Book Description
When the first edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 1983, critics called Ben Bagdikian's warnings about the chilling effects of corporate ownership and mass advertising on the nation's news "alarmist." Since then, the number of corporations controlling most of America's daily newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, book publishers, and movie companies has dwindled from fifty to ten to five. The most respected critique of modern mass media ever issued is now published in a completely updated and revised twentieth anniversary edition.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent and Informative.......2007-01-13
With "The New Media Monopoly", Ben Bagdikian delivers one of the best books on the modern state of the media ever written. He describes in fascinating detail the events that have surrounded the growth in the concentration of media ownership. Unlike some other texts covering the same topic, Bagdikian's writing is very readable and captivating. However, he does seem to provide more anecdotal evidence to support his observations than hard numbers. I would highly recommend accompanying this book with Robert McChesney's "The Global Media", which covers basically the same trends, but provides more hard data. McChesney also focuses more on the larger business dealings of media corporations that have lead to their consolidation rather than Bagdikian's typically smaller examples.
Mass Media for Dummies.......2007-01-05
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT TO BE READ AS A LEISURE OR PLEASURABLE PASSTIME ACTIVITY. THIS PRODUCT IS MEANT ONLY AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION. ANY USE OTHER THAN THAT RECOMMENDED MAY RESULT IN PERMANENT LOSS OF PERSONALITY.
While he does present well researched and wholly coherent arguments, author Ben H. Bagdikian falls short of allowing any sense of enjoyment to permeate the reading of his revised edition of The New Media Monopoly. The writing style comes off as rather rigid for much of the book, completely neglecting any fluidity or flair you may expect from a Pulitzer-winning writer. Furthermore, much of the content seems to pander to a lowest common denominator including, what appears to be, entire chapters of common knowledge for nearly any educated American. The end result is something a bit too dense for the common reader but still too simple to be much use to a journalist or media aficionado. In short, it's a paperback textbook.
The first three chapters are essentially an introduction to American media. A fairly leftist introduction. Essentially, the reader is presented with an extended rant on the evils of Murdoch-dom and the rest of the Big Five (Bagdikian's favorite term for the five conglomerates that own the majority of the world's media), followed by a full chapter explaining what the internet is. Not so much on how it works or how it affects the world, mostly what it literally is. Admittedly the content does pickup towards the middle. Being the revised version, there are extensive sections on the media failings concerning the war in Iraq but any promise of maintaining interest is quickly dashed by relapse into "the sky is blue, the world is corrupt."
It is necessary to mention, however, that even the less obvious points Bagdikian makes are hard to dispute. The man has done more than sufficient research to support his arguments. His credibility is raised even further when one considers that during the writing of the first edition of this book, there were fifty major media conglomerates. Years after his warnings of further consolidation, there are now five. This revision comes at a time when information is at a crucial premium. Media technology is constantly evolving at even faster rates with no indication of recession or slowing. The country if not the world may be at its last opportunity to demand reform on the way information is handled and distributed. In the wake of 9/11 and all that it's meant to world politics, The Bill of Rights is being abused like never before. No man's life is private any longer and no house is a castle. Bagdikian's warnings apply not only to mass media as an industry but to information use and misuse as a whole.
Be this as it may, the majority of the writing is still an atrocity. Much of the book's partitioned subsections read as though Bagdikian stepped into a high school freshman English class, handed each student a sheet of facts and citations, and proceeded to demand a five page essay by the following day. Parts of the writing seem almost entirely devoid of personality or creativity while most of it follows a painfully rigid, almost juvenile structure: 1) a light segue followed by 2) introduction of argument 3) support of argument and finally 4) restatement of argument. The overly-structured style might even be negligible if it weren't for the painful redundancy. Nearly identical statements are often used in both the first and last paragraphs of nearly every section. The man needs to pump-up his creative juices on this one. Is a little variety too much to expect? He won a damn Pulitzer!
In all honesty, this book is a recommended read. The information and arguments presented could prove invaluable in the very near future. This is a staggering case of learning the past so as not to repeat it. Though dismantling the corporate media machines at this point is nearly out of the question, consumers do have the choice to turn to alternative and independent media sources. Current technology allows nearly every American access to countless opinions and insights into the significant events of their world and community. Future journalists and media professionals would be wise to not bend to corporate pressures and censorships. Even the average media consumer can find useful information within these pages and would be wise to learn to judge the information fed to them with a critical palette. Though most definitely, Ben H. Bagdikian might be wise to hire a ghost writer for the next edition.
Critical but Uneven Manifesto on the Corporate Media.......2004-07-09
This is the newly updated version of Bagdikian's classic tome *The Media Monopoly* which first appeared in 1983 and was prescient enough to reach six editions by 2000. While dismissed as alarmism, with each edition of the book the problem of corporate media consolidation became worse, and now we are down to just five mega-conglomerates controlling almost all media content, and subsequently most political and social thought among the American public. Bagdikian is an expert commentator on the effects this has on popular democracy and social justice, and the problem has become so bad that it became necessary to create a completely revised text, rather than just a "new" edition of the old book with some tacked-on updates.
This powerful manifesto by Bagdikian sometimes suffers from a lack of focus. One frequent weakness is his tendency to opinionate on the social issues he uses as examples of poor mainstream media coverage. Examples include homelessness and smoking, in which Bagdikian forgets his analysis of media control issues and embarks on long expostulations of his own personal politics. A more general issue is his tendency to drift into political science as applied to modern corporate conservatism and crony capitalism. These are subjects in which Bagdikian is certainly proficient, and they are the root causes of the horrific state of American media. However, Bagdikian frequently drifts from useful media analysis to occasionally cranky political tirades that detract from the focus and power of the book's main points.
