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INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PRACTICE AND PRINCIPLES

At a guess, Drucker's latest contribution to management literature will command appreciably less than half the attention being lavished on A Passion for Excellence (422). His substantive, systematic commentary is nonetheless superior to the trendier entry on both a comparative and stand-alone basis. Among other accomplishments, Drucker puts the evolution of executive arts in an accessible socioeconomic perspective. The worldwide panic of 1873, he observes, ended a century of laissez-faire and led to the modern welfare state, which 100 years later "had run its course," In the turbulent interim, he reports, the US work force has expanded by roughly 40 million. He attributes the net gain in jobs—achieved despite oil shocks, double-digit inflation, a few serious recessions, and a sharp contraction in smokestack industries' payrolls—to the innovative activities of entrepreneurs. In Drucker's book, true entrepreneurs (who can be found in the public and as private sectors) are a less than venturesome lot; although demonstrably intrepid, they seek to minimize risk in their efforts to adapt to and exploit change. Entrepreneurship, he argues persuasively, has more to do with behavior than personality. Its most productive manifestation is purposeful innovation—broadly defined as enchancement of "the wealth-producing potential of already existing resources." While Drucker does not altogether dismiss bioengineering or solid-state electronics, he points out that employment opportunities have been created mainly by low-tech firms that did not exist 20 years ago—restaurant chains, financial-services organizations, health-care concerns, et al. The next catalogues a wealth of commercial/institutional applications of the management principles Drucker is bent on advancing. He notes, for example, that notwithstanding the availability of conclusive demographic data, only a few universities were prepared for the boom-and-bust enrollment cycle that followed the decade-long surge in the domestic birth rate after WW II. Along similar lines, the author faults seemingly successful corporate pioneers that fail to protect market positions with regular price cuts. The Drucker agenda also features tax-reform and related public-policy proposals designed to ensure innovative entrepreneurs an operating environment conducive to continued achievement. In brief, then, a provocative prescriptive guide that takes the measure of the responsibilities of both management and society in a fast-changing marketplace.

Pub Date: June 5, 1985

ISBN: 0060913606

Page Count: 292

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1985

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DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!

NEWPORT, SEEGER, DYLAN, AND THE NIGHT THAT SPLIT THE SIXTIES

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...

Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.

The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.

Pub Date: July 25, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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