I really enjoyed reading this book, especially because there are so many quotations included which I had not encountered previously. Smith and Dalzell identify "enduring lessons from Rockefeller, Morgan, and [others among] the first industrialists." The term "Robber Barons" suggests criminal monarchs. No doubt it has some direct relevance to those discussed, at least at some point in their respective business careers. The material is organized as follows: an excellent Introduction ("Why Robber Barons Matter") followed by four chapters (Venturing, Competing, Managing, and Leading). Then there is a handy section called "Chronology: Business and World Events, 1870-1929,'" followed by recommendations for "Further Reading."

Why do the Robber Barons matter? "During the golden age of industry, running from the midnineteenth century through 1930 or so, the Robber Barons commercialized risky high technologies and figured out how to build radically new organizations from the bottom up. They identified the great entrepreneurial and management issues of the world's first big corporations, and they devised surprisingly durable solutions to the basic business problems of modern civilization." Here are a few of the quotations which caught my eye:

"There could be no progress until enough people could be made dissatisfied -- and this could be done only when they were brought to think beyond the limits to which they were accustomed." (Thomas Edison)

"If you have an idea, that is good. If you also have ideas as to how to work it out, that is better." (Henry Ford)

"Every executive has to recognize sooner or later that he himself cannot do everything that needs to be done. Until he recognizes this, he is only an individual, with an individual's power, but after he recognizes it, he becomes, for the first time, an executive, with control of multiple powers." (Alfred Sloan)

The authors have done an excellent job of selecting and distributing quotations such as these throughout the text. They include their own insightful comments, correlating them with key points previously introduced in their Introduction. Is there a great deal that is "new" in this slender volume? No. Is there much of value to be learned or have reaffirmed? You bet.

This book is more of a digest of Ide's other works. Each chapter explains the life of a different group of people, and how they treated women. He begins with theories on the species prior to homo sapien, then works his way up right through the Renaissance.

The book offers a great introduction into the study of everyday life in Ancient Near East cultures. Typical of Ide, it is well-written, easy to read and understand, and contains numerous citations of original-tongue sources.

Seventy-five of the most noted women of the recent past are remembered by a roster of outstanding photographers in this stunning volume. Each photo, which captures the subject at the height of her achievements, is accompanied by a biography detailing contributions made and public response.

All of the photos capture the essence of the woman, as Cokie Roberts remarks in the Preface: "Look into the eyes of the subjects of these photographs and you see the triumphs, failures, hopes, and disappointments of some of the truly talented women of our time."

The album is a diverse collection of unique women, from Helen Keller to Dorothy Parker to Gertrude Stein to Gypsy Rose Lee to Shirley Temple to Ella Fitzgerald.

We learn that upon Grandma Moses's first visit to New York City she "told reporters, 'It's nice to be here, but the city doesn't appeal to me.' 'As picture material?' someone asked. 'As any material,' she answered."

And, we discover that Joan Baez remembers singing the civil rights movement's anthem "We Shall Overcome" at the Lincoln Memorial, by saying, "...one of the medals which hangs over my heart I awarded to myself for having been asked to sing that day."

The revelatory photos and essays found in "Women Of Our Time" are a tribute to women, to our age, and to humankind.

- Gail Cooke

Words Of Ages: Witnessing U.S. History Through Literature is a remarkable 320 page trade paperback book that takes a unique, ground-breaking approach to showcase American history by using letters, journal entries, short stories, and poetry to illustrate the American experience through pen of some of America's greatest authors and historical figures. Included are more than 125 excerpts from such luminaries as Booker T. Washington, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Tom Wolf, Thomas Paine, Chief Tecumseh, Frederick Douglass, Robert Frost, and a host of other to provide an accessible context for understanding the events, places, and people that shaped American history, culture and politics. Words Of Ages is divided chronological into units ranging from "Voices of a Revolution" and "Civil War and Reconstruction", to "Social Critics and Reformers" and "The Vietnam Years". This dynamic, interdisciplinary blending of literature, history, and art provide a most unusual, effective, and academically sound approach that will be read with enthusiasm by anyone with an interest in American history.

