Amazon.com
As it becomes increasingly associated with impressive corporate gains realized in recent years by companies ranging from FedEx and Rolex to Starbucks and Volvo, "branding" has developed into one of the marketing world's hottest concepts. And for good reason, contend well-known strategist Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries in The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding: How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand.
"Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect," they write. "If you can build a powerful brand you will have a powerful marketing program. If you can't, then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales promotion and public relations in the world won't help you achieve your objective." A no-holds-barred look at a diverse collection of successful--and not-so-successful--branding efforts undertaken by these and other high-profile firms, their book distills the most critical principles involved into a series of clear rules with straightforward titles such as The Law of Expansion, The Law of Contraction, The Law of Consistency, and The Law of Mortality. While some of their suggestions may at first seem counterintuitive, together they compose a logical blueprint for success in today's ever-more-competitive environment. --Howard Rothman
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
When you call a book The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, you're pretty much ruling out Oprah's Book Club as potential buyers. (Not that Oprah herself isn't a terrific brand.) This is an audiobook for a narrow demographic: entrepreneurs, top managers, and public-relations directors. Coauthor Al Ries comes off like the eccentric genius that most of these managers keep in a basement office, only listening to when necessary. When he says, "The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope," and hectors managers with the idea that "customers want brands that are narrow in scope," you know he's right (he backs himself up with dozens of examples), and you know it's the last thing powerful, expansion-minded businesspeople want to hear. Coauthor Laura Ries, his daughter and marketing-firm partner, also reads sections. (Running time: 1.5 hours, one cassette) --Lou Schuler
Book Description
How to build a product or service into a world–class brand.
In today's competitive world, it is no longer enough to have a superior product or even a great advertising campaign. Today's consumers are more savvy than ever, and ample competition has allowed them to become more choosy. The only way to stand out in today's, and tomorrow's 埣luttered marketplace is to build your product or service into a brand. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the definitive work on brands and branding. In the tradition of 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, this book is illustrated with anecdotes from some of the best brands in the world and explains how any product or service can be built into a brand.
Customer Reviews:
What a Book!.......2007-09-22
I never read a book more packed with incredible insights that this one. My company, Astonish Results (www.astonishresults.com) provides consulting to mortgage companies. I will recommend this book to every company we consult.
must have for business owners.......2007-09-11
As a small business owner and someone who was new to the business side of running a business I have found this book an absolute necessity in my daily business life.
Something to think about.......2007-08-11
I read this book with pleasure. It contains a lot of common sense and showed how people are influenced in their choice of branding features by what others have done and not what makes sense. I hope to use much of the information in my firm for our software branding.
Steven Calkins
Cross Media Solutions
Würzburg, Germany
Excellent work.......2007-05-26
I must say I have become somewhat of a Ries groupie. Al & Laura Ries along with Jack Trout have created some of the most thought filled pieces within the Branding, Marketing and communications world today. This one lives up the all the hype. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is a masterpiece to say the least. I began seeking out new books on the topic and thought why not hear from the gurus of the field. I had read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing first and it lead me to this great piece. I am a marketing student not just in the classroom but for life. It is what I do, therefore learning more is what I must do.
Once you began your journey for more knowlege on Branding and relating fields you will side with this book. Branding lives with the perpection that is placed int he mind of the consumer. In all my many marketing classes have I not discussed the many issues that come up in this book. To be a great marketer or branding strategiest you must seek out information from all levels of the field and then rethink those thoughts in regards to your position and situation. This book places you in the right mindset to do that and much more. So begin the process...
The one thing I learned from this book.......2007-05-24
This is a quick read and I actually found myself picking it up to read even when I WANTED to put it down. It has an easy flow and is written in layman's terms so anyone can understand. And while all of that is wonderful for a book, there is one thing that stood out the most to me-BRANDING IS MADE THROUGH PUBLICITY, NOT ADVERTISING. I swear I thought it was the other way around. I thought if you advertise your product enough then the media would pick up on your product and give you the publicity. That advice right there was worth the price of the book. If you are an entrepreneur, author or any type of businessperson, this book should be part of your library. Refer to it often.
