I read this book in less than a day. It is an interesting history of one of the largest ore freighters and the infamous sinking of this great vessel. MacInnis does a great job of boiling the history and the tragic sinking of this ship down into an easy to read 120 pages. This is great story, and I was surprised that it took so little time to read this book and understand the tragedy of 29 dead men.
This book is a good history of the ship and the brevity of it makes it a quick read. None of the real far fetched accounts (UFOs) for the explanation of the tragedy are included in this book. The details of the two explorers filming the results of the ship on the bottom are also detailed. MacInnis makes them out as quick buck artists working the tragedy for all its worth.
I am less sure about this, but the book is a good read.

Anyone knowing the history of Winston Churchill visualizes the confrontations he had with Lady Astor. The author includes one in her book about poison. Another one has Winston being drunk, and Lady Astor confronting him and he responding Yes I am drunk, but tomorrow I shall be sober and you shall still be ugly. I wanted to know a little more about Lady Astor and this book gave me a brief insight into her. It was an average read, and I commend the author on writing something original. In this age where we have three or four books coming out about Benjamin Franklin, it is refreshing to have a book about an original subject like the 1919 election of Lady Astor.
This book is dry in places because the author focuses on the use of language in the election of Lady Astor. It is rather a short book, so she should have just concentrated on the election and detailed more of the aftermath of the election and the rise of Nancy Astor. Again, the author has done a good job of detailing the rise of this remarkable woman.

I was particularly interested in this book because this is when I graduated from my university and got my first job. Many people were going into the securities industries and making a killing in terms of salary. I stayed in industry because I liked the thought of making something, not pushing paper. Smith does a credible job detailing why this decade should not be considered the best in American history. During this decade, Americans became addicted to debt both personally and by company policy. Buyouts and LBOs were rampant in American society. Schools emphasized the MBA. The Pacific Rim countries-notably Japan exported more to the USA than others. It was a difficult time in U.S. History because we became more dependent on the rest of the world. We became the world's largest debtors.
Smith goes into great detail of why Ameicans must come to term
with who they are. Americans need to become more competitive with the rest of the world. If we do not, others will eat this country's lunch. Smith details all these warning and why it is important to heed them.
Smith is giving friendly advice to a nation that is coming to grips over who has money. Americans need to change their belief in short run gains at the expense of long run profits. Only by focusing on the customers can we beome better manufactures.
This books jumps from one topic to other, and therefore few people get the whole story.

Ms. Nivat reports on the War in Chechnya by way of traveling with the civilians and rebels of this war torn province of Russia. Civilians are indeed the victims of any war, and there is no difference in this conflict. I would say that perhaps the Russians were more brutal than other nations. Their targeting of civilian centers by artillery and air bombing turned many of the Chechen civilians against the Federation of Russia. Nivat is very sympathetic to the Chechens. She has been treated kindly by them. She makes frequent mention of the Wahabbis (Islam Fundamentalists) and even describes the terror of these fighters.
Present day knowledge shows that many Chechen Fundamentalists fought and died for the Taliban of Afghanistan. Chechens themselves have been accused of killing and beheading foreigners helping the civilians of Chechnya. Knowledge of this makes me think Nivat could have been a victim of a Chechen crime. Sympathy for the civilians is one thing, supporting Chechen Fundamentalists is another. Chechens invading other provinces of the Russian state and bombing apartment buildings does not give me much sympathy with the goal of this ethnic group. Nivat has too much sympathy for the civilians and overlooks the killing of the rebels. This was (is) a fierce war, and both parties don't look too appealing.

This is a nice little picture book with an accompanying summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Plenty of pictures and illustrations of the battle itself show the history of this great attack. The author describes both the Japanese and American point of views prior to the attack. Then a general description of the battle itself and the resulting outcome. There is not many personal stories in this book, just the basics of the attack itself. Lots of information in this thin book.
This is an average read. I like a book full of personal stories along with the history to become interested in the book. This is an analtical perspective of the attack and is more focused toward the military historian. A good perspective of the battle.

