George Eastman y Kodak: historia de grandes emprendedores

Customer Reviews:

3 1/2 stars.......2004-06-01

The book gives very entertaining descriptions about events that occur in John's life, such as him getting drunk, and it also keeps your interest when it is explaining the tournaments he was in. But the book goes into much detail about boring details about John's coaches and friends.

John Daly Wild Thing: Life on the Edge With Pro Golf's Bad Boy

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John Daly Wild Thing: Life on the Edge With Pro Golf's Bad Boy
William Wartman
Manufacturer: Harper Prism
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEX6BW

Book Description

"Contributes significantly to our understanding of how Warner Bros. crusaded against fascism from the middle 1930s to Pearl Harbor. Drawing on extensive archival research, Birdwell provides particularly lively discussions of Alvin York's conversion to interventionism during the making of Sergeant York and of the 1941 Nye-Clark Committee investigations of 'premature anti-fascism' in Hollywood."
--Charles Maland, University of Tennessee

"Will be a lasting contribution, not only on the impact of media on our nation's policies--a topic of concern for most thoughtful people--but also for academics in popular culture studies."
--Peter Rollins, Editor-in-Chief, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies

During the 1930s many Americans avoided thinking about war erupting in Europe, believing it of little relevance to their own lives. Yet, the Warner Bros. film studio embarked on a virtual crusade to alert Americans to the growing menace of Nazism.

Polish-Jewish immigrants Harry and Jack Warner risked both reputation and fortune to inform the American public of the insidious threat Hitler's regime posed throughout the world. Through a score of films produced during the 1930s and early 1940s-including the pivotal Sergeant York-the Warner Bros. studio marshaled its forces to influence the American conscience and push toward intervention in World War II.

Celluloid Soldiers offers a compelling historical look at Warner Bros.'s efforts as the only major studio to promote anti-Nazi activity before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Customer Reviews:

Films Warns Against Nazism.......2001-03-18

"Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.' Campaign Against Nazism," by Michael E. Birdwell, New York: NYU Press, 2001. A book review by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com.

Politicians pursuing the "family" vote regularly chime in like critic Michael Medved about the harmful effects of film on theatergoers, particularly the young. "'The Basketball Diaries' has led to an increase of heroin use in teenagers," says one. "'Pulp Fiction' shares the blame for the increase of gun use in junior high schools," asserts another. "James Bond encourages the drinking of martinis, shaken not stirred," insists a third.

Motion pictures influence our thinking. How could they not? We sit in a darkened space, focused on little other than our popcorn and the big screen, as heroes from Humphrey Bogart to Tom Cruise spin their tales across the celluloid. But to what extent do they influence the way we actually act? Pondering and debating that unresolved issue should give us something to talk about at cocktail parties for years to come. Do filmmakers actually WANT us to behave in a certain way? Probably: to the extent that they supply us with propaganda, or, what theater people call agitprop. One of the best examples of passionate partisanship involves the case of Harry Warner, one of the founders of the illustrious Warner Bros. studio, who, during the 1930's, was so incensed by Hitler's actions in Europe and so disgusted by the isolationist views of the American government and a majority of its people that he set out to influence everyone from F.D. Roosevelt to backwoods 'billies to see that the policies of the Third Reich endangered this country as well as the continent of Europe.

While the other major studios pandered to the German fascists by doing business with them throughout the thirties, Harry Warner exploited his celluloid soap-box for all its worth, backing up his lobbying efforts with at least four motion picture productions unique in their evocation of Germany's evil. The heroism of this lone ranger might not be remembered by today's world had Michael E. Birdwell not written "Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.' Campaign Against Nazism."

Birdwell's prose makes the heart beat faster as we join the author in loathing groups that had their own axes to grind in the U.S. during from 1933 to 1945--organizations whose names may have changed but whose professional haters

even today spew their venom against immigrants, Jews, African-Americans and other minorities whom they consider at the very least not to be 100% American. Some of Birdwell's scholarly but passionate statements might be describing activities in the year 2001 rather than movements that should have died a lingering and painful death during the thirties. Birdwell states: "Many Americans knew that Jews played a prominent role in the film monopoly. [One] vicious handbill read, 'Boycott the Movies! Hollywood is the Sodom and Gomorrah!'" What's missing in today's more subtle broadsides against Hollywood is the mention of Jews as the target of abhorrence, but The Pacific Coast Anticommunist Federation of that time had no problem declaring "international Jewry controls vice--dope--gambling. Buy Gentile. Employ Gentile. Vote Gentile."