Book Description
Widely recognized as the most accurate and comprehensive text in the field, this practical, step-by-step introduction to criminal investigation gives students a logical framework for understanding the investigative process. Major sections cover current issues such as environmental crime, the looting of archaeological sites, videotaping of crime scenes, street gangs, and drugs. Case studies throughout the text emphasize the applied technique of criminal investigation, and its consistently praised art program including graphs, charts, and arresting photographs, depict the practical aspects of investigation and help to clarify difficult scientific concepts. In the eighth edition three new chapters provide coverage of Investigation, Investigators, and the Crime Scene (Chapter 2), Investigative Resources (Chapter 8), and Terrorism (Chapter 20) that is ummatched by any other text.
Customer Reviews:
Good information.......2007-01-17
Great book fr school, promotions, and basic investigation knowledge at work in law enforcement.
This is considered by many in law enforcement to be mandatory reading, and I am one of those many.
Study guide also a good idea!
Criminal Investigation.......2006-02-26
The reason why I bought this text book is because I am having a sergeant exam and this is the text book I have to read and study from. Amazon.com was available for me so I ordered the book. I don't know where else I would've ordered the book from.
Book Description
Descriptive and analytical, the text is designed to offer undergraduate students a balanced and up-to-date overview of who the police are and what they do, problems related to policing, and the many reforms and innovations that have been attempted in police work. Divided into four parts, The Police in America begins with a compelling analysis of the foundation of law enforcement, including the underlying purpose of police in society, the history of American police, as well as the contemporary law enforcement industry. It goes on to cover everything from the critical role of the beat cop and the fundamental problems in policing to the career path of police officers and a level-by-level overview of police organizations. Using timely articles and excerpts, the author takes readers beyond the headlines and statistics, to present a comprehensive and contemporary overview of what it means to be a police officer.
Book Description
Retire Secure! tackles the number one fear facing most IRA and retirement plan owners: running out of money too soon. Lange, a nationally recognized IRA expert, offers specific and practical strategies to successfully navigate the three stages of retirement planning: accumulation, distribution, and estate planning.
Retire Secure! explains the tax advantages and long term wealth building strategies of selectively and strategically putting money into IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, Roth 401(k)s and the myriad other retirement plan options available to individuals working in the corporate world, the non-profit sector, as well as individual proprietors. The book proves that putting money into tax advantaged retirement plans beats “traditional saving” in the after-tax environment.
The book sheds new light on best practices for spending your IRA and retirement plan dollars and your traditional savings. Many readers will be surprised to discover that the order in which assets are spent is not a trivial consideration—it can make or break the bank.
It also outlines Lange’s exceptional estate plan–a plan that has been featured in the
Wall Street Journal and many other fine financial journals.
The book offers financial planning strategies and tactics in plain English that everyone can understand—and using humor and interesting characters in real life situations the book escapes the dreaded dry financial tome tone. For example, Chapter 1 offers a great mini case study that charts the financial destiny of Mr. Pay Taxes Later and Mr. Pay Taxes Now. Both start saving when they are age 30, but when Mr. Pay Taxes Now reaches age 90, he is broke, while Mr. Pay Taxes Later has $1,946,949 left. Chapter 8 is devoted to a complete case study of “Eddie’s and Emily’s” entire retirement decision making process.
The book is endorsed by more than 31 leading financial experts including
Charles Schwab, and
Roger G. Ibbotson, Yale Professor and perhaps the world’s foremost authority on asset allocation. As a bonus, readers who purchase this book can receive a free information-packed CD.
"
Retire Secure! is your playbook for winning the retirement game and beyond. It shows you how to capitalize on little known provisions of the tax law that will make your retirement savings last several lifetimes, leveraging your hard earned money into a family legacy. Best of all, you can rely on the advice here since it is written by one of the nation's leading retirement tax planning authorities.”
Ed Slott, Author Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune and
The Retirement Savings Time Bomb…and How to Defuse It
James Lange (Pittsburgh, PA) , an attorney and CPA, is a nationally known IRA, 401(k), and retirement plan distribution expert with over 27 years of experience. His recommendations have appeared 23 times in the
Wall Street Journal as well as the
New York Times,
Newsweek, Kiplinger’s, and many other prestigious financial publications.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book on financial planing and retirement.......2007-06-12
Bravo!
This book is a must read if you're planning to retire wealthy, or at least securely.
And...
