Book Description
With the rise of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and the decline of paid media, the importance of public relations is on the upswing. Companies are realizing the benefit of speaking with “one voice” in both paid media and nonpaid efforts. And as media rates continue to rise though response rates fall - and potential buyers are less moved by what they view as “sales messages” - effective PR will only grow more vital. An excellent resource for professionals in every field, Public Relations: The Complete Guide provides a valuable hands-on reference for professionals ranging from midlevel marketing and sales managers to senior-level executives.
Customer Reviews:
Not Very Informative -- Much Better Books Out There.......2007-09-12
I bought this book after reading many of the great editorial reviews, quotes, and customer reviews. It sounded like a complete guide that would step up my public relations tactics. After reading the book however, I realize it was just good PR.
If you've been in the PR business for even a little while, this text won't teach you much. It covers the basics, which is nice if you don't know them, but it's more suitable for an introductory course on public relations than anything else.
If you really want to learn a lot about public relations, I would recommend Complete Publicity Plans by Sandra Beckwith. It's nearly 1/3 the cost of this book, and yet it's worth much more than this one.
A must have for any public realations professional.......2007-06-28
I am a professional PR and marketing man. I constantly strive to hone my skills by reading trade articles and books about the subject. If you hope to become adroit at marketing, you must do the same.
Public Relations: The Complete Guide is an excellent manual that will help you understand how PR works. It covers almost everything, from effective press kit drafting, to writing and releasing excellent press releases. But Joe Marconi doesn't stop there. He outlines good habits to develop in different PR situations; from product PR to damage control PR; from inner corporate relations PR to investor PR.
If you hope to use public relations in any way to market products, or to market yourself, Joe Marconi's Public Relations: The Complete Guide is a must have.
-Craig Nybo, author of Total Human: The Complete Strength Training System
Insightful!.......2004-11-04
Public relations (PR) is a critical feature of any modern institution's marketing program. However, it is often not seriously considered as a legitimate part of corporate administration because it frequently focuses primarily on tactics - what to do, when and how - and rarely rises into guiding overall company strategy. Yet, if you want a practical guide that will show you how to create a media kit or develop a crisis management plan, Joe Marconi's book is for you. It delivers solidly at this general tactical level, where it is, indeed, a working guide. However, it does not transcend into more theoretical reaches. The book skimps on some more meaty, advanced areas such as the theory of public relations and how it fits into overall corporate strategy. The chapters also do not seem to be arranged in progressive order by subject. For example, chapters on speechwriting are sandwiched between those on crisis management and ethics. However, we find this book valuable for those who want an overview of PR's work-a-day aspects, including normal business tactics if not sophisticated corporate strategy. It also will help those who are not fully familiar with what PR can deliver to a modern institution in challenging times.
A Must Have Book!.......2004-07-07
This book was very informative with an excellent format. Incredibly useful guide at the end of the book with examples of press releases and such. I would highly recommend it.
Great on the essentials..........2004-07-07
Cover to cover, this books is filled with great insight and useful information, especially for entrepreneurs and small business owners who cannot afford to hire agencies or PR consultants. That said, however, before entering the visibility fray, a few notes of caution: (1) Have a clear understanding of who you are and what you want people to know about you and your company; (2) Recognize the importance of evaluating how and where to get the right publicity for the right reasons; and (3) Remember that you only get one chance to make a first impression! (Reviewed by: Marion E. Gold, author of "The Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOU" and "TOP COPS: Profiles of Women in Command."
Book Description
The Handbook for Muni-Bond Issuers provides professionals with succinct guidance on what issuers need to know before beginning the issuance process - choosing a method of sale, getting the right financial advice, disclosure and legal guidelines, and lowering the cost of financing. It includes a detailed discussion of what happens prior to a sale through what to expect after the close. Author Joe Mysak takes issuers through the process, step-by-step, with smart answers and pragmatic strategies for success in today's muni-bond market. This book provides an insider's perspective on choosing a method of sale, finding the right financial advisers, what to expect from regulators, and earning a high credit rating.