This book lays out the laws for worker's comp in an easy to read chart. The information in the charts and text of the book is priceless. If you are serious about reducing your work comp costs, this book shows you how.

This is simply the most extensive work and study on all forms of paper money (also a little something for numismatists and scriptophilists) issued during the Second World War, thus the title of the book. It goes further than just being a "Catalogue" as it unveils the history behind the issues and disseminates data much like a detective novel, piecing together long forgotten information. Simply a must for all Military Notes enthusiasts and World War Two buffs and anyone interested in history and economic effects during the war.

This is the story of Frederick Funston. It provides a brief review of his early life, more detail on his explorations in Death Valley and in Alaska, and focuses on how he joined the insurgent forces during the Cuban Revolution prior to the Spanish-American War. Though he had never fired a cannon, Funston went to Cuba as an artillery officer and instructor. He rose from captain to lieutenant-colonel through twenty major battles, numerous skirmishes, and three major wounds. Several horses were shot out from under him, and he was briefly a captive of the Spanish. The writing is engaging and interesting, and the author provides a good look at guerilla warfare in those days. Although not covered in this book, Funston became a colonel of volunteers in the US Army and fought in the Philippines after the US acquired those islands. He won the Medal of Honor, captured the rebel leader, commanded the army during the San Francisco fire, and rose to major general. Had he not died at a relatively early age he could well have become the commander of American forces in WWI. If you like to read about exciting lives, Frederick Funston's is made to order for you.

Yvain is a beautiful tale of love and courtly society by the greatest storyteller of medieval France, presented here in a very clear (and relatively cheap) translation. Particularly fine is the way this fantasy presents 12th-century aristocratic values, especially as the title character is torn between love of a woman and love of honor in his very masculine society. I have used this translation several times in undergraduate history classes on the Middle Ages--it works extremely well.

"You will be haunted by Three Spirits." So forewarns Jacob Marley's ghost to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser of stingy, unfavorable traits. And so begins the enduring Christmas classic distinguished by almost everyone. Come along on an erratic journey with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, all of whom attempt to point Scrooge onto a virtuous path. Meet the most notable characters ever introduced in literature: Bob Cratchit, angelic Tiny Tim, and good-natured Fred. With vivid descriptions of Victorian England and enlightening dialogue, 'A Christmas Carol' will enrapture both the young and old throughout the year with a vital lesson on hope and benevolence for humanity. This, I find, is treasured most of all in this brief story marvelously crafted by the creative Charles Dickens. No matter how many adaptations of the book one has seen on television or as films, the real source is highly recommended and should not be missed. For if you do pass the book up, you are being just a Scrooge (metamorphically speaking, of course!).

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen).

This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist.

The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again.

It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.

I initially approached this book with a great deal of trepidation. I had never read Dostoyevsky, and was concerned that I would get bogged down in some lengthy, mind-numbingly boring, nineteenth-century treatise on the bestial nature of man or something. I am happy to report this is not the case. Instead, and to my delight, it is a smoothly flowing and fascinating story of a young man who succumbs to the most base desire, and the impact this has both psychologically and otherwise on himself and those around him.

To be sure, the book seems wordy in places, but I suspect this has to do with the translation. And what translator in his right mind would be bold enough to edit the great Dostoyevsky? But this is a very minor problem.

What we get with Dostoyevsky is dramatic tension, detailed and believable human characters, and brilliant insight into human nature. Early in the novel our hero meets and has a lengthy conversation with Marmeladov, a drunkard. This conversation is never uninteresting and ultimately becomes pathetic and heartbreaking, but I kept wondering why so much time was spent on it. As I got deeper into the book, I understood why this conversation was so important, and realized that I was in the hands of a master storyteller. This is also indicative of the way in which the story reveals itself. Nothing is hurried. These people speak the way we actually speak to one another in real life, and more importantly, Dostoyevsky is able to flesh out his characters into whole, three-dimensional human beings.

