Warner's Steve Case, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Cisco's John Chambers-they're business titans of the 21st century. We know their names well enough, but what do we really know about these men beyond the multitudes of short-hand mythologies and soundbites that currently exist. How were they able to muster the savvy and confidence to create such empires of wealth and power? What do the paths they took say about the economic realm they came to conquer? Were they true visionaries or creations of a unique moment in time? Drawing from his Pulitzer Prize-nominated series of articles in The Washington Post, Mark Leibovich provides particularly personal and in-depth profiles on these larger-than-life moguls. Presenting five whirlwind tours through five gale-force lives, this extraordinary book traces the formative events and influences in each man's early life to explain how they came to dominate in this bizarre, revolutionary world. In addition to unprecedented access to each man himself (a privilege afforded very few reporters), Leibovich interviewed over 400 friends, childhood mentors, family members, former bosses, classmates, colleagues, and rivals who have known these uniquely driven souls at various stages of their lives.

Exclusive facts and details: • Gates spoke of breaking into tears during a Microsoft board meeting at the height of the anti-trust trial • Ellison showed the author the $100 million Japanese-style compound he's building in Silicon Valley (no journalist had ever seen it) • A friend of Case described him boasting about his long-sought takeover of Time-Warner • Cisco Chairman John Morgridge complained that Chambers was spending too much time hobnobbing with politicians and not enough time tending to his struggling company

Topics rarely--if ever--discussed: • Gates speaking about the pain of losing his childhood best friend • Ellison reflecting on the recurring scorn he received from his father • Bezos talking about never knowing his natural father • Chambers explaining the pain of his childhood dyslexia • Case speaking about his rivalry with his AOL co-founder

After it's all broken down, from the dazzle of the new technology to the titillation of overnight wealth and cautionary tales of subsequent loss, the New Economy can be distilled to these five cults of personality. Sure to be the season's most compulsive read, this comprehensive work gives readers the most definitive look ever into the lives of the New Economy's signature pioneers.

Customer Reviews:

A Powerful Read.......2002-05-04

In case you are not familiar with the people who "virtually" rule our technology-laden world, according to Washington Post technology reporter Leibovich, they are Microsoft's Bill Gates, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, American Online (AOL)'s Steve Case, Oracle Corporation's Larry Ellison, and Cisco Systems' John Chambers.

Software-manufacturer Microsoft, of course, needs no introduction; Oracle developed the data management software used in ATMs and credit card terminals; Internet retailer Amazon.com, like most of its adversaries, uses hardware developed by Cisco to finalize consumer purchases of books, movies and CDs, among other products; and the world's most successful Internet service provider, AOL, recently became part of the world's largest media conglomerate when it merged with Time Warner.

Leibovich spent 18 months interviewing the book's subjects, and their families, friends and acquaintances, with the goal of looking at "what formed the desperate edges to their ambitions."

Gates and Ellison, at the time of writing, were the world's two richest people, respectively.

Ellison attributes his drive for success to the fear of its alternative. "I can't imagine anything worse than failing," he says. Also fearful of aging, he helps fund research on a hormone believed by some to slow the process.

Ellison is in the middle of building a compound near San Francisco which includes "an 8,000-square-foot main house; five guest residences [where guests will select food from a computer screen and have it delivered to them by boat], an underground network of basements and tunnels; a forest of cherry trees...streams, waterfalls, ponds, and a lake...a tea house, boathouse, amphitheater, indoor basketball court and recreation centre; a horse stable; three garages for Ellison's 14 cars; and a sprawling garden to be maintained by a staff of 20. The lake will be filled with purified drinking water."

Quite a step up from the apartments he lived in as a child where his adoptive father frequently told him he "would never amount to anything."

Aggressive when it came to growing his business, Ellison reportedly ended meetings by chanting, "kill, kill, kill." In his personal life, he went on "Oprah" to make "a public plea for a wife" after divorcing his first three.

Envisioning a small but successful Internet bookstore when he conceived Amazon.com in 1994, Jeff Bezos quickly discovered he was onto something and soon branched out into other product lines. In a nutshell, he's the one responsible for turning "computer screens into the new store windows," as Leibovich notes.

