I was looking for basic factual information on the trilateral commission. This book seemed very fine from the table of contents and superficial paging--a lot of reference data, etc. What attracted me also was a complete lack of right-wing grumble about jews/builderbergers/new world order/black UN helicopters and other such 'wake-up-americans' rant. However, I was quickly disappointed, because the lack of right-wing ranting is generously compensated by the red spin. For every ounce of info this book contains a kilo of nauseating leftist bs, which I'm afraid, makes it unreadable. It does have a lot of data, so, if you think you can plow through "imperialism" and other such stuff, it may be useful. I resent this style though, and will have to look for some other, less prejudiced book. Definitely peruse before buying, in fact, more: read a chapter, see if you throw up. If not, the book may be ok for you.

This book is an important first step in understanding the corporate world, and what the ideaology of "profit over everything" is doing to the natural and human world.

Some ideas from Paul Hawkin's "The Ecology of Commerce" (but don't believe him...look it up):
*we have decimated ninety-seven percent of the forests in North America
*every day we draw out 20 billion more gallons of water from the ground than are replaced by rainfall
*the Ogalala Aquifer, an underwater river beneath the Great Plains larger than any body of fresh water on earth, will dry up within thirty to forty years at present rates of extraction
*globally we lose 25 billion tons of fertile topsoil every year, the equivalent of all the wheatfields in Australia

Call that "leftist BS" if you will, but there is something going on in the world that will reveal it self whether you are or are not looking. Our current business practices are destroying the very infrastructure on which our business ideaology is built upon. If you don't think so, you haven't been paying attention.

As a subscriber to the view that capitalists, for the most part, are heroes and that capitalism, for the most part, is the best of breed, I could have done without the editor's spin. This aside, trilateralism should be of interest to everyone who has an interest in globalism and the global economy; it contains a great deal of information not readily elsewhere. The unheralded contributions of the trilateralists will become evident upon a reading of this book; disregard the spin. I did.

I was disappointed in this book, but I think many people might still find it well worth reading. Rooney tells the story of South Bronx Churches, an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate, which came to organize in the Bronx, with the primary purpose of building affordable, single-family homes on some of the Bronx's famous open land.

Unfortunately, Rooney doesn't critically examine anything the SBC people say to him. He presents their opinion, and their own descriptions of their strategies and their results, as fact. It would be more interesting if he were able to evaluate what the group accomplished in comparison to other groups, or in comparison to the goals they set for themselves.

But if one recognizes this fault, one can read much of the history of this significant Bronx organization in these pages.

And I have to say this -- either the author or the publisher should have used a spell-checker on this book.

I recall reding this book about 4 years ago. My recollection is that Rooney did a good job of explaining how he came to study education in the Bronx and discovered Industrial Area Foundation organizing in the South Bronx around the issues of better public education and affordable housing in particular. I thought he did a good job of gaining valuable access to the organization, its leaders and organizers. His interviews and insights were very interesting. I must admit being of a fan of this kind of Faith-based organizing myself having seen it be effective in Chicago as it has been in Rooney's description of the Bronx. Faith-based plus other institutions can democratically improve neighborhoods and revitalize citizen democracy in all types of neighborhoods from the Bronx to Westchester County.

The transformation of Times Square from a den of porn, drugs, and prostitution into an urban Disneyland is the greatest success story of urban renewal. (I am astonished that anyone could be nostalgic about the old Times Square - I find it hard to be nostalgic about drug dealers loitering in front of porn shops and boarded-up theaters.)

Lynne Sagalyn devotes her 600-page tome to documenting the politics behind the redevelopment process. The end result is not exactly rivetting reading. Perhaps it's asking too much for any author to transform this epic of backroom politics, urban planners, and real estate developers into a "good read." In any event, the author has carefully documented the entire process, focussing on the backroom politics and urban planning strategies, rather than on the architecture of the buildings themselves. The book is profusely illustrated with well over a hundred b&w photos and detailed maps. In addition, a central color section of the book has about 35 photographs and drawings.

The story of how Times Square, and, in particular, 42nd Street, was finally rescued is fascinating, but it's blurred in this treatment. Sagalyn is an academic, and unfortunately, it shows. It reads like a long series of New York Times Arts & Leisure section essays by a critic. All the info is in there, but it's somewhat exhausting to wade through. One suspects the same info could have been delivered more elegantly in half the number of words.

Given the rather expensive price, wait to see whether there's a paperback version. But anyone who's interested in the history and development of NYC will find it worthwhile.

I have read this book for a class, and was particularly unimpressed with the positions on civil rights (Chapter 11). Although the focus of this chapter(as with other chapters) was never how the authors personally felt about various issues and policy areas, reading this chapter alone would not tell you that. Ironically in a chapter about discrimination and stereotypes, there are plenty of generalizations.

