Book Description
Who hasn't gone into a shop or workplace at some point and seen the sign `You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps!'?
This over-used phrase becomes very real in the case of Beth Seager, an Admissions Manager in a busy British NHS hospital. Someone with very little authority but a huge amount of responsibility. She has to find beds for patients in a hospital that is claimed to work at 98% capacity - an impressive achievement that means the maximum time a bed is empty is less than 15 minutes. It's best not to mention the waiting times.
Unfortunately there are far more patients than beds and no money to bring more beds in. Someone has to decide whether a bed is taken by a patient who needs an extensive operation that will allow them to live a few more months, a breast cancer patient, or someone with two broken legs. Added to that, Beth is struggling against her caustic boss `Fearsome Fran' and her meddling assistant `Evil Eddy' who tries to undermine her and take her job.
Everything comes to a head when Fearsome Fran announces a new silver bullet plan to free up more beds. Beth knows that not only will it not work, but that she is effectively being demoted. But what can she do? She has 61 more patients than she has beds and a very short period to time to stamp her authority on Fran's new plan in order to stop it making things much worse.
Her luck changes when eligible bachelor Professor John Summers becomes her unlikely ally after becoming frustrated with the number of his operations that keep being cancelled. She also starts receiving some interesting advice over email from her brother-in-law in the US and slowly starts to believe that she can unravel the mess of the health service system and find the core problem and then the main constraint of her particular hospital.
We All Fall Down. Goldratt's Theory of Constraints for Healthcare Systems is a textbook written in the style of a witty, thriller novel. The reader is involved with Beth's challenges and dilemmas, and through her experiences, discover how Eli Goldratt's theories can be applied to the healthcare and service industries.
You don't have to be mad to work in the health services, you have to be caring, dedicated and resourceful as any errors can have fatal consequences. If you know someone from the health service, buy them this book so they can see the whole picture and what they can do improve the system. However, this book is also essential reading for anyone who has been frustrated by hospital delays or who works in other service industries such as teaching.
We All Fall Down is destined to revolutionise the service industry and not-for-profit sector in the same way that Eli Goldratt's book The Goal did for the manufacturing industry. Don't be left on the waiting list!
Customer Reviews:
Very good story - incredibly insightful.......2007-01-23
This book was a slow start, then I really started to come up to speed on the healthcare system, their challenges and issues and enter Harry, with the ideas on Theory of Constraints which Beth grasps very quickly and starts to put to use. It is very encouraging as she decides to take on this amazingly large task to hand, armed with just her new thinking and analyzing techniques. I really enjoyed the read. I was however very frustrated and disappointed at the endless number of punctuation, grammar, and other similar English language errors that the publishers had made. I will be sure to contact them to make them aware of it. Good read, and I highly recommend it.
We All Fall Down Stands Tall.......2006-11-13
Julie Wright's application of the Theory of Constraints to the healthcare system in the UK is relevant to anyone in the healthcare industry. The techniques used in the novel are so fundamental they transcend the model of financing and management of the system. In fact, you will have a better understanding of the system you are in if you read the book. I have always thought we physicians were a bottleneck in the system. Reading We All Fall Down confirms this. The novel is very entertaining, easy to read and makes some great points. I recommend it highly to anyone in healthcare management or leadership. It's not bad as a general read as well. Ed Millermaier, MD Chief Medical Officer, Ambulatory Care Division, Borgess Health, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
We all may fall, but this book stands tall!.......2006-07-08
Julie's book is very timely and instructive in how TOC can be applied to healthcare in particular, and the services industries in general. The book is engaging and powerful and also breaks new ground (such as expanding on Dr. Goldratt's 6 layers of resistance; and the real-world, relevant examples of use are especially good). In addition to the strong treatment of some of the key TOC Thinking Process tools, the book is a how-to for change management as well. I have read "We All Fall Down" 3 times, and each time have gained new insights into the applications.
Not good enough.......2006-06-16
I was quite disappointed with this book. I've heard that the results in the British Health System after implementing TOC are quite outstanding. If it's true, this book doesn't reflect it.