Bezos is known for a laugh so loud and unusual "that his younger siblings used to refuse to sit with him in movie theatres." In grade 12, his library card was revoked for laughing too loudly in the library.

Bezos is well known for scrutinizing prospective employees and Leibovich shares a story about how, when Bezos was interviewing a candidate for the position of chief financial officer for Amazon.com he asked why she had placed 2nd instead of 1st out of 27,000 when she wrote her CPA exam. The candidate replied that it was because she hadn't studied.

She got the job.

As a child, Bezos read a lot of science fiction books and would say later, "It was a great way of expanding your ideas of what's possible and what's not." Meanwhile, his mother let him watch "Star Trek" and the "Three Stooges," which could explain both the laugh and his fascination with cyberspace.

Cisco is the primary manufacturer of the equipment people and businesses use to connect to the Internet, and Leibovich describes Cisco's John Chambers as being "the executive personification of all the Internet's promise and prosperity, a man floating on the new-economy balloon. Until it popped."

A fellow Cisco executive declares, "John will often say, this will be really challenging, but isn't it really fun?!"

In the year 2000, Chambers, who has dyslexia, was paid a total of $157.3 million for running Cisco. At their highest point, Cisco shares had risen 100,000 percent since their initial public offering.

It is here that we learn of the angst Bill Gates experienced during the recent antitrust trial which would give Microsoft the dubious distinction of becoming known as "America's most embattled company." He takes his work - and Microsoft's future - seriously, saying, "If I'm worried about something at work, it's there 24 hours a day."

When he started Microsoft, he resolved the company should not take on debt, while insisting it maintain enough money to survive for one year with no sales. Obviously, that year never came. Gates currently has a net worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of $54 billion. In an interview, Leibovich asked Gates if there is "a burden in being so wealthy and having everyone know it." Gates responded, "Sure. But there is an offsetting benefit."

Gates was born into a wealthy family in Seattle, and when his mother, via intercom, asked him what he was doing in his room as a child, he ignored her. If she persisted, he'd yell, "Thinking!"

The thinking would eventually pay off, especially when he started thinking about computers, an obsession that started when he was 12.

America Online founder Steve Case is reputedly called "the Wall" at AOL due to his lack of emotion.

Of Case's childhood, Leibovich writes, "These were the dark ages before chat rooms and instant messaging, when kids called one another together by bouncing a basketball on a driveway." Case spent so much time in his room his parents called it his "office," and getting mail (the old-fashioned kind) made his day. When he wasn't in his room, the basketball games he played with his brother and childhood friends were extremely competitive, and he was known for "a penchant for the board game, Risk, where the object of the game was world domination."

Strange that later in life he would come to dominate the world's Internet service provider market.

Leibovich's book is a powerful read, providing us with a critical look at these men and their companies, and what is most interesting is how their vastly different personalities each seem suited to success.

Emperors and Empires Sill "Under Construction".......2002-04-06

Leibovich's use of the word "imperialist" is apt to the extent that each of the five "restless kids" (Case, Chambers, Bezos, Gates, and Ellison) grew up to "virtually rule the world" and now preside over the 21st century's equivalent of an empire. Thus each can be viewed as a modern-day emperor. In that sense, they are (at least for now) among the "royalty" of the contemporary business world. Frankly, I find them much more interesting as ordinary human beings in most respects but who do indeed possess a few extraordinary talents which help to explain why each has achieved so much thus far.