Book Description
In the bestselling tradition of The Lazlow Letters and Letters from a Nut, screenwriter Paul Davidson has been firing off humble but humorous letters to Fortune 500 companies to find answers to such hot-button questions like why hasn’t Minute Maid begun to sell an all pulp, juice-free product yet, and whether it’s safe to microwave a bowl of Marshmallow Fluff on high for ten minutes. And the funny thing is . . . consumer-care departments everywhere have been writing back to him, addressing his queries with deadpan seriousness.
Collecting dozens of selections from Davidson’s funniest correspondence, Consumer Joe uncovers why a box of fifty envelopes only contained forty-seven and how colorblind people are supposed to tell whether their Ziploc baggies (“yellow and blue makes green”) are properly sealed, while making numerous product-improvement suggestions along the way (such as adding Tuna Melt flavor to the Jamba Juice product line).
Taking aim at the increasingly advertising-sponsored society, Consumer Joe features utterly absurd but irresistible missives to companies ranging from Barnes & Noble and Fed-Ex to Southwest Airlines and Taco Bell. Full of kvetches we all can relate to, Consumer Joe is poised to become the patron saint of every beleaguered shopper.
Customer Reviews:
As a gift for my husband.......2007-09-07
We were getting something to eat on our honeymoon and my husband picked up this book. He cracked up! I made a mental note that it would make a great git for him later on. After a little hunting, I found it. It is a perfect book for the sarcastic person. He still pulls it out every once in a while for a chuckle.
Joe Consumer's letters represent mainstream America.......2007-06-19
As the corporate customer service writer featured on the book's 49th page, I was surprised when David Paulson contacted me a second time to say that his November 6 letter was actually a "test," so to speak. To those working in the airline industry during the dark days and months that followed 9/11, some of the questions that passengers asked--and the scenarios about which they (and he) wrote--were especially mind-boggling. But, when now re-reading Mr. Paulson's letter (on Page 48 of Consumer Joe), his concerns about tweezers are honestly no more outlandish than some seriously written letters that passengers send to airlines on an average day--which only goes to show the mindset of the traveling public!
Consumer Joe is good, lighthearted reading that makes me chuckle whenever I open it. Thanks, David!
Good Times.......2006-12-14
I keep this in my guest bathroom. You can hear people giggling in there as they read the stories. I thought it was fantastic, because someone finally asked the questions I wanted to.
Finally fresh humor.......2004-03-24
This is the funniest, wittiest and original book I've read in ages. With so much mundane humor out there it's refreshing to see some fresh and original humor. I read this book in one sitting, laughing out loud. Paul Davidson has a rare gift. I look forward to his next endeavor.
An idelible character.......2003-10-09
Sure the letters are funny, but the best thing about Consumer Joe is the guy who ostensibly wrote them, David Paulson. In him, Paul Davidson has created a vivid comedic character who writes with a hilarious combination of outrage and naivete as he huddles in his Beverly Hills apartment with (if his letters are to be believed) several cats (one of them injured), a thrill-seeking dog, and stacks of coupons sent to appease his urgent need for justice. Letter-by-letter, we learn more about this person and his equally eccentric extended family, until he becomes a fully-realized creation reminscent of Rob Long's brilliantly funny agent character in "Conversations with my Agent." Though the letters in the book gave me more than a few hearty laughs, discovering the character of David Paulson was an unexpected pleasure of reading this book.
Average customer rating:
- Fascinating look at the site and construction of the Getty.
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Between Nature and Culture: Photographs of the Getty Center by Joe Deal
Joe Deal ,
Mark Johnstone ,
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Weston Naef
Manufacturer: Getty Trust Publications: Getty Information Institute
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ASIN: 0892365498 |
Book Description
From 1983 through 1997, artist Joe Deal documented the site and construction of the Getty Center through a series of black and white photographs. Between Nature and Culture: Photographs of the Getty Center by Joe Deal presents 130 of Deal's photographs, offering an opportunity to view the
evolving site through this artist's eyes, from the selection of the starkly beautiful chaparral-covered mountain top to the steel and travertine of the final stages of construction. With an introduction by Mark Johnstone that provides both a key to understanding Joe Deal's unique vision and
commentaries on the thematic groups and individual photographs reproduced, this book offers a dramatic portrait of one of the Getty Center.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating look at the site and construction of the Getty........1999-06-18
The transformation of one of the most imposing "wild" parcels of land in Los Angeles into what is now the Getty Center (Museum, etc.) is the story of these stunning, beautiful black and white photographs. These images and thoughtful essays will be appreciated by anyone interested in art, landscapes, culture and/or modern architecture.