First of all, written as a novel, the backround story is not good. Two brothers are in a great fight and won't talk to each other because one of them is a TOC follower. Come on! I'm sure the authors's could've found a better backround story.
The description of how the NHS works is poor. The Health System is different from the one in my country, so I found it very hard to try to figure out how the NHS works, the different departments, the interactions, etc.
From the TOC point of view, good for someone just starting with TOC, but too light for someone who has read any other book.
To explain the concept of a system constraint, the book uses the same type of analogy used in Goldratt's "The Goal" (the boy scout trip), but the example and the explanation is not good.
The clouds built to find these problems conclude that the core problem of the NHS is the lack of communication between the different levels. I was expecting a more detailed analysis from the operations point of view.
In the last chapter a year has passed, and there is a summary of everything I would have expected the book to explain throughout the book, all in one chapter, with insufficient detail.
This book is good if you are involved in the NHS, and therefore know its problems, and if you know nothing about TOC.
If you want to learn about TOC Thinking Processes, I recommend Dettmer's "Goldratt's Theory of Constraints" with the main concepts, and "Management Dilemmas" (Shragenheim) with many interesting practical examples. Also "It's not luck".
If you want to learn TOC Operations, "Manufacturing at Warp Speed" (Dettmer & Shragenheim).
Project Management: Project Management in the fast lane (Newbold).
Unique and very highly recommended reading.......2006-05-08
We All Fall Down: Goldratt's Theory Of Constraints For Healthcare Systems, delightfully co-authored by Julie Wright and Russ King is an entertaining and thought-provoking novel in which co-authors Julie Wright and Russ King explore the intricate world of TOC and its effective use when applied to health care and service industries. Engagingly whisking its readers through Beth Segar's every-day digressively tedious life in combat with coworkers and happiness, We All Fall Down depicts the amusing tale of her introduction of Theory of Constraints in the workplace and its immediate effectiveness. We All Fall Down is unique and very highly recommended reading.
Customer Reviews:
Very interesting!.......2007-01-15
I really like history and biographies are my favorite source of historical information. My search for anything related to King Nikola began when I was told that, despite being of a lesser noble family, he had as much royal connections as King Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Victoria. The book is very well written and has plenty of photographs in an outstanding edition, and brings important information about the Balkan politics during the twilight of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. Great book!
Attractive book, great price.......2005-08-14
This is a gorgeous book on the "father-in-law" of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Well written and gorgeously illustrated.
And this price is a steal - at the museum shop of the King's Palace in Cetinje, Montenegro, this book sells for 100 Euros!
Average customer rating:
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The Fall of Samaria: An Historical and Archaeological Study (Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East, Vol 2)
Bob Becking
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9004096337 |
Book Description
The fall of Samaria is narrated in 2 Kings 17. The cuneiform inscriptions dealing with this event are prima facie contradictory: the conquest is ascribed to both Shalmaneser V and Sargon II. The surmise of H. Tadmor that Samaria was conquered twice is investigated. At the same time the events are interpreted in their socio-historical framework. Tadmor's assumption cannot be falsified, although his theory should be modified as regards the date of the first conquest: 723 B.C.E. The fall of Samaria can be interpreted as an inevitable result of the expansion of the Assyrian Empire in combination with internal struggles in Israel. Evidence of deportation reveals that deportees were treated as normal citizens. Thorough discussion of the sources and their interpretation is a feature of this book.
Average customer rating:
- Worth it, if ultimately disappointing
- Catching
- I've read better
- I give it points for the gay sex...
- Uneven but Worthy of Attention
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The Fall of The Kings
Ellen Kushner , and
Delia Sherman
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Kushner, Ellen | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:
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Swordspoint
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The Privilege of the Sword
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Thomas the Rhymer
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The Virtu
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Melusine
ASIN: 0553585940
Release Date: 2003-09-30 |
Book Description
This stunning follow-up to Ellen Kushner’s cult-classic novel,
Swordspoint, is set in the same world of labyrinthine intrigue, where sharp swords and even sharper wits rule. Against a rich tapestry of artists and aristocrats, students, strumpets, and spies, a gentleman and a scholar will find themselves playing out an ancient drama destined to explode their society’s smug view of itself–and reveal that sometimes the best price of uncovering history is being forced to repeat it….