Leibovich organizes her excellent material with five chapters, each dedicated to one of the "new imperialists." Having just read Florence Stone's The Oracle of Oracle: The Story of Volatile CEO Larry Ellison and the Strategies Behind His Company's Phenomenal Success, I was already well-prepared for the first chapter. Stone's comments about Ellison are remarkably;y consistent with Leibovich's, both agreeing that Ellison is one of the most complicated, sometimes contradictory, and on occasion infuriating people they have as yet encountered. Consider Leibovich's account of a conversation with Adda Quinn, to whom Ellison was once married, years before the founding of Oracle: "Quinn calls Ellison the most charming, brilliant, and non-boring man she has ever known. He also gave her an ulcer, she says, with his deceptions, darting interests, and changing moods....He had an explosive temper and Quinn said she feared for her safety as their marriage was ending. The couple kept guns in the house -- they lived in a rough part of Oakland and had been burglarize -- and she thought that Ellison was becoming increasingly erratic." There are many other similar comments by whose who had direct and frequent contact with Ellison. Obviously, Ellison is an exceptionally intelligent man but also "volatile" and, when it serves his purposes ruthless.

The chapter which interested me the most is the one devoted to John Chambers. He and the other four "achieved their dominance seemingly overnight. and to a degree that has exploded any previous notion of commercial scope and scale. Moreover their wired age goals go beyond mere geographic expansion; they incorporate a kind of lifestyle imperialism in which traditional lines of media and commerce are constantly being pushed." However, to a much greater extent than any of the others, Chambers has helped Cisco Systems to achieve its dominance through aggressive M&A initiatives and strategic partnerships. His preferred approach is collegial rather than confrontational. I also find it significant that Chambers' personality and leadership style are far less flamboyant than those of Ellison, Bezos, and Case. Also, based on the information provided, he conducts himself in a manner which suggests that he is much less competitive than Gates. However, it is important to remember that this may well be a skillfully cultivated perception rather than a reality.

What we have here are mini-biographies, albeit more substantial than "portraits," of five uncommon men, all of whom are distinguished by "their quest for social ubiquity, a sense of manifest destiny that is captured in America Online's corporate mantra, `AOL Anywhere.' It's a poignant statement, not just of one company's voracious aims, but of the kinds of boundless goals that the networked economy now allows for." Thanks to Leibovich, we have in a single volume what will help us to understand "one of the most transforming and tumultuous eras in American history." Leibovich has rigorously examined where five of its greatest leaders came from and "what they've grown up to be"...at least so far.

Could not put it down!.......2002-03-14

This book offers great insights into the minds of todays business leaders. The diversity of this group is amazing and compelling reading. Each has a different style, beliefs, and background that have shaped their lives. I'm not a big reader, but I could not put this one down. Highly recommended.

Driven,smart and very, very, lucky.......2002-03-05

I had heard the names of the five "New Imperialists," but knew little about them as individuals. I wondered what made them tick, what they have given back to society, and what were the common factors that distinguish these men from the rest of us. This book has answered all of these questions.
Smoothly, and with seeming ease, the author has pierced the formidable administrative and personal barriers that protect thse men. He is an astute observer and an excellent student of human behavior, who has recorded his observations clearly and objectively. He meticulously checked his facts and sources, and interviewed many associates, family members, neighbors, and childhood friends of his subjects. The result is an insightful psychologic portrait of each of these rich and powerful men. The picture is not a pretty one; we are shown greed, arrogance, ruthlessness, grime, and childish behavior that do not make them an appealing group. Despite attempts at image building, the scorecard thus far shows that they have taken much more than they have given back to society. In the Epilogue, the author admits that the only thing that sets these men apart from us is that they are driven, smart, and very, very, lucky.
The author has combined his clout as a reporter for the Washington Post, with hard work, deep psychologic insight, and journalistic integrity. This has produced a well written, informative, and enjoyable book.

Nothing beyond a story.......2002-02-12

Perhaps this book begun as a story for the Washington Post and it should have stayed there. It is a very easy read but does not delve into the actual work and daily battles of the "chosen five." I was surprised by the gossipy tone and focus on the minutia. It seemed that Leibovich could not penetrate through the PR watchdogs during his interviews. Thus, he chose to focus on the wardrobe, the surroundings, and the mannerisms. The book was entertaining but I kept waiting for deeper insight...it never came.

The New Imperialists: Ideologies of Empire

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The New Imperialists: Ideologies of Empire
Colin Mooers
Manufacturer: Oneworld Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, there seems to be a shift away from multilateralism, the inviolability of state sovereignty and the rule of international law. This broad and wide-ranging collection of articles critically examines the main intellectual justifications for the shift.