Book Description
On small-town ballfields and county fairgrounds, the sideshow performers set up their tents and trailers in the shadow of the Ferris wheel. There they amazed us with daring feats such as fire eating and sword swallowing, intrigued us with exhibitions of human oddities and various "anatomical wonders," and yes, deceived us with illusions such as "Atasha the Gorilla Girl" and even outright fakes.
These bizarre spectacles engaged the mind as well as the eye. Was the human blockhead act, in which the performer pounded a large nail or ice pick into his nostril, real or fake? Was the so-called alligator boy genuine or a "gaffed" oddity, painted with glue to produce a scaly simulation of reptilian skin? While the sideshows have now all but vanished from the American landscape, they leave a fascinating legacy of romance and mystery. Many of their secrets remain, only grudgingly given up, if at all, by aging showmen and "bally talkers."
Joe Nickell—once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, a private detective, and an investigative writer—has pursued sideshow secrets for years. He has interviewed the showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched the published literature, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails while a cinderblock was broken on his chest.
Secrets of the Sideshows reveals the specific methods and tricks behind the performances, the showmen's tactics for recruiting performers and attracting crowds, and more. Nickell also examines the behind-the-scenes secrets of sideshow life, including details of the remarkable personal lives of those men and women billed as "freaks."
Customer Reviews:
secrets of the sideshows.......2007-07-24
Well, what I have recently purchased is a very interesting book. It unveils a rather dark and unknown world that for centuries has been with us. The pictures are fine but scarce, and the prose has wit and many secrets of the trade are rather amusing. In fact a very fine book
Nothing paranormal for a change.......2005-11-30
Joe Nickell's latest is quite different to other books published by him during the last few years. It's not really an investigative book and it doesn't discuss anything paranormal or unexplainable, and also, the entire books feels more like a pursuit of a personal hobby than the critical examination usually delivered by Nickell's sharp pen. However, in no way does this mean it's not worth reading, just because it happens to be more personal and relaxed than his other works. Quite the opposite, actually. Secrets of the Sideshows is an exciting experience of the mostly American phenomenon of carnys, sideshows, freaks, and carnivals.
It's not easy to find fitting translations to the above terms, and no American-style sideshows have ever made it big in Sweden. But it's still very possible to enjoy the book, even though one happens to be Swedish.
History is filled with numerous examples of strange people having displayed strange abilities, exotic animals from far-away countries have always fascinated the audience, and the grotesque, different, and sometimes flat out revolting have always been sure to make people curious. During the latter half of the 19th century traveling sideshows and carnivals started gaining more and more popularity, and the circuses of today can be considered to be the descendants of these productions. Nickell - who himself used to be a carny - paints a fascinating portrait of these pioneers of an odd business concept, and he makes it very clear to the reader that people throughout all of history, including contemporary man of course, have been exploited by shrewd entrepreneurs who have been quick to realize how to make big money from letting people witness what they have a problem comprehending.
However, the main focus of the book is on the people, animals, or objects that were exhibited. Giants, midgets, fat people, snake women, Guerilla Girl, "human skeletons", Frog Boy, fire eaters, bearded ladies, normal-looking people with not-so normal abilities, and many, many more are discussed, often accompanied by photographs from Nickell's personal collection. Cows with five legs, infants with two heads, alleged mermaids, Bigfoot and other weird are mentioned also. Nickell isn't afraid to expose how many of the magical acts were done, and he's also not afraid to expose how many of the faked oddities were manufactured (for instance, it was possible to make a "mermaid" using the upper body of an ape and the lower half of a fish). But still Nickell is keen not to neither romanticize nor ridicule anything. It's a fascinating study - or rather exploration - of both human behavior and strange individuals, and these days when the days of glory for the sideshows are all but gone the book becomes an important documentation of the strangest of all creatures: the human being.
