Book Description
By the time Phil Chase is elected president, the world’s climate is far on its way to irreversible change. Food scarcity, housing shortages, diminishing medical care, and vanishing species are just some of the consequences. The erratic winter the Washington, D.C., area is experiencing is another grim reminder of a global weather pattern gone haywire: bone-chilling cold one day, balmy weather the next.
But the president-elect remains optimistic and doesn’t intend to give up without a fight. A maverick in every sense of the word, Chase starts organizing the most ambitious plan to save the world from disaster since FDR–and assembling a team of top scientists and advisers to implement it.
For Charlie Quibler, this means reentering the political fray full-time and giving up full-time care of his young son, Joe. For Frank Vanderwal, hampered by a brain injury, it means trying to protect the woman he loves from a vengeful ex and a rogue “black ops” agency not even the president can control–a task for which neither Frank’s work at the National Science Foundation nor his study of Tibetan Buddhism can prepare him.
In a world where time is running out as quickly as its natural resources, where surveillance is almost total and freedom nearly nonexistent, the forecast for the Chase administration looks darker each passing day. For as the last–and most terrible–of natural disasters looms on the horizon, it will take a miracle to stop the clock . . . the kind of miracle that only dedicated men and women can bring about.
Customer Reviews:
Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson.......2007-09-19
Kim Stanley Robinson has released the conclusion to his trilogy, Sixty Days and Counting, just in time! The hardcover is out and the paperback will be out at Christmas, if not, early next year: just in time for everyone to buy it, read the trilogy, and decide who to vote for in the Presidential elections of November 2008. Again, Robinson is not look to wow and amaze readers with shocking sci-fi events, but keeping true to the close reality of his world.
The Gulf Stream is working well again, President Chase is just taking office, knowing that the absolute worse may have been averted for a little while, but that there is still very much to do. Selecting a cabinet composed of the many characters we have come to know over Forty Signs of Rain and Fifty Degrees Below, we know this administration is on our side and looking out for the world and its people. It is here Robinson really shines using his amazing knowledge of science and physics in coming up with ways to deal with the immense carbon dioxide volume being both pumped into the atmosphere and already there causing world temperatures to rise. The United States bands together with countries around the world, such as Russia and China, in the development of a fast growing lichen that will spread through a forest fast under the right conditions, and has an astonishing carbon absorption rate. Working in conjunction, the world slowly begins to heal itself. On a subplot level, Frank Vanderwal, who is now an assistant to a cabinet member, is looking for his quasi-girlfriend whose former husband was instrumental in a plot to rig the election that failed. It becomes a game of cat and mouse, as Frank and his girlfriend try to stay ahead of the chasing husband.
By the end of the book, some simple matters are resolved, while the world is a little calmer in their nonstop fight to "cool down" global warming. The one final consolation is the Tibet being declared independent once more from the Chinese and the close friends of the main characters who moved to DC at the beginning of the series because their island, Khembalung, was drowning due to rising ocean levels.
Robinson's message is clear at the end: global warming cannot be completely stopped, and to slow it down will be a long and arduous struggle that will last through our lives and into our children's and grandchildren's lives, but there is hope for this planet, so long as we act now and soon. The series will make the next presidential election a very interesting time.
For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com
"Not with A Bang, But a Whisper".......2007-09-01
Kim, another disappoint. A great series and challenge of ideas with a wimpy ending. Politics - -lots of - no real expansion of scientific ideas other then some continuastion from earlier volumes. The ending of the Caroline/Husband situtation is not realistic. What happens to the Quiblers and some of the other figures, e.g., the ferals? Joe is a minor figure, but he is left hanging... There are too many loose ends and too much still to do. I can understand environmental "saving" is not easy or cheap, and Plil Chase and Quibler make some decent basic Libertarian tenants as principles, but buried in the verbiage. Methane and carbon dioxide? Sure the attempted cures might work if technologically feasiblre, but they are only part of the story. Climate change and solar cycles don't really seem to be a part of the thinking or the solution, thought they seem indirectly recognized in the series. IAC, little action, lots of decent verbiage, ...but the finale lrft me ..... empty and unfofilled. So, I ask KIM to try again - and hit the greatness of the Mars series or even "Spacedance."
Sixty Days to Nowhere.......2007-08-07
Robinson's books have always had strong ecological themes, and this, the final volume of his look at the global warming crisis, is no exception. Unlike so many other books that try and delve in this area, Robinson provides not only a look at what we might expect to happen to our world if our current production and consumption habits don't change, but what we can reasonably do about it.
This is, in fact, the strong point of this work, as Robinson envisions both a group of dedicated scientists who actively try to handle a myriad of different types of technological fixes and a newly elected President who gives far more than lip service to their plans. Many of the things Robinson describes here are both good science and show a good grasp of what is possible in the world of politics when the voting population can actually see and feel the detrimental effects (most of this was detailed in the prior two books). The economic costs of massive programs of this nature (such as pumping huge quantities of seawater into basins and back to the top of the eastern Antarctic) are not ignored, either, though I did feel that expecting a massive shift of dollars from military defense to ecological programs was expecting a little too much.
Unfortunately, the novel that above is wrapped in isn't much of a novel. We are presented with the continuing story of Frank in search of his briefly met mysterious love while still trying to live a feral life inside the city confines, and Charlie and his concerns about his youngest son. The whole incident of the potential election-rigging that formed a prime part of the last book is still here, but muted and almost buried under a somewhat far-fetched attempt to find and root out the super-black intelligence agency responsible for the plan. Now there may be little doubt that there may be intelligence-gathering agencies that have too much unsupervised power, and that current laws do not do enough to safeguard individual's liberties and rights, but Robinson's depiction crosses the line into James Bondian fantasy. Robinson also lets his own political biases show far too much, at one point making an unqualified statement that the people in the current administration are criminals.
The trouble with all of this is there is very little action, and almost no suspense. Frank and Charlie's stories just don't have much emotional grabbing power, so that in the end I felt I was reading more of a treatise (even if a good, well reasoned, and scientifically sound one) than a novel. The other plot threads that were started in the first two books are given conclusions, but almost in a back-handed manner, and with far too much of `everything ends well'. What would have helped this book considerably would have been a look at the world and the political maneuvering from the eyes of Phil Chase, the new President, but we are only given short glimpses of this. By the end of the book, everything just kind of sputters out, leaving me quite disappointed. I expect much better from this author.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Climate Change Saga.......2007-05-12
This is the first great work of what will surely be a new sub-genre. Its not alternate history, its predictive future. Robinson is a master of this set. His best-selling (brilliant) Mars trilogy followed much the same path before anyone was ready to accept that "terra-forming" may be something that we very much needed on earth. This trilogy, of which Sixty Days is the third, brings it all down to earth.
Robinson is a master story teller that is able to take macro-techinical ideas and put them to paper in a systematic way that makes them not only understnadable but altogether probable. On the downside, he tends to fall in love with his characters a bit too much. I am one that really enjoys the science of science-fiction. While Robinson delivers this, I sometimes find myself "fast-forwarding" through a page or two of excessive character building.
Which is not to suggest caution. This trilogy is very important reading.
A Good Read.......2007-05-12
I have enjoyed reading several of Mr. Robison's book. "Sixty Days and Counting" was another pleasure to read. I tend to diasagree with his conclusions that capitalism is the cause of all climate problems and socialism is the fix. That said, I still enjoyed getting to know the characters and Mr. Robinson's way of telling a tale.