The Fall of the Kings
Generations ago the last king fell, taking with him the final truths about a race of wizards who ruled at his side. But the blood of the kings runs deep in the land and its people, waiting for the coming together of two unusual men, Theron Campion, a young nobleman of royal lineage, is heir to an ancient house and a modern scandal. Tormented by his twin duties to his family and his own bright spirit, he seeks solace in the University. There he meets Basil St. Cloud, a brilliant and charismatic teacher ruled by a passion for knowledge–and a passion for the ancient kings. Of course, everyone now knows that the wizards were charlatans and the kings their dupes and puppets. Only Basil ins not convinced–nor is he convinced that the city has seen its last king…
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Worth it, if ultimately disappointing.......2006-05-23
First off, I loved this book...right up until the end. It has possibly THE most disappointing conclusion I have ever read. Not, as one might suspect, because of the actual climatic events, but because of how it was handled by the writers. The entire emotional thrust of the book comes from either Basil or Theron and yet, when the most emotional aspect of the book happens, the writers deprive the reader of any response, narrative or reaction from the emotional characters. I needed that closure, to know what Theron thought, what he felt. To have the book finish from the point of view of a minor, late-introduced character is a cheat, as far as I'm concerned.
However, I still gave it 4 stars because, up until that point, I was enthralled by this book. The relationship between Theron and Basil was powerful, passionate and satisfying. I can see myself picking the book back up to read scenes in isolation, but I don't think I could ever read it cover to cover again thanks to the intense frustration the ending gave.
Catching.......2005-07-08
This book was lent to me by a friend after she had read it, and I heard bits and pieces of it, nothing bad at all. I have to agree. This book really captured and held me from start to finish.
While I have the attention span of a goldfish, some parts I wanted to, and did skim, I'll admit. It was very detailed, and my attention span couldn't handle it all the time. However, if you enjoy descriptions and books being greatly indepth, here you are. The characters were VERY well developed, and right away I became attached to a few, namely the two main characters, Theron (an aristocratic, snooty boy) and Basil (a logical, deepthinking college professor).
The plot itself was very creative and unique, and something I hadn't seen done in any Fantasy books yet. The relationship between the two lead characters captivated me. They were probably my favorite part about the book. And, while the plot, very well developed and indepth, was intriguing, I didn't like the ending. At all. This could be my attachment to certain characters, but it could be otherwise. It seemed rather abrupt, I have to say. However, it DID spark the emotional side of me, and I did cry while reading it. That is how well-written it is.
So, while this book immediately became one of my favorites, I do rather enjoy remembering about the beginning three-fourths of it, rather than the last fourth.
I've read better.......2005-03-04
True, the concept of this book was slightly brilliant. The connection to an ancient history was delightful, although that aspect of the main characters' relationship flirted with prophecy. The characters Kushner created were fantastic, albeit debatably one-sided, and the relationships between characters could sometimes before dragged-out melodramas (i.e. "Basil, I can't make it tonight, I must attend a frilly noble party." "Theron, why were you late coming to make love to me tonight?" "Frilly noble party, remember?" Followed by some bickering, a week or so of ignoring/pining after each other, and then make-up sex). Mostly, there was very little relationship development and a great deal of character development.
Oh, and Theron and Basil seemed to have a romance based solely on sex.
The last sorcerer alive is a bit of an over-used situation, but I did happen to adore the character of Theron. Kushner needs to focus in on a single thread better, as the many, many sidestories only get in the way of what's actually going on or complicate it unnecessarily. The exessive amounts of plotting and intrigue got a bit tiresome.