(But on page 201, Nickell makes a major blunder when he refers to Anton LaVey, the founder of the first openly satanic movement, Church of Satan, as a "Satanist" in quotation marks. I've never encountered this spelling before, and I honestly would never have thought a learned man such as Joe Nickell would make such a strange mistake.)
The Gifted, The Grifted, The Grafted & The Gaffed .......2005-11-12
Joe Nickell's Secrets of the Sideshows (2005) presents its audience with an adequate but lackluster overview of its subject. The volume suffers from two problems. The first, and more significant, is that most of the material included has long been available elsewhere, as Nickell's numerous references to a variety of other works makes clear. The second is that, despite the author's long employment history as a carnival hand in an apparent variety of capacities, his writing style is so perfunctory that he manages to make what should be a fascinating subject seem quite dull. Therefore, the best audience for the book will be readers with a budding interest in the subject; those already conversant on the topic are unlikely to learn anything new.
Nickell, who is also a "senior research fellow" of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is honest, upfront, and unapologetic about the tone and moral tenor of most sideshow and midway personnel, who routinely, though not exclusively, defraud their thrill-seeking public in any number of ways. The author quotes a "carnival owner" as saying, "You have all the ingredients necessary to rise in your profession-a deceptively honest face, a genius for legitimate fraud, no conscience, a golden tongue, and a feeling that a quarter in somebody else's pocket is a personal rebuke." Interestingly, Nickell seems to find this sociopathic approach to life, commerce, and human relationships fully acceptable, and perhaps even inevitable. As a result, readers may come away with the impression that all or most people associated with carnival work are con men and passive aggressive bottom-feeders who would rather attempt to trick another man out of his money than work honestly to earn their own. Nickell quotes another showman, whom he believes he has caught "in a particularly cynical moment": "On my tombstone, you know what they're going to write? 'Screw you. I got your dollar.'"
Needless to say, few of the 'secrets of the sideshow,' outside of the authentic 'human oddities' and performers with a genuine skill are very fascinating: the rubber aliens, faked two-headed geese, 'giant rats,' 'jackelopes,' false 'psychics,' 'headless girls,' and enormous 'spiders' with human heads are as absurd, tawdry, and patently obvious as one would expect.
It's worth speculating whether Nickell, who has become a ubiquitous debunking presence on the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel, believes all "claims of the paranormal" are either honest mistakes of perception or outright hoaxes, however subtly accomplished, because he himself has been, via his carnival work, so experienced in promoting, selling, and by default, perpetrating hoaxes himself.
A walk down the Midway.......2005-11-09
Joe Nickell's latest book, Secrets of the Sideshow is a thoroughly researched tome that is worth the cover price for the pictures alone.
The cover effectively uses a 'banner art' style with 'Frog Boy' charmingly gracing the spine. The title is a little misleading, it is not a revelatory guide or 'masked magician' type of book at all. More of a scholarly attempt to document a lost part of American theatre. Mr. Nickell's previous works were largely concerned with his role as editor of the Skeptical Enquirer. So deal with the Shroud of Turin, Bigfoot etc. Not having read any of those I cannot comment, but suffice to say that this history of bringing a scientific mind to apparent miracles may have impacted the choice of title. What is apparent is that he has a real love of this subject. He has worked the midway at various fairs as a magician and obviously the carnival world got into his blood. Relying heavily on interviews with carnival legends Ward Hall, Chris Christ and Bobby Reynolds the author details the history of this unique piece of Americana. Bobby Reynold's contributions are fairly ascerbic with a certain bitterness when compared to Ward Hall's more agreeable approach. No attempt appears to have been made to edit any of these contributions. There are copious references to other works, Ricky Jay, Daniel Mannix and Al Stencell are quoted liberally and these authors works would make excellent companion reads.
As one goes through the book the reader does learn how effects are achieved, the use of gaffs, fakery and general deception are discussed. However, this remains a secondary facet of this work. It is much more of a historical encyclopedia and includes a thorough list of references and detailed index. Overshadowing the mechanical 'How To' aspects of the book are the wonderful characters that one meets within its pages. Poobah the fire eating dwarf, Percilla the monkey girl, Doug Higley phantom of the midway and purveyor of Area 51 artifacts. [Of course they are real]. And numerous other fascinating people who often show more grace and dignity than the so called 'normal' specimens of the human family.