Earl Browder and the 2nd Imperialist War.

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Earl Browder and the 2nd Imperialist War.
Communist Party (of the USA). New York State Committee.
Manufacturer: NY:
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J0LE7O

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Early lack of dialogue halts momentum

The Imperialist (New Canadian Library)
Sara Jeannette Duncan
Manufacturer: New Canadian Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0771099789
Release Date: 1990-06-01

Book Description

Sara Jeannette Duncan’s classic portrait of a turn-of-the-century Ontario town, The Imperialist captures the spirit of an emergent nation through the example of two young dreamers. Impassioned by “the Imperialist idea,” Lorne Murchison rests his bid for office on his vision of a rejuvenated British Empire. His sister Advena betrays a kindred attraction to the high-flown ideals in her love for an unworldly, and unavailable, young minister. Nimbly alternating between politics and romance, Duncan constructs a superbly ironic object-lesson in the Canadian virtue of compromise.

Sympathetic, humorous, and wonderfully detailed, The Imperialist is an astute analysis of the paradoxes of Canadian nationhood, as relevant today as when the novel was first published in 1904.

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Wallingham certainly invited them to dinner one Sunday, in a body, an occasion which gave one or two of them some anxiety until they found that it was not to be adorned by the ladies of the family. Tricorne was there, President of the Board of Trade, and Fleming, who held the purse-strings of the United Kingdom, two Ministers whom Wallingham had asked because they were supposed to have open minds--open, that is to say, for purposes of assimilation.

Customer Reviews:

Early lack of dialogue halts momentum.......2001-03-31

This book is important to Canada because it represents an authentic view of small-town life in the pre-WW1 era. The novel focuses on Canada's economic and political link with England and religious issues. It also features 2 romances, the highlight of the novel.

Unfortunately, this novel is neither 'lively' (as one early review stated) nor engaging by today's standards. Duncan's contrived view of the Murchisons and their world is difficult because one is constatly reminded that one is reading a novel. Duncan's characters act and do, they do not feel, think, or emote. The characters, plot, and setting are all contrivances that convey a subtly ironic, political message.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arena Magazine, published by Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. on February 1, 2003. The length of the article is 4376 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: Bali, the left and `anti-imperialism': is Cold War thinking blinding the left to the fact that its enemy's enemy is not its friend? (on the eve of war).
Author: David McKnight
Publication: Arena Magazine (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2003
Publisher: Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd.
Page: 14(5)

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The great imperialist.: An article from: New Criterion

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The great imperialist.: An article from: New Criterion
Deepak Lal
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on February 1, 2004. The length of the article is 2095 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: The great imperialist.
Author: Deepak Lal
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Page: 75(4)

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Liberalism & imperialism.: An article from: New Criterion

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Liberalism & imperialism.: An article from: New Criterion
Keith Windschuttle
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on December 1, 1998. The length of the article is 6563 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.

From the supplier: Western imperialism is considered the most vicious aspects of the western culture. The history of imperialism is accompanied by mass exploitation and destruction of indigenous lands and the environment and slavery. The western heroes who conquered and explored the wilderness are replaced by those who fought imperial oppression such as Geronimos, the Gandhis, and the Mandelas.

Citation Details
Title: Liberalism & imperialism.
Author: Keith Windschuttle
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1998
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Page: 4(1)

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Book Description

This is a feast for all sports fans. Including the most important figures in sports, A Who's Who of Sports Champions provides all the information a fan needs to know about more than 2,200 champion U.S. and Canadian athletes, managers, and coaches at the college, professional, and Olympic levels. It also includes foreign athletes who have won major championships in North America. There is extensive coverage of women athletes. More than fifty organized competitive sports, both major and minor, are covered, from archery to yachting. Great performances and benchmark moments in baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, track and field, and much more are all documented. Champions of cycling, auto racing, surfing, and rowing are all here, as are less well known figures from a wide range of sports. Key biographical facts, extensive summaries of performance records, significant achievements, and career highlights are intertwined with anecdotes and quotes. The arrangement is A to Z by last nam

Customer Reviews:

ITS GREAT.......1999-06-04

I would like to take a moment to say that this book is the best sports book ever,sports fans must have !:-)

A Who's Who of Sports Champions: Their Stories and Records

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A Who's Who of Sports Champions: Their Stories and Records
Ralph Hickok
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KPB9H8

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The book is fascinating and down-right awe-inspiring.