And even though this is a completely new edition, much of the text has still been copied verbatim from the old versions of the original book, leading to odd appearances of stories and examples from the 1960s and 70s, some of which have little modern relevance. The new chapter on the internet gives the impression that Bagdikian is barely familiar with that realm, as he gives remedial introductions to concepts that most of us are long familiar with. Other writers and analysts have now taken the issue of corporate media control and produced outstanding treatises that surpass Bagdikian's groundbreaking work (I especially recommend Robert W. McChesney). However, Bagdikian is still the originator and when he's focused, his insights into the social and political damage wrought by our corporate media are still powerful and prescient. [~doomsdayer520~]
Book Description
In the 1950s, in Las Vegas, a businessmen’s conglomerate dominating a $25 million-a-year sports industry hid their illegal practices from the U.S. Department of Justice until they were caught. The sport that privileged cold hard cash over honest competition was professional wrestling, and the conspirators were members of the famed National Wrestling Alliance.
National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling examines the NWA promoters’ overwhelming success, and the relationships to influential politicians and writers that protected their financial interests for over 50 years. Breaking the façade of sports production, it shows how promoters actually twisted arms to edge out their opponents.
Hornbaker documents the life of the NWA, from its humble beginnings in the Midwest after World War II, to its worldwide expansion. He chronicles the Department of Justice’s investigation, providing sports fans with a never-before-told side of wrestling’s legacy.
The most noteworthy exploits of the National Wrestling Alliance were behind locked doors. Now, the conspiracies of a century-old brand of entertainment will finally be revealed.
Customer Reviews:
NWA Forever.......2007-10-02
one of the greatest/best wrestling books of all-time. THE must-have for any true wrestling fan!
NWA........ what more can I say?.......2007-08-21
The highly anticipated book, National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling, which chronicles the turbulent history of the National Wrestling Alliance, has finally hit the book shelves. There seems to be dozens of books out there focusing on more modern topics like WWE and various wrestlers going as far back as the early 1970s. The pre-70s era, which was heavily featured in this book, is truly uncharted waters to the active wrestling book market -- until now.
The world of professional wrestling was a much different place in the early 1900s, with an entirely different set of rules and the entire sport as a whole was viewed differently by spectators as well as the grapplers themselves. The promoters, ironically, pretty much stayed the same! This fascinating story is an extremely in-depth well-researched printed documentary shining a frothy spotlight on a generally misunderstood era of professional wrestling. For a young person like myself (aged 29), whose parents were in diapers for the time period featured in this book, it was one wrestling lesson after another as I journeyed though the pages of this 372 page historical novel.
Author Tim Hornbaker took the time to thoroughly research his subject and managed to present the story from several different perspectives. Each chapter seemed to add a new flavor to the enormous melting pot that would eventually end up becoming the tale of the one true governing faction of pro-wrestling known as the NWA. Other chapters were dedicated to some of the more important figures involved in the creation and maintenence of the NWA; Lou Thesz, Sam Muchnick, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Fred Kohler, and Joe "Toots" Mondt are all prominently featured in properly organized mini-biographies.
This book is by no means a biased glorification of the NWA. Hornbaker expounds upon many factors within the Alliance, as well as outside factors, that contributed to the rise, and the eventual fall, of the National Wrestling Alliance. Great detail is provided about several bitter court battles fought internally as well as externally over the years including an aggressive investigations by the U.S. Government in the 50's that almost shut down the entire operation for good.
One of the NWA's most respectable traits was its insistence that their champions be held in the highest esteem. The NWA World Heavyweight wrestling title was guaranteed to sell out any building in whatever city the champion happen to be in on any given night. The legendary Lou Thesz was the key figure for many years, entrusted by the NWA office with the duty of carrying the torch for the Alliance. Whomever the champion, be it Thesz, Dick Hutton, Gene Kiniski, Dory Funk Jr., Jack Brisco or somebody else, NWA members were well aware that the champion was ready, willing, and able to shoot on any challenger who decided to go into business for themselves by drifting from the pre-approved script. It seemed as though everything that happened in the ring was based on honor, but the office was a different story.
Another intriguing chapter covers the expansion of Capitol Wrestling in the Northeast, headed by the combined forces of Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt. Additional chapters focus on the lineage of the NWA World Heavyweight championship and all of its title holders over the many decades. The book also deals with the more recent history of the NWA and goes all the way up to 2005, acknowledging TNA (Total Nonstop Action) during the final chapter.
I was astounded by the amount of research put into this project by author Tim Hornbaker. It has to be the most thoroughly organized book about wrestling that I have yet to come across. I can only imagine the years of tireless exploration and study was involved with piecing together the history of such a tangled subject that covers nearly of a century of material scattered all over the globe. So Hornbaker's tireless dedication alone has earned a thumbs-up from me. This book comes highly recommended by me. Thank you.
National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling is available at bookstores everywhere or at various online sources such as Amazon.com; for more information you can visit the publisher's website at www.ecwpress.com
by Brad Dykens of OnlineWorldofWrestling.com
Good but a bit disappointing.......2007-07-04
The early history pieces shed more light on the subject than any piece not in Dave Meltzer's Pro Wrestling Observer.