The writing style is a mixture of academic investigation and whimsical fan. Despite his natural instincts for scientific rigor the author's joy in the subject and obvious sadness at the demise of the sideshow shine through.
It ends on a positive and up to date note with a piece on the sideshow school at Coney Island, one of the last bastions of the traditional arts.
I reccomend this book to anyone whoever thought about running away to the circus and I enjoyed reading it tremendously.
PS. One small piece of pedantry. On page 214, Joe Nickell decribes the turn of the century magician Chung Ling Soo as an 'Englishman pretending to be a Chinaman'. In his excellent biography of Chung Ling Soo, The Glorious Deception, Jim Steinmeyer details Soo's life as an American who often pretended to be an Englishman, or more commonly a Scotsman pretending to be a Chinaman. Which goes to show that even a skeptical investigator can be confounded by a fellow conjurer, from beyond the grave to boot! My sense is that Mr. Nickell would be delighted.
Hurry, Hurry! Step Right This Way!.......2005-08-20
For centuries, millions of people have enjoyed looking at commercial exhibits of the odd and curious. Joe Nickell is one of those people. Growing up in Kentucky, he never missed the carnivals and circuses that had human and animal oddities on display as sideshows. Nickell is well known for investigating frauds and hoaxes for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, but it doesn't matter to him that many sideshow acts were bogus or at least grossly exaggerated on the banners outside the shows. He obviously loves the now-disappearing shows, and in _Secrets of the Sideshows_ (University Press of Kentucky), that affection is made plain. To be sure, he gives plenty of secrets away here, most of them open secrets, but the book works best as a tribute to the imagination of the performers and organizers of the exhibits which were meant to provoke and satisfy that admirable old human characteristic, curiosity. The book provokes and satisfies in the same way.
Nickell notes that "sideshow" means an adjunct to the main show. The "midway" where these shows were located was midway between the entrance and the main attraction. He briefly recounts early history, and then goes into their heyday starting in the early 1900s. Sideshows featured magic performances, often with one big trick like sawing the woman in half or the escape from a chained box. The way these sorts of tricks are done is explained here, but the explanations would not ruin the fun of a good performance. Fire-eating and sword-swallowing are explained, as is how to eat glass or walk barefoot on it, or how to walk barefoot up a ladder of swords. The explanations are enough to show how the tricks are done, but few readers are going to be tempted to try them. There were performers who didn't perform, but just showed themselves. Dwarves, giants, fatties are all here, all respectively taller, shorter, or lighter than their publicity banners proclaimed. Giants of such acts, for instance, sometimes had a contract that specified that they would not be measured. A bearded lady ("The Monkey Girl") and a man with the skin disease ichthyosis ("The Alligator Man") eloped in 1938, and were a sideshow feature as "The World's Strangest Married Couple"; they were happy together for over sixty years. Not all the displays were real, but as one carny said, "Oh, it's _all_ real. Some of it's really real, some of it's really fake, but it's all really good.") Hilariously, these exhibits which used to go under names like "Mother Nature's Mistakes" are sometimes now displayed in a "Horrors of Drug Abuse!" scare show.
Nickell closes with analysis of why the sideshows are fading into the past; it isn't because of any attempt to become politically correct, or any triumph of good taste; it comes down to simple economics, as fairs can make more money with, for instance, rides that take up the same space a midway does. Because it tells secrets of the sideshows, Nickell's book is a miscellany that is full of good humor and bizarre stories, like that of the bank robber who was killed by a sheriff's posse in 1916, and his mummified body passed from carnival to carnival. Somehow it became part of the "Laff-in-the-Dark" funhouse in Long Beach about forty years later, but everyone thought it was just a spray-painted mannequin until it broke and showed bones inside. He finally got laid to rest after a long postmortem career. There is a description of how to enlist fleas into a flea circus, and how to harness them to their particular tricks. There is an even more interesting description of the comic flea circus ("The Most Minuscule Show on Earth!") that has no fleas, only the colorful banter of the proprietor over the tiny apparatus ("She's blindfolded herself!... She's walking backward!"). If you want the lowdown on sideshows, step right up, ladies and gentlemen, Joe Nickell presents the best show on the midway.
