Hospital Philanthropy: The Impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Government Regulations, & Healthcare Trends (Nonprofit Institutions in America)

Customer Reviews:

Hospitals In Need Of Funds.......2001-04-28

This book outlines a unique problem in America--hospitals are hurting for money. Many of us, after being hit with high cost for medical care do not understand when a medical center comes to us for a donation. This book explores the real need and why it is relevant. It is a great rference for those of us who raise money for hospitals, and provide us with answers to questions when asked "Why should I give."

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G.I. Joe - Reloaded Volume 1: In The Name Of Patriotism (G. I. Joe (Graphic Novels))
John Ney Rieber , Javier Saltares , and Eddy Barrows
Manufacturer: Devil's Due Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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G.I. Joe - Frontline Volume 3: History Repeating

ASIN: 1932796231

Book Description

The Threat: Unknown. The Mission: Critical. The Team: G.I. Joe. United by the twisted strategic genius of a madman, a deadly cabal of conspirators unleashes a savage assault on the very heart of America. The nation is defenseless against these faceless paramilitary hordes whose dread insignia is a striking cobra... Until a rogue Lieutenant Colonel forges a handful of hard-hitting soldiers into the ultimate elite fighting force: G.I. Joe!

Book Description

In this timely book, Charles Derber argues that the current regime - the American system of corporate control born two decades ago and now led by President Bush - is destroying the American dream by outsourcing millions of jobs, turning American employment into a "one-night stand," undermining the security that created the American middle class, and turning the forces of law against citizens. The book outlines specific strategies, including how to approach 2004 and how to move the country in a new direction over the long term. Part I discusses the history of the corporate regime and the damage it has done to American workers and the country. Part II examines the bad faith at the heart of the regime today, and why it must resort to wars of deception to survive. Part III looks at 2004 and battling Bush as a step toward regime change. Part IV lays out a vision and strategy for regime change over the long haul.

Customer Reviews:

A Ruinous Domestic Regime.......2005-09-09

This review is a modified version of my original one published in the Autumn, 2005 issue of the journal, Personnel Psychology, pages 815-818.

Charles Derber, a prolific author (nine books since 1988), media commentator, and professor of sociology at Boston College had hoped this book might help derail the Bush administration. Alas, it was not meant to be, apparently. Nevertheless, Derber's book is still essential reading for thoughtful citizens worried about the status and direction of our nation, for much remains to be done, and Derber gives us the rationales and imperatives for acting and some suggested directions.

The general public is conditioned by its government and media to think of "regimes" as bad governments abroad to be neutralized if not overthrown by our country's might. Derber refutes this notion. The dictionary's definition, after all, is a nutral one-a regime being "any `system of rule' at home or abroad." There have been, in his assessment, two good and three bad regimes in the course of our history. The bad ones, including the current one, have all been "corporate regimes."

In the first of the book's three parts, he portrays the first four regimes, starting with the corporate regime that "was built by the robber barons" of the Gilded Age. The public backlash to it ushered in the trust busting regime of Teddy Roosevelt. Big business responded with the second corporate regime presided over by corporate toady's Harding and Hoover. FDR bowled it over with his New Deal regime. The corporate reaction to it ultimately created the third and current corporate regime, the subject of the second part of the book, with President Bush carrying this regime to the extreme in Derber's opinion.

Derber claims the current corporate regime was "conceived in the 1970s and shaped by the election of President Ronald Reagan. Yet Derber acknowledges that the current regime's self-preserving strategy of "marrying the enemy" (Iraq) had its precedents in the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Thus, I think he erred in not dating the start of the current regime with President Eisenhower. I personally think the latter's valedictory address about the military-industrial complex was as much a mea culpa as a warning and that the defense industry together with its demagogic and tenure-loving allies in Congress had a self interest in America's militaristic actions after WWII, the fear (hyped as it was) of the Soviet Union notwithstanding.

Derber likens regimes to "political houses designed and run by groups or organizations that control the money." Carrying the analogy further, he says the "house rests on five pillars; a dominant institution, a mode of politics, a social contract, a foreign policy, and an ideology." Each has a distinctive form in the current corporate regime.