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Joan Didion’s incomparable and distinctive essays and journalism are admired for their acute, incisive observations and their spare, elegant style. Now the seven books of nonfiction that appeared between 1968 and 2003 have been brought together into one thrilling collection.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem captures the counterculture of the sixties, its mood and lifestyle, as symbolized by California, Joan Baez, Haight-Ashbury. The White Album covers the revolutionary politics and the “contemporary wasteland” of the late sixties and early seventies, in pieces on the Manson family, the Black Panthers, and Hollywood. Salvador is a riveting look at the social and political landscape of civil war. Miami exposes the secret role this largely Latin city played in the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs through Watergate. In After Henry Didion reports on the Reagans, Patty Hearst, and the Central Park jogger case. The eight essays in Political Fictions–on censorship in the media, Gingrich, Clinton, Starr, and “compassionate conservatism,” among others–show us how we got to the political scene of today. And in Where I Was From Didion shows that California was never the land of the golden dream.
Customer Reviews:
Joan Nadaion.......2007-09-15
Tasteless, meaningless, insipid, Joan Didion is a writer for our times. Her cool detached nihilism dovetails perfectly with a world that abjures conviction and commitment. Even so, her work won't long outlast her life.
Beautiful Collection.......2007-07-29
What I had read from Didion in my college comp. class could not have prepared me for the depth and beauty of her body of work. In retrospect, I cannot believe that my professor only asked us to read ONE essay from this remarkable woman. Her work is amazing! Now I see what thousands of others have always known--that Didion is undoubtedly one of the best essayists and authors alive today. I can't wait to read The Year of Magical Thinking next.
What a great compilation.......2007-04-29
I checked this out from our local library the other day and it turned out to be a serendipitous find. I've read some of Didion's work previously of which _The Year of the Magical Thinking_ was the most recent.
This compilation was actually fun to read. My favourite pieces were the ones that focused on California or Southern California, respectively. She is a gifted storyteller.
I couldn't help but feel a keen sense of sadness for her with the noted timeline of her life (and historical moments, too). She lost both her parents, then her spouse and two years later her daughter.
I would suggest this book to others. It's a real treasure.
Reporting with a View.......2007-04-25
Joan wrote her best when she wrote about California. She's in a league of her own. She writes about California the way it is,the strangest foriegn country in the nation. She gets at the psychic truth of her subject, which is no small thing. One of the very few true writers,ever.
Worthwhile compilation.......2007-03-13
I only became aware of Joan Didion after hearing about her bestseller, The Year of Magical Thinking, which I got, and found absolutely touching. When I came across this compilation, I thought I'd give it a try...I wasn't disappointed...each of the essays/ articles have something to offer, and Didion is truly a gifted writer. I'm only sorry that I had missed out on such a talented author before finding her on a bestseller list.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Ever since his first book was published some six decades ago, Peter Drucker has been essential to everyone serious about the "management of an enterprise (and) the self-management of the individual, whether executive or professional, within an enterprise and altogether in our society of managed organizations." This distinguished 30-year Claremont University professor has continuously identified critical principles in management, economics, politics, and the world in general. And he has redirected our thinking about them through more than two dozen books, including an autobiography and a couple of works of fiction. Now, with The Essential Drucker, he has overseen the compilation of his most important fundamentals into one indispensable book.
Reaching back as far as 1954 with his treatise "Management by Objectives and Self-Control" ("Each manager, from the 'big boss' down to the production foreman or the chief clerk, needs clearly spelled-out objectives" that clarify expected contributions "to the attainment of company goals in all areas of the business"), Drucker's now-established ideas take on a surprising new relevancy when remixed equally pioneering ideas from the 1960s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. Between the thoughtful "Management as Social and Liberal Art" through the provocative "From Analysis to Perception--The New Worldview" (both originally published in 1988's The New Realities), this book revisits some of modern management's most inspired writing and presents it in a way that should appeal to both newcomers and those needing a refresher course on Drucker's basic beliefs. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Father of modern management, social commentator, and preeminent business philosopher, Peter F. Drucker has been analyzing economics and society for more than sixty years. Now for readers everywhere who are concerned with the ways that management practices and principles affect the performance of the organization, the individual, and society, there is The Essential Drucker -- an invaluable compilation of management essentials from the works of a management legend.
Containing twenty-six selections, The Essential Drucker covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of tomorrow will demand of them.
Download Description
"In one volume a selection of the essential writings from Peter F. Drucker's sixty years of work on management. The first selection of Drucker's management work from The Prctice of Management (1954) to Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), this book offers, in Drucker's words, ""a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to [and] gives an overview of my works on management and thus answers a question I have been asked again and again: . . . which of my writings are essential?"" The Essential Drucker contains twenty-six selections on management in the organization, management and the individual, and management and society. It covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of ,==otherwise ungrammatical== tomorrow will demand of them. "
Customer Reviews:
It's 1 of the best.......2007-07-01
Its a very good collection of Peter Drucker's writings. It's a must read and re-read.
Managment for people who can think outside the box.......2007-06-09
Peter Drucker has a long, well-earned reputation for writing about management skills and practices. He writes plainly, cogently and with direct examples of his observations. It's too bad more people do not read (or if they do, do not practice) his principles: marketing is listening, not selling, and if you have listened (and responded) accordingly, the product/service will be obvious and well-received, regardless of the presumed capacity of the target to benefit from it. It's almost like management for dummies, but you DO have to listen first.
Outstanding.......2007-05-14
Excellent review. No matter if you alreday know his work. Is always good to remember and appreciatte his sharp and lasting concepts over the years.
Like trying to do Quantum Physics while reading Newton.......2007-04-25
I only made it 115 pages into the book before I had to put it down. In fairness, I'm a formally trained MBA (masters in business administration) so this experience should not be considered representative, but it does mean that I can offer a substantive and critical review of the compilation. I have two major points: one on accuracy and one on style
To his credit, Drucker could easily be considered the most influential source on management of the 20th century. Many of the basic ideas he offers are valuable and if a reader does not have any formal background in management, his book is accessible and full of extremely illustrative examples. The structure flows naturally and could be an excellent learning tool or primer.
The problem with Drucker is he was an influential source of the **20th** century and the compilation occurred without any substantial updating. One example in particular is on page 107 where Drucker offers, "Companies typically measure their proposed capital appropriations by... four yardsticks: return on investment, payback period, cash flow, and discounted present value. But we have known... since the early 1930s... that none of those is the right method... a company needs to look at all four." While this may have been a cutting edge approach in 1930 (and while it is still a common sentiment among managers whose education dates to the 50s and 60s), modern management theory recognizes that NPV *actually is* the one and only right method. This is one of a number of instances where actual errors are present. Indeed, there are additional instances where his perspective seems to conflict with a modern management education, but where there is no clear cut right answer.
The second point I would like to make is that there are really two basic ways to teach a concept. One is to offer plentiful examples so that a reader can draw conclusions and/or hopefully find one or more situations with similarities to each problem they face (inductive). The other is to offer a structured and unified theory that is less precise in its examples, but can be easily applied to situations that are dissimilar to those presented (deductive). Drucker writes in the inductive style, with plentiful examples. As a result, he doesn't offer a condensed nugget of theory that one can take away to apply to seemingly novel situations. If a reader isn't an expert on management, this isn't a problem and, in fact, the structure improves the learning process. If a reader has some structure and background, it reduces the value of the read.