Customer Reviews:
The Personal Touch.......2007-09-04
This book should be a part of every business owners library. So many business owners have ventured so far from many of the business practices in this book that they will never aspire to the success of Ms. Williams.
This book is practical, well thought out,easily read, and you can use the principles in your daily life of how you are to treat people. This is not just a book for business people this is a book for all people.
After reading this book it forced me to examine the way I have conducted my life and business relationships.
I now make it a habit to return all calls and emails as quickly as possible.
Buy this book for your friends and family it will truly change your thought process and you will begin to utilize The Personal Touch in your own life and certainly every aspect of your business.
The importance of connecting!.......2007-08-07
Terrie hit it right with the Personal Touch, She reminds you how important it is to build relationships in business.
Wonderful, Helpful Book.......2006-10-05
I found this book to have the best of both worlds. That is, it contains wonderful practical advice and tip along with a philosophical foundation. It is a wonderful book for those who are thinking about going into business. It is also appropriate for those who need a career boost.
Ms. Williams has an easy writing style. The stories are interesting and further re-enforce her points. She seems to be able to relate to celebrities and regular people with equal comfort.
I highly recommend it!
My career was built on the life teachings of The Personal Touch by Terrie, my mentor.......2006-06-05
The source behind my daily motivation has always been Terrie Williams, and whose book not only gives me inspiration, but the strength to move on. The Personal Touch is my bible, and is the resource every CEO and entrepreneur MUST READ! Terrie is a MAGNIFICENT person and one of the most professional people I know. When I see Terrie speak at events, I am reminded of her ideals and principles as featured in the Personal Touch. The Personal Touch will continue to be a top referred book for businesses, organizations and a gift to many souls for many years to come. Hearing Terrie speak at the BEA caused me to purchase more copies for friends. Everyone thanks Terrie for simply being a role model of success beyond all obstacles. I can't wait to read Black Pain: It Just Looks Like I'm Not Hurting as Terrie announced at BookExpo.
Back to a Moral Foundation.......2005-08-11
EXCELLENT!! easy read - with the foundation for a productive life and business.....for the haughty....it may seem too simplistic - simplicity is profound - why? Because this world has moved so far away from building strong character and integrity -- results = corporate downfalls and mediocre products and services. I highly recommend this book for anyone who values integrity above all.-- in life and business.
Book Description
Think that the education system serves our children? Think again. Shining light on the special interests controlling our schools, where politics and pork infuse everything and our childrens education is compromised, journalist Joe Williams shows how parents can use consumer power to put children first. He argues that increased accountability and choice are necessary, and shows how the people can take back the education system, enhancing responsibility inherent in democracy. The solution is a new brand of hardball politics that demands competence from school leaders and shifts the power away from bureaucrats and union leaders to the people who have a the greatest reason to put kids first: concerned parents. With practical steps and uplifting examples of success, this is a manifesto to action.
Customer Reviews:
Truth to Power.......2007-09-24
Trying to find how school districts work is difficult. Transparency is hard to come by and this is deliberately so. Joe Williams breaks down the wall of obfuscation, the lies, and tells it like it is. My only regret is that he does not site more examples of the corruption that goes on in building new schools.
Los Angeles Unified School District is in the midst of a $19 billion school construction project - the largest in U.S. History. Precious little has been written about this monumental and historical occurence. I fear that the Fourth Estate is not up to the task of protecting the public. What editor would allow a reporter to spend months researching the byzantine passages of public construction bids, self-dealing, and the intracacies of change orders? It would win a Pulitzer if done right, but the economics of the newspaper business make it a remote possibility. Many reporters have to produce three to four stories a week! How can they dive into the five hundred layers of confusion in two days and write a credible story? Even if they spent three months, they would barely tap the surface.
That's why Joe Williams book is so important. It is an amazing start.
I just bought 12 copies of this book for my parent leaders.
A deserved kick in the shins to teachers unions.......2005-10-29
Teachers unions, as most informed citizens know, have done more to damage schools in the last 50 years than any other entity. These groups raely if ever put kids first, instead installing a system where it is next to impossible to fire teachers while convincing vast chunks of the general public that hard luck teachers are somehow underpaid (ha!). Bravo to this illuminating work!