The dominant institution is the transnational corporation, headed by the "top ten" (e.g., GE), with their total assets alone worth around $4 trillion, more than the whole economy of many countries. Look at the book's subtitle to see just how dominant Derber thinks big corporations really are. They rule America. Many other authors whose books I've read share his views or are even more critical of Corporate America. David Korten, a former Harvard economics professor, for instance, believes big corporations are ruling and ruining the world, not just America (Korten, 2001).

Like the other authors, Derber marshals considerable arguments and evidence on how such corporations through their actions are predatory, domineering, and destructive of the common welfare. These actions include sacrificing American labor by downsizing and outsourcing work, causing "one-third of all workers to resort to tempting, freelancing, part and timing; privatizing government for profit (e.g., the grabbing of public wilderness forests by mining and timber companies; abandoning the conservative foundation of democratic capitalism through speculative financing and lobbying for corporate subsidies and tax breaks (e.g. seven of the largest corporations paid no federal taxes at all in 1998); controlling the mass media to indoctrinate the public; eroding countervailing forces, such as unions; and making the public passively dependent on corporations for almost every sphere of life; etc., etc.

The current regime's mode of politics is the "corpocracy," in which big government and big business exchange roles, except, big government keeps getting bigger. Derber illustrates this pillar with the familiar revolving door of Bush appointees from big business who while there helped write lax federal regulations overseeing their business and then, with a tour of "duty" in government, ensure that the regulations remain lax or not enforced.

The third pillar, social contract, is actually an antonym, social insecurity, in the current regime that intends to trade "the social security of workers and citizens for profit maximization." While Bush's plan to commercialize part of the safety net appears at least temporaily to be dead in the water as a result of the staggering costs accumulating from hurricane Katrina, don't write off determined neo-conservaties' persistence to downsize government, or "starve the beast," as they callously put it.
The fourth pillar supporting the current corporate regime is an imperialistic foreign policy. Its aim, Derber charges, "is to shape a global corporate order under the political and military direction of the United States." The policy reveals a disdain for international law, a proclivity for military intervention, contempt for American civil liberties, protectionism of US businesses from foreign competition, and, through such captive organizations as the World Trade Organization, a push for "inviolable corporate rights" anywhere in the world.

The last pillar is the current ideology that Derber calls the "corporate mystique," a government and corporate propaganda campaign that trumpets personal liberty and "free market" capitalism all the while pursuing an "unimagined freedom for big business and big problems for the rest of us."

The first two corporate regimes were undone by public backlash to "terminal socioeconomic crises." Derber believes the same fate awaits the current corporate regime and points to several developments that are facilitating a grass-roots civil rebellion, including the networking of activist groups via the Internet locally and globally, activist students "sprouting up on campuses," and the rising voice of such groups as "Janitors for Justice."

If bad regimes inevitably self-destruct then why, one could ask, does Derber bother to write this book, or at least its third part that is chock full of ideas for ending the current regime? My answer is that I do not think his scholarship and professionalism would have allowed him not to write this book. As for its third part, he explains that he wrote it because "most political books attack a problem but offer no solutions."

In introducing his ideas, he returns to his analogy of the political house by proposing new pillars for it; an active citizens' network, a new democracy of ordinary people, real social security, a foreign policy of collective security, and an ideology of citizen empowerment. He then suggests numerous ways for freeing America from corporate rule, some of which would require legislative or regulatory changes such as the rewriting of state corporate charters, slowing the revolving door with a ten-year freeze on reentry, and taxing short-term, speculative global investment. He also provides good rationales for uniting disparate groups such as conservatives versus progressives into grass roots social movements all "under a big tent" aimed at ending the current regime. Finally, he urges the reader to become active and lists the websites for five activist groups, each targeting one of the five pillars.

I hope my review motivates you to read his book. We all should know what thoughtful critics have to say about the corporate role in and its effects on our society, and we all should decide what we think about it and what if anything we should do about it.

Reference

Korten, DC. (2001, 2nd Ed.). When corporations rule the world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler and Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

A book about our lack of, and potential for, true democracy .......2004-08-09

The author writes that the costs of the Vietnam war weakened American economic power ; in the meantime West Europe/Japan had grown into full-fledge economic competitors with the U.S. In order to better compete in this environment, corporations decided that they couldn't tolerate the New Deal concessions to unions and other measures, so America began its rightward shift.