Every college student should be required to study this book carefully if they want to avoid all the common mistakes and money pitfalls that 98% of us fall into. I wish I had read this when I was in college... I would be $100,000 wealthier.
- Dave
What everyone needs to read and understand to make the best retirement decisions.......2007-01-03
James Lang has had so much excellent advice for my husband and me that we purchased 7 copies for our adult children and are hopeful they will benefit from the knowledge in the books and cds.
Retire Secure-Solid Advice For All.......2006-10-21
Reading "Retire Secure" will not alone make you rich. However, if you read and follow Mr. Lange's advice, you will build wealth and then protect it to the fullest extent possible. The book outlines a very clear path to maximize savings using the most effective vehicle available to you. Then it goes on to provide a thorough roadmap to minimizing your tax consequences and maximizing your after tax returns. Finally the book provides several different strategies for passing along wealth to your heirs while once again factoring in the greedy hands of Uncle Sam. The author not only provides you with the theory, as many financial planners do, but backs up his recommendations with solid proofs and confirms them with amusing case studies. Overall this book is an excellent source for information on the use of retirement funds for wealth building and hopefully inheritance to pass on.
Good for Advisors and Investors.......2006-10-11
James Lange's Retire Secure, offers great techniques to help persons planning for retirement. He is on the right track - to postpone and minimize the impact of taxes - in order to maximize the retiree's money and extend the spendable income. This book makes a valuable contribution to the field of personal finance - for both the consumers and the professional advisors who serve them.
My Roadmap.......2006-09-19
I find James Lange's book to be excellant. When we want to go someplace we're not familiar with, who uses MapQuest? Why? It gives us the starting point and the ending point. This book gives so much valuable information. I'll be retiring in 10 to 11 years, so my interest is quite serious. I stumbled accross Mr. Lange's website and find that to also be a fine source of information. As a 'boomer' I'm amazed at what the internet has done for our culture i.e. sharing of information.
Loren McGilvrey
Book Description
From routine operations to the workings of a White House in crisis, PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP: POLITICS AND POLICY MAKING examines all facets of the presidency in rich detail, with a special emphasis on policy. The authors use analytical prose and timely, fascinating examples to examine the presidency from two theoretical standpoints--the President as "facilitator," and the President as "director of change."
Customer Reviews:
Best Presidential Text Around.......2001-01-24
This is an excellent text for anyone interested in political leadership. Both the beginner and anyone who wants a top notch reference text. I have owned dozens of books on the American presidency, I only buy one from the list to give as a gift to others: Edwards & Wayne's "Presidential Leadership." Buy it you will enjoy it. I am buying a new copy to replace my old copy, which is falling apart!
Book Description
Beginning with the basic laws that govern photography, this legal manual helps photographers understand the basic matters of access and privacy, covering issues such as shooting images on private property, consent, and the photography of public groups. Subjects addressed include the legalities of photographing currency, stamps, securities, trademarks, seals, and insignia; military and nuclear installations; copyrighted materials; children; and animals. This updated handbook closes with a helpful glossary that decodes complicated legalese.
Customer Reviews:
little disappointed.......2007-03-18
I'll admit I haven't read every page of the book yet. I'm using it more for reference than anything. But so far I haven't been able to find much in the book that isn't already general knowledge in the photography community. Great for a beginner, I suppose, or someone just starting out. I'm just a little disappointed that I didn't find more valuable detailed legal information in there to help me in my stock photography business.
Your Questions Answered.......2007-01-24
As an advanced novice taking the first steps to go pro, I had a LOT of questions about legal issues of photography. I'd searched for some of my questions online and in a few books, but the answers were never good. They either focused on different questions or didn't give enough of an answer to satisfy me.
When this book arrived, I flipped through it and read all of the photo captions. Wow! Immediately I saw its value. Then I started reading through sections of the text. It answered all of the questions I'd had.
While one would best be advised to contact an attorney if a legal issue came up, this book goes a long way to help the reader avoid legal problems. I am VERY satisfied that I bought this book. If you're a professional photographer with legal questions, I'd highly recommend it.
Quick and to the point........2007-01-10
This particular book is almost like a "Cliffs Notes" version of some other more in-depth books on the same subject matter. In that regard, it is a great reference guide to have in the event that a specific question comes up about legalities faced by still photographers when it comes to usage, copyright, privacy, etc. A great book and I recommend to anyone who has questions about certain subject matter when it comes to still photography.