The book seemed to drag after a hundred pages and was very light on info in the 1970's, 1980's and beyond.
The book lost some credibility with me when it described moving a anniversary show from a 1,200 seat building to a 300 seat building in 2001 due to fears of terrorism. That is ridiculous and reminds me of excuses used for Wrestlemania 7.
- Lavie
Good Read, Inadequate Journalism........2007-07-02
Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, I gave this book a low rating for several reasons.
One, the lack of footnotes and annotations bothered me. I believe any good academic-style history text - as this book attempts to be - should give me the resources to retrace the author's steps in writing it. Hornbaker occasionally attributes sources within the main text of the book,and he does have a thanks page of people I assume he interviewed, but even these instances are incomplete.
Two, another reviewer rightly complained about the order in which certain information is presented. The early chapters set the stage for the chapter "United States vs. National Wrestling Alliance;" yet those same chapters constantly reference the antitrust investigations as if the reader already knows the scoop.
Three: Hornbaker repeats himself a lot in the early chapters, and digresses frequently throughout the book. The book would have benefited from using more sidebar articles and appendices to cover certain information and trivia.
Four, while there's no doubt about crooked practices in wrestling, there's still a lot of debate over whether you could have called the NWA a "monopoly" proper. That's almost like calling the NFL or the NBA monopolies because they govern all their respective pro teams. Wrestling, like boxing, isn't a team sport (or even a sport), and that makes governing it a difficult task; it would be like an NFL that had to monitor thousands of teams each season. Furthermore, none of these governing bodies could be to blame for "destroying" anything.
Fifth, the perfunctory treatment that he gives pivotal figures in the last half of the book is dissappoiting (e.g. Jim Barnett, Jim Crockett Sr., Don Owen, Bill Watts, Jack Brisco). If the first few chapters read like book reports on other wrestling books (e.g. "Hooker," or "Wrestling at the Chase" or "Chokehold"), the last chapters left me feeling he got tired of researching his subject.
Lastly, I'm suspect that this book came out via ECW Press. If this is the same ECW that is related to the WWF/WWE/Paul E. faction, their products always seem biased, i.e. Vince McMahon created anything worthwhile about professional wrestling. They also seem to put down other promotions in order to bolster their own, e.g. there's not a lot in their stuff on Piper about his days in the Pacific Northwest or with Crockett, on Hogan about his days with Gagne and in the South, on any incarnation of the Horsemen with Ole Anderson, etc.. This book sometimes gives the same impression of bias.
The middle chapters on the Department of Justice investigations are the primary reason to buy this book; Hornbaker does give this topic the most thorough treatment I've seen, and I commend him for reading through all that crap at government depository libraries to do so. If you're looking for stories about Barnett's sexual life, Thesz' shoots overseas, hookers breaking legs in the ring, mysterious deaths, pompous superstars, ring psychologt, racism or wrestling before 1930 and after 1970, look elsewhere.
If you've read and liked this book, I would recommend getting a copy of "Fall Guys: the Barnums of Bounce" (for anyone who wonders about who first broke kayfabe), Lou Thesz'prattling but provocative autobiography "Hooker," Ole Anderson's opinionated but insightful autobiography "Inside Out," Jim Wilson's bitter but astounding expose "Chokehold," and Mike Chapman's magnificent novel "Gotch."
Informative, but has some holes.......2007-05-27
Overall I really liked the book, but there are a few problems. The most glaring problem with the book is that Hornbaker writes it as if the reader is already privy to certain information. He name drops several times without going into any background about who a person is. For instance, when discussing Ricky Steamboat's training, he says he was trained by Khasrow Vaziri. It's only in a later part of the book that he mentions that Vaziri is the Iron Sheik. He also mentions Sting teaming up with James Hellwig early in his career. At no time in the book does he mention that Hellwig went on to become the Ultimate Warrior. I would think that since he's so informative about the plethora of other names he mentions, he might've added the extra info about those two individuals. But there are other names and terms he mentions in the book that a non-wrestling historian (like myself) won't know. And how in the world can you write a chapter on NWA champions and not have a separate profile on Harley Race? Maybe I missed it, but I don't think so. Despite all of that, Hornbaker provides a thorough history of the NWA any wrestling fan will treasure. I had a lot of questions answered about the membership and territories that had lingered with me for years. Required reading for any fan of the backstage politics of the wrestling industry.
Book Description
In the 1980s and '90s many countries turned to the private sector to provide infrastructure and utilities, such as gas, telephones, and highways--with the idea that market-based incentives would control costs and improve the quality of essential services. But subsequent debacles including the collapse of California's wholesale electricity market and the bankruptcy of Britain's largest railroad company have raised troubling questions about privatization. This book addresses one of the most vexing of these: how can government fairly and effectively regulate "natural monopolies"--those infrastructure and utility services whose technologies make competition impractical?
Rather than sticking to economics, José Gómez-Ibáñez draws on history, politics, and a wealth of examples to provide a road map for various approaches to regulation. He makes a strong case for favoring market-oriented and contractual approaches--including private contracts between infrastructure providers and customers as well as concession contracts with the government acting as an intermediary--over those that grant government regulators substantial discretion. Contracts can provide stronger protection for infrastructure customers and suppliers--and greater opportunities to tailor services to their mutual advantage. In some cases, however, the requirements of the firms and their customers are too unpredictable for contracts to work, and alternative schemes may be needed.