The book is fascinating and down-right awe-inspiring.

Artists in the Audience: Cults, Camp, and American Film Criticism.
Greg Taylor
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
History & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0691089558

Amazon.com

"Could someone tell me what critics are for?" the director Tom DiCillo once asked, wearing the kind of jovial grimace you might expect from the guy behind Living in Oblivion. A little stuffy and academic, Artists in the Audience nevertheless defends the role of those among us who watch, react, and report. Taking as his heroes two avant-garde critics, Greg Taylor traces our own obsession with camp and cult movies to their beginnings. Parker Tyler, a poet who wrote for View, and Manny Farber, a painter who reviewed films for The Nation, were Greenwich Village bohemians who sought highbrow delight (or "weightier entertainment value," as Tyler put it) along the margins. Starting in the 1940s, Farber and Tyler began to hold movies up to more serious scrutiny, but at the same time they groomed their readers to resist middle-class values by grooving on the Wildean fringes, "the aesthetically incomplete, fractured, uncontrolled"--Plan 9 from Outer Space over, say, Mildred Pierce. As apostles of cinematic energy they anticipate Pauline Kael and Film Comment. But they mainstreamed giddiness too, championing what Dan Aykroyd's twitchy theater maven in Saturday Night Live skits of the 1970s called the "deliciously bad." Finally, their desire to shake up conventional notions of taste à la Jackson Pollack and Andy Warhol relates to our present wassailing in cultural debris--in psychotronic Z-budget movies, in bad-for-you TV, and in academic panels devoted to teasing out the deconstruction of gender role-playing in The Valley of the Dolls. --Lyall Bush

Book Description

Gone with the Wind an inspiration for the American avant-garde? Mickey Mouse a crucial source for the development of cutting-edge intellectual and aesthetic ideas? As Greg Taylor shows in this witty and provocative book, the idea is not so far-fetched. One of the first-ever studies of American film criticism, Artists in the Audience shows that film critics, beginning in the 1940s, turned to the movies as raw material to be molded into a more radical modernism than that offered by any other contemporary artists or thinkers. In doing so, they offered readers a vanguard alternative that reshaped postwar American culture: nonaesthetic mass culture reconceived and refashioned into rich, personally relevant art by the attuned, creative spectator.

Customer Reviews:

The book is fascinating and down-right awe-inspiring........1999-06-17

I've said it before. I'll say it again...flug. That's right folks, flug, and a most interesting one at that. With all seriousness, this books kicks major a--! I would have it surgically attached to my thigh if possible. If you want to know what I mean about flug, read the book...trust me!

The book is fascinating and down-right awe-inspiring........1999-06-17

I've said it before. I'll say it again...flug. That's right folks, flug, and a most interesting one at that. With all seriousness, this books rule! I would have it surgically attached to my thigh if possible.

Artists in the Audience: Cults, Camp, and American Film Criticism.(Review) (book review): An article from: Cineaste

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Artists in the Audience: Cults, Camp, and American Film Criticism.(Review) (book review): An article from: Cineaste
David Sterritt
Manufacturer: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008J06NO
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on June 22, 2000. The length of the article is 1582 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: Artists in the Audience: Cults, Camp, and American Film Criticism.(Review) (book review)
Author: David Sterritt
Publication: Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2000
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Page: 57