All together, the book offers a number of great concepts and makes an illustrative primer to management (encouraged read for the untrained, 5 stars). That being said, the book and much of its content is out of date (all readers beware, 2 stars) and the style lacks the "ah hah" moments that might be found in a denser and more theory focused text (advanced readers strongly warned, 2 stars).
Not quite timeless.......2006-09-17
Good book, contains a lot of useful advice, which is "timeless".
However, the world has changed a lot since, and there are many better management books to read/study.
This book deals a lot with processes, many of which have become obsolete today.
Amazon.com
This revised and updated portfolio includes nearly 200 images by the master portrait photographer. The best known faces of our time have been memorably "Karshed"--a glowering Churchill (his trademark cigar having been just snatched out of his mouth), a beaming Khruschev peeking out from a massive fur coat, a serene Helen Keller reading a book of Braille with quiet delight, a pensive Tennessee Williams at his typewriter, an impish Margaret O'Brien yanking at her pigtails. Karsh's portraits of fellow artists--especially sculptors and architects--are among his most sensitive and intuitive.
Customer Reviews:
An insightful and sensetive look at famous 20th cent. people.......1999-06-15
A wonderful retrospective view of Karsh's most famous photographs.Most portraits are in black and white and capture rare insights of the most influential people in the arts, politics, academics and entertainment. All photographs are brilliantly reproduced, most in full page format. The comments by Karsh reveal personal insights adding a dimension of accessibility to the most revered in our century. There are also numerous excellently reproduced color portraits, which along with the black and white portraits, are reproduced in a wonderful satin finish. There are many portraits from the 40's and 50's including his most famous portrait of Winston Churchill and powerful portraits such as the back of Pablo Casals playing the cello in an austerely but masterfully lit setting.
This book is a genuinely beautiful work of art. It will bring joy to the young and old at heart and will prove to be one of those treasures which one is proud to cherish for generations.
Exceptional photographic studies of familiar faces........1999-03-25
This is a must have book for the portrait photographer. Or for anyone who just enjoys famous faces.Years of wonderful portrait studies of people we all know and admire. These portraits make us feel as if we are really getting to know these people up close. Such emotions are rare to be captured as still images. A SUCCESS in portraiture!!!
Book Description
From the bestselling author of Forever Fifty comes a new collection of poems that tickle, console, and offer the pleasure of instant recognition -- the perfect book for any woman anywhere in the vicinity of sixty.
Judith Viorst's "decade" books of verse -- including It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty, How Did I Get to Be Forty, and Forever Fifty -- have delighted millions of readers worldwide who relish her wit, warmth, and wisdom. Now here she is with Suddenly Sixty, a funny and touching book that speaks directly to the sixty-ish woman, inviting her to laugh about, sigh over, and come to hopeful terms with the complex issues of this decade of life.
Among the poems in this charmingly illustrated collection are those exploring the joys -- and strains -- of children and grandchildren, and the intimacy of old friends who've "known each other so long/We knew each other back when we were virgins." There are poems that tip their hat to mortality, wrestle with a husband's retirement -- "He's coming with me when I shop at the supermarket/So I won't have to shop alone. I like alone." -- and acknowledge the fact that at this stage of life we'd "give up a night of wild rapture with Denzel Washington for a nice report on my next bone density test." Offering plenty of laughs, a few tears, and cover-to-cover truths, these are poems for everyone who would "rather say never say die than enough is enough." Every woman who has reached this decade will -- rueful and smiling -- find herself in the pages of this book.
Download Description
From the bestselling author of "Forever Fifty" comes a new collection of poems that tickles, consoles, and offers the pleasure of instant recognition--the perfect gift for any woman anywhere in the vicinity of 60.
Customer Reviews:
suddenly sixty and other shocks of later life.......2007-03-24
it wasn't as humorous as some other books i have read on this subject
A Disappointment.......2006-11-30
I just ordered this book and am sorry I did. Where is the Judith Viorst of the 70's, when my children were young and loved her work? I expected this to be a light-hearted and original look at being "the age we are now," but instead, I found a woman sour -- especially with marriage -- and to a degree with life and grown children. I would not recommend it.
The best way to face sixty is to make fun of it, that is what Viorst does.......2006-10-07
I have not yet hit the landmark sixtieth birthday, but I am closing on it rather fast. It is clear to me that the best way to approach that fateful day is to laugh about it and one of the best ways to accomplish that is to read this book. In general, it pokes good clean fun at aging, although there is an occasional bitter tone when describing some of the more unpleasant aspects of life. Independent of your age, life is what we make of it and Viorst makes fun of what we all will hopefully face someday, the arrival of the sixtieth birthday. After all, the alternative really isn't a great deal of fun to contemplate
Scintillating Sixties.......2004-07-19
Judith Viorst deals with aging gracefully in her truth-giving poems about Suddenly Sixty and Other Shocks of Later Life. Being of a certain age in American society brings a certain angst tempered by the wisdom of experience-if we are lucky and thoughtful. Almost every poem elicits laughter as she ruminates on a variety of topics, including men's inability to ask for directions, the difficulty in apologizing, the family vacation, retirement, or the revenge for the woman dumped.
Judith Viorst has another winner!.......2003-08-26
She's done it again! Anyone 60+ will recognize herself in Judith's spectacular verses. To get the full flavor of these poems, you have to read them out loud with all the proper inflections. I never laughed so hard or cried so much over a book as I did with this one. She hits the nail on the head when she describes life after 60!!
Average customer rating:
- Criss Cross review kcs
- Criss Cross kcs
- I Love Newberry Books, usually
- Book Review
- Criss Cross Development
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Criss Cross (Newbery Medal Book)
Lynne Rae Perkins
Manufacturer: Greenwillow
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Binding: Hardcover
 1900s
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| Ages 9-12
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ASIN: 0060092726
Release Date: 2005-08-30 |
Product Description
She wished something would happen. Something good. To her. Looking at the bright, fuzzy picture in the magazine, she thought, Something like that. Checking her wish for loopholes, she found one. Hoping it wasn"t too late, she thought the word soon.
Customer Reviews:
Criss Cross review kcs.......2007-10-03
When people grow up, they start looking at their friends differently. This is what's happening to a girl named Debbie, whose the main character in this book. I'm not sure where this book takes place, but it's in modern day times.
Debbie's growing up in this book, and she starts to look at her friends, Lenny, and Hector differently. Meanwhile in this book, Lenny and Hector are having problems of their own with growing up, and seeing people differently.
The meaning of this title is a radio show that Debbie, Lenny, and Hector all listen to together. I liked this book, but it's hard to explain the plot, because there isn't any real summary. It's about everyday life in this book. The pacing was good though, it was steady throughout the whole book.
One reason I really liked this book though, is because I liked the way Lynn Rae Perkins wrote this book. She wrote it in everyday life, but you can really relate to it, and what the people are thinking. This book probably wasn't written in a christian perspective. The theme is hard in this book too, but in the end, it's basically to stay true to your friends.
Criss Cross kcs.......2007-09-27
this book is about a 14 year old girl named Debbie who wishes something great woud happen to her. Her other friend Hector who is aware of things around him tells the story in his point of view. In the begining of this story, Debbie loses her neckllace and is passed to differn't characters in this story. Lyne Rae Perkins fills this exciting book with differn't types of questions, poems, haiku, and pictures to get the reader flowing with this book.