Even though the authors grasped the idea of African American equality, they remark that "The creation of a more favorable public perception of efforts to alter the status of women is perhaps impede by the fact that the National Organization for Women (NOW) is regarded by many as being outside the American mainstream and dominated by extremists"(371)The authors then try and backpeddle by assuring readers that "In general, most major women's organizations do not take a negative stance against men"(372)The idea that the two verbatim quotes can actually be included in a professional allegedly netural work is beoynd disbelief.

Furthermore, the subsection on Disability is prefaced as victims. It fails to acknowllege that each of these subgroups (like women and African Americans) also had a role in their own respective struggles.

Key legislation and court cases concerning disabled children's right to a free appropriate public education is omitted, and the authors snidely reference "claims of learning disabilities"(378) Considering that the authors are teaching at public institutions, one must wonder what planet they have been living on for the past 20 years.

Gone completely is a discussion of the Asian American and Chicano rights movement. Native Americans and GLBT rights are squeezed in as an afterthought, which is particularly ironic given the current very visible presence of that movement.

I sympathize deeply with any student who has to read this textbook and urge you to do further research when you get to Chapter 10. I urge professors and faculty (if they have not do so already) to look for another book. While my public policy class turned out fairly well in spite of this book, others shouldn't have to repeat the same path if possible.

This book is impressive for its compilation of data. Anyone writing a paper on the subject will find this book a handy source of material. The author sought to defend the merits of Chinese gradualism vis-a-vis the "shock therapy" approach advocated by mainstream academe in the West.

The author offered some interesting insights on the respective fate of China and Russia. Especially provacative is the parallel he drew between the disastrous attempts to leap to Communist Utopia and the Eastern Block's latter attempt to "leap into the market". The trouble is he failed to pursue these promising leads in depth. As a result neither economic nor political analysis was terribly satisfying - every once in a while the reader comes across a gem or two of real insight, but just as he sits up and is ready to listen the unrelenting parade of facts resumes to numb the senses.

Even the facts could have been organized better and brought to bear on the book's arguments more effectively. The author could have - for instance - focused on specific contentions made by the "Big Bang" school and rebuked them with relevent data. Instead the book merely unfurled long lists of facts and sought to make its point through a generous dose of hand-waving.

As someone with a great interest in seeing communities like that described in Community Technologies develop, I was dissapointed in Hess' approach to the subject. Much of the book was a Wendell Berry style argument about the need for change in the American lifestyle, though Hess differs from Berry in that he is not as eloquent and thinks more urbanly than Berry. What I hoped for was a detailed account of WHAT happened, HOW they made it happened, and WHY it didn't work. Not nearly enough space was devoted to those issues, so it was difficult to draw my own conclusions.

This book is really insightful to those who are still earning their undergrad degrees. It offers many tips on resume writing, networking, and assessing ones own skills. If I were a junior in college this would have been a great source of information and inspiration. However, for someone who has been out of school for a short period of time, it doesn't offer much in the way of career guidance. It does offer good tips on graduate school and how to find the program that is right for you depending on what type of job you are interested in after. It also lists all the professional associations for a political scientist.

Singh's democratic view at the growth of telecommunication systems in 3rd world countries exposes the realities and myths of jumping ahead into the technological future. Using in-depth detail, he presents the flaws in the goals of 3rd world countries (mostly India) by telling why successful telecom systems in 1st world countries cannot be duplicated out of socioeconomic contexts. Also he explains the actions of how catalytic, near catalytic, and disfunctional states help or hinder the expansion process. His capitalist solution of more private competitors drags down his arguement with his redundant examples. A good book to glance over to get his important main ideas, but don't get hogged down in his details.

Opportunities in Social Work helps individuals determine if their rewarding career needs to include helping others. Those who choose social work are motivated to make a real difference in the lives of those in need by assisting and empowering people with problems in their every day lives and by helping improve economic conditions in society. This book looks at the history of the helping profession, gives suggestions for today, and looks into hopefulness for the future.

This book is beneficial to both Progressives, and their arch-enemy, the Conservatives

For Progressives ---

the book is a Bible of Progressive politics. It gives readers a backround and a full instuctional book on how to create the policy-jewel of the Progressive movement, which is merging counties so that everyone shares the same tax duties (in other words, a contemporary form of Socialism)

Aside from tax-base sharing, the book offers other Progressive arguements that are very in tune with the Progressive movement --- a great book for anyone aspiring to become a Progressive Poseur

For Conservatives ---

Do you ever watch Progressives debate on Fox News and think to yourself, "What the heck is their logic??? What planet are they coming from??" If you would really like to get INSIDE the mind of a Progressive, and finally see what they truly think, their logic behind their thinking, and the ways that they reach their conclusions, then this is the book for you!

The book is a roadmap of all Progressive policies, allowing Conservatives to truly dissect their policy approaches, in a manner that would allow them to have the upper hand in a debate after thorough analyzing.

Conclusion ---

Many of the policy recommendations in here are far-fetched and are not very likely to occur anywhere in America ---- but nonetheless, it serves as a great Bible for Progressives, and for Conservatives, as an excellent reference to a Progressive cause that is extremely difficult to comprehend.

Think of the book as 'American Progressivism for Dummies'