Great Advice and Cheap Insurance.......2007-01-07
As a professional photographer and writer for many years, I have occasionally bumped into problems related to making or using photographs -- people who tell you that you can't make a photograph, people who use your photographs without permission -- and I found Bert's first edition of this book several years ago and was delighted with its contents. His model-release form, for example, is the most simple and un-intimidating I have ever seen, and getting a signed model release is required for some of the work I do. I thought the advice generally was superb -- so much so that I bought copies of the book for everybody in our little company.
Since then we have worked with Bert on many copyright infringement problems, always successfully, and some of that experience has been incorporated into this second edition of the Handbook. There is tremendous misunderstanding about how the Copyright Act works and what a photographer must do to get full protection -- formal registration -- and what a photographer can get when a registered image is infringed. Bert knows this topic inside and out and shares that information in this book.
If you are a photographer who plans to keep from being sued, arrested, or harassed, and if you want to know what your options are when somebody uses your work without permission, Bert's LEGAL HANDBOOK is great advice at very reasonable expense. In fact, it is worth it for just the model release alone!
Hans Halberstadt
If you're turning pro, you'll want to read this book, too........2006-11-05
After jumping into the digital world and actually selling my images, the thought occurred to me that perhaps I should learn a few things about protecting my rights and respecting the rights of others. That is, I wanted information about how to cover my legal backside.
Krages' book describes a U.S. photographer's rights and responsibilities using a clear and conversational prose. While he explains the legal jargon specific to photography, he never forgets his readers care more about making photographs than reading dry law books. The book includes a great breadth of information in modest depth. I really appreciated the sample forms.
Given that I'm a novice pro, I found this book extraordinarily helpful. If you're turning pro, you'll want to read this book, too.
Book Description
Since the 1985 publication of the second edition of The Law of Higher Education, new developments in the courts and in Congress have continued to place campuses under increased scrutiny. In this third edition of William A. Kaplin's indispensable guide to the laws that bear on the conduct of higher education, Kaplin and Lee provide a revised and up-to-date reference, research source, and practical guide for college administrators, legal counsel, and researchers.
This third edition--with fifty percent of the material entirely new--updates the latest major developments in all of the topics covered in the previous edition and offers detailed information on a range of emerging issues including sex discrimination, hate speech, academic freedom in religious institutions, athletic scholarships, animal research, environmental laws, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
Expensive but very thorough.......2007-03-08
This is an outstanding book on higher education law. Lots of case examples and descriptions. A little repetative at some points, but I suppose that is true about law in general. Not even as dry as one might think about a 2 volume law book set.
A Must-Have for University Administrators.......2004-12-30
Kaplin & Lee's "The Law of Higher Education (Third Edition)" was the required text for a graduate course, "Legal Aspects of Higher Education" and should be present on the bookshelf of any university administrator. The book's subtitle, "A Comprehensive Guide to Legal Implications of Administrative Decision Making," is wholly accurate in describing the scope and utility of this massive tome (over 1,000 pages from cover to cover).
The book is a valuable investment on a number of fronts, not the least of which is the paucity of comparable texts on this complex topic. "The Law of Higher Education" begins with an overview of postsecondary education law and continues with an interesting organization that considers the college and its various constituencies -- "The College and Trustees, Administrators, and Staff," "The College and the Faculty," "The College and the Students," "The College and the Community," "The College and the State Government," "The College and the Federal Government," "The College and the Educational Associations," and "The College and the Business/Industrial Community." Each chapter is further broken down into key arenas (for example, in the chapter on students, a few of the topics include admissions, financial aid, disciplinary rules and regulations, and athletics). Each topic includes a context and is connected to numerous examples from case law. Despite the high degree of legal terminology, the book is readable for the layperson. There are separate indices for subject, statute, and cases that make it easy to locate relevant information.
This book is an excellent treatment of the enormously complex field of high education law.
Book Description
This book traces the origins of the "illegal alien" in American law and society, explaining why and how illegal migration became the central problem in U.S. immigration policy--a process that profoundly shaped ideas and practices about citizenship, race, and state authority in the twentieth century.