Article Type: Book Review

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It's been said that analyzing comedy is a bit like dissecting a frog: you arrive at a greater understanding of the frog but the frog does tend to die in the process. The purpose of Gerald Nachman's Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s is not to provide a laugh riot of his subjects' best punch lines, but rather to explore their lives, careers, and influence. Nachman's scope is impressive. He provides detailed biographies not only of household names Sid Caesar, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, and Woody Allen but also comics like Jean Shepherd, Shelley Berman, and Will Jordan whose legacies have far outpaced their name recognition. Nachman has done his research; the book profiles 26 comedians, each in exhaustive detail, and no fan of this era will feel cheated at the end of its 768 pages. There are plenty of entertaining show biz anecdotes (Sid Caesar throwing a lit cigar at young writer Mel Brooks, Bill Cosby punching out Tommy Smothers) along with tales of the darker sides of Mort Sahl, Jonathan Winters, and others whose private lives were far less amusing than their stage acts. But what makes Seriously Funny so compelling, and its dopey title at least partially forgivable, is the author's meticulous attention to each comedian's imprint on the landscape of comedy itself. And while the jokes cited often seem a bit stale and obvious, it bears noting that they were revolutionary when these comedians first made them. --John Moe

Book Description

The comedians of the 1950s and 1960s were a totally different breed of relevant, revolutionary performer from any that came before or after, comics whose humor did much more than pry guffaws out of audiences. Gerald Nachman presents the stories of the groundbreaking comedy stars of those years, each one a cultural harbinger:

• Mort Sahl, of a new political cynicism
• Lenny Bruce, of the sexual, drug, and language revolution
• Dick Gregory, of racial unrest
• Bill Cosby and Godfrey Cambridge, of racial harmony
• Phyllis Diller, of housewifely complaint
• Mike Nichols & Elaine May and Woody Allen, of self-analytical angst and a rearrangement of male-female relations
• Stan Freberg and Bob Newhart, of encroaching, pervasive pop media manipulation and, in the case of Bob Elliott & Ray Goulding, of the banalities of broadcasting
• Mel Brooks, of the Yiddishization of American comedy
• Sid Caesar, of a new awareness of the satirical possibilities of television
• Joan Rivers, of the obsessive craving for celebrity gossip and of a latent bitchy sensibility
• Tom Lehrer, of the inane, hypocritical, mawkishly sentimental nature of hallowed American folkways and, in the case of the Smothers Brothers, of overly revered folk songs and folklore
• Steve Allen, of the late-night talk show as a force in American comedy
• David Frye and Vaughn Meader, of the merger of showbiz and politics and, along with Will Jordan, of stretching the boundaries of mimicry
• Shelley Berman, of a generation of obsessively self-confessional humor
• Jonathan Winters and Jean Shepherd, of the daring new free-form improvisational comedy and of a sardonically updated view of Midwestern archetypes
• Ernie Kovacs, of surreal visual effects and the unbounded vistas of video

Taken together, they made up the faculty of a new school of vigorous, socially aware satire, a vibrant group of voices that reigned from approximately 1953 to 1965.

Nachman shines a flashlight into the corners of these comedians’ chaotic and often troubled lives, illuminating their genius as well as their demons, damaged souls, and desperate drive. His exhaustive research and intimate interviews reveal characters that are intriguing and all too human, full of rich stories, confessions, regrets, and traumas. Seriously Funny is at once a dazzling cultural history and a joyous celebration of an extraordinary era in American comedy.

Customer Reviews:

Seriously entertaining.......2007-03-25

This book brings together more information about more comedians than any other book I've ever read. It is a collection of short biographies, not a comprehensive history of the 50s and 60s. Even so, the 50s and 60s came alive for me as I encountered in quick succession Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Steve Allen, Bob Newhart, Woody Allen, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and a score of other comedians who hit it big during that time.

Great Overview, Could Have Used More Analysis.......2005-07-28

This is an interesting book, a chapter per comic on "sick" comics of the 1950s and 1960s such as Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman, as well as other groundbreaking comics of that era such as Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, Dick Gregory, Stan Freberg, Jean Shepard etc.

It's a great overview and gives you a good thumbnail sketch of each comic's talents and personal style. However, it could have been much better edited, much of the information is repeated again and again in chapters that relate to certain comics, such as chapters on Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Woody Allen, who all shared certain experiences, but they are all relayed again in each comic's individual chapter.