The ending was, without competition, the WORST I've ever read. Kushner spent the entire novel, yes, even all the boring conspiring, building to this moment of crowning and bonding, ect., only to have one of the main characters die and the other shipped off (notice that, even though seemingly head-over-heels in love with Basil, Theron didn't really seem to give a (...) that he'd died). The bad guys win. I'm a lover of bad guys, and there's nothing wrong with them winning, but when it's repulsively anti-climatic and completely backwards from the entire plot and purpose of the book, it's just angering.
Unless you want to be frustrated and a little bored, put your money to better use. If you want intrigue and (...) lovers, go read the Nightrunner series. There's more action and the characters are just as brilliant.
I give it points for the gay sex..........2004-07-15
This book was...interesting...
Certainly it kept me reasonably entertained, if only because there was so much in the 500+ pages of history and characterization to choke down and digest. While the characters were likeable and kept me reading, the plot was often obscure (at times overly so), and at times dragged along the borderline of tediousness. It was Theron & Basil that intrigued me, and pulled me through the seemingly hundreds of pages of rather bland history lessons - the ancient world of wizards & kings was regurgitated throughout the chapters, and at excessive length - and in the end I was disappointed as the authors veered from their focus on the characters to the convoluted "plot" that never seemed to reach its climax.
I ended the book feeling cheated, having spent so much time reading over facts and details and history lessons I was led to believe would all play some integral part in the book's ending, only to have the rug pulled out from under me in a pathetic 10-page wrap-up. Nothing was solved, and as it turns out all of those facts and details and history lessons were read for nothing. Useless information, and a useless finish to a somewhat promising book.
All I can attribute this to is that the authors dropped the ball on the characters. Shame shame, seeing as I enjoyed them so much...
In the end, I would recommend this book and I wouldn't recommend this book. I originally bought it because of the gay-friendly subject matter, but really - while the book certainly alludes to several ellicit liasons between Theron & Basil, and briefly describes them on occasion - nothing physical is delved into deeply, and it is the emotional development of these two characters that had me turning pages while the overall plot lagged. If you are a fan of pretty boys getting physical, and fantasy and a dose of fictional history is your bag, by all means go for it. But if you prefer a more light-hearted romp with a more satisfying crunch to it's ending, I'd suggest turning your sights elsewhere.
For me, this book shall retreat to the back of my bookshelf.
Uneven but Worthy of Attention.......2004-06-13
Complicated. Thats how I would describe the book, The Fall of Kings. Most times I really go in for a complicated, rich tapestry of a fantasy world, and gladly dove into this one based on the many glowing recommendations around Amazon for it. However, half way through the book, I realized also why some had described it as overly complicated and pathless. There is a definite path through this book. One can almost immediately see where it is headed, and if you're like me, you can become disappointed on the destination. The destination itself was not the problem, but the journey was. Sure many of the characters are vivid, but not the necessary ones. The story was a good one, but its evolution was...I searched for a word and the only one I could come up with is stupid.
While some areas of the world were described overmuch, the main characters (except for some sexual detail) were described too little, I found myself having forgotten what one of the main characters looked like within pages of opening the book. Too little was reinforced, and certain aspects of novel writing were too obvious.
Ok, it seems I am only downing the book but there are positive parts to it. If you are a fan of Robert Jordan, I would say you would like this book. I read a number of his, but the over complication without the strong return for what you've read put me off him and I never finished his series. I struggled through this book. Half way through I was completely exasperated at the uneven characterization. I left it for a number of weeks, until in a fit of determination came back to it, but even then skimming through overwritten passages. The ending is unsatisfying even in its basic premise. Without trying to give a spoiler, it ends as one expects it might but without the emotion that would have made it at least acceptable. Yes, a difficult review, as uneven as the book itself. Struggle through it yourself and you'll see what I mean.
All the above glowing reviews...I dont really understand them. As a writer myself I suppose I can see more of the faults, weaknesses, and problems with the book, but at the same time it does create a sense of tension and inevitability very well. For those looking for gay sex and relationships, this one has it in abundance, but again it was irritating and one-dimensional somehow. I'm sorry, many people like this book, and it has its good points and its a worthy read, but over all I feel it could have been better written and realized. Perhaps two writers working on it overcomplicated what could have been a truly lyrical and strong novel.