Just another objective journalist?.......2005-10-28
While I applaud Williams' title, I am amazed at the amount of politics and greed behind the author. With a special thanks to Fred M. Hess in the intro, and a plug from Mr. Hess on the back cover, I wonder how Williams gets past all of Hess's politics? The book was obviously supported by the neoconservative/neoliberal Right, something most readers won't ever know. Perhaps this book belongs under propaganda rather than education...Not that there's a difference under this administration, given the million dollars spent on convincing African Americans to buy into NCLB. (Google Ketchum, Armstrong Williams, and GAO)
Williams is just another shrill for the far Right, arguing that business leaders need to do more to save our failing schools...As if they haven't already done enough! Business leaders do not, have not, and will never put children first...they put buisness first. It's corporate leaders, and media lap-dogs like Williams, who are responsible for the current disaster most call NCLB, a disaster pushing good teachers and good students out of good schools. Standards and accountability! Ha. Let's get some into the media and White House first...perhaps they'll trickle down...
Until we recognize that we should be living in a democracy, a social system that requires critical and engaged citizens, we can expect more of the same from the Anti-School movement: our schools are failing, our schools are failing, our schools are failing, and the only way to save them is by turning children into hyper productive worksheet completers. Yes, capable of working 55 hour weeks sans complaint but incapable of challenging the whys and hows of global democracy. Likely to consume what you tell them to consume but unlikely to ask why we consume so much...Is that the future we really want?
I can't believe this book came from an academic press.
GREAT book!.......2005-10-01
I just finished reading Williams's book and HIGHLY recommend it. In it, he exposes in great detail the many outrageous ways that our public school system is controlled by adults and run for their benefit, rather than the children. It's infuriating, yet also hopeful, as he shows how Milwaukee's parents were able to win enormous changes, and outlines a guidebook for parents and activists everywhere.
Book Description
In a relatively short period of time, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has grown into a powerful quantitative, analytical tool for measuring and evaluating performance. It has been successfully applied to a whole variety of problems in many different contexts worldwide. The analysis of an array of these problems has been resistant to other methodological approaches because of the multiple levels of complexity that must be considered. Several examples of multifaceted problems in which DEA analysis has been successfully used are: (1) maintenance activities of US Air Force bases in geographically dispersed locations, (2) policy force efficiencies in the United Kingdom, (3) branch bank performances in Canada, Cyprus, and other countries and (4) the efficiency of universities in performing their education and research functions in the U.S., England, and France. In addition to localized problems, DEA applications have been extended to performance evaluations of 'larger entities' such as cities, regions, and countries. These extensions have a wider scope than traditional analyses because they include "social" and "quality-of-life" dimensions which require the modeling of qualitative and quantitative data in order to analyze the layers of complexity for an evaluation of performance and to provide solution strategies.
DEA is computational at its core and this book will be one of several books that we will look to publish on the computational aspects of DEA. This book by Zhu and Cook will deal with the micro aspects of handling and modeling data issues in modeling DEA problems. DEA's use has grown with its capability of dealing with complex "service industry" and the "public service domain" types of problems that require modeling both qualitative and quantitative data. This will be a handbook treatment dealing with specific data problems including the following: (1) imprecise data, (2) inaccurate data, (3) missing data, (4) qualitative data, (5) outliers, (6) undesirable outputs, (7) quality data, (8) statistical analysis, (9) software and other data aspects of modeling complex DEA problems. In addition, the book will demonstrate how to visualize DEA results when the data is more than 3-dimensional, and how to identify efficiency units quickly and accurately.
Book Description
Two-thirds of Americans report having greater trust in companies aligned with a social issue.
Cause-related marketing programs not only enhance a company’s image but also increase employee satisfaction. Ninety percent of employees in companies with such programs report feeling proud of their company. Cause Marketing will show all businesses, regardless of size, how to work with a socially responsible organization, cause, or event to increase brand equity and consumer and employee loyalty, to differentiate their brands from competition, and to boost profits.