He writes, quoting the New York Times and Paul Krugman in The Nation(see endnotes), that from the early 1970's to 2000, the average income in real terms fell by seven percent for the bottom ninety percent in this country. Meanwhile, the income of the top one percent rose by 148 percent, the top tenth of one percent rose by 343 percent, and so on. The unemployed and "working poor" today comprise 40 percent of our employed class. Reagan's tax cuts helped this upward redistribution. In 1998, General Motors, Pepsi, Chevron, Texaco and Enron paid no federal taxes. Bush tax cuts have targeted the wealthy in obvious ways: taxes on capital gains and dividends,, which the vast majority of Americans do not report on their returns. Then there was the estate tax...Meanwhile a treasury department report suppressed in Bush's 2004 budget report projected the national debt reaching eventually reaching 44 trillion dollars. . Bush has proposed the further draconian measure of allow tax-shelter savings accounts where if enough money that only the rich can afford to save is placed it will be tax-free forever.

He should have quoted David Stockman's admission that the Reaganites embarked upon their insane military spending produced deficit in part in order to have an excuse to slash social programs. Bush is repeating this. Bush has already set in motion a partial Medicare privatization. Our political order encourages companies to move overseas to exploit repressed third world labor while leaving in wake a horde of workers who have to grasp for short term/temp jobs and have no health insurance, etc. It allows speculators to move two trillion dollars around the globe a day and leave financial disaster in their wake. It allows for companies to manipulate their stock value with their accountant's complicity. Now mutual funds are getting ready to have the government give them social security funds, so they can gamble with them on the stock market, an alarming prospect giving the recent accounting scandals on Wall Street. He quotes Fortune magazine as saying that the Enron-style chicaneries were quite widespread, not a few bad apples. Meanwhile the trade deficit may become completely unmanageable. The rich continue to get their corporate welfare, speculative bonanzas, etc but the country in the long term is heading towards a catastrophic debt.

He notes that the Cold War was a cover to support right wing dictators and death squads that repressed third world workers for the benefit of corporations. He mentions the flat tax imposed by Bremer on Iraq and the giving away of Iraq's economic assets to foreigners. He notes that Bush later admitted that there is no evidence of an Iraq-9/11 connection; for the Iraq war, he invoked a law that allowed the president to move against countries who played a role in the 9-11 butchery. Obviously the law didn't apply here. The "war on terror" is mainly about distracting Americans from Bush's draconian domestic measures and a cover to increase support for such pro-American, pro-oil and gas company murderers as Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan. He observes that Wolfowitz, Feith, etc. set up a Pentagon body (OSP) that would feed them the bogus intelligence for the war they needed.

Kerry would be somewhat better than Bush, but both are supporters of the current monstrous corporate order, though less extreme than Bush. The Republicans can gerrymander themselves into congressional victories.. They can throw voters off the rolls. But student, labor and other currently growing grassroots groups can affect a great change. He points to Moveon.org mobilizing its grassroots to get congress to repeal an FCC deregulatory measure . "An amazing organization!" he gushes about Moveon(but will they treat a democratic president as harshly when he does similar things as Bush?). He observes that Dennis Kucinich is one who has been overwhelmingly re-elected by the "Nascar Dads", "Reagan Democrats," by strongly articulating a populist economic message. Half of Americans don't vote; the dems could mobilize them but....

The author is a little simplistic in his invocation of American nostalgia. Teddy Roosevelt preached that corporations needed to be controlled in the public interest but that was mostly fraud. Corporations may have been paranoid about FDR but they were still very much in control. Inequality stayed the same from the beginning to the end of his rule. But his empowering to some extent of unions did play a role in eventually creating the American Middle Class. Gene Debs was a much better American hero.

The author's "new democracy" scheme for America, though accepting capitalism, goes a long way towards expanding democracy in this country.

I think the author should have made his factual points less vague; as it is, his main concentration seems to be to exhort the reader.