Product Description
This is the 3 in 1 book of the Queen's Own trilogy. It contains Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall. These books were only released originally as paperbacks. This is the only way to get them as a hardback edition!
Book Description
In 1848 Francis Joseph became King of Hungary and Emperor of Austria. Focusing on the life of Francis Joseph and his family, this book examines their personal relationships against the turbulent background of the decline of had been the most powerful empire in Europe in the 19th century.
Customer Reviews:
Item not received.......2007-03-08
I cannot write a review as I have not received my order yet. the order was shipped on january 30, with estimate arrival date March 08. My tracking number is GM01088134011894499. I tried your link WHERES MY STUFF but got nowhere.My credit card has alçready been charged with this item.Please advise if another arrival estimate. Thnk you
emperor francis joseph.......2007-01-11
have actually not been able to start reading but know by title, will be great. thanks.
Fascinating Read.......2006-12-10
Wonderful telling of the life of the last true Habsburg emperor. Although the author allows you to be sympathetic to Francis Joseph, he makes no excuses for his shortcomings as emperor as well. I bought this book as a guide for an upcoming trip to Austria and eastern Europe. It not only made me look forward to my trip but with the historical events that I got from this book in mind, I had a deeper perspective of the many sights that I visited on my trip. An fascinating read.
Ripples of an Empire.......2006-03-13
I found this novel to be an accurate novel of the last 100 years of the Hapsburg Dynasty and their trials, family sorrows and the effects of their autocratic power upon the people they governed throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. While i believe at times the Emperor felt he was ruling in the best interests of his loyal subjects that remains to be seen in the last part of the 19th century and of course leading up to that fateful day in June at Sarajavo when Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were murdered by an Anachists Bomb and set the tone for the debacle of World War I which of course destroyed the last remaining vestiges of European Autocracy and Dynastic inheritance. While i do favor people having a say in how they are governed it seems that when the monachy is overthrown as in Imperial Russia; the individuals that take over the rule are far worse than their "Annointed Predecessors" . After all the gulags of Josef Stalin were far worse than any "fortress" of the Tsars.
Book Description
As the roaring twenties faded and the Great Depression began, several inmates of the Indiana prison system began an association that eventually erupted into violence and death across the Midwest. One of the members of the group, John Dillinger, spent time at both the Indiana State Reformatory at Pendleton and the state prison at Michigan City from 1924 to 1933. History of a sort was in the making, and the idea of the Dillinger gang was born behind these walls.
Paroled in May 1933 after serving a prison term for attempted robbery, Dillinger organized a gang that spread terror across the Midwest from 1933 to 1934, perhaps killing as many as 16 persons and robbing as many as 20 banks. He escaped jail twice and was declared "Public Enemy No. One" before being killed by FBI agents in front of the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934.
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DILLINGER GANG is about the nine major members of the Dillinger Gang: John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Homer Van Meter, Eddie Green, Harry Pierpont, Charley Makely, Russell Lee Clark, John Hamilton, and Thomas Carroll. With the exception of Clark, who received a life sentence behind bars, all of the gangsters met violent deaths before the end of 1934. While several serious full-length biographies have been written about Dillinger and one on Nelson, there are no major biographies of the other gang members.
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DILLINGER GANG corrects this oversight. Utilizing FBI files, court records, prison records, local newspapers, and books as sources, Jeffery S. King provides insight into crime conditions in the 1920s and the war on crime in the early 1930s. The rise of the FBI and bureau officials Melvin Purvis and J. Edgar Hoover is an important part of the story, as is background information about the extensive criminal activities of the Dillinger gangsters before they joined the gang and the ultimate fates of the Dillinger-era lawmen and criminals.