Customer Reviews:
A brief review.......2007-08-01
This book combines case-studies, historical overviews, and analysis of past and present infrastructure regulation. From the standpoint of someone who has worked in this industry for about a year, I found this to be an informative, well-written overview with an especially detailed elaboration of the development of regulations and governmental regulatory agencies from the end of the nineteenth century to middle of the twentieth. The author strives to present a balanced picture of the pros and cons of regulation, but it is fairly clear that he is prima facie against the idea of government regulation (he ends his book though with an admission that there is still much to learn about the application of regulatory schemes). There is much in this book to admire (I especially liked the discussions on unbundling, capture, and the influence of varying conceptions of private property) and very little to be dissatisfied with (I would have been more happy to see some of the historical narrative abridged and replaced with a more in-depth case-study examination of the correlation between deregulation and efficiency).
Book Description
The amazing story of how America's best-selling game helped shape our aspirations and captivated the world
Over 200,000,000 copies of the Monopoly(r) game have been sold worldwide since Parker Brothers first popularized it in 1935, making it the world's most popular proprietary game. Countless special and national editions of the game are now published in over sixty countries. But while Monopoly has global appeal, it is distinctly American--a symbol of America's system of economic "opportunity."
In Monopoly: America's Game, Philip Orbanes, the leading expert on all things Monopoliana, tells the remarkable history of the game, from its predecessor's birth as a teaching tool for an economics class in the first decade of the twentieth century through its explosive growth in the postwar decades to it being a ubiquitous fixture in just about every American home today. Orbanes includes fascinating Monopoly personality portraits, little-known Monopoly legends and lore, and the extraordinary variety of advertising used throughout the twentieth century. This is the first and only book to cover comprehensively the origin, growth, and global impact of the game that has become a cultural icon.
This book is not endorsed by Hasbro Games
Customer Reviews:
Read the first 80 pages.......2007-10-04
This is an extremely informative book on the early history of monopoly, and how it went through its changes to become the cultural mainstay it is today, and likely will continue to be so. After the initial history, the author starts wandering off into his rather elementary perceptions of US history and how they affected the game. I seriously had to fight off the eye glazing effect for the rest of the book, though there are some parts of the author's firsthand accounts of Monopoly tournaments that are mildly interesting. For an Amazon bargain book, worth the money, otherwise no way.
Interesting and informative... within reason.......2007-05-30
If you're a casual player of Monopoly®, you may never have managed to see a game through to the finish. However, it won't take you much time at all to complete this breezy, informative survey of the tortuous development of the "real estate trading game" from a didactic method of teaching a 19th-century economic nostrum (Henry George's "single tax") to a pastime that is enjoyed around the world. Orbanes is in a position to know all about Monopoly®, having written the previous "The Monopoly® Companion", serving as a judge at Monopoly® tournaments, and being in touch with the many collectors and fans who have come to specialize in the game and its variants and spin-offs. He does commit a fairly egregious number of faux pas of a purely historical nature, however. The ending is weak, with entirely too much time being spent on a description of Monopoly® tournaments and various individuals who have an online Monopoly® presence. It might have been better had the book been an oversized hardback, with larger space being provided for the many illustrations of Monopoly® variants, precursors, and rip-offs. Even so, this book is worth reading by anyone who enjoys the game and the general history of American pop culture.
Monopoly Game and the history behind it.......2007-04-06
Very good book if you want to know how the board game got started...
The Business of the Business Game.......2007-03-01
"Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200" You probably know this phrase even if you aren't an enthusiast for the game Monopoly, because the game has so completely infiltrated into not only American but also worldwide culture. It doesn't have the history of chess or backgammon, but Monopoly is in its own way a classic. Since it was introduced in 1935, it has sold over a quarter of a billion copies all over the world, so the business game is an overwhelming business success. In _Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way_ (Da Capo Press), Philip E. Orbanes shows how millions of players, racing around a board by throws of dice, building pretend houses and hotels, and extracting rents of phony money, have not only reflected the American economy, but have affected that economy and the economy of the world and its attitudes toward free enterprise. Orbanes is fitting as author for a book like this; he had done R & D for Parker Brothers, is a president of his own game company, and is a chief judge in national and international Monopoly championships.
The history of ancient classic games is often obscure, but Monopoly was invented; it had predecessors and was modified into its current form. It started off as "The Landlord's Game" which was patented by Lizzie Magie in 1904, not just as a game but as a way of showing the unfairness of rents and the benefits of a single tax. George Parker, of the game manufacturer Parker Brothers, himself tried it in 1909 and thought it was too complicated and pedantic. Economics professors and their students liked the game, but only after an unemployed plumbing repairman, Charles Darrow, was invited by friends to play their version, was Monopoly born. Darrow loved the game, and set about making his own version, typing Community Chest cards, buying play money from the dime store, and cutting houses and hotels from wood moldings. He made the familiar colors for the properties and made a board that looks almost the same as the current version. He sold it to department stores, and then to Parker Brothers in 1935; the firm has continued the the myth that the game sprung fully formed from Darrow's brain and hand, but Orbanes's history shows a more complicated origin. The game spread all over the world, with some pockets of resistance. The communists didn't like Monopoly, and resented that it had an underground following. When there was the American National Exhibition at the Moscow Trade Fair in 1959 (famous for the Nixon-Khrushchev kitchen debate), the model American home had a game in progress on a table in the living room. Russians wondered why they couldn't play it, too. Monopoly was officially published in Russia in 1987, and the Soviet system fell three years later.