Another bulls-eye.......2004-06-14

Derber has hit the nail on the head again - in this case it's a bulls-eye, with Bush in the center. But much more important than Bush the individual is Derber's penetrating analysis of the corporate/political elites' control of our democratic processes. By exposing the underlying structure of this control, Derber gives us a meaningful vantage point to understand how the unabashed self-interest of a powerful minority negatigvely impacts the vast majority. I found Derber's upbeat style and witty presentation ultimately hopeful. It's a complicated topic, but this is a readable and important book. We need to wake up ourselves and our country to the reality of what's really happening under Bush (not to mention whoever wins in Nov) - let's demand our leaders and institutions do a much better job of implementing the fundamental ideals and human rights that our country was founded on and that we teach school children to believe in.

The political landscape will never again look the same.......2004-06-09

When I first heard that Charles Derber's new book was entitled "Regime Change Begins at Home," I chuckled, and figured that he'd joined the Al Franken/Michael Moore wing of political sloganeering. Not that I have anything against Franken and Moore -- far from it -- but I expect greater depth from Derber, whose fine "Corporation Nation" was the first book to not only sound the alarm against corporate power but also dig into its roots.

So I got a copy of "Regime Change Begins at Home" -- and found not only the hoped-for depth but also a entire new perspective on politics that, once seen, is obviously true. This is quite simply the most important political book I've read in years. I urge you to get a copy as soon as you can, read it, and spread the word to your friends to do the same. This is a book that can make a difference in the direction of our country and the world, but only if lots of people read it. Happily, Derber writes not like the academic he is but in a clear, simple, populist style.

I won't go on and on. Suffice it to say that Derber, a sociologist and political economist at Boston University, uses the word "regime" not as an epithet but in its deepest meaning. He says that American political history since the Civil War has had only five regimes, each spanning several presidencies; we are now living in the Third Corporate Regime. The First Corporate Regime lasted from 1865 to 1901, when it was supplanted by the Progressive Regime; that was supplanted by the Second Corporate Regime during the Roaring Twenties; it gave way to the New Deal Regime, which lasted longer than any other but ended in 1980 as the Third Corporate Regime took power with Ronald Reagan. Regimes come and regimes go, Derber makes clear, and he delves into why they go and the necessary ingredients of regime change. Read this book and you will see George Bush, John kerry, and Howard Dean in new light.

The good news is that Derber sees and describes wide cracks in the Third Corporate Regime, and suggests how to stick crowbars in them and get on with regime change. It all makes elegant sense. Please, for the good of our nation and the world, get this book and read it -- and act on its wisdom.

A spirited and inspiring wake up call.......2004-05-28

If you have read either Corporation Nation or People Before Profit, I am sure you will want to read this new book by Charles Derber. In my opinion his new book provides an even more readable introduction to the ideas of an author who is on the path to becoming one of the nation's foremost public intellectuals. As far as I am concerned this is not a good book, it is a great book.

According to Derber we are currently in the midst of the "Third Corporate Regime," a political regime that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and continues to the present. In case you were wondering, the "First Corporate Regime" ran from 1865-1901 (the Gilded Age) and the "Second Corporate Regime" ran from 1921-1933 (the Roaring Twenties). Thus regimes, as Derber uses the term, refer to broad swings with major realignments of power. All three are referred to as corporate regimes reflecting the marriage between corporate and political power, with big corporations having a great deal of control over the national government. A distinctive aspect of the Third Corporate Regime is that is has power that can be compared with that of both the British and the Roman Empires. It rules "not only America but much of the world."

If Bush wins in the 2004 election, Derber's view is that this will further solidify the Third Corporate Regime, particularly if he wins with substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. The fear is that the nation will become even more of a "corpocracy," his name for a pseudo-democracy in which a formally democratic government become a vehicle for corporate control. Kerry's election would reduce the damage done during the next four years, but it would not, by itself, represent genuine regime change.

A strength of this book is that Derber offers solutions. The entire third section of the book is devoted to what can be done to bring about the needed regime change. The election of a Democratic president and a Democratically controlled Congress might prove to be a regime-tipping election that would help create the conditions under which social movements dedicated to regime change could flourish and set the stage for eventual regime change down the pike.

While this book is written primarily for a Democratic and progressive audience it will inform and be of use to traditional conservatives and even some corporate elites. Those who are in close contact with corporate elites would be well advised to read this book because it provides a roadmap as to how progressives could topple the Third Corporate Regime. It also makes a very persuasive case as to why there is likely to be a strong movement to do just that in the not too distant future.