Birdwell discusses Harry Warner's attempts to counteract the malice by his productions of anti-fascist movies, the most

arresting being his analysis of the film "Sergeant York," starring Gary Cooper as the title hero of World War I--an uneducated Tennessee mountain person who killed more Germans than Vassily Vaitsev but who turned pacifist immediately following the war to end all wars. When Alvin C. York came to his senses in the late thirties, he stumped for intervention. As Warner saw the prospect for waking up the world community to the dangers of Nazism, he convinced a reluctant York to give his permission for a portrayal of his life. "Sergeant York," one of the most influential archetypes of agitprop cinema, emerged. President Roosevelt may have been more affected by the attack on Pearl Harbor than on this movie, but both Harry Warner and Alvin York deserve monuments for their work in splashing cold water on the faces of a largely indifferent America. In the same manner, Birdwell--and the NYU university press, must be commended for its short but thoroughly researched study about the impact of media writ small on politics and American thinking in general... film_critic@compuserve.com

WARNER BROTHERS MOVIES PAVE THE WAY FOR USA WWII ENTRANCE.......2001-01-23

Dr. Michael E. Birdwell of the University Of Tennesse's Center For The Study Of War And Society has authored an interesting, detailed, and scholarly yet readable book about intentional efforts by Hollywood's Warner Brothers Movie Studios to encourage USA entrance into World War II during a pre-war period characterized by massive social and political opposition to war entry by still famous groups such as the Charles Lindbergh led America First group, and also by more than 300 other anti-war entry groups identified by the Roosevelt administration's pro-war FBI in 1938.

Dr. Birdwell explains that the Warner Brothers' effort to encourage hostility to the German government through use of Hollywood movies began in the early thirties, and was particularly the result of the fervor of Harry Warner, the "head" Warner brother, a devout religious Jew who tried without success to purchase Germany's largest movie studio called UFA, producer of famous 1920's German silent classics including THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and METROPOLIS. As Dr. Birdwell tells the tale, Harry Warner was just about to close the UFA purchase deal when the Nazis came to power in 1933, and stopped German business dealings with Jewish owned and/or dominated companies like Warner Brothers.

Harry Warner became very angry at this rebuff, and began his own personal war with Germany which, Dr. Birdwell argues, resulted importantly in the USA decision to join and support that war, which went on to cost more than half a million American lives.

Anti-war politicians of the 1930's put many roadblocks in Mr. Warner's way, including especially the Neutrality Act of the mid-1930's, which forbade negative characterization of America's then trading partners, in which ranks Germany numbered prominently. This did not deter Mr. Warner whose efforts began with a 1936 Warner Brothers cartoon, and then with a live action movie titled BLACK LEGION about one of the many anti-Black, anti-Jewish political groups active in the 1930's. All seven of the major Hollywood studios of the 1930's were owned and run by American Jews (the Disney studio was not, but was tiney compared to the others, and could not be called a true peer of the "majors" in 1930's Hollywood).

The Harry Warner anti-German campaign included movies such as DR. EHRLICH'S MAGIC BULLET (about the Jewish research scientist who found a cure for venereal disease) and others which celebrated accomplishment by Jews. It also included a series of short subjects, shown in movie houses along with cartoons, etc. to supplement feature films, titled the Old Glory series, which identified Jews prominent in American history, including Chaim Solomon who helped finance the American Revolutionary War, and the Levi family who bought Thomas Jefferson's Monticello mansion, lived in it for almost 100 years, then set up the foundation which still operates and makes tours of Jefferson's home available to the public.

Feature movies of various types were also produced to support the pro-war entry cause, including SERGEANT YORK (about a conscientious objector during WWI who changed his mind and became a winner of the Congressional Medal Of Honor) starring Gary Cooper (who won an Academy Award for his role) and CASABLANCA (about an expatriate American in Morocco who distains politics, but suddenly is converted to the anti-German cause in the last moments of the film) starring Humphrey Bogart (the film won an Academy Award for "best picture," and interestingly includes Conrad Veidt starring as the German villain, "Major Strasse," 20 years after Veight starred in Germany's most famous movie of the 1920's, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, a UFA production).

