Professor Tom Forrest's The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise provides a detailed and extensive account of medium- and large-scale African business. Up-to-date and comprehensive, it examines the growth of private enterprise in Nigeria, giving profiles of the country's key entrepreneurs.

Combining ethnographic and historical perspectives, Forrest examines the strategies and patterns of development employed by businesspeople from the colonial period to the present. Through a series of highly readable case studies, he provides a broad picture of the Nigerian private enterprise's forms of capital accumulation and advances in trade, transport, manufacture, agriculture, finance, and other services. The case studies are set within the context of changing economic opportunities, shifts in power and policy, relations with foreign capital, and attitudes toward private business and the state.

Not only an invaluable digest of Nigeria's business activity, Forrest's study also challenges the existing views about African enterprise and is highly relevant to policymakers concerned with economic development.

Herbert Haines explores the history of the death penalty abolitionist movement in the United States. He discusses the various strategies and beliefs that have been behind the movement since its inception in this country. After presenting the movement in this historical context, Haines makes sound recommendations for the future of the movement. A very practical and wonderful work.

'Ancient Captials of Thailand' describes the old important cities and captials of Southern Thailand. These include Sukothai, Ayuthaya, Kampeng and several other cities. The book is beautifully illustrated with more than 350 photographs. It also provides site maps and descriptions of the different places and the major temples and structures. Thus, it's not just a 'picture book", but I can recommend this book both for content and quality of the pictures. The book does not cover the cities of the Northern Kingdoms (e.g., Lanna), this is supposed to be the topic of another book.

Gerald A. Benjamin and Joel Margulis tell the current or prospective angel or early-stage investor how to best judge pre-IPO investments. They emphasize matching investors with the right entrepreneurs to create an effective team in which the investor not only provides the seed or early-stage capital but also contributes good advice and contacts. Besides discussing effective strategies, the book includes an extensive directory of top venture forums, angel organizations, publications and Web sites. In addition, any investor will benefit from the thorough rundown of due-diligence points that the authors recommend. While the book is targeted at prospective investors, we [...] encourage entrepreneurs with start-up companies to use it as a productive guide to making more effective funding pitches, although the companion book for entrepreneurs would probably be more helpful. One caveat: Some ideas are repeated - even with similar wording - from chapter to chapter. But overall this is a solid book, even though the free flows of money it evokes have been arrested somewhat lately.

It is most unfortunate if you were too late to acquire a copy of this out-of-print classic when it was published. After more than 25 years, it is still my favorite book on the subject, and the only title in my collection for which I own 2 copies. Although it has been surpassed by later works in depth of detail, it is, in my opinion, the finest overall book in its class. The format is unique; no photographs; superb line drawings in constant scale; a uniform format for data and symbolic abbreviations; ship-by-ship histories; and much more. It is a purists delight of detail, and yet contains syntheses and conclusions drawn from the facts presented. Translated from German, the author covers all battleships and battlecruisers built or projected since HMS Dreadnought into all their offshoots -- if they were converted into carriers, the book details the carrier. The only flaw with the book is an arguable bias toward German ship designs although it is hard to dispute that the WW1 Lutzow and WW2 Bismarck classes were indeed "among the best ever built". The same thing could easily be said about the Queen Elizabeth or New Jersey classes but wasn't. However, that's a trifle; if you don't have a copy, put it down as number one on your search list.

Jack Bernstein is just brilliant. His forecast of Y2K market crash and rising energy price were just plain accurate. This is the same man predicted crash of Japanese Nikkie in late 80s. His prediction are largely derived from historical data and facts. Very thorough and methodical analysis. It is a must read for every traders and investors. I wished I have read this book in 1999 and could have saved me tons of money.

After scouring library shelves for the perfect book to take along on my recent trip to Beijing, I stumbled upon this treasure. I carried it with me every day, all day during my trip. It provided me with maps, suggested itineraries, even a great vegetarian restaurant. It's information is clear, concise and up-to-date. And it's small enough to carry along with you when you've only got room for one book.

This Book is the greatest! It perfectly defines just how horrible President Clinton is!

If the author isn't a genius, and I'll say he is, he at least has the elements of genius at his disposal. He has read, of both the good and the bad, and this book is an expression of his bioligical and spiritual drive to let us know about the variables we are dealing with in our project to kill pain and feel pleasure, enhance cognition and engage sensuality. Everyone who's brain's structure is remotely similar to mine might want to read this book. Unless you've been lucky enough to be immersed in the depths of the realest and most dream-logical philosophy for your whole life, in which case you could conceivably know the material in Beyond Capital. Even so, reading the book would be a reminder, as if you need reminders.

I am purchasing this book after reading it--I have the libraries copy in front of me, but I need a copy to write in the margins and highlight. As a curious follower of Putnam's work on Social Capital, this book deepens the conversation and ideas surrounding the issue, most importantly asking questions about what do we mean by "social capital."

The book is a gathering of commentary from scholars on social capital and how it relates or may not relate to civil society. It is an academic's book. It is an important book for anyone who wants to consider Social Capital at a deeper level.