This book is a very easy read. It is hard to put it down and it could not be dealing with a more important set of issues. If enough people read this book, together we are going to be able to make a difference.

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thanks for the compliments and smears!

Left, Right, Left, Right

A little pointless

should not be recommended by Amazon

Corrupt Goverment

Regime Change Begins at Home

Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards

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Iraq's Most Wanted Playing Cards (Authorized Edition) (Research Division Report, #30)

Presidential Poker Playing Cards

Bush Cards: The Second Term

Bush Cards

ASIN: 1565849094

Book Description

The first step to giving the military-industrial complex the royal flush.

"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty, and potential mental losses.—The Ace of Spades, a.k.a. President George Bush

As is now terrifyingly clear, a gang of dangerous men (and a few women) has seized control of the United States. These "most unwanted" individuals are warmongers and profiteers who pose the real threat to peace and security on a global scale. They must be stopped. But first they must be identified.

That's where the Regime Change Begins at Home playing cards will come in handy. Modeled on those distributed to US troops in Iraq, these cards feature the top villains in the US administration and beyond. Each card includes a photograph of the desperado concerned, together with a brief and pithy description to assist in recognition.

For anyone interested in spotting the evil maniacs who are tearing up peace and justice at home and around the world, these cards will prove invaluable. But a word of warning: do not attempt to tackle these individuals on your own. They are heavily armed and dangerous. If you see any of the villains in this pack please report their whereabouts to your nearest anti-war group, trade union, or other community organization. Together we can stop them in their tracks and get them safely behind bars, where they belong.

Customer Reviews:

thanks for the compliments and smears!.......2004-09-03

as the designer of the cards I'd just like to say thank to those that like them and thank you too, to the right wingers who hate them, may they be one more nail in your coffin so that we can live in a world free from exploitation, oppression, hunger and misery

peace n x

Left, Right, Left, Right.......2004-06-03

This is a product of the Radical Left! Bush is a product of the Radical Right! The Left has wacky ideas - healthcare, fair wages, fighting wars against enemies that pose an ACTUAL threat. Crazy pinkos.
Don't forget, people, there is an element of fun and satire here.

A little pointless.......2004-02-29

Okay, the whole "Bush is a criminal" thing is an overused and rather trite "viewpoint". However, it doesn't really mean I support his administration. That said, as "cute" as this novelty is, it's ultimately just a bit lacking in purpose. The thing that's surprised me most about this is just the viewer reactions. Apparently, everyone seems to think they're under legal obligation to buy or enjoy everything Amazon recommends to them, when in fact no one even forced them to click the link. The sum of the detractors' argument seems to be "Stop forcing me to click this link." and "Liberals liberals liberals liberals liberals. I'm not saying anything really, I'm just throwing around the word 'liberals' to mean 'people I dislike'." I thought this was about reviewing products, not about reviewing people.

should not be recommended by Amazon.......2004-02-26

obviously the product of a radical left.

Corrupt Goverment.......2004-02-25

Very clever like the idea Bush and all his leaders are corrupt it's all about oil. Like father like son.

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Regime Change Begins at Home
Noel Douglas
Manufacturer: Bookmarks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Regime Change Begins at Home: A Set of Playing Cards for the Vigilant Citizen (Pack of 12)

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Regime Change Begins at Home: A Set of Playing Cards for the Vigilant Citizen (Pack of 12)

Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1565849116

Regime change begins at home.(Editorial)(Editorial): An article from: City Limits

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Regime change begins at home.(Editorial)(Editorial): An article from: City Limits
Alyssa Katz
Manufacturer: City Limits Community Information Service, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from City Limits, published by City Limits Community Information Service, Inc. on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 529 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: Regime change begins at home.(Editorial)(Editorial)
Author: Alyssa Katz
Publication: City Limits (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: City Limits Community Information Service, Inc.
Volume: 29 Issue: 7 Page: 2(1)

Article Type: Editorial

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Regime Change Begins at Home: Freeing America From Corporate Rule.(Book Review): An article from: Multinational Monitor

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Regime Change Begins at Home: Freeing America From Corporate Rule.(Book Review): An article from: Multinational Monitor

Manufacturer: Essential Information, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00082Z38E
Release Date: 2005-08-01