Movies which celebrated England and partiotism on England's behalf (such as ROBIN HOOD and THE SEA HAWK, both starring Warner Brothers Australian born movie star, Errol Flynn) were produced to overcome American antipathy, then widely prevalent, for helping England maintain her Empire.

After USA entrance into the war, the efforts of Warner Brothers (and other studios) to support USA war activity continued, and included the participation of a Warner Brothers contract player (in a movie titled THIS IS THE ARMY) who later became the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Bridwell's book is worth reading. It is an important addition to the literature of books published over the decades, and longer, about the place of propaganda in propagating and encouraging participation in wars, even when those wars are unpopular, as WWII was in the eyes of many Americans before USA entrance into WWII.

Well-researched on an important subject.......1999-05-05

Dr. Birdwell, an authority on popular culture, has written with fascinating insight about the role of Warner Brothers in their efforts to expose the conditions inside Nazi Germany during the years between the wars when no one else was paying much attention.. The book also delineates the viewpoints of two popular heroes, Charles Lindbergh and Sgt. Alvin C. York, and their influence on public opinion. This book is a "must" for those interested in the subtle ways that Hollywood molds our attitudes toward moral and political issues.

Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.'s Campaign against Nazism. (book review): An article from: American Jewish History

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Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.'s Campaign against Nazism. (book review): An article from: American Jewish History
Felicia Herman
Manufacturer: American Jewish Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008IP52W
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Jewish History, published by American Jewish Historical Society on September 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1163 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: Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.'s Campaign against Nazism. (book review)
Author: Felicia Herman
Publication: American Jewish History (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2001
Publisher: American Jewish Historical Society
Volume: 89 Issue: 3 Page: 310(5)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Pop culture meets pop reference in this irreverent tour of twenty unlikely events, innovations, and individuals that forever changed how we live today -- the food we eat, the places we live, the love we make, the fads we follow, the clothes we wear, the products we buy, and much more.

Veteran journalists Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger make the offbeat their beat, revealing the odd, surprising, and amusing origins of inexplicable cultural phenomena. From slam dunks to rock 'n' roll punks, permanent press to pantyhose, black velvet painting to point-click culture, high-tech diapers to low-brow entertainment -- they cover sports, business, music, media, film, fashion, and science, and explain a lot about why life today is so weird:

If homeowners hate yardwork, why do most suburban homes have lawns?
In the best-fed country on earth, how did thin become "in"?
When did the "convenience" of convenience food become more important than the food?
Was the sexual revolution really sparked by the disastrous honeymoon of a science geek?
Why are today's multimillion-dollar design and marketing plans for cars based on the biggest failure in automotive history?
How did the invention of air conditioning radically rebalance political power and affect the paths of presidents?

The untold, unexpected, sometimes unholy stories are here, providing instant inside knowledge and richly entertaining insights into how and why we live as we do.

Download Description

"Extra 1 - Poplorica quiz

If homeowners hate yardwork, why do most suburban homes have lawns?
In the best-fed country on earth, how did thin become ""in""?
When did the ""convenience"" of convenience food become more important than the food?
Was the sexual revolution really sparked by the disastrous honeymoon of a science geek?
Why are today's multimillion-dollar design and marketing plans for cars based on the biggest failure in automotive history?
How did the invention of air conditioning radically rebalance political power and affect the paths of presidents?

The untold, unexpected, sometimes unholy stories are here, providing instant inside knowledge and richly entertaining insights into how and why we live as we do.

Customer Reviews:

Only somewhat interesting.......2004-12-02

I sort of felt like the authors of this book put a whole bunch of ideas in a hat they liked and picked them out. It makes for an interesting (usually) mish-mash of stories about why things are the way they are in America. Touching on topics from America's obsessions with lawns to how air conditioning has affected politics, there are some interesting entries here to read just because you're an American. Other chapters seem like they are more geared to people with a specific interest (and written as if they are too, I was totally lost during the guitar chapter). Worth a look I guess.

