Reviews (6)

Thanks For The Memories,Nate
This is a timeless classic, and not just among memoirs, because the subject was a great American---a man who "had no get-back in him."Nate Shaw (real name Ned Cobb) had an amazing memory, and also an acute understanding of the post-Civil War rural South.The rhythm of the seasons, work routines, knowledge of livestock, nature and people too, combine for a profound view of a vanished America.(If you want to really know about mules, Ned's the man.)But Ned didn't just observe, he worked with the Alabama Sharecroppers' Union and defended powerless friends, serving 12 years in prison for his pains.This activism sets him apart from Kas Maine, a South African sharecropper to whom he's been compared in recent years.The earthy dialect wears out some readers, but otherwise "All God's Dangers" is compelling from start to end.Writers from Wendell Berry to Pete Daniel praise both man and book, while John Beecher's "In Egypt Land" is a moving poetic rendition of Ned's story.R. Kelley, "Hammer & Hoe" vividly recreates 1930s Alabama; on Kas Maine, see C. Van Onselen, "The Seed Is Mine." But Ned tells about his world far better than the others.In living, then narrating, a life of great struggle lived with great dignity, Ned Cobb performed a signal service---for all of us.We are in your debt!

Family, Race, Class and Farming in Alabama
In the middle of Rosengarten's book, truly a masterpiece of oral history memoir making, Nate Shaw says "all God's dangers ain't a white man."This would seem truly a remarkable thing for a black man who spent over a decade in an Alabama prison to say, but as a farmer growing cotton in Alabama during the first half of the twentieth century it quickly makes sense once he explains it.Shaw's story of his chaffing under his good for nothing father's roof; his growing prosperity as share cropper and than as a yeoman farmer; his hucksterism when dealing with violent and hostile whites attempting to cheat him; the defense of fellow small farmers that got him thrown in jail during the Great Depression; and his takes on the science of farming, race relations, the American class system and his own life experiences show Shaw to be a master story teller and Rosengarten and master interviewer.The combination of these two was absolute dynamite.

The Real Nate.
Nate Shaw was the father of my Uncle Oscar Turner's best friend. His real name was Nate Cobb and the family of the son, Lorraine, is prominent in the Middletown, Ohio ghetto.Read more

Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. Alabama    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Business & Economics    7. Farmers & Ranchers    8. History    9. History Of Labor    10. Labor    11. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    12. Labor Unions    13. People of Color    14. Regional Subjects - South    15. Sharecroppers    16. Sharecropping    17. Shaw, Nate    18. Sources    19. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    20. American history: from c 1900 -    21. Biography: general    22. Black studies    23. Racism & racial discrimination    24. Social Science / African-American Studies    25. USA   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business & Financial    3. Business Law    4. Business/Economics    5. Cases    6. Discrimination    7. Discrimination in employment    8. Executives    9. Handbooks, manuals, etc    10. Labor    11. Law and legislation    12. Legal Reference / Law Profession    13. United States    14. Labour economics    15. Law / Business   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Human Resources & Personnel Management    4. Labor    5. Labor laws and legislation    6. Small Business - General    7. United States   

Reviews (6)

An Important Book
Smart, provocative, well-researched and wonderfully written, this book is completely persuasive.Anyone interested in fairness in the workplace (something we should all be interested in) will want to read it.

Stunning revelations, thoughtful analysis
Getting Even exposes the shocking realities behind America's male-female wage gap. The authors prove their case not just with jaw-dropping facts and figures, but with fascinating accounts of how women are shortchanged -- literally and figuratively -- every day on the job. The book also offers a savvy remedy for this entrenched, and often invisible, form of gender bias. The writing is clear and persuasive. Getting Even's lucid argument deserves national debate.

Shocking and Necessary
It's hard to believe that companies and individuals can still get away with this extraordinarily misogynist behavior, but Murphy and Graff have done the legwork and the math to prove not only that they do, but how they do it and how we can begin to put an end to it.This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who is or loves a woman or girl and believes that women should be treated with basic human decency (and paid that way, too). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Comparable Worth    5. Gender Studies    6. Interviews    7. Labor    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    9. Personal Finance    10. Prevention    11. Sex discrimination against women    12. Sex discrimination in employment    13. United States    14. Women & Business    15. Women in the professions    