And, due to the format, little depth is provided in terms of analysis or the particulars of any one comic or style of comedy. In sum, I would recommend if you would like to learn a little about many of these great comics, but you would need to look elsewhere for substantive analysis or a deeper understanding of the era or the comics in question.

Brilliant !.......2005-05-08

After reading this book, and RAISED ON RADIO I'm convinced... Nachman is a brilliant chronicaller of generations, passioniate and on such a mission his enthuisiasm gushes through with each Peabody Award waiting to happen phrase whether or not you share his enthuisiasm. - - Like RAISED ON RADIO, the book is neither definitive nor wishy-washy either. The chapters simply paint portraits of the people. In fact, the book goes a bit DEEPER into the subject manner than RAISED ON RADIO though not too deep. Further, though Nachman did interview subjects and did research, a lot of the information isn't exactly new (atleast if you're a nerdish comedy album collector and already into what the book is about.) - - And although yes, sometimes he goes on and on to make a point, especially in the way he breaks down the personalities of the comics he analyzes, I have to say, Nachman's writing is so delightful its forgivable (whether or not some of the chapters could have been cut in half.) Also what I like about this book is the choice of comedians go well beyond the obvious and really make you think... recognizing not just the Lenny Bruce's and Mort Sahls, but radio and TV comics that paved the way... (Bob and Ray, Ernie Kovacs and Steve Allen included !)

All in all, this is a great book presented through the mind of a brilliant columnist... and yes NACHMAN definitely is a columnist... a master storyteller who can schpiel by the column inch and hold your attention all the way. The only danger of reading this book is that after each chapter you want to go out and get the CDs... but with so many comedians covered, that's a lot of bread !

Though I happen to be a fan of the topics covered in this and RAISED ON RADIO, I have to say, whatever Nachman decides to write about next, I'm fair game for it !

A compelling and well-structured work.......2004-11-18

I began flipping through this excellent book in a moment of boredom and just kept reading. Though I'm a fan of a few of the comedians covered in the book, many of them are of no particular interest to me -- moreover, I don't even care for most stand-up comedy (preferring sketch comedy), and the majority of the stories told here are stories of great stand-up comics. But the author is so good at describing the talents, contexts, and events that made these individuals important comic entertainers, that the book really grabbed and held my interest. I recommend it for anyone interested in glimpses into some brilliant comic minds from the heyday of sophisticated comedy, and in concise yet adequately detailed accounts of why and how these people evolved from unknowns to household words.

Seriously Flawed.......2004-08-15

I was looking forward to this book; I had grown up with the comedy of Sahl, Lehrer, Freburg, Cosby and the others. I was unable to finish the book, primarily because of many egregious errors of fact that Nachman and his editor allowed to pass into print. I list here a few of the problems that I found with the chapters I read:

In the Introduction, re: Allan Sherman, Nachman mistitles "Shake hands with your Uncle Max", calling it "Shake hannds with your Uncle Moe"; he also erroneously attributes the original tune of the parody as "McNamara's Band"; it is actually a parody of a tune called "Dear Old Donegal", also called "Shake hands with your Uncle Mike"

Re: Tom Lehrer, he titles the song "MLF (Multi-lateral Force)Lullaby" as "MFL Lullaby"; and later claims that Lehrer "set his `Elements' to the tune of [Kurt Weill's song from Lady in the Dark] `Tchaikovsky'"; in fact "The Elements" is set to Sir Arthur Sullivan's song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" from The Pirates of Penzance. In addition, Nachman
incorrectly transcribes and alters the order of the lyrics he quotes to "National Brotherhood Week":

It's national Brotherhood Week
National Everyone-smile-at-one-anotherhood Week
It's only for a week so have no fear
Be nice to people who are inferior to you
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year (Nachman's text)

Actual lyric:

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week
It's National Everyone-smile-at/One-another-hood Week
Be nice to people who/Are inferior to you
It's only for a week, so have no fear
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year.