Mae Ngai offers a close reading of the legal regime of restriction that commenced in the 1920s--its statutory architecture, judicial genealogies, administrative enforcement, differential treatment of European and non-European migrants, and long-term effects. In well-drawn historical portraits, Ngai peoples her study with the Filipinos, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese who comprised, variously, illegal aliens, alien citizens, colonial subjects, and imported contract workers. She shows that immigration restriction, particularly national-origin and numerical quotas, re-mapped the nation both by creating new categories of racial difference and by emphasizing as never before the nation's contiguous land borders and their patrol. This yielded the "illegal alien," a new legal and political subject whose inclusion in the nation was a social reality but a legal impossibility--a subject without rights and excluded from citizenship. Questions of fundamental legal status created new challenges for liberal democratic society and have directly informed the politics of multiculturalism and national belonging in our time.
Ngai's analysis is based on extensive archival research, including previously unstudied records of the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Contributing to American history, legal history, and ethnic studies, Impossible Subjects is a major reconsideration of U.S. immigration in the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
The construction of the illegal immigrant and discriminatory US policies.......2006-12-01
The United States of America is the great melting pot of the world's immigrants, or is it? A white, middle-class, Protestant, European American lifestyle is what the great melting pot of American folklore was truly intended to articulate to the immigrants of the early 20th century. Mai Ngai counters this image of the US as the embracive playground of diverse immigrants and powerfully weaves the tale of how race, nationality, assimilation, and immigration all became interwoven concepts in overtly discriminatory US immigration policy of the mid-20th century in her newest book Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. As Mae says, "The telos of immigrant settlement, assimilation, and citizenship has been an enduring narrative of American history, but it has not always been the reality of migrants' desires or their experiences and interactions with American society and state." (5)
Throughout the history of the United States, there has been a clear struggle to define who can gain citizenship in this great nation. Ngai's book attempts not to tackle this debate, but rather how the construction of the illegal immigrant came about because "the promise of citizenship applies only to the legal alien, the lawfully present immigrant. The illegal immigrant has no right to be present, let alone embark on the path to citizenship." (6) Her book begins in 1924 with the adoption of the Johnson-Reed Act which established numeric quotas for immigration from countries across the globe. Prior to the 1920s, immigration was relatively unrestricted as, "the free global movement of labor was essential to economic development in the New World." (17) Ngai points out that it is vital to note that this pre-Johnson Reed Act period did see the exclusion of Chinese laborers who migration disturbed the precious ideas of manifest destiny in the West. She stresses that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was most important because the Supreme Court gave Congress absolute control over immigration as part of foreign relations.
Throughout her book, Ngai focuses on what she believes to be the two biggest consequences of the Johnson-Reed Act, the first being creation of the concept of illegal alien and the second being racially ranking the desirability for certain groups to immigrate to the United States. Perhaps the most powerful quote of the entire book goes, "Immigration restriction produced the illegal alien as a new legal and political subject, whose inclusion within the nation was simultaneously a social reality and a legal impossibility - a subject barred from citizenship and without rights." (4) Ngai points out that the irony of this newly created status is that the undocumented or illegal immigrants are woven into the economic fabric and labor market of our nation, and yet as they are cheap labor, they are disposable labor who can easily lose their ability to live in even the subhuman conditions in this oh so great nation.
Now that this new quota system was to be implemented, how would the country establish what the quotas would be for the varying countries of the world? Easy, they compared it to the approximate composition of the US population circa 1790, a clearly discriminatory and completely inaccurate and unreliable practice! As the rising popularity of eugenics was during this time period, there had been increased emphasis on census and racial definition and maintaining "racial hygiene". "Euro-American identities turned both on ethnicity - that is, a nationality-based cultural identity that is defined as capable of transformation and assimilation - and on racial identity defined by whiteness." (7) In this construction of the white American, those non-white, browner immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Mexico were deemed less desirable and lower class peoples who subsequently had a lower quota for the number of immigrants allowed. Ngai points to Mexicans as a changing population in regards to the immigration and whiteness policy of time, as originally they were deemed white as the need for immigrant farm workers was needed in the Southwest, but then subsequently deportation and repatriation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans became the common practice.