In this day of computer and video games, people still sit down for an unelectrified Monopoly game, played the way their grandparents did seventy years ago. The game is cheap, and since retailers know they will be selling a steady supply, they often make it a loss leader, a bait to get shoppers in to buy more profitable items. People buy new games to replace those whose cardboard is wearing out. The basic game is still the one selling in the millions, but there have been eccentric versions, like the ones based on real estate in the Star Wars movies, or the luxury version from the Franklin Mint that cost over $600, and yet sold over 100,000 copies. A World Championship is held every four years, and although the game is largely based on chance, computer simulations have helped develop optimum strategies. Monopoly's history parallels that of the US in the twentieth century, so even readers who aren't players will find this a rich history of an important cultural icon.
A real disappointment.......2007-02-03
Love Monopoly and love pop culture history, so I was anxious to read this treatment of the history of America's favorite game. Unfortunately, the book does not live up to its promise.
Here's the core problem - the actual Monopoly content probably only fills about 75 pages. The rest of the text is the author's simplistic and superficial efforts at summarizing the American history that surrounded each decade of the game's life. So, instead of reading about Monopoly, I'm reading about FDR's New Deal and the author's thoughts on World War II.
He's no historian and his historical treatments are elementary-school level. By the 1960s, I was skimming over all his useless verbiage and trying (desperately) to find more on the game itself. The back cover teases with interesting Monopoly facts, but trivia of that ilk is given short shrift in the book.
Finally, he's just not a particularly good writer, using painful analogies and awkward prose. I'm not saying don't read it, especially if you have a high level of interest in the topic, but don't expect too much.
Book Description
Since this classic on corporate control of the media was first published in 1997, the number of corporations dominating our media has shrunk from fifty to merely five. Once called "alarmist", Bagdikian's claims are uncanny and chilling in their accuracyl This much-needed sixth edition follows up on the digital revolution, revealing startling details of a new communications cartel within the United States.
Customer Reviews:
The Best Beginner's Media Critique.......2007-08-09
Bagdikian will easily go down as one of America's great muckrakers. This book does an excellent job at explaining why the U.S. media is so lacking. Without sounding conspiratory he explains that various profit-driven incentives have led to the demise of the news. From the Guilded Age to the present, he explains the history and metamorphasis the media industry has undergone by tying in various political, social, and technological changes that have acted as catalysts that change the industry.
My main gripe with the book is its organization. I had to keep track of the book's content by reorganizing it with my own notes. The organization suffers from three things, two of which are probably necessary : 1)He discusses every medium of the media (daily newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, etc.) which is great, but his transitions are too hasty. 2) He discusses the various effects that the media's changes have produced over the years. However, his examples are too ancedotal, and are often just attached back to back without a broad discussion of what they mean - he provides evidence without a claim. 3) This is the sixth edition, and he's added more chapters onto the book, but they've all just been strung on the end, one after the other, and with an incredible amount of overlap with the other chapters.
I recommend this book, but also recommend reading Herman's and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. This book can explain the misconceptions of Americans about America, but not so much about international affairs. You have to use your imagination for that.
What liberal media?.......2007-01-09
One of the slogans of American conservatives is that the American media is liberal and left-leaning. This book argues the opposite, and that from the 1960s onwards, the takeover of family-owned and family-runned media outlets by large, usually multinational corporations has reduced the quality of news-reporting. Furthermore, media (news) outlets are now primarily vehicles for advertising. The effects of this are multiple. First, there are implicit and explicit pressures within many news organizations to NOT report news that might be damaging to the public image of either that organization's advertisers, parent owners, or other businesses owned by that organization's parent owners. Second, many news organizations purchased by corporations in effect become advertising and propaganda vehicles and not impartial news dispensers any more. Third, in order to satisfy advertising needs, news editors are often forced to mellow the content of their news to make it less offensive and controversial, since offensive and/or controversial content can lessen the buying mood of watchers/readers, which in turn reduces the efficacy of advertising. Fourth, many locales are now served by one news outlet per medium; i.e. one newspaper, one TV station and one radio station. In some instances, all the news outlets in one geographical area (re city) are owned by one corporation. The effect of this is a gradual reduction in the diversity of news in the general media within each city or township. This, argues the author, is highly damaging to the participatory democracy that is the USA. Last, all of this is done in the face of rising profit margins within many news organizations; i.e. the surrender of editorial privilege to advertisers is done solely to increase profits, and not to ensure profitability.
The author argues his points in various ways. First, he provides numerical data to justify his claims. These include the number of privately-owned and publicly-owned news organizations over the past century. Second, the author details specific case studies showing how corporate (advertisers) needs have overtaken editorial judgement within various news organizations. Third, the author provides some of his own subjective evaluation of news content over the decades.
I found this book's arguments highly convincing. There is a small addition for the new Internet medium, but it is quite short and deserves further expansion; hence I give the book only four out of five stars. But this is still a great book and highly recommended for those interested in the social sciences, and any American voter in general.
Attack of the Libertarian Media.......2003-09-12
The cover of this book reports that when Bagdikian published the first edition in 1983, it was dismissed as "alarmist." But he has been vindicated, as the book has reached its sixth edition and the problems he first articulated have become far worse in the ensuing years. The media monopoly problem is far from alarmist. It's alarming. Bagdikian deserves major credit for first publicizing the troubling trend of consolidated media ownership by huge mega-conglomerate corporations. Now we are down to six major media owners. Bagdikian proves that the media have been enslaved to the will of advertisers for decades anyway, as most forms of media make far more money from selling ads than from the members of the public who consume their offerings. But the problem is currently worse than ever as the focus is no longer the public interest, but boosting short-term profits, which has just about eliminated the search for truth or any long-term social focus.
