According to Peter Drucker, the last quarter century has witnessed an unrecorded economic gyration toward nothing short of a unique and salutary American brand of socialism—the ultimate ownership of the nation's business by the nation's workers, as beneficiaries of pension trusts. The over-65 savant of management-cum-economic theory takes on a subject for which he is distinctly suited, and for the first time a cogent analysis of the probable impact of the American pension system is constructed for the generalist. The Dickensian clerk, the assembly-line worker, you, I, and the rest of the proletariat have become men and women, not of property, but of expectations. The employees of the country are becoming the new owners (if not the managers) of our major productive resources and the consequences, as well as the fact, ought to be examined. Horrible examples of pension fund mismangement and misinformation abound. New York City's unfunded pension debt, approaching $10 billion, stalks the Big Apple like the ghost of King Kong. The newly promoted employee stock ownership plan, the Kelso plan—whereby a struggling firm may sell its own stock to the pension trust established for the benefit of its workers—is treated with scorn. (On the other hand the Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association, serving the author's academic community, is presented as the most ingenious and intelligent of pension funds.) Drucker dismisses the often cited excessive concentration of power in massive pension trusts as a "pure red herring." He's after bigger philosophical fish. Among them is the significance of an ever increasing cadre of pensioners, members of a welfare society not (as citizens) of a welfare state. Discussion of the subject is timely and though the book is filled with polemic, it may be the spark that ignites debate.
Pub Date: June 16, 1976
ISBN: 043490399X
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1976
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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