Ngai wonderfully illustrates how as this period of quota-based immigration restrictions continued, the treatment of Filipinos, Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese worsened to the extent of which no matter how long they or their families had been woven into the fabric of the US, they were viewed and abused as second-class foreigners. Ngai urges you to remember, these were systematic attempts at ranking races, excusing maltreatment, and elevating the political, economic, and racial status of white Euro-Americans, and not just subtle nuances of American policies. As the US struggled with its policies towards the Philippines, practices bounced back and forth from Filipinos being portrayed as being capable of "benevolent assimilation" but at the same time clearly of Asian ancestry and eventually was pushed towards independence and repatriation. As World War II arose, the massive discrimination and maltreatment that the Japanese and Chinese Americans endured only further reinforced their cultural ties to their home countries and therefore they were portrayed as disloyal citizens. In many cases these were actual citizens of the US, native-born patriotic people who had protected rights unlike those of their illegal immigrant counterparts. Ngai reminds us not to forget about the Cold War and the extreme measures that were taken to exclude Chinese people from immigration to the US and even participation as US citizens in order to protect us from evil communist China.
Ngai's phenomenal history comes to a close with the Immigration Act of 1965. Although this act overturned the racialized, discriminatory numeric quota system, it did sadly further extend the reach of numeric restrictions. For anyone who believes that racial hierarchy as part of US policy is a thing of the ancient past, for anyone who believes that African-Americans and their struggles for civil rights were the only systematically discriminated against population in recent US history, this is the book for you! Sit back and relax as Ngai takes you through this tremendously researched sensational tale of the United States and the construction of the illegal immigrant.
This book makes me want to hop the border to Canada.......2005-11-20
This book is truly awful. I don't know what her publisher was thinking by letting this book get out. The tone: Nasal. The language: Sociological jargon. The argument: Garbage. Save a tree and find something better.
Reframing immigration history.......2005-11-03
Mae Ngai's ambitious book compels historians and general readers alike to critically reassess traditional understandings of and approaches to U.S. immigration. Much of the histories on U.S. immigration and immigration policies have told a similar tale. The United States, the narrative goes, has been tainted by a long history of exclusion, a blight on the nation's democratic tradition that was only recently removed with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. Such a narrative not only reaffirms the myth of American universalism, but also consistently fails to produce any new critical knowledge about U.S. immigration and U.S. history. Impossible Subjects differs from these other works of immigration history in this important respect: it proceeds with the conviction that the United States was never a "nation of immigrants."
Ngai examines the era between 1924 and 1965, an unconventional periodization in immigration history that situates the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act (usually signifying the end of one regime) at the beginning of her study, and the Immigration Act of 1965 (usually signifying the beginning of another) at the end. Beyond simply filling a historiographical gap in immigration history, the focus on this period of immigration restriction enables a reevaluation of U.S. immigration laws, and more broadly of U.S history, on several levels. First, it demonstrates that restrictionist policies did not merely function as a tool for exclusion, but more, it created-through a racial and geographical remapping of the nation-new categories and concepts deeply implicated in race that defined the spaces and limits of national inclusion. Second, these categories and concepts, most notably "illegal aliens" and "national origins," are not natural or fixed conditions and markers, but are the product of positive law that, when scrutinized, reveal the ways in which its uses have shaped and defined the United States in the twentieth century, particularly its ideas and practices about race, citizenship, and the nation-state. Finally, this periodization allows for a reconfiguration of immigration history beyond a nationalist framework. By suggesting that the making of modern America rested on the exclusion of nonwhites from the geographical and ideological borders of the nation during this regime of restriction, the book argues against the normative telos of immigrant settlement, assimilation, and citizenship as the defining narrative of American history, a narrative that is confined to the nation-state and that invariably reproduces American exceptionalism.
By charting the historical origins of the "illegal alien" and the genealogy of immigration laws that have consistently reproduced it, Ngai has ultimately written a stunning history that goes far beyond narrating the history of U.S. immigration restriction. It is a book that deserves to be read widely.