The problem with this edition of the book is that the only current portions are the foreword and afterword, in which Bagdikian outlines where things stand today (that is, worse than ever). Otherwise, the main body of the book appears to be mostly the third edition from 1990. This leads to outdated information and conclusions that are a serious problem for such a quickly developing subject. Although Bagdikian is now more than eighty years old, this work would benefit significantly from a thorough re-write of the main text, rather than the piecemeal additions to the foreword and afterword that supposedly indicate a "new" edition. (Note that plenty of other more modern books have stolen Bagdikian's thunder and cover the issue equally well.) Also, Bagdikian is frequently guilty of attention-grabbing polemics and sarcasm while making his points. This is unnecessary as the facts can speak for themselves.
Regardless, this book is monumentally important not only for its investigation into inequitable corporate control of the media, but also Bagdikian's great insights into the ensuing political and cultural effects on society. This includes everything from the greater costs of goods caused by excessive advertising (a direct contradiction of classic capitalist theory), to the dumbing down of public knowledge of important social issues. In fact, the modern America media is not liberal, despite what close-minded politicians tell you. It's libertarian in its rush for total profit-driven focus and financial control of those same politicians. The general increase in social apathy and malaise among citizens indicates what is wrong with the mainstream media, and the culprit is the relentless and cruel rush for short-term profitability. Public knowledge is the key to a healthy democracy, and corporations have destroyed that for much of America. Worship your new corporate masters. [~doomsdayer520~]
good idea, poor execution.......2003-03-22
Bagdikian manages to take an important subject -- deserving of sober and careful analysis -- and buries it in a shrill, overwrought and largely useless diatribe. His general thesis, that the mass media are undergoing consolidation antithetical to consumer interests, is beyond serious debate. Yet the book is so bereft of serious analysis and scholarship that the case is hardly to be made out. For the wholly naive this book may, perhaps, open some new vistas. But for anyone who regularly gets past the sports pages and comics there is little here of interest.
Revolution!.......2001-07-28
I must say the only reason I put this here is that the only really negative opinion of this book struck me as really symbolic of the general attitude of the media and pubhlic-at-large. "Poop" he wrote. Now that is a very detailed analysis. Its lack of any founding whatsoever in reality is indicative of the author's thoroughly, virtually irrefutable thesis.
Average customer rating:
- Thoughtful, inspirational, compassionate approach to healing
- A MUST FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO RESOLVE A CHRONIC DISEASE
- OK Introduction From Knowledgeable Author
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Saving Yourself from the Disease-Care Crisis
Walt Stoll
Manufacturer: Sunrise Health Coach
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ASIN: 0965317102 |
Book Description
Saving Yourself from the Disease-Care Crisis discusses the critical state of health care in America today and asks hard questions about the monopoly of conventional medicine that limits the options available to most consuemrs of medical services. This book also offers safe, simple treatments which have been effectively used to relieve suffering and reverse the effects of many of the ills produced by the modern American lifestyle. The science of medicine has for too long been excluding the art of medicine: a complementary approach offers a humane and effective solution to the current health care crisis, which should be available to everyone.
Customer Reviews:
Thoughtful, inspirational, compassionate approach to healing.......2004-03-20
As a health care professional (I'm a Certified Massage Therapist and a Holistic Practitioner), I would like to recommend this book to people who would like to feel better, especially if their health conditions have not been helped by the current system. In Saving Yourself, Dr. Stoll weaves several themes. He starts by telling the fascinating story of how he changed from following only his medical school training to learning about holistic methods and becoming a holistic practitioner. He describes how this transformed his own life and the lives of his patients. Dr. Stoll presents simple remedies for healing common conditions (including some major illnesses), offers useful information about the causes and resolution of illness, and gifts us with practical resources for self-help. Most people today know that the health care system in the U.S. is not working well, but Dr. Stoll gives a unique viewpoint -- a holistic doctor's perspective. Being a holistic practitioner myself, I already knew much about the crisis of health care in our country, but this book opened my eyes even further to understand what is really happening, and why, and where caution is needed.
In this book, Dr. Stoll speaks with candor and directness, revealing his open-minded, down-to-earth, and compassionate approach to practicing medicine with the patient's best interest at heart. I found this book to be helpful, insightful, and thought-provoking. It may bring the start of a new approach to health and healing for those with chronic conditions who are wise enough to take Dr. Stoll's words and use them to move beyond internal and external limitations. It did for me. By using this book and studying the material on his website, I incorporated his ideas as part of my life and made dramatic improvements in my own chronic condition of 20 years which I thought would never change. I am grateful for the help I have received from Dr. Stoll who has so generously shared his wisdom and experience.
Health care practitioners of all types may also benefit professionally from receiving Dr. Stoll's insight and practical experience in this book, gathered through more than 40 years of helping people heal themselves. I found his words inspirational and helpful in my own practice. I read a quote this morning that made me think of Dr. Stoll: "Genius is the capacity for productive reaction against one's training." -- Bernard Berenson. Kudos to Dr. Stoll for going beyond his training and the limitations of the health care system and bringing them to us.
A MUST FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO RESOLVE A CHRONIC DISEASE.......1999-05-28
Dr. Stoll has written a book that is years ahead of it's time. He introduces a fusion of conventional (allopathic) medicine and successful alternative therapies. It provides a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that lead to chronic diseases of all kinds. More importantly, once you have read his book and understand the mechanisms you can proceed to implement therapies that will help you re-gain your health.