Customer Reviews:
Plenty of information about the gang here.......2006-09-21
If you just want the facts about the Dillinger Gang then this is the book for you. The books flows smoothly and is easy to read, individual chapters are allocated to each gang member which details their family life, upbringing and their drift into a life of crime. Many of them lost one or both parents very early in life, maybe this pushed them over the edge to crime l do not know, but low paying, mundane jobs were not an option for the Dillinger gang.
Van Meter, Nelson and Pierpont were vicious, nasty creatures who seemed born for the prison yard, although evidence is presented that Pierpont was never the same after he was beaned on the head by a baseball bat, it is claimed he suffered from periods of insanity. Makely seems to have been a enough nice fellow he just enjoyed robberies along with the money and lifestyle it bought. Makely reflecting in the book said that a life dedicated to honesty would lead to the poverty he saw in his father's lifestyle which to him was a waste of a life!
Many bizarre moments of the criminals lives are in the book, a milk bottle is thrown at the Dillinger gang while exiting from one of their robberies and Van Meter escaping from the police by jumping on an untended wagon pulled by horses and whipping the horses into a gallop as he and the wagon tore down the street to a successful escape! Nelson, sitting in a hotel room enjoying the rantings and ravings of Van Meter (no love lost between these two) who was distraught at the look of his face after plastic surgery.
Overall a good introduction to the Dillinger gang with a lot of details on the type of tension filled lives they lead.
Comprehensive Historical Biography.......2006-08-25
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/06)
"The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang" is really interesting. Author, Jeffrey S. King, extensively researched the background of the Dillinger gang. He offers pictures, references, quotes from people and letters and the personal history of each person in the gang.
Dillinger himself was either seen as "Public Enemy Number One" or he was viewed as a modern day Robin Hood. The later comparison was actually really sad because while he wasn't robbing from the poor, he was responsible for the beatings and or deaths of several people, including many law enforcement officers. This gang robbed stores, theaters, banks, and raided police stations to help some of the members escape including Dillinger himself.
Dillinger's criminal career started early. He was locked up from 1924 to 1933. He got out and continued his crime sprees. Some of his family members felt that he continued his life of crime because his first prison sentence was unfairly too long. His numerous attempts at escaping prison continued to add to his sentence. His family should have looked at why he was locked up in the first place. He was truly a career criminal and did not seem to want any other life.
From his prison release in May of 1933 to when he was gunned down on July 22, 1934, Dillinger's gang was responsible for killing about 16 people and robbing 20 banks. Eleven of these people were law enforcement officers.
Other members in the gang's lives are also reviewed in this book. This includes: George "Baby Face" Nelson (Lester Gillis), Harry Eugene "Eddie" Green, Homer Van Meter, Harry Pierpont, Charley Makley, Russell Lee Clark, John Hamilton, and Thomas Carroll. You will learn everything about their upbringings, their relationships, and their demises.
Included in some of the photos are pictures of several of gang members after they were killed. This includes Dillinger's photo. It is unsettling to see these pictures, but what I feel was more unsettling are the smiling faces of several of the people posing in the background photos around the bodies. Because of his notoriety, Dillinger had 15,000 people view his body at the morgue.
I highly recommend this book to history or biography buffs. In addition to learning about the career criminal lives of these men, you get a really good feel for what society was like at the time. You also learn about how the FBI got start and J. Edgar Hoover's role at the time.
The Gang's All Here!.......2006-03-06
This is not a book of rehashed material, as one recent reviewer complained. Little of the biographical material on John Dillinger is new--after all, millions of words were written in his own time, and the biographies continue to flow in--but there is a goldmine of new information on all the major members of the two Dillinger Gangs. As Bill Helmer comments on the back cover, "Dillinger didn't do it alone," and King's goal in this book was to cover the criminal backgrounds of John's accomplices, something no one has done before. And he succeeds remarkably well. The previously undocumented criminal careers of Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley, John Hamilton, Russell Clark, Tommy Carroll, Homer Van Meter, and Eddie Green are covered in great detail, and it makes for fascinating reading. Most of these men committed far more crimes, and over a wider geographic area, than the celebrated gang members, Dillinger and "Baby Face" Nelson. Pierpont, Carroll, or Makley alone would each be deserving case studies themselves for book length biographies. This book is destined to become a true crime classic at least for its in-depth study of the gang members. That much said, there are flaws, which cause me to dock a star: [1] Some obsolete legends from previous Dillinger biographers--notably Toland and Nash--are accepted uncritically; [2] Nelson's three-fingered getaway driver on the Grand Haven bank robbery is not likely to have been William "Three-Fingered Jack" White, whom King definitely identifies him to be. FBI files on the Grand Haven job mention White as a possible suspect but tend to rule him out and no certain identification was ever made; [3] King obviously missed the recent expanded paperback edition of the Girardin-Helmer work "Dillinger: The Untold Story". Otherwise he would know that the fake guns used in the Pierpont-Makley death house break were carved from soapstone, not soap as previously reported. But these are minor quibbles and no historical work of any kind has ever been without errors. This book is a good read and there are plenty of leads here for future researchers to pursue.
Interesting, But A Rehash of Old Stories.......2006-01-30
Several books have been written about John Dillinger and his cohorts along with the recently published book entitled The Vendetta by Alston Purvis. Each of the books cover the same cast of characters and incidents such as the shootout at the Little Bohemia lodge in northern Wisconsin. Jeffery King's book does provide a great deal of information on the gang's members, but not anything different than what can already be found in numerous other books on this subject. King states that the Purvis family was "deeply upset" that Hoover ignored Melvin's death. However, in Alston Purvis's book "The Vendetta", in a telegram to Hoover after Melvin's death, his wife stated, "We are honored that you ignored Melvin's death. Your jealously hurt him very much..." I did find numerous spelling errors, the same word repeated in a sentence, word omissions, and incorrect words placed in sentences especially, but certainly not limited to, the chapter on Little Bohemia. In summary, while I found the book to be interesting, it doesn't have any information to speak of that can't be found in numerous other similar volumes. It also is in serious need of a proofreader.
Jeffery King tells it all on the DILLINGER GANG!.......2005-11-27
Finally a crime book that dives deep into the background of every member associated with the Dillinger gang, definitely the best book written by author Jeff King. The Rise And Fall Of The Dillinger Gang brilliantly uncovers new facts and sets the record straight! I give this book 5-stars because it is a top-notch book with unsurpassed detail! A must read! Thank you. Review by 7ony Stewart - author of Dillinger, The Hidden Truth (...).
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George Hudson: The Rise and Fall of the Railway King
A. J. Arnold , and
S. McCartney
Manufacturer: Hambledon & London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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General | Railroads | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1852854014
Release Date: 2004-11-25 |
Book Description
* The Robert Maxwell of the nineteenth century* Victorian England 's greatest capitalist* Brought down by a shareholder 's questionThe building of the railways in Britain in thenineteenth century was the greatest ever industrialundertaking in the world to that time.Financed byprivate enterprise rather than the state,the schemesto build new lines were characterised both by theirambition and by their need for huge amounts ofcapital.The most ambitious of all of the individualentrepreneurs,and for long the most successful,was George Hudson,the 'Railway King ',whoseestablishment of York as the hub of an ever-growingnetwork of lines brought him huge wealth andgreat fame.Already a wealthy businessman and Lord Mayor ofYork before the advent of the railways,Hudsonseized the opportunity they presented with bothhands.He became an MP,lived in style andentertained lavishly.While his early lines wereprofitable,later ones were not.Ever more deeplycommitted,at a time when accounting standardswere lax,he hid inconvenient figures until broughtdown by a question at a shareholders 'meeting in1849.Disgraced,he fled to the Continent,hisname synonymous with fraudulent capitalism at itsmost brazen.This new biography is the fullestexamination to date of an extraordinary and complexman and his career.
Book Description
Reinterpreting the first century of American history, Brendan McConville argues that colonial society developed a political culture marked by strong attachment to Great Britain's monarchs. This intense allegiance continued almost until the moment of independence, an event defined by an emotional break with the king. By reading American history forward from the seventeenth century rather than backward from the Revolution, McConville shows that political conflicts long assumed to foreshadow the events of 1776 were in fact fought out by factions who invoked competing visions of the king and appropriated royal rites rather than used abstract republican rights or pro-democratic proclamations. The American Revolution, McConville contends, emerged out of the fissure caused by the unstable mix of affective attachments to the king and a weak imperial government. Sure to provoke debate, The King's Three Faces offers a powerful counterthesis to the dominant American historiography.
Average customer rating:
- The only game in town
- VESCO book is Real-Life Suspense Thriller
- Mr. Herzog has done a superb job on the facts.
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Vesco: From Wall Street to Castro's Cuba, the Rise, Fall, and Exile of the King of White Collar Crime
Arthur Herzog
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Business | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Ethics | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595272096 |
Book Description
Today's high-flying, high-rolling conglomarateurs and corporate raiders are a tame lot compared to their immediate predecessors. The most notorious of these is Robert Vesco, the Kingfish himself, who in 1973 fled the United States accused of looting $250 million from Investors Overseas Services. Now, in this riveting account, noted author Arthur Herzog tells the astounding story of this high school dropout from Detroit, who parlayed cunning, ambition, a brilliant mind, and above all, other people's gullibility and money into a vast financial empire.
Vesco's was a different kind of white collar crime. Indeed, there are many today who think he is not a criminal at all—just a victim of the SEC ("See Everything Crooked"). Working narrowly within the system, Vesco joined together smaller companies to form ever larger ones; then, driving up the price of stocks, he attracted investors by the thousands worldwide. When, at last, the dream fell apart, he got out before being thrown in jail. What followed was a desperate escape—and an equally desperate chase by the FBI, CIA, and SEC—to the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and finally Havana, Cuba, where Vesco now lives under the protection of Fidel Castro.
Customer Reviews:
The only game in town.......2004-09-17
The book is about as good as any book could be, given the secrecy in which its main subject operated. It never gives the reader any clarity about why Vesco committed the crimes that made him famous (he could have made just about as much money legally, and would not have ended up in jail in Cuba as a result.) But in a case where little is known about what precisely happened, it is unfair to expect Herzog to explain why it happened. Anyway, this is the only book on Mr. Vesco that discusses his later career, and it sorely deserves an update. Required reading for any scholars of 1970s finance or Wall Street scandals.
VESCO book is Real-Life Suspense Thriller .......2004-08-30
VESCO:FROM WALL STREET TO CASTRO'S CUBA by Arthur Herzog is a riveting study of while-collar criminal, Robert Vesco, accused by the Securities Exchange Commission of looting Bernard Cornfeld's Investor's Overseas Service (IOS) of 425 million in 1986. Vesco fled the USA before he was brought to trial, presumably, taking the money with him. The ingredients of "game playing", secretiveness, manipulation, bravado, and a "slippery streak" mixed with a more than usual dose of greed and chutzpah is the foundation of the Vesco legend.
Herzog looks at his ambitious childhood in Detroit, his early marriage at seventeen, and his knack of losing jobs. After awhile Vesco decides to start his own businesses, ultimately creating wealthy conglomerates. But Vesco did not work alone; he sought out and persuaded powerful, wealthy men to join him in his various get-rich schemes. After he left the country, he still had a line to the best attorneys to represent him and to powerful politicians to protect him, as he hop-scotched around the Caribbean--Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Antigua, and eventually Castro's Cuba. It is here that Herzog catches up with the fugitive financier and gets the first interview ever with him. Ironically, Herzog's last question, "Bob, was it all worth it?" is left unanswered as Vesco scurries away.
* * *
Mr. Herzog has done a superb job on the facts........1999-09-01
I would love to meet and greet the person the book is about. It is as if he has left no stone unturned. Mr. Vesco if you can read this please call me @ 1-313-577-6951. Thanks Carole McCormick.
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