The legally constructed "illegal aliens".......2004-07-04
IMPOSSIBLE SUBJECTS, written by Mae Ngai, is the best of recent books on the 20th-century American history of immigration. She reveals that the problem of "illegal immigrants," which has been regarded as one of the most serious problems since the late 20th century, is indeed a legal construction. According to the author, immigrants from Mexico were drawn into the U.S. Southeast because the Southeast political economy, especially agri-business, raised need for the massive wave of low-wage immigrant workers and at the same time defined them as the racially "foreign" people who were rendered alien to America, which was defined as the nation of Caucasians. What enabled the American Government and people to attach racialized foreignness to the Mexican immigrants (and, inevitably, American citizens of Mexican origin) were Immigration Acts, border policing, and discriminatory control of visas.
Mae Ngai argues that positive laws concerning immigration policy have constructed the category of "illegal aliens" from Mexico, and the implementation of the laws by Border Patrols and INS has reinforced the labeling of racially alien immigrants. She bases her analysis on the critical legal theory which suggests that laws constitute social formations. Her usage of the new legal theory in her inquiry into the American immigration history is highly excellent and persuasive.
The historical analysis of the immigration problems in this book seems to be applicable to other countries' history. For example, Ngai's insight shall give light to the recent Japanese conservative media discourses on the "illegal migrants" from China, South Korea, and Latin American nations which describe the undocumented migrant workers as illegal, criminal and, in case of women, prostitutes.
I would have dedicate five stars to this book if its text were easier to read (it is possible that I felt this book's text not very easy to read because I am not of a native-English tongue).
Book Description
Anyone who ever wanted to have homemade wine and never thought they had the space or ability to make it will love this book. The Backyard Vintner is a handy guide to at-home wine making that teaches readers the tips and tricks of the trade. It is perfect for those who want to bring the feeling of wine country right into their own backyard.
The Backyard Vintner teaches readers how to start and maintain a vineyard, providing vital information on topics such as planting, trellising, and proper pruning techniques for grapes; which grape varieties will grow best in every climate or region; and the wines that can be made from each variety. Basic recipes for wines, and advice on topics such as bottling, storing, and serving wines, are also provided.
Customer Reviews:
Growing grapes made easy.......2007-07-28
This book provides usefull and pertinent information all the way from the grape planting process to the wine making process. He walks you through every step carefully, but does not suggest a robotic structure for making wine, he leaves open oppertunies to show your own creativity.
Touches on the important points.......2007-07-26
I've purchased several "how to" wine books and this one is good, but not great. I would not rely on it as my only reference. Rather, it makes a very good companion for "From Vines to Wines."
For general information only........2007-07-11
The Backyard Vinter presented only general information about wine making, not specific enought for an individual wanting to learn how to make wine.
great book.......2006-02-17
Very comprehensive and thorough. Good reading and runs one through the basics and beyond. All good.
Book Description
What should be done about airplane safety and terrorism, global warming, polluted water, nuclear power, and genetically engineered food? Decision-makers often respond to temporary fears, and the result is a situation of hysteria and neglect--and unnecessary illness and death. Risk and Reason explains the sources of these problems and explores what can be done about them. It shows how individual thinking and social interactions lead us in foolish directions. Offering sound proposals for social reform, it explains how a more sensible system of risk regulation, embodied in the idea of a "cost-benefit state," could save many thousands of lives and many billions of dollars too--and protect the environment in the process. Cass R. Sunstein is the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Television Broadcasters. His many books include Republic.com (Princeton, 2001) and Designing Democracy (Oxford, 2001). He has worked in the United States Department of Justice and advised on law reform and constitution-making in many nations.
Customer Reviews:
A short review of 'Risk and Reason'.......2004-08-08
It is sometimes referred to as "emotional decision making", when after accidents which cause loss of life, government authorities decide to spend irrational huge budgets to try to prevent these accidental risks from happening again. This 2002-book of Prof. Sunstein from the U of Chicago explains the sources of such irrational behaviour and comes up with novel ideas what can be done about it. This book contains a great deal of new material, but it also draws on Sunstein's publications in the J of Risk and Uncertainty, Stan L Rev., and his 2001-book 'The cost-benefit state', amongst others.
The book gives the reader a lot of recent case studies, such as the sniper murders in the Washington DC area in fall 2002, the SARS epidemic, the Love Canal controversy in the 80s, as illustrations of people's unjustified fear, which in the same time neglects the real hazards, such as obesity, indoor air pollution, sun exposure, etc.