OK Introduction From Knowledgeable Author.......1999-05-22
Walt Stoll is an M.D. who has devoted himself to the field of alternative medicine...a decision that has earned him the scorn of many of his colleagues. He is extremely knowledgeable and he will kindly answer any questions you might have at his website.
However, I found the book to be mediocre, though the arguments for megadoses of vitamin C are interesting. One good thing though is that Walt is open to many different approaches, and this non-sectarianism (refreshing indeed) is reflected in his book.
This book may be of interest to you if you are new to alternative medicine and want an introduction to some of the concepts. However, I cannot say enough about his website. Despite the fact that it is frequented by more than a handful of fanatical hypochondriacs (such obnoxious people cannot be avoided on any website devoted to health), you may post your questions and have them answered by Dr. Stoll..usually within a day or two. You may also read his responses to others questions, which are often intriguing. Of course, you'll have to put up with other people posting about their ding-bat esoteric diets...oh well, nothing is perfect.
Book Description
Monopoly Companion is a fun-packed guide to the history, rules, and winning strategies behind the world's most popular board game!
* What's the world record for the longest MONOPOLY game played upside down?
* Who REALLY invented the game?
* How did a 10-year old from Staten Island hold hid own against players three times his age in the 1980 United States MONOPOLY championship?
* Why do the best MONOPOLY players AVOID buying hotels for their properties?
* Which property name on your MONOPOLY board is misspelled?
There's only one man who could answer questions like these-and hundreds more that are just as fascinating. It's Mr. Monopoly.
In this fascinating book, Mr. Monopoly reveals everything he knows about the world's most popular board game. "And that, quite frankly," boasts Mr. Monopoly, "is everything."
Customer Reviews:
Do not Pass Go! Go Straight to Your Wallet and Buy This!.......2004-09-12
Everyone has a Monopoly set somewhere at home. If you're like me your set of instructions disappeared long ago and was only a sheet of paper with small font at best anyway. This book explains all the rules in great detail. I never knew there was a limit on the number of houses and hotels and that when there aren't enough green houses you couldn't just fork out the monetary value for a hotel. The age old debate of does free parking collect all the taxes and whoever lands on it gets the money is answered as well. The answer is no by the way. This is a great handy guide for any arguments about the rules.
Even if you already know all of the rules this is still a pretty good purchase. Inside is a heap of trivia such as the names of all the characters on the board and cards, the fact that Parker Bros prints 50 billion dollars of Monopoly money each year and the fact that on average each player makes about $175 dollars around the board. A comparison of the Monopoly properties and what those streets are actually like in the real Atlantic City both when the game was invented and today is very interesting reading along with the predecessors to Monopoly and other historical information. There are also tips on how to play from Mr Monopoly including which are the best properties to purchase. This is an excellent little book for anyone who enjoys playing the best board game ever invented.
Good for Beginners to Intermediate Players.......2004-06-19
Playing Monopoly can be a long endeavor, especially if you play with people who don't know the official rules. If you have endured such hardship, you could recommend this guide to such beginning players.
This book basically gives a lot of tips to the game that most novice players don't know. One of these tips is knowing which monopolies are the most powerful on the board (and it's not Park Place and Boardwalk most of the time!). It is entertaining and can be easily read in one afternoon. There is quite a bit of filler, though, if you just want to get to the nitty-gritty of how to improve your play. His "interview format" with Uncle Moneybags is humorous, but can drag on if you're just in the market for how to become a Monopoly master.
In the end, it's an enjoyable book for most beginners and intermediate players, but can irritate a player who is quite familiar with the game and just looking to get to the highest levels of gameplay.
Very good book.......2004-01-06
I recomend this book to anyone and everyone who plays Monopoly. It is a fun read while at the same time giving great stats and tips as to how to play the game. Ever since I read the book, I rarely lose (pretty much only lose to my brothers who have also read it or to friends who ally against me to stand a chance).
I've found that it is a fine companion book, and does fine to supplement the official rules(so I put it in my monopoly box and leave the rules with the sets I don't use). It may have editorial errors...but the "error" that the disgruntled reader pointed out is not an error...the "second player to your left" is the same as the "second player following" unless you're going counterclockwise...because after you take a turn, the "first player to your left" goes...followed by the second player to your left...so I don't see the problem there.
The only problem I have with it, is that I follow the rules too carefully, so now when I talk about building shortages or making deals between others turns my friends think I'm making up rules.
Go get this book and enjoy!
Disappointing.......2002-12-02
The book says "Mr. Monopoly reveals everything he knows about the world's most popular board game. 'And that, quite frankly is everything.'" Not quite. There are errors in the book (compared to the official Parker Brother's rules). Given that the author was (supposedly) the Chief Judge at the National and World Monopoly Tournaments from 1979 through 1992 (book bio) it is inconceivable that he didn't know the rules, so I think it is just a lack of attention to detail. Yet when you are holding yourself out as an "expert" this is inexcusable. Proofread the book. Edit the book.
For example, one mistake occurs on the pages 34-35, "Paying Rent." They say there are two instances when you can't collect rent one of which is when you do not ask for it within a certain time limit. The time limit during which an opponent must pay rent is before the "second player to your left." This is clearly incorrect, it is the second player to *your opponent's* left. This whole section is mismatched, saying "your left" instead of your opponent's left. It is almost as if they didn't proofread it or didn't know the rules. (The Rules:"The owner may not collect the rent if they fail to ask for it before the second player following throws the dice.") And this isn't the only spot with problems. There are little things like this which people won't catch and will be misled.