THE OPERATIVE NUMBER - 5/5.......2004-05-15

Combining wit, humour, history and sociology into one book proves to be an exciting cultural adventure for Kiger and Smith. The things that we take for granted and their implications for modern life are laid out with such a sense of fun, that you almost forgive the guys who created air conditioning and tv dinners for their contributions to a comfortable, yet more isolated world. One reference to George W. Bush in the book is so unexpected that it makes one laugh out loud, then long for the old days of high ceilings and accordion fans. As a Canadian who hates mowing lawns, it is comforting to know that we didn't start the trend, but annoying to see how like always, we seem to follow. (My "Canadian Identity" was shattered after realizing that I knew of each and every innovation in this book quite well...LOL) And the chapter on Kinsey makes one wonder how a guy who knew so little became the most knowledgeable man in the world in his field....

Read it, pass it on, use it for those times you have a lag in the conversation, and need "a little known fact" to jumpstart it again. It should also be required reading for modern history classes and sociology majors who need something concrete to illustrate how a little thing can make a big difference culturally. This book is like finding the dump on an archeological dig- thrilling and important, but much less dirty, and a heck of a lot more fun to dig through.

THE OPERATIVE NUMBER - 5/5.......2004-05-15

Read it, pass it on, use it for those times you have a lag in the conversation, and need "a little known fact" to jumpstart it again. It should also be required reading for modern history classes and sociology majors who need something concrete to illustrate how a little thing can make a big difference culturally. This book is like finding the dump on an archeological dig- important and thrilling, but much less dirty, and a heck of a lot more fun to dig through.

Smart, witty, wonderful.......2004-05-11

Poplorica was an absolute delight. History, sociology, psychology all rolled into one. I'm a fiction reader so when a nonfiction book holds my interest page after page that's incredible. Not only did I love the writing - witty, smart, always on target - but the authors went above and beyond by providing additional sources of information. Poplorica is on my list for father's day and graduation gifts.

A really wild, funny book.......2004-05-07

Pros: the writers have a nice, easy to read style, filled with plenty of ironic humor.
Cons: they should have done 25 items instead of 20!

POPLORICA is a very absorbing and amusing book, filled with strange facts and events--how a young Muhammad Ali, for example, copied the flamboyant style of cross-dressing wrestler Gorgeous George, after meeting him on a radio show, how Alfred Kinsey became a sex researcher after his own disastrous honeymoon, why Americans are so obsessed with their lawns and with losing weight, how the electric guitar was invented, etc. The book is divided into 20 chapters and each one is a separate story, so it's ideal reading material if you only have a few minutes at a time to pick it up....a great book to read on a plane trip or the beach, or to leave on your nightstand. Every chapter has some sort of strange, odd surprise in it that will leave you laughing.

Average customer rating:
Poplorica: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore that Shaped Modern America
Martin J. Smith , and Patrick J. Kiger
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MC2R9S

Average customer rating:
POPLORICA : A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE FADS, MAVERICKS, INVENTIONS, AND LORE THAT SHAPED MODERN AMERICA
MARTIN J./ KIGER, PATRICK J. SMITH
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEQQU0

Average customer rating:
Poplorica: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore that Shaped Modern America
Martin J.; Kiger, Patrick J. Smith
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OESOO6

Book Description

& 36 color photos & 3 b/w photos & 38 drawings & 8 x 11. Miniature replicas of historic landmarks.& Special coloring techniques for creating remarkable detail Create charming and historically accurate miniature buildings from New England's past. Easy instructions explain every step in the process--from cutting and gluing to coloring and finishing. Projects include a sugarhouse, covered bridge, Cape Cod house, meetinghouse, church, saltbox house, octagon, lighthouse, and gristmill. An overview of each building's location, date of construction, style, and significance adds historical interest. Evan J. Kern, author of Creating Wooden Villages and Making Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles (see page 81), was dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Kutztown University. He lives in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