I Love Newberry Books, usually.......2007-08-03
I usually love Newberry books, even the honor books, which are often, in my opinion, better than the award winner. So I felt fortunate to find Criss Cross on our library's shelf. Now after trying to slog through this piece of drivel I feel doubly fortunate that I didn't buy it. What happened to having a point to one's writing? What about a little, even a little, action? And to echo what other reviewers have mentioned--where's the plot? I'll never purchase another Newberry Award Winner without first having checked it out of the library to see if it's worth the price, which this one definitely wasn't--not even on a clearance table.
Book Review.......2007-05-25
I found Criss Cross to have a very believable plot, because most of the book is just about everyday life. I could connect to the characters because their lives remind me of mine. They did the type of things I like to do during the summer, hanging out with friends and relaxing. I would definitely read another book by this author, because I enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book to others, because it is a great book that anyone could connect to.
Criss Cross Development.......2007-05-14
Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins, is written from the point of view of growing girl named Debbie. Not only is she growing physically, but also mentally. As she explores herself and tries to find meaning in her simple yet confusing life, she discovers many new people who shape her personally. At the beginning of the book, it says "She wished something would happen." Debbie felt extremely bored with her life. This was probably because no one loved her. As she searched for a lover, she came closer and closer to realizing that this wasn't necessary. In the end of the book, she finally concluded that she shouldn't be so eager to grow up, and should enjoy her life in whichever direction it took her. Debbie goes on new adventures and meets new people all throughout the book, and while she develops through experience, the reader develops a sense of understanding for her, and grows with her. This book is certainly worth reading.
Amazon.com
"We were young, we were reckless, arrogant, silly, headstrong--and we were right. I regret nothing!" So spoke Abbie Hoffman, recalling the '60s 20 years later. Anderson memorializes Hoffman's words, along with quotations from rock lyrics, SDS slogans, and official pronouncements from the likes of Spiro Agnew, Richard Daley, and George Wallace. He tracks the boomer generation's progress from the civil rights and free speech movements to, after the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, what approached civil war. He does so with passion, arguing that the kids were right to protest a national policy that enriched Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist and war criminal, while imprisoning conscientious objectors for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Anderson's masterful treatment brings those difficult times to life.
Book Description
It began in 1960 with the Greensboro sit-ins. By 1973, when a few Native Americans rebelled at Wounded Knee and the U.S. Army came home from Vietnam, it was over. In between came Freedom Rides, Port Huron, the Mississippi Summer, Berkeley, Selma, Vietnam, the Summer of Love, Black Power, the Chicago Convention, hippies, Brown Power, and Women's Liberation--The Movement--in an era that became known as The Sixties. Why did millions of Americans become activists; why did they take to the streets? These are questions Terry Anderson explores in The Movement and The Sixties, a searching history of the social activism that defined a generation of young Americans and that called into question the very nature of "America." Drawing on interviews, "underground" manuscripts collected at campuses and archives throughout the nation, and many popular accounts, Anderson begins with Greensboro and reveals how one event built upon another and exploded into the kaleidoscope of activism by the early 1970s. Civil rights, student power, and the crusade against the Vietnam War composed the first wave of the movement, and during and after the rip tides of 1968, the movement changed and expanded, flowing into new currents of counterculture, minority empowerment, and women's liberation. The parades of protesters, along with schocking events--from the Kennedy assassination to My Lai--encouraged other citizens to question their nation. Was America racist, imperialist, sexist? Unlike other books on this tumultuous decade, The Movement and The Sixties is neither a personal memoir, nor a treatise on New Left ideology, nor a chronicle of the so-called leaders of the movement. Instead, it is a national history, a compelling and fascinating account of a defining era that remains a significant part of our lives today.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent look at the 1960's.......2007-07-27
This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.
Terry H. Anderson did an exceptional job in his book delineating how a myriad of causes and movements got started and were conducted throughout the 1960's. Politically, the sixties were the most turbulent decade in America's history. Anderson took eight years to meticulously research and write a most informative book, explaining the chain of events that took place beginning in 1960 with a lunch counter sit-in at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, and ending with the end of the Vietnam War. This was not an easy task, considering many of the different movement organizations were not well organized, had no membership lists, and relied on small underground newspapers that were not published on a regularly scheduled basis. Anderson wisely noted that one can look back on the decade and glean from it much good for society that is still with us today; such as, the improvement in civil rights for minorities in America, and an awareness to improve the environment. One can also find social ills spawned by the decade that still plague American society today such as, the pernicious use of illegal drugs, and the sharp rise in teen-age pregnancy rates. Anderson took a different approach than most other historians who researched the sixties. He did not look at the decade from the standpoint of the leaders of the various movements, nor did he focus his attention on movement organizational history. Instead, Anderson's book is more of a national study of the sixties. In his approach, Anderson actually traced the chronological development of activism as it swept across the country, and how different movements allied with one another and/or became outgrowths of preceding struggles. In addition, he explained how activism spawned a completely new counter culture near the end of the decade. Thus, Anderson's book is an extremely useful social and political historical guide to the 1960's.
Anderson astutely traced how activism started with the struggle for civil rights that college students joined in the South. The sixties was also an age of television, and students were disgusted by the injustices and bloody violence against Blacks that they witnessed in news stories on television. Anderson noted that this was the catalyst that caused many White students to leave the safety of their college campuses, and travel down south on Freedom Rides to help Blacks fight the inequities of the Jim Crow laws. This activist desire to change America's status quo swept up both coasts, taking hold at elite universities where students created and joined liberal organizations. Once men started to go off to fight in Vietnam in 1965, activism started to change in two ways. First, besides just being involved in the civil rights struggle, activists took on the new cause of also demonstrating against the war. Secondly, activism spread to all the liberal cities across the country with large universities, including America's heartland. Although Anderson found that the New Left ideology came from many different influences, it was the ideas espoused in the Port Huron Statement, which typified many activists' dreams for how they wanted to transform American society.
In December of 1961, Robert Haber a University of Michigan student and president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), along with other members of a steering committee, understood that the organization needed a manifesto to express its political and social ideals. In June of 1962 at a campsite in Port Huron Michigan, 43 SDS members and a few other activists spent five days debating a draft manifesto written by Tom Hayden, a student at the University of Michigan and editor of its newspaper. What eventually emerged was the Port Huron Statement, which examined "American politics, economics, racism, and foreign policy; the nuclear issue; the role of students; communism; and the themes and values of SDS" (62). The first line in the statement embodied the reason why students in the sixties took to becoming activist. "We are people of this generation bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit." Anderson's research indicated that many activists believed the manifesto's significance was far reaching. The Port Huron Statement repudiated all the socio-economic and political values of the 1950's. It also proposed a new idealism that Hayden claimed was a bit to the left of the Democratic party for the sixties such as, advocating "social programs to fight poverty, establish national health care, help family farmers, and develop equal educational opportunities" (63). By the 1972 Democratic Party convention, many of the ideals of the Port Huron Statement found their way into the party platform. They were placed there by a plethora of minority delegates from various movement streams that had finally attained recognition in a major American political party. "Compared with 1968, the ratio of female delegates at the 1972 convention tripled to almost 40 percent, blacks tripled to 15 percent, and those under the age of 30 soared from 2 to over 20 percent" (397). They nominated the most liberal candidate in the party's, Senator George McGovern, who was soundly defeated by President Richard Nixon in the election.