And what a diverse group of characters! Each is fleshed out, each is marvelously complex. Razujmikhin, the talkative, gregarious, good-hearted, insecure and destitute student; Sonia, the tragic child-prostitute, with a sense of rightness in the world; Petrovich, the self-important, self-made man, completely out of touch with his own humanity; Dunia, the honorable, wronged sister: we feel like we know these people because we've met people like them. They fit within our understanding of the way human beings are.

Dostoyevsky also displays great insight into human nature. Svidrigailov, for example, talks of his wife as liking to be offended. "We all like to be offended," he says, "but she in particular loved to be offended." It suddenly struck me how true this is. It gives us a chance to act indignantly, to lash out at our enemies, to gain favor with our allies. I don't believe I've ever seen this thought expressed in literature before. In fact, it never occurred to me in real life! Petrovich, Dunia's suitor, not only expects to be loved, but because of his money, and her destitution, he expects to be adored! To be worshipped! He intentionally sought out a woman from whome he expected to get this, and is comletely flummoxed when she rejects him. His is an unusual character, but completely realized.

There is so much more to talk about: the character of Raskolnikov, which is meticulously and carefully revealed; the sense of isolation which descends on him after committing his crime; the cat and mouse game played on him by the police detective. I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the historical and social context in which this takes place. Suffice to say this is a very rich book.

Do not expect it to be a rip-roaring page turner. Sit down, relax, take your time, and savor it. It will be a very rewarding experience. And thank you SL, for recommending it.

Like many writers of his era, Dostoyevsky uses a lot of prose and little dialogue, which makes reading the book a bit of a plodding chore.

However, the story is anything but boring: Raskilnov, a poor student, comes up with the philosophy that killing an old female pawnbroker will actually be good for the world because she cheats people and is otherwise useless. It's premeditated --- he even counts exactly how many steps it takes from his place to her door.

The book also recounts the following few days when Raskilnov's mother and sister come to visit and he has to play his 'family role' i.e. "I'm a good son and brother when I'm not killing old women." In addition, he is involved with a family consisting of a dying mother, a father, 3 young sons and an 18-year-old daughter who must go into prostitution to support them.

So what happens to all of these characters in pre-Revolutionary Russia? What will be Raskilnov's punishment? Does he actually think he was right to kill? The answers unfold as you read this gem from the world of Russian literature -- so renown you feel like you really achieved something when you read it!

This novel stands out as one of the finest pieces of actual literature I have read. Top 5 at least.

First, let me pay tribute to "Everyman's Library Series". They make very handsome novels, complete with soft cream pages, and a built in fabric book mark. They all come in moroon, and add a certain pinache to any book collection. Best of all, they are well priced.

As for Crime and Punishment. I was very impressed. More often than not, I read the classics, and wonder how it is they have become classics. For Dostoevsky, there can be no doubt. And Crime and Punishment is his best known effort. Not his best though. C&P is the exploration of the world that it's hero/villain Raskolnikov occupies. He takes it apon himself to murder a particularly vile pawnbroker(thus making him a villain) under the guise of the highest moral resposibility. Well, no plan is perfect, and most of the book is an involved psycological examination of it's main character, the ways he tries to justify his crime to himself, and the people around him who have no idea what the hell is going on. Dostoevsky creates living breathing people that you care about in this tale. It's simple premise gives way to an incredibly complex story. The dialogues bewtween Raskolnikov, and Porfiry( the ever suspicious investigator) are wonderful. And then theres the clever and sneaky Svidrigailov, whom I found rather amusing at times. To me the book was very suspenseful. never knowing if or when young Raskolnikov would confess, or continue to hide in uncertainty due to the circumstancial evidence that linked him to the crime. SO many times I wanted to read to the end to find out. But I didn't, and neither should you. There's just so much depth to this book, I have no doubt it will recieve a return read. Perhaps in another 10 years I will read it, and get even more out of it. That's how all great books are. Highest recommendation.