Re:Stan Freburg, he attributes the source of Freburg's parody of "Rock Island Line" to Johnny Cash; actual source is a version of the song recorded by Lonnie Donnegan and His Skiffle Group, a popular English band

Re: Freburg's parody of "Sh-Boom"; Nachman calls Freburg "an engineer [presumably the recording engineer of the faux-recording session at the heart of the piece] screaming for more mumbling"; in actuality, Freburg's character on the recording is that of the lead singer of the group making the record

Re: Freburg's parody of "Rock Island Line", he states that " `Rock Island Line'. . . ridicules the whole precious folk-song craze ("Are you going to sing this or read it?" asks an irritated Freburg) [Nachman's italics]." In the parody, this question is actually asked by a character played by the actor Peter Leeds, a Freburg "repertory company" member for many years, who in this case is, in all likelihood, supposed to be either the producer or the recording engineer for the "session."

Re: Freburg's Lawrence Welk parody, "Wun'erful, Wun'erful"; after describing the confrontation Freburg claims to have had with Welk over the piece (where Welk denies ever having said "Wun'erful, Wun'erful"), Nachman states: "Decades later, to Freburg's everlasting joy, Welk titled his autobiography Wonderful, Wonderful." Which misses the entire joke, of course, since Welk's autobiography is actually titled Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The Autobigraphy of Lawrence Welk.

How any book, presumably edited and published by professionals, could have this many errors (and who knows how many more in the sections on comedians whose lives and careers I was not as familiar with) is beyond me.

Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s

Average customer rating:

Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s
Gerald Nachman
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q6NUNM

Book Description

The Clan has never been so afraid.

• Stats and strategies for all the new 'Mechs®
• Get the most out of your weapons and equipment
• Walkthroughs of every mission
• Strategies for using vehicles and emplaced defenses
• Multiplayer strategies that'll take your enemies down!
• Advice for using the mission editor
• Maps!

Customer Reviews:

it rocks.......2000-02-19

this iis the best game ive ever played it rocks if you hate it you suc

This Add-on Was well, a add-on.......1999-11-10

DM was a point in the right direction for the MechCommander Series. But still, im not to pleased. They could include LOADS of more mechs for the game. Online play revoles around the Madcat, Thor, Masakari,Atlas, adn every once in a while the Awsome. Thats it. no fun after a while. We need more mechs!

Average customer rating:

Too much theory

Like a really, really long survey of SOA standards

A wonderful book about Service Oriented Architecture

A painful political explaination for SOA

Excellent SOA Guidelines

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design (The Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl)
Thomas Erl
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131858580

Customer Reviews:

Too much theory.......2007-09-10

I found reading this book boring after the first 6 chapters. What would have been more interesting is the author giving possible solutions (i.e. specific products) that could meet the specifications he laid out in each chapter. This book does not give specific real-world solutions that fit the descriptions and specifications that are described as constituting a Service-Oriented Architecture. After reading this book, I understand the architecture, but could not recommend any specific products that would fit the architecture.

Like a really, really long survey of SOA standards.......2007-08-30

If you want a book that covers most of the SOA standards in one place, this might be helpful. I think you could get that from Wikipedia. Lots regurgitation of SOA platitudes, not much value add. If you're looking to make the light go on about key SOA concepts, this isn't the book. It would make a good management summary of the technology, if it was about 1/3 as long.

A wonderful book about Service Oriented Architecture.......2007-08-10

This book help me so much about concepts, design, analysis.
Erl has done a very good work!

A painful political explaination for SOA.......2007-08-07

The author should be a politician not a writer. This book is painful to read because it goes on-and-on but doesn't actually say that much. The same material could have easily been covered in 300 pages.

Excellent SOA Guidelines.......2007-07-30

Excellent book that develops a real proposal for a process of successful SOA construction.
It is an excellent guide as much in SOA process as in SOA concepts, so that as is reading the book deepens much in the concepts necessary to understand SOA and as they are due to treat to ensure the success an implementation SOA.
At technical level it only includes a chapter describing the possibilities as much of developing SOA with .NET as with Java, everything and that if that specifies all the necessary standards.
It is a perfect book for the learning of SOA at conceptual level and standards.
Of reading totally recommended, although he is not the unique one that is due to read.

Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design

Average customer rating:

Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design
Thomas Erl
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIT2ZC

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