Book Description

Forget wizards, you need a slave--someone to do your repetitive, tedious and boring tasks, without complaint and without pay, so you'll have more time to design and write exciting code. Indeed, that's what computers are for. You can enlist your own computer to automate all of your project's repetitive tasks, ranging from individual builds and running unit tests through to full product release, customer deployment, and monitoring the system. Many teams try to do these tasks by hand. That's usually a really bad idea: people just aren't as good at repetitive tasks as machines. You run the risk of doing it differently the one time it matters, on one machine but not another, or doing it just plain wrong. But the computer can do these tasks for you the same way, time after time, without bothering you. You can transform these labor-intensive, boring and potentially risky chores into automatic, background processes that just work. In this eagerly anticipated book, you'll find a variety of popular, open-source tools to help automate your project. With this book, you will learn:

How to make your build processes accurate, reliable, fast, and easy.
How to build complex systems at the touch of a button.
How to build, test, and release software automatically, with no human intervention.
Technologies and tools available for automation: which to use and when.
Tricks and tips from the masters (do you know how to have your cell phone tell you that your build just failed?)

You'll find easy-to-implement recipes to automate your Java project, using the same popular style as the rest of our Jolt Productivity Award-winning Starter Kit books. Armed with plenty of examples and concrete, pragmatic advice, you'll find it's easy to get started and reap the benefits of modern software development. You can begin to enjoy pragmatic, automatic, unattended software production that's reliable and accurate every time.

Customer Reviews:

Build Automation Quick Overview.......2006-12-11

I grabbed this book from the shelf in our Atlassian office few months ago. I just finished reading it this morning. This book is very well written and easy to read.

I read it most on the train commuting to work. My trip only takes 20 minutes, so you could think "what can you possibly read and learn in 20 minutes?" Well not a lot, but enough to get you started. The way the book is written makes it easy to continue reading after an interruption.

Book is structured in a way that leads you though the processes in software development: building (testing), releasing, installation, deployment and monitoring. Each process is described and the ways of automation are discussed in detail.

I consider myself a senior software engineer but this book had several points that made me say: "That would be nice to have in our build!" This book will save you lots of time and lots of manual work, thanks to automation. I can guarantee you'll get inspired by this book.

I'm happy I found this book on our office shelf. Now, I'll put it back so others at Atlassian can read it as well...

Well written, fun and great content.......2006-10-12

If you are a Java developer and want to know the basics of how to construct a decent build and release process then I recommend reading Mike's book. It doesn't go into any topic in real detail; however like most Pragmatic Bookshelf books, it is concise, well written and easily absorbed. The tools that the book discusses includes CVS, Ant and CruiseControl. One of my favourite and most enjoyed books.

Automation Quick Start.......2005-12-22

This is a great book for developers and teams who want to know how that can automate their processes better. It doesn't go too deeply on some topics, but there are enough pointers to more information. If you need to learn more about how to streamline your work, this is an excellent book.

Great book on software project automation.......2005-12-18

This book is the third volume in the Pragmatic Starter kit, but is self-contained enough that it can be read on its own. The first chapter starts with a story about how built-in automation makes everyone's life better-especially the developer's. Thus this book is really about letting the computer do boring, repetitive things so that developers can concentrate on what is new and interesting. The rest of the first chapter answers some frequently asked questions including why and when developers should automate. This FAQ is useful in its own right, but also helps readers figure out whether the rest of the book is for them. The next two chapters show how to automate a Java build with Ant and then schedule that build. Clark points out that running tests is part of the build process. Chapters 4 and 5 describe how to generate and distribute releases of software. One of my favorite ideas from these chapters is writing a checklist script that clients can run on-site to check for "is it plugged in" errors. The last chapter is about monitoring all this automation. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Developers always want this information, but nobody enjoys being spammed by their own computers, and it's a pain to set up filters so that the right messages reach exactly the right people. Clark's solution is to use RSS notifications so that your build system creates a blog as it goes along. It's a great idea, and I've already started implementing it locally.
This book is short, but it's chock full of ideas and advice that can be put to use immediately. I found Clark's writing style clear, easy to read, and often entertaining. As a bonus, the book's concepts are language independent even though Clark uses Java and Java-based tools.

Good book, but thin and too Java-specific.......2005-09-21

This is a good book. But I have to say, for $30 I was surprised at how slim it was. There's a lot of good concepts covered, but nearly every implementation relies on a Java-specific tool. I would have loved to have seen the book spend a little more time talking about how to automate some of the tasks in a more language-neutral way. Nevertheless it is a good book, albeit one only genuinely useful to Java programmers.

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