In conclusion, although many movement activists took the loss of the 1972 election as a bitter defeat of their sixties idealism, Anderson astutely proved that activism did not die in 1972--it took a slower more peaceful pace. New activist movements, more recently termed "pressure groups," owe their birthright to the movements and activists of the sixties such as, Gray Power, a movement of senior citizens that was formed to advocate for their demands. The recent and intense focus on "global warming" is certainly an outgrowth of the sixties activists' concerns for the protection of the environment. Finally, Anderson's book showed that although various sixties movements such as the SDS, Hippies and Yippies may have disappeared, activism is a part of the lifeblood of both of America's political parties. Since the sixties, Americans have been more receptive to questioning socio-economic, political, and religious institutions.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, Civil Rights history.
Disappointing results from a brillant start.......2004-05-17
Anderson, takes on a monolith topic, and in doing so sheds much light on the agitation of race relations and the anti-war movement that swept the campuses of America in the Sixties. Unfortunately, he is depended all too often on establishment sources, and his interpretation of movement frenzy is something short of the realism we would expect from such a book. His attempt to span the pre-Kent State with post Kent State aftermath is unique and insightful though, and worth the effort for the benefit of this arguement alone.
Timothy Fitzgerald
Terrific Look At The Sixties Social Movement!.......2003-11-21
I stumbled upon this wonderful book as a used book at the local bookshop, and was delighted to discover just how complete and accurate a description it renders of the virtual kaleidoscope of activities associated with what came to be called 'the movement" in what was likely the most turbulent and tumultuous decade of the 20th century; the nineteen sixties. Professor Terry Anderson delivers a yeoman historian's look at the details of how what began as a fairly narrowly circumscribed civil rights effort on behalf of American blacks was transformed into a far-more comprehensive and sometimes all-inclusive broadside social and cultural critique of mainstream American society. In this book, "The Movement and the Sixties", Anderson breathes considerable life & pointed animation into a cautionary tale many of us actually lived through some forty years ago.
Anderson finds the origins of the so-called movement in the civil rights movement originating in the Greensboro sit-in protests in 1960. Through meticulous research and impressive documentation, he traces how the combination of moral outrage, youthful energy, and the rapid economic changes transforming American society itself combined to create an almost unstoppable cultural force, one that literally brought millions of citizens into the streets into social activism, and in the process transformed almost every aspect of contemporary society, from race relations to sexual equality, from student activism to the cultural view on the war in Vietnam. This is indeed a penetrating effort that succeeds in meaningfully exploring the nature of the social history of the sixties generation, who dared to question the very nature of and validity surrounding the American social system. Anderson shows how the initial efforts of the civil rights activists eventually blossomed into a garden variety of different protest activities, most profoundly, of course, in connection with the war in Vietnam.
In the fullness of time, the coalition of different communities in this widely-supported anti-war effort led to the further flowering of cultural criticism into many other areas of the contemporary culture, from minority rights to the counterculture, from gay rights to feminism. In the process, an impressive array of important aspects of our society came to be more closely examined, and were subsequently criticized and attacked, ranging from elements such as corporate polluters, who were then attacked by the environmental movement, to the behavior of organizations like the FBI and CIA, who were revealed later to have committed a wide range of transgressions against American citizens, most of whom had done nothing wrong and who the federal agencies had no legal right to either spy upon, nor to harass, nor to smear in the mass media, all of which was done. Anderson covers the history of the era with precision and a plethora of evidence regarding how the events and individuals depicted made the history of the times, and how profoundly they influenced how life in this country changed forever as a result. Enjoy!
Great Information. I did a project..........2001-06-03
In the 8th grade I did a project about the protests against the Vietnam war i nteh 1960's. THis book was my main reference. it has pictures, quotes, lines from songs, and all-over great information. I would reccomend this book to just about anyone who just felt like learning something new about the "flower child" era. (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times) this is a great book, and it was fun to read, in spite of it being for a grade. I really encourage you to read this book.
A great narrative history of the Sixties........2000-04-09
Anderson's book is a great narrative account of that most legendary of decades, the Sixties. He does a good job of identifying the various strands that made up Sixties culture, strands which are often lumped together by people today who have but a hazy notion of what really went on. The book is full of great anecdotes and supported by loads of primary sources. Read this book and check to see if this is how you remember it!
Average customer rating:
- Like its title, brilliant flashes over soggy stretches
- shallow flashbacks
- Much of the time I had absolutely no idea what Robert Stone was talking about!
- ho hum
- If you can remember the Sixties this well, well...
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Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties
Robert Stone
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ASIN: 0060198168
Release Date: 2007-01-05 |
Book Description
PRIME GREEN opens during Robert Stone's last year in the Navy, when he took part in operation Deep Freeze 3, an Anarctic trip that involved circumnavigating the globe. Once out of the Navy, Stone worked for the old New York Daily News and started school at NYU. He started hanging out at the Cedar Tavern just to be in the same room as Kline and DeKooning.
From there they drifted to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where they tried to make a living reading poetry to jazz and working for the Census Bureau. Eventually, in 1962, they went to California, where Ken Kesey had just finished participating in the LSD experiments that were to contribute to the age of psychedelia. Stone experienced the mid–60s of The Merry Pranksters and The Grateful Dead first–hand, accompanied by heavy doses of psychedelics. He travelled for a time on Kesey's celebrated Furthur bus tour, and experienced his 'Acid Test' parties that were later detailed in Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool–Aid Acid Test". The book closes in Vietnam, where Stone witnessed the invasion of Laos as a correspondent for a counter–cultural publication.
A powerful memoir, PRIME GREEN, provides an insiders look at a time many knew about only distantly. Stone's expertise as a novelist has helped him here, in his first book–length work of non–fiction, to forge a moving and adventurous portrait of a unique moment in American history.
Customer Reviews:
Like its title, brilliant flashes over soggy stretches.......2007-10-03
The title comes from the "green flash" which Stone, stoned, glimpsed from a Mexican beach. Much of the insight here resembles the recollectons one might expect from a friend of Ken Kesey, an acquaintance of Tim Leary, and one who hung out with the scions of the counterculture in New York City, New Orleans, California north and south, London, Mexico, and Vietnam. That is, pages at a time become illuminated with wisdom-- before sinking again into a miasma of mundane names, places, and events filtered muddily or waveringly through uninspired, if competent, prose. I have only read two novels by Stone, "A Flag for Sunrise," and the disappointing "Damascus Gate." Like the latter book, "Prime Green" stumbles when it could have soared on a promising premise.
The opening chapter rambles on about his stint in the Navy; polar-driven wind and the feel of being at the bridge gain evocative detail, but then the narrative wanders off into recollections of an Australian swimmer he fancied, a bit of action he glimpsed during the Suez crisis, and exchanging Playboys with a Soviet crew. All three anecdotes fizzle. They almost follow randomly, such is the nature of this compilation of memories. Perhaps this casual style conceals careful craft. But, from a writer of Stone's level, that is, of critical acclaim more than another hack bestselling scribe, the offhanded attitude towards such potentially valuable incidents became disappoining. They are treated so offhandedly you wonder why he troubled to bring them up. Much of this book follows suit. It reminds me of a few all-nighters, if you could tape them, with a great storyteller; the difference is, you tend to edit mentally what you were bored or confused by, and highlight the stories which enraptured you, to replay again in your memory. I'd return to this book in the same manner.