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Multinational Monitor, published by Essential Information, Inc. on May 1, 2004. The length of the article is 480 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: Regime Change Begins at Home: Freeing America From Corporate Rule.(Book Review)
Publication: Multinational Monitor (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2004
Publisher: Essential Information, Inc.
Volume: 25 Issue: 5-6 Page: 41(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

During the first half of this century, motion pictures were often considered disposable once their circulations were over. The recycling of used film and the use of components for war efforts contributed to the loss of many movies, as did the unstable nature of the nitrate film itself. The loss of extant works has created gaps in the national cinematic history of the United States and most European countries. Eighty percent of all Western-made films produced before World War I are considered lost, while 15 percent of the films made from 1930 to 1950 are also missing.
Here are descriptions of nearly 1,000 of the lost American and European films produced between 1900 and 1950, featuring the talents of the still famous as well as the now obscure. The films are arranged by country and reveal the remarkably prolific early filmmaking in countries like the Netherlands and Sweden. Each entry includes production information, cast, synopsis, history, and insights from reviews when available. Photographs from these films provide glimpses of what once was. An extensive index is included.

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Complaints about American Consumerism

Anxieties of Affluence: Critques of American Consumer Culture, 1939-1979
Daniel Horowitz
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1558495045

Book Description

This book charts the reactions of prominent American writers to the unprecedented prosperity of the decades following World War II. It begins with an examination of Lewis Mumford's wartime call for "democratic" consumption and concludes with an analysis of the origins of President Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech of 1979. Between these bookends, Daniel Horowitz documents a broad range of competing views, each in its own way reflective of a deep-seated ambivalence toward consumer culture—a persistent but shifting tension between a commitment to self-restraint and the pursuit of personal satisfaction through the acquisition of commercial goods and experiences.

To explain why affluence has caused so much anxiety in America, Horowitz focuses on key works of cultural criticism that stimulated public debate during what many have called the golden age of modern American capitalism. Some of these books, such as John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Affluent Society," Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," and Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed," are well known, while others, like Ernest Dichter's "The Psychology of Everyday Living," David Morris Potter's "People of Plenty," and Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb," may be less familiar. Still others, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Where Do We Go from Here?," have been overlooked as critiques of American consumerism. All were enormously influential in framing popular discussion of a range of troubling issues, from the relationship between morality and prosperity to the challenges the spread of wealth posed to the national character, to the natural environment, and to those who did not share in the country's bounty.

In his final chapter, Horowitz examines the writings of three leading intellectuals—Daniel Bell, Robert N. Bellah, and Christopher Lasch—whose views shaped President Carter's response to the energy crisis of the 1970s. An epilogue carries the story forward to the turn of the new century, as Americans find themselves grappling with the political and cultural implications of a new wave of prosperity.

Customer Reviews:

Complaints about American Consumerism.......2005-12-11

In the United States there is no question that we live in a culture of consumption. We change cars long before they are work out, and our thrift shops are filled with clothes showing almost no wear. And we are overweight.

The complaints about American consumer habits have grown just about as fast. This book examines that critism from the end of the depression until 1979. The book has five broad themes:

. the persistence of highly charged, moralistic attitudes to consumer culture
. how certain writers embraceed psychology as an explanation for and a solution to social problems
. the factors that determined the power of books to set the terms of public discussion
. the role of intellectuals in shaping social movements, public conversations and policy considerations
. the hegemony of the of the cold war consentsus was replaced by new events and ideas challenged its legitimacy.

The book ends in 1979 with the energy crisis and the thought that the 'good life' was over. After that came the longest period of growth in our history, various recessions, booms and bust on Wall Street, the dot.coms, SUVs and a lot more critism.

Book Description

This kit contains all the materials an aspiring magician needs:
• Three bestselling books by expert Karl Fulves: Self-Working Card Tricks, Self-Working Coin Magic, and Self-Working Handkerchief Magic
• A deck of cards
• Two handkerchiefs
• Three magic coins

Book Description

serial interface information to jump-start projects on several platforms. This it the first book to have extensive on RS-485 , a widely used, industry standard interface for networks. This reference features original content based on the author's firsthand research and experience, not just rewritten specifications and marketing materials. Programmers, engineers and developers will use the designs in this book to get projects up an running quickly. Installation and maintenance staff will find tips for ensuring reliable operation and problem tracking. Students and computer enthusiast can use the book's complete, original examples and tools to design experimental projects for several computer platforms.