Author Joe Marconi has created the most comprehensive book on this timely subject. Explaining how to implement a cause marketing program, he joins with the organization Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and discusses never-before-published case studies, such as Mattel, Eddie Bauer, General Mills, and Starbucks. BSR is a global resource for companies seeking to sustain their commercial success in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities, and the environment.
Customer Reviews:
Packed With Knowledge!.......2004-06-15
Your company's a success, thank you, and now you want to give something back. What should you do? Write a check? Start a foundation? Joe Marconi explains that cause marketing is all this and more. In cause marketing, you identify how your company can best make a contribution while leveraging its good deeds to improve business. This makes sense: people like to buy from companies that care. But it's not as easy as it sounds. How do you choose the right partner (or do you want a partner at all) and design a program? What are the potential pitfalls? Marconi's book is a primer, complete with ample real-world examples, on the principles of cause marketing, with insight on the challenge of taking credit without appearing phony or selfish. Although it is more rhetorical than practical, we recommend this book to senior executives who want to learn about the benefits - and drawbacks - of cause marketing.
The ROI of Social Responsibility.......2002-09-07
Marconi has made a valuable contribution to the on-going dialogue about marketing by explaining how to "build image and bottom line through socially responsible partnerships, programs, and events." Presumably he agrees with John Hill that PR is "truth well-told." The most effective marketing programs, those which create or increase demand, include PR initiatives. As we all know, there are negative connotations of PR because it is not always truthful even if well-told. Marconi notes that "there has been a dramatic increase in the allocation of funds from marketing budgets that provide some benefit to nonprofit organizations. The expenditure of these funds to serve the interests of both the company and the community has come to be known as [in italics] cause marketing." The one-year anniversary of 9/11 caused major corporations and their agencies to question whether or not to advertise on that tragic date. Their concern was that any advertising, however thoughtful and sensitive, could be perceived as self-serving. That is a legitimate concern. In Chapter 5, Marconi cites six examples of "self-serving and opportunistic" initiatives during a national period of sadness following 9/11. Here's one: "Morrell & Company announced in a full-page ad that it would hold a `Grapes of Grief and Gratitude' benefit wine auction for families of the New York firefighters, police, and emergency response professionals." This is cause marketing at its worst.
Marconi also includes many examples of cause marketing at its best. That is to say, marketing which establishes contact with those who buy and use their products and services or support their issues and will feel better for doing so. "Cause marketing seeks to take the process even further when the marketer for a company (1) identifies a cause that the company can embrace and believe in, and (2) makes a connection with the constituent group that shares the company's dedication to that cause." What we have here, then, is a cohesive and comprehensive explanation of how to plan and then implement "cause marketing" at its best. Eminently worthwhile organizations receive at least some of the support they urgently need; those who provide that support, who demonstrate corporate social responsibility with active community involvement, generally "do well by doing good."
But here's a key point: Unless such support and involvement are -- and are perceived to be -- both appropriate and authentic (i.e. sincere), they invariably do irreparable damage to an organization's credibility. Marconi explains this point while examining a number of case studies of both effective and counter-productive cause marketing. All things considered, people generally prefer to do business with those with whom they share the same values and, better yet, with whom they share the same loyalties. It is obvious to his reader that Marconi cares deeply about corporate social responsibility and active community involvement. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that they should be primarily assumed by major corporations. Where I live, independent merchants generously support fundraising activities by local schools, athletic teams, and churches of all denominations. Their contributions are both monetary and non-monetary, donated because they want to be "good citizens," joining with others in the support of worthwhile causes. Of course, some of this "good will" results in additional business but that is not the merchants' motive.
In the final chapter of this book, Marconi reviews the rules, reasons, and rewards of cause marketing. They provide wise and practical guidance to any organization or individual either involved in "cause marketing" now or considering it. Once having read the book, I again reflected on the groundswell of responses to the tragedies which occurred on 9/11/01. Marconi suggests (and I agree) that principled cause marketing doesn't wait for "the next dark day" to fulfill itself. Rather, it should be an on-going process which responds to or creates opportunities to "make a difference," indeed to make a significant difference and for the better. Its ROI cannot easily be measured in terms of sales and profits. Those involved in cause marketing worthy of the name appreciate how important it is and know that its value to society is incalculable.
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Books Index
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