For instance, the Bowery and its sudden replacement of white old bums with tough young blacks released from prison circa 1960 sets up a treatise on this sociological phenomenon. But, suddenly, Stone in the next paragraph sidles off into how he wrote copy for a furniture firm. Admittedly, he excels at his harrowing yet hilarious description of writing for the right-wing populist NY Daily News, which like certain media today manages to arouse the contempt of the working class for the system that supposedly favors those less qualified, yet deflects any blame from capitalism or the rich themselves for this inequality and this cynical game of having the victims turn on one another.
His send-up of another bottom-feeding journalistic stint at what he calls the National Thunder, a sort of Weekly World News, is priceless. Anyone who could survive a paper that created headlines like "Armless Veteran Beaten for Not Saluting Flag" or a close runner-up, "Skydiver Devoured By Starving Birds," merits some acclaim for such anecdotes. His accounts of being under the knife for a burst vessel in his brain, of interviewing bitter draftees in Vietnam, of watching the moon on the night of the first landing in 1969 from the California hills, all ring true; his narrative leaps to fitful if brief elegance in these sections. On drugs, Stone glimpses time's wheel and struggles to convey his psychedelic revelation. I wonder if any bard from this time can do so?
The remainder of the book, once Stone leaves in search of the elusive authenticity that takes him, seemingly with little money and the kindness of many strangers become friends, to Stanford on a fellowship, to London, to Vietnam, and to Mexico in a tumultuous but-- for a while-- rather childlike time despite his wife and two children (who are barely mentioned) to support does create in this reader a sense of how much could be seen and heard and experienced by carefree Americans with not much cash, plenty of drugs, and a sense of adventure that in our day has narrowed and priced out all but the affluent or the heavily guarded! Comparing his coming of age with the later century, the combination of a strong dollar, cheap costs of living, and goodwill manage, nearly, to create a glimpse of utopia. On the other hand, his escape from menacing sailors on a Greyhound bus ride from hell that winds up with him barely getting away from the ironically if improbably named hamlet of Highspire, Pennsylvania marks a gothic tale where Poe meets Genet.
If you want a sense of the Sixties, disjointed and disconnected, with wisdom scattered along with a lot of langour, this does re-create a tone appropriate to these times. No history, or even tightly written account, nonetheless for all its faults, I learned from it. The conclusions are the expected sadness at the decade's waste of its promise, and the government infiltration and corporate co-opting of its ideals and its innocence. Not as many knockout punches as I expected, for the book needed editing and substantial tightening. It keeps reeling about, when it should have cut the flab and trimmed up under a drill sargeant of an editor, such as he used to work for in Manhattan in the early 60s.
The book bumps into the famous, nods, chats, and shuffles off again, In its slackness, casual air of street cred meets the dinner party, and Hollywood mingling with the Bowery, perhaps Stone, who managed to be in all of the proper places, dreadful or erotic, exotic or hilarious, remains the jester-cynic who sneers at the powers that be but knows if he had his chance on the throne (he gets a quick perch during his Hollywood visit), he'd settle down there comfortably enough. Stone, in a sloppy but occasionally memorable account, emerges rather blowsily, yet endearingly avuncular. He's slightly askew, a fitting if exasperatingly rambling witness and slyly calculating chronicler for a messy decade.
shallow flashbacks.......2007-08-30
Robert Stone does a good job of objectively recounting his role as a writer and minor player in the countercultural revolution of the sixties. He doesn't fall into the trap of over-glamorizing the period as a mystical awakening or a brief utopia. Nor does he come down on the other side, writing it off as naïve fantasies of a drug addled and decadent youth. And that's the problem. A neutral stance does not often lead to engrossing reading.
This book is a dispassionate chronology of events in his life and it has some value just at that level. It's at its most interesting when big things are happening around him, like when he is hanging out with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. But I had a hard time convincing myself that I shouldn't just put the book down and read some Ken Kesey. He saves any critical analysis of the larger social movements of his generation for the epilogue and it's sadly too little too late.
He also beats up on himself a little bit for having only written one good book. And when he tells of the process of his novel being turned into a bad movie, it's just sad. He seems to still have a lot of unprocessed grief over the career that he almost had.
I've read some glowing reviews, so maybe it's a great book with a lot to say, and I somehow missed the point. I didn't even find it a terrible book, but- in parallel to his career as a novelist- a disappointing one that doesn't seem to live up to its potential.
Much of the time I had absolutely no idea what Robert Stone was talking about!.......2007-07-19
After reading about 2/3 of "Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties" I finally gave up. I decided that attempting to muddle through the rest of this book simply was not worth my time. As I plodded through this book I often thought to myself that this was a window to a world that I never really knew. In some ways I envy Robert Stone. During the 1960's while I was attending Catholic high school and working after school at mundane jobs trying to help pay the tuition Robert Stone was back and forth between the coasts working very hard to launch a career as a writer. As a member of the Navy he had already been all over the world and now he found himself smack dab in the middle of the cultural revolution. Surely this was an exciting time to be young and free but like so many others during those days Robert Stone got caught up in the drug culture. And it seems to be that it is this part of his lifestyle that "Prime Green: Remembering The Sixties" seems to be mostly about. For me it was a giant turnoff. Although Robert Stone has a very elegant vocabulary it was clearly wasted in this book. Time and again I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He just seemed to ramble on and on about something and it was unclear to me just what point he was trying to make. I guess you had to be there to understand. Or perhaps it is a book for druggies by a druggie. In any case, in the final analysis I learned precious little from this book nor did I gain much insight about the period Stone was writing about.
Chalk this one up as a major dissappointment. Not recommended.
ho hum.......2007-05-04
Ask me what this book is about, and I can only reply, "some guy."
Every now and then I buy a book that makes me regret spending the money. This was one of them. I was under the impression that Remembering the Sixties would be more about life in general during a great time -- a memoir that would make me think, "Oh, yeah...I remember that!"
This is definitely NOT that kind of book. I put this book down after reading half of it. It just doesn't "take off." It took too much effort to read as far as I did, so I doubt I will even finish it (a rarity for me).
I find Mr. Stone's writing to be more of a display of his vast knowledge of vocabulary. It is very impressive; but, unfortunately, it is also a distraction. The writing just doesn't flow smoothly, and I often found myself thinking, "Great words, but just what are you trying to say?"
Readers' attention gets drawn to the uncommon -- but great -- words. The content then becomes lost; and, in this book, one must be careful to hold onto what little content there may be.
Sorry, Mr. Stone. Your book is just not for me. Oh, and by the way...
There is a typographical error in the second paragraph in first chapter: "...the Navy had patched together the Arneb as America's contibution." (An early-on typo is a real turn-off!)
If you can remember the Sixties this well, well..........2007-04-30
The clliched quip, "If you can remember the Sixties you weren't really there," gets a firm refutation here. That may be the only good news. The bad news is that so little of what Stone has to offer here is worth remembering. Sure, there is no point in lying about the Sixties, or making up stories just to sound good, but a litany of drugs (covering a wide range), alcohol, infidelity, a bad movie, mindless jobs, and cheap apartments obscures a writing talent and any truly enjoyable reflection on the era. If you are looking for nostalgia, this isn't going to provide much meaningful insight or satisfaction, just primarily name and drug dropping. If you are looking for a stream-of-consciousness, muddled, trail through the fortgettable parts of the Sixties, you might find this to be of interest.
Book Description
A fully updated and revised edition of the classic album-by-album, song-by-song study of the Beatles.