This is a picture book with a fair share of writing about what happened on June 6 and 7, 1944. On that date, British, Free French, American, and Canadian forces assaulted five beaches in Nazi occupied Normandy. Young details the battles that happened on the day of invasion, and one day after. What I found good in this book is the detail Young puts into the numbers. Five Divisions on the initial assault day versus 40 divisions in Nazi occupied Western Europe. If only the Germans were able to concentrate their numerical superiority on the day of invasion, they could have easily defeated the invasion. Instead, as Young points out, they tried to defend too many areas, and spread their forces too thin. Even placing experienced divisions into the likely areas could have defeated the invasion. The Allies deception on where they were going to land spread the German forces in many unlikely areas. This is how the Germans were defeated.
Young was a Colonel commanding British commando forces in the initial assault on D-Day. He tells his story as well in this book. This was an enjoyable read, and their are some nice pictures in this book.

I can relate to this book. My parents lived through the Depression and raised their children in the prosperous sixties and seventies. They live in northern Wisconsin where most of the population was white. The similarites with Brokaw's South Dakota is basically the same. As a product of the Midwest, Brokaw is more similar to me than Rather (Texas) or Jennings (Canada).
I enjoyed this simple story. Tom relates how he made it in televison journalism and New York. Despite where he lives now, he considers himself at home in South Dakota rather than New York. Tom chronicles his early life and relates how and where he was raised even now determine his outlook on life. I feel the same way and that is why this book struck home. I would rather tramp the forests of northern Wisconsin than see the lights of Chicago. People make their way in life in some measure because of who they were born to and where they lived. Tom's rural life and his parents survival of the Depression determined a lot of what Tom eventually turned out to be. A great story.

Webster gives a lot of detail of the history of Marketing in this book. It includes all the recent develpments in Marketing and how it has affected the customer. For those interested in how Marketing focuses on the customer, this is a great way to understand the marketing of a particular product. That said, this fact packed book is about as dry as can be. If you read this book, you will see how the reader has to slog through this material. Lots of facts and theory, but little in the way of interesting the general public.
One market for this book is to university students in Marketing. This book is a great summary of where Marketing will go in the future, and this could help the student. Few people would find this book interesting, other than sales people and Marketing.

Herbert Hoover was probably the smartest and most able of the American Presidents (a distinction he shares with Clinton). His Presidency will go down as one of the worst. Why? The Great Depression hit the country soon after Hoover took office, and despite tremedous efforts by the President, extended throughout his term. Smith details the rise of Hoover and his administration during these four years. I think he is fair on how Hoover and his administration tried to cope with the Great Depression. He also details the rise of FDR and gives both positive and negative stories about him. For instance, Roosevelt failed to cooperate when he was President Elect with Hoover in trying to shore up the banking system when so many banks were failing. Up to the moment he left office Hoover tried to serve the American people, while Roosevelt played politics and let huge banks fail.
This is a good portrait of the Hoover Administration. Smith details quite a bit about the Hoover Administration and the 1932 Presidential Election, but he is short on early material about Hoover. Altogether a good read about a well meaning man and the Great Depression.

Gross's book Neighbors illustrates the latent anti-Semitism prevalent in pre-war Poland and the murderous result when the Poles took action against their Jewish neighbors. In the town of Jedwabne, two thirds of the residents were Jewish, and after
the Germans occupied the Russian half of Poland, the Polish residents of the town and surrounding countryside decided to take things into their own hands. They massacred the 1500 residents and took their property. The book briefly details the massacre and the burning of the barn where most of the Jewish residents were jailed. The Germans took no action, so the Polish residents were the chief culprits in these murders. After the war, the Poles blamed the Germans and until recently the crime was covered up. Gross details how the town residents did know and reveals this in the book.
I have read some of the comments from some of the other readers. It is hard to acknowledge crimes committed by one's nationality. Unfortunately this crime and other related did take place, and people do have to owe up to these things. I have traveled extensively through Poland and find the same anti-Semitic feelings even today. Both the Poles and Jews were victims in WWII, but the Poles also victimized the Jews. If I have any criticism of Gross's book, it is that it was far too short. Gross needed to describe in more detail these murders that took place in 1939-1941 period throughout Poland.