Download Description

This is the first book to have extensive detail on RS-485, a widely used, industry-standard interface for networks. This reference features original content based on the author's firsthand research and experience, not just rewritten specifications and marketing materials. Programmers, engineers, and developers will use the designs in this book to get projects up and running quickly. Installation and maintenance staff will find tips for ensuring reliable operation and problem tracking. Students and computer enthusiasts can use the book's complete, original examples and tools to design experimental projects for several computer platforms.

Customer Reviews:

Easy to understand for this beginner to serial communications!.......2007-05-05

I read all the reviews I could find before buying this book, and they lead me to believe that I could find the help I needed to write a small program to control a bank of DVD players via RS232. Needless to say, this book gave me a lot of VERY useful serial bus information, especially on the "MSComm" Visual Basic serial port control. Chapter 4 gave me all the tips and hints I needed to "hack" together a first-draft application in under a day's work of coding!

Wasn't that helpful ..........2007-01-10

The examples in this book were too advanced for the project I was working on. In the end it was just a waste of time. I wish I'd spent my money on a book more suitible to my needs. Nuff said.

A Very Good Start and Maybe As Far as YOU need to go.......2006-10-29

You would think that as long as the RS-232 serial port has been around that every engineer would know all about it. But that's simply not true. People are still out there interfacing all manner of equipment using a serial interface.

In the Serical Port Complete you will find just about everything you need to know about interfacing to and programming for a serial port. Note that I say 'just about' everything you need to know, that's because who knows what you'll really be planning to do. Suffice to say that this is an introductory book. It assumes that you have little knowledge of PC's, a little knowledge of electronics. From there it tells you how to interface to an outside line using any of several common UARTs, and then how to program your PC to handle the resulting port.

If you are looking for something more complex; current loop or selecting data out of a stream, then I recommend you start here before going on the more complex literature. The programming in this book is illustrated using Visual Basic. If you work in some other language such as C++, it will not be difficult to convert.

A Good Serial Communications thru Visual BASIC Book - - - Hard to find!!!.......2005-12-03

i dont know why others didn't like the book. But for me, this is the best book for engineers who wants to interface their prototypes electronic projects to computers. questions i've been asking years ago about interfacing my projects using serial port are covered here...which you can't find with other books...(at least here in asia. The approach is practical yet accompanied by theories, a good combination in learning.)

So for those newbies as well as advanced users seeking for enlightenment about serial ports, why don't you try this book? for me, it is a treasure. Thank you very much Jan for sharing your knowledge. =)

Anyway, for those reviewers who criticizes the use of Visual BASIC in projects, all I can say is that:

Why make life complicated when you can make it simpler yet working??? besides, C C++ VB PASCAL etc. they all serve one purpose in the virtual life, to interface the real world and computers.They are like mathematical equations which may have different coefficients but has the same meaning/curve.

Get it???

Good work jan!!!

Very practical and easy to read.......2005-06-18

I needed to interface an embedded controller to a PC's serial port for a senior design project and this was the only resource I needed. The discussion of MSComm assumes a knowledge of Visual Basic. The book also discusses the 8150 - 16550 UARTs and methods of directly communicating with it. Explains linking a uC to a PC via RS-232 very well. I did not get in to the RS-485 stuff.

The book also assumes a basic knowledge of electronics, although I'm sure you can get by without it. Most schematics are high level and easy to understand

Serial Port Complete: COM Ports, USB Virtual COM Ports, and Ports for Embedded Systems (Complete Guides series)

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Serial Port Complete: COM Ports, USB Virtual COM Ports, and Ports for Embedded Systems (Complete Guides series)
Jan Axelson
Manufacturer: Lakeview Research
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

PCs | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 193144806X

Book Description

PC COM ports, USB virtual COM ports, and ports in embedded systems are all addressed in this updated guide to programming, interfacing, and using serial ports. Topics include using .NET’s SerialPort class for COM-port communications on PCs; upgrading existing RS-232 designs to USB or wireless networks; and creating serial networks of embedded systems and PCs. Example circuits and code provide a quick start to projects. Installation and maintenance staff will also find tips for ensuring reliable operation and problem tracking.

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