A unique combination of musical analysis and cultural history, Tell Me Why stands alone among Beatles books with its single-minded focus on the most important aspect of the band: its music. Riley offers a new, deeper understanding of the Beatles by closely considering each song and album they recorded in an exploration as rigorous as it is soulful. He tirelessly sifts through the Beatles discography, making clear that the legendary four were more than mere teen idols: they were brilliant innovators who mastered an extremely detailed art. Since the first publication of Tell Me Why in 1988, new primary source material has appeared--Paul McCartney's authorized biography, the Anthology CDs and videos, the complete Parlophone-sequenced albums on CD, the Live at the BBC sessions, and the global smash 1. Riley incorporates all the new material in an update that makes this a crucial book for Beatles fans.
Customer Reviews:
Getting the Beat out of the Beatles.......2007-05-03
I did not like the Beatles when I first heard them in high school, but by the time Sgt. Pepper came out, I had matured enough to discover that they were a very special phenomenon. Now there are so many books about them that it is hard to know what to read to get the best sense of their contribution to music. I recommend Tim Riley's book for that purpose. The best thing about this book is that it will increase your sensitivity to the Beatles creative art as you listen to their songs. If you pay attention, you will be able to hear the way Paul brings the bass in to support the lead guitar or to counter the drums. You can hear how Ringo changes the beat in accord with what the song is trying to convey, and you have a better sense of how the words and music work together.
As other reviewers have noted, it does require some knowledge of music, notably chord theory, to understand some of the details, I do not think it is entirely necessary. I know just enough about chords to understand major and minor changes and what they mean to the music, but I get lost when he goes into descriptions of the tonic and dominant. You will also need to know a lot about percussion, because he refers not generally to Ringo's drumming, but to what he is using (high hats, tom-toms, snare, etc.). It is clear from this book that Ringo contributed more to the group than he is usually credited with doing. He is the one, according to Riley, who was able to subdue his ego and try to keep everything together with his beat and ability to complement everyone else.
Riley likes John Lennon the best and tends to favor whatever Lennon did, albeit not uncritically. He gives Paul a rougher time, putting down any song that lacks an edge or an angle as another "silly love song" unless it rises to the level of a standard such as "Yesterday." Unlike other reviewers, I did not find his analysis of George Harrison's contribution to be all that insulting, but I do think he understated Harrison's contributions as a forward looking instrumentalist. Riley has a low opinion of the vocal abilities of both Starr and Harrison, but it is true that both (and a lot of other singers) suffer in comparison to both Lennon and McCartney, whose vocalizing was overshadowed by their composing talent.
You also need to understand that he is writing his opinions of the meanings of the lyrics and the reasons the Beatles did certain things musically. His bias shows clearly. He admires the group and his disappoint over some of their less than stellar creations is palpable. It is a very high standard that they set for themselves and, although Riley acknowledges the timeless nature of their best work, he is scathing in his criticism of their more mediocre efforts. Bruce Greenfield's review is correct in saying that Riley pontificates a bit too much. I also found it irritating that he claims to know exactly what the lads were trying to do with each note and word. Again, these are only Riley's opinions. Another problem I had with that is that he goes into great detail on the songs he likes and admires, but if a song does not measure up to that, he will give it a sentence or two, dismissively.
I found value in the book from his ability to explain some of the innovations the Beatles developed from the very beginning of their career. A few of these are almost common knowledge to rock fans, such as the use of feedback at the start of "I Feel Fine" to George Harrison's introduction of the sitahr. There are some very good insights that never occurred to me, though. Riley points out that the lyrics to "She Loves You" break new ground in that although it is sung in the first person, the singer is speaking to a friend rather than to the listener. Their music conveys a sense of excitement and joy in carrying this good news. Another example is from McCartney's bridge in "Day in the Life," which is marked by a quicker sharper beat from Ringo. Riley notes that this beat evokes the "corporate precision" of every day life, but notes that while this may seem like waking from Lennon's nightmare verses, it becomes hard to tell who is singing about the real nightmare.
You really have to listen to the song while reading the book and even then, it is often hard to hear what Riley is writing about. He devotes a lot of words to explaining how different sounds come from the right, left or center in stereo, but I found it hard to detect these even after numerous playing. Perhaps, as others have pointed out, it is very hard to hear without the 1982 masters.
Riley uses the albums that were originally issued on Parlophone and neither the US Capitol releases (which were a greedy manipulation of the buying public while sacrificing the art of the Beatles created in sequencing the songs) nor CDs. Younger readers will have difficulty relating to his idea of endings and beginnings of vinyl sides, which CDs have rendered meaningless.
In the second edition, Riley gives a bow to Mark Lewisohn's book "The Beatles Recording Sessions," which is a description based on Lewisohn's hearing of all of the Beatle's master tapes. This book has its own insights and I would recommend it as a less harsh book than this one. Riley did not have the use of Lewisohn's book in writing "Tell Me Why," and it is clear that he would have benefited from it. The two authors disagree on a number of points so it would is useful to have the balance of their opposing views.
A Celebration of The Beatles' Music........2007-04-05
I loved this book. I don't know why so many people seemed to have a problem with it. Tim Riley is a knowledgable music critic,schooled in musical theory and an expert on classical music. He also absolutely adores the Beatles' music. With very few exceptions,he loves everything they ever did and tells,in great detail exactly what it was musically,that made them so special. Each and every song from Love Me Do to Let it Be,just like the title says,album by album, song by song. Actually,my love of the Beatles' music is a viceral thing. From the moment I first heard the opening chords of I Want to Hold Your Hand,this music seemed to enter my blood stream. I still get the same feeling whenever I listen to certain favorite songs,or hear their voices in harmony. But I never understood it in musical theory terms. The chord progressions, changes from major to minor chords in the same song, this had never been done before in pop music, only classical,until the Beatles. This is what excited everybody about their music but only other musicians can describe it accurately. Us lay people just think, "that song makes me cry" or "wow, I've never heard anything like this before". Riley dissects each song,practically note by note,every guitar lick,bass line, and drum fill. He particularly loves Rubber Soul and Revolver sighting them as two of the greatest albums of all time. He also loves Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and A Hard Day's Night. So he doesn't just give their later music a lot of acclaim,which would have been annoying. He feels that all of these albums were important, along with Abbey Road and the White Album. He describes them in a way that makes you think of them as little works of art. Each one pivotal and ground breaking in their own unique way. He also describes why each Beatle was wonderful and essential to the greatness of each song and album. He never lets you forget that they were an ensemble. He worships John and Paul's singing, calling McCartney's voice, "peerless". He details their songwriting and George's. He talks about how BOTH Lennon and McCartney were melodists, not only McCartney. He points out Paul's melodic,inventive bass lines,George and John's brilliant guitar work (not just George's like other books have). And he loves Ringo,calling his drumming underrated, because it was. He goes into so much detail about Ringo's drumming that it made me sit up and take notice of it also. Listen to 'Rain' and 'Ticket to Ride' and Ringo's live drumming, which he also loves. He dissects the Live at the BBC cds, and after reading that long section,I've begun to listen to all the things he hears on them. I see what a great live band they were. This book made me listen to their music from a fresh perspective, and I realize that I never really HEARD their music until now. There is so much going on, on their records. So much to listen to. While reading this book you need to have a cd player handy and a good pair of head phones with a bass booster. You need to be able to hear what he's talking about. In this new edition there is a section added which details the 3 Antology CDs, Live at the BBC,and others that have been released since the first edition of this book came out, in 1988.There is also a section on the solo records. You don't have to be a musician to enjoy this book either. You just have to be a fan of Beatle music.