If you are interested in some of the history, then fine, it is reasonably accurate. ;-) . If you want play tips and have much experience at the game, it is NOT worth it. The tips provided are common sense, there is perhaps one tip that a beginner might find useful. And there is even no index (how hard is it to have an index?).
In short the book is disappointing and if you are looking for a book with substance about Monopoly, this is not it. Maxine Brady's book (not published now) is better, but still not a complete treatment.
WIN WIN WIN.......2001-11-08
This book helped me beat my freind and become a master player.
Average customer rating:
- Brilliant!
- Biased
- Tracing the mechanics of a social experiment
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Moral Monopoly: The Rise and Fall of the Catholic Church in Modern Ireland
Tom Inglis
Manufacturer: University College Dublin Press
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ASIN: 1900621126 |
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant!.......2002-03-01
The Irish RC church did its level best to become a dictatorship. And came close to achieving that goal for some time. With power came corruption, and the closer to absolute power the closer to absolute corruption.
The book examines how the church first subverted the religious role of men in the family, and then gained a hold on the minds of Irish women. It goes on to detail the church's unique contribution to Irish alcoholism.
From there we get to the persent day, when people are objecting to child abuse by priests and nuns and the church is responding by saying that if people won't play the church's way, then the church is going to take its football and go home.
This book is a good detailing of an organization that's received a well-deserved comeuppance.
Biased.......2001-12-16
In the guise of objective social science Inglis has written a one-sided diatribe that makes no attempt at presenting a fair and balenced analysis. He refers to Catholics as having "silenced, repressed egos" and as being led around and virtually enslved by a closed totalitarian institutional structure. Anyone who knows real catholics couldn't possibily describe them that way. They certainly have exeerted a lot of influence on the world (both good and bad) for being such timid people who are afraid to express themselves or act in accord with their consciences.
On the other hand this book will have great appeal to the conspiracy minded, especially as it's biases are hidden beneath the veneer of objective social science.
Tracing the mechanics of a social experiment.......2001-11-29
First things first: since the vocabulary of sociology is one of the more tooth-grinding known to man, this is not the most elegantly written book in the world.
My five stars go this book because it is, so far as I know, the first real attempt to document the mechanics by which that great social and political experiment, the Holy Catholic Ireland of the post-independence period, was put into place and controlled.
Inglis frankly admits his own difficulty in separating his genuine religious impulse from the arid clericalism of the resulting system for long enough to gauge that system impartially, and the tension sometimes shows. But on the whole Inglis has begun a much-needed and long-overdue analysis of the control mechanisms which made such a sociological and psychological disaster-area of the Irish Free State and later Republic, and with whose wreckage Ireland's citizens still live. Hopefully others will continue the work: in the meantime, in spite of its occasional difficulty, this is an excellent place to start for those who wonder how the Catholic Church in Ireland got away with so much for so long.
Average customer rating:
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Merger Control in the EU: Law, Economics and Practice
Edurne Navarro ,
Andres Font ,
Jaime Folguera , and
Juan Briones
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0199276056 |
Book Description
This second edition of Merger Control in the EU provides the reader with an exhaustive analysis of the European Community rules relating to merger control, including the new EC Merger Regulation 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 which entered into force on 1 May 2004 and the latest interpretive notices adopted by the European Commission. A brand new addition to the book is the companion website which will maintain the currency of the main work after publication; a service that is free of charge to all who own a copy of the book. The European Commission has exclusive competence to authorise or prohibit concentrations which have a Community dimension. Bearing in mind the economic relevance of these operations, decisions made by the Commission have an extraordinary market impact. This work is an invaluable and precise instrument for legal practitioners and economists, as well as for those undertakings involved in merger operations or acquisitions. It will enable them to become acquainted with the Commission's policy in this field and to guide themselves through the complex procedure of notification in Brussels. It will also be useful for those merger operations which are required to follow the procedure of notification to the national competition authorities in EU Member States, since the Commission's guidelines inspire, to a large extent, the acts and decisions of the national authorities in this field. This book analyses the issues related to merger control not only from a legal standpoint, but also from an economic one. It is a product of the authors' knowledge and experience in Brussels as officials of DG Competition in the Commission, and as lawyers defending the interests of undertakings involved in the notification procedure.
Average customer rating:
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Managed Care and Monopoly Power: The Antitrust Challenge
Deborah Haas-Wilson
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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ASIN: 0674010523 |
Book Description
As millions of Americans are aware, health care costs continue to increase rapidly. Much of this increase is due to the development of new life-sustaining drugs and procedures, but part of it is due to the increased monopoly power of physicians, insurance companies, and hospitals, as the health care sector undergoes reorganization and consolidation. There are two tools to limit the growth of monopoly power: government regulation and antitrust policy. In this timely book, Deborah Haas-Wilson argues that enforcement of the antitrust laws is the tool of choice in most cases.
The antitrust laws, when wisely enforced, permit markets to work competitively and therefore efficiently. Competitive markets foster low prices and high quality. Applying antitrust tools wisely, however, is a tricky business, and Haas-Wilson carefully explains how it can be done. Focusing on the economic concepts necessary to the enforcement of the antitrust laws in health care markets, Haas-Wilson provides a useful roadmap for guiding the future of these markets.
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