Risk and Reason advocates the government to produce cost benefit analyses (CBA) before choosing an emotional course of action. Sunstein argues in his book to see CBA as a pragmatic tool, designed to promote a better appreciation of the consequences of a certain regulation, rather than a form of unethical, barely human calculation, treating health and life as variables for some kind of huge maximising objective function. The author succeeds in delivering this message to the reader very well.
Sunstein urges toward four alternative strategies in optimal cost-saving risk regulation: disclosure of information to the public, economic incentives, risk reduction contracts and free market environmentalism. With the economic incentives he means financial penalties for harm producing behaviour, and tradable emission rights (similar as the Kyoto protocol is designed to reduce global warming. The alleged fact that risk creators might be given a right to create harm is shown to be false.
Political.......2003-08-14
Sunstein is a lawyer. He is neither a scientist nor an economist. His advocacy of (what he calls) "rational" and "scientific" models of risk evaluation appears to be motivated by politics, not good science or economics. Be wary of his methodology and his rigor.
Insights Into Rational Risk Management for IT Professionals.......2003-01-18
While this book focuses on government regulation of health and environmental risks (regulation is government-speak for risk management), IT risk managers can learn a lot about IT risk management from the book. For example, Chapter Three is entitled "Are Experts Wrong?", which will tell you why you need to be cautious about adopting "Best Practices." Chapter Five is entitled "Reducing Risks Rationally," just what every risk manager should be striving to do. Sunstein makes a very convincing case for the value of cost benefit analysis in managing risks. If you are responsible for risk management, get this book and read it.
Huge Helping of Reason, Needs Salt.......2002-12-02
The bottom line on this book is clear: our governance of risk to the public tends to be managed by political gut reaction rather than informed investigation; there is no clear doctrine for studying and articulating risk (for example, distinguishing between high risks to a few and low but sustained risks to the many, or between three levels of cost-benefit analysis so that choices can be made); and the best form of risk management may be through the effective communication of risk information to the public rather than imposed costs on private sector enterprises.
As reasoned as the book is, it also constitutes a direct attack on all those who expouse the "precautionary principle." While I do not agree completely with the author, who seems to feel that rational study allows for the discounting of any risk to the point where it can be economically and politically managed at an affordable cost, he certainly take the debate to an entirely new level and his book is--quite literally--worth tens of billions of dollars in potential regulatory risk savings.
Most compelling is his methodical aggregation of data from several sources to show that the cost of saving one life (he notes that we fail to distinguish adequately between a life saved for a few years and a life saved for many years, or between young lives saved for a lifetime and old lives saved for a brief span of time). Table 2.1 on page 30 is quite astonishing--of 45 major regulated risks, one (drinking water) costs over $92 billion per premature death averted; eight including asbestos cost between $50 million and $4 billion; seven including arsenic and copper cost between $13 million and $45 million; 14 including various electrical standards cost between $1 million and $10 million per death averted; and 15 cost less than $1 million per death averted.
What cost human life? Even on this there is no standard, and even within a single regulatory agency (e.g. the Environmental Protection Agency) there are different calculations used in relation to different risks being regulated. The author does a really fine job of comparing the public perception of the value of a life saved ($1.3 million for automobile-related risks, $103 million for aviation-related risks) with the values used by the government and the courts, which vary widely (into the billions) but seem to hover between $10 million and $30 million per life saved and without regard the the number of life-years actually involved.
The heart of the book is in its conclusion, where the author proposes a four-part strategy for dramatically reducing the cost of regulatory risk management, suggesting that we focus on 1) disclosure of information to the public; 2) economic incentives; 3) risk reduction contracts; and 4) free market environmentalism. With respect to the latter, he is strongly supportive of allowing the "sale" of pollution privileges between nations and industries and companies.
For additional observations on reducing risk to the future of life see my reviews of Joe Thorton on "Pandora's Poison," Raffensperger and Tickner on "Protecting Public Health & The Environment," Novacek on "The Biodiversity Crisis," Czech on "Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train," Lomberg on "The Skeptical Environmentalist," Helvarg on "Blue Frontier," and Wilson's "The Future of Life."
Cass Sunstein and Lawrence Lessig join Jerry Berman and Marc Rotenberg and Mike Godwin as America's "top guns" in responsible law-making. This book makes a great deal of sense, is worth a great deal of money, and should guide the future evolution of regulatory and information-driven risk management.
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