Beatle Theory.......2007-02-13
I love this book. The author's trenchant, insightful analysis of the Beatles' music is nothing short of scholarly. He brilliantly discusses what the Beatles used to create their own unique sound. Fans will no doubt love and appreciate the Beatles all the more.
Tim Riley's research into the background of each Beatle is accurate and well done. He piques readers' interest in the group all the more by making them more aware of the influences that led them to create the songs they did.
This book is one musicians, guitarists in particular will love. Readers are treated to discussions of chord progressions so as to play Beatle songs the Beatles' way.
Very Enjoyable Book.......2006-09-22
I enjoyed this book immensely. I appreciated the song-by-song analysis from someone who obviously is a true scholar of music -- his articulation of what were the ingredients that went into making the Beatles' music so great truly enhanced my appreciation of them.
His knowledge of biographical and historical information -- such priceless vignettes as John's gleeful enjoyment of an obscure, chaotic Side B by a one-hit wonder group -- puts their music in a wider context, further deepening our understanding of how their music developed.
I dabble in music theory so I did appreciate the technical aspects of the book, such as getting into chord progression and such. I read this book many times -- it has provided me with many enjoyable hours.
Not for the Casual Fan or Non-Musician.......2005-12-31
"Tell Me Why" is a good look at the Beatles for what they are remembered for: the music. Long after all the gossip and backbiting and innuendos are forgotten, that is all that remains. And if you are a casual fan and only have "Tell Me Why" to guide you, I wish you the best luck in the world.
Tim Riley is a professional music critic, which means apparently that he thinks his audience will understand every musical notation cited in the text. If you really love discussing the difference between G chords and A chords, this will make your day. But for the rest of us, it's a bit much at times.
To be fair, though, if you get through the musician-speak without beating your head against the wall, you'll find that the book does a fairly fantastic job of getting at the heart of the music. By eschewing flowery discussions of the Beatles' history and concentrating on the music itself, Riley ends up creating a look at the creative process rarely dissected with such skill.
Riley has his opinions and isn't afraid to state them, especially in regards to what he considers the "fallow" period of late 1967 (after the release of the much-hyped Sgt. Pepper). Riley also pulls no punches in holding Paul McCartney's feet to the fire for his abandonment of the risk-taking that characterized his partnership with Lennon, instead becoming the pop-song behemoth that we all love to hate. The portrait that emerges of the Beatles as a group is that of a multitalented band with endless streams of talent on which to draw, with even their lesser efforts (Magical Mystery Tour, Let It Be, etc) having some worth not found in other music from the era.
Mark Hertsgaard's masterful "A Day In The Life" is probably a better selection for those who are casual or half-hearted fans, because it covers much of the same territory with little of the dedication to music-speak that colors some of the best passages in this book. But for a simple, nuts-and-bolts look at what made the Beatles' music special, and as a discussion of each and every song they ever recorded, "Tell Me Why" is hard to beat.
In the end, there is just the music. And it is a body of music worthy of such discussion as to have countless books written about it. But "Tell Me Why" is a nice one-book source for much of the motivation behind each song the Fab Four committed to vinyl, even if it's overboard with the musical composition language. If you can overcome that, you might find a good book about why the Beatles matter long after their last performance together.
Book Description
A showcase of the sixty trends that will have the biggest impact on business in the next decade
In Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes (A Brandweek Book), top marketer Sam Hill, author of the bestselling Radical Marketing, highlights the trends that will have the biggest impact on marketing, brand management, and product development within the next decade. He separates the momentary fads from the lasting movements and reveals why trends matter, where they come from, and how to exploit them. He also describes the ten factors that will influence current trends and trends to come, such as exponential population growth, urbanization, interconnectedness, and the decreasing role of work in our lives. With these valuable insights in hand, business leaders will learn how to differentiate their product on the shelf, tap into specific markets, meet consumers' desires for "authentic" products, and much more. Hill also guides managers in conducting trend workshops identical to those offered by his consulting group at top-dollar prices. Timely, relevant, and global in its scope, this book offers entrepreneurs and managers new ideas and techniques for finding success today and in the future.
Customer Reviews:
A good first step to what's coming next.......2003-08-25
This book looks at sixty trends the author sees as being one of the next big things. Hill doesn't go for the bigger "mega-trends" but takes those and picks out smaller more manageable, personal trends. Some of these in no particular order are: interconnectedness, Peter Pan-ism and mercenary management. For each trend he gives the factors and factoids, implications and the opportunity. This gives you what he thinks are what the facts are, what it means and how you can use it. This gives the book a usefulness that is good. The problem I have is that I see some of the trends as not that useful or groundbreaking. Some of them also have a duh factor. As in duh tell me something I don't know. I suppose with 60 trends this is inevitable and it does give the book a something for everybody quality. Overall I give the book a B-. A useful first step if you want to see what might be coming next but I wouldn't bet the farm on anything in this book by itself.
More than enough content.......2002-12-12
Worth 5 stars for two reasons:
1) Something for everyone, and probably something different with each reading, or section. I agree with another reviewer that it can read like the contents of many WSJ articles - but that is the point. The premise is delivering a highly subjective list of trends that have business potential/ impact. There's enough content here for a slew of articles, books and business plans. And I'm surprised that he wrote the book first!
2) Refreshingly honest. In contrast to so many business books, this is basically a personal journal of discovery.
So many books read like the product of a team of consultants and editors trying to support a marginal concept or framework . This reads more like the transcript of a long dinner conversation (and perhaps a bottle of wine or two). Can you imagine Porter, Hamel, Peters, et al suggesting that their books would make a good bathroom read? Or identifying businesses and individuals that are heading for failure? I didn't always agree with his opinions, but must congratulate him for not holding back on any topic.
Full disclosure: I bought the book because I remember working with Sam (many) years ago in a consulting project. Perhaps that's another reason I enjoyed it, like a conversation with him many years later - and clearly he's had a world of experiences since then.
I think a valid criticism of the book is that at times it seems he is (like the old Steven Wright joke) "trying to draw a map of the world - to scale." But he does seem to have succeeded in sketching out some major landmarks. Give the book 60 or even 120 minutes. Worth the effort.
Compendium of Trends w/o Forecasting or Identification Tools.......2002-10-23
Sam Hill's Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes is a panoply of facts and figures related to societal, technological, and business trends. While insightful and quite interesting to read, it guides the reader little on identifying trends and tying together all of the data presented. The author suggests the latter is left for the reader to synthesize. Yet, it is not clear how the reader could apply the large amount of data to any specific objective.
The author does have an "opportunity" section after each trend, which lists voids that can be addressed by new products and services within that particular field. Although, for any one trend example, a subject matter expert in that industry should already have identified the trend and related causes. A skilled product manager may be able to identify a new audience for an existing product using the examples. Likewise, as an investor or someone considering a career switch, you might find some interesting material by which you can base your decision.
As someone obsessed with statistical data and a voracious consumer of business periodicals, I found that most of the material was interesting but not entirely new. In fact, it feels like a collection of Wall Journal Articles with opinions and supplementary explanations. If you haven't had the time to keep up with the WSJ, Forbes, and Business Week, Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes will fill in your knowledge gap. However, if you are looking for specific tools to forecast trends within your industry, you might want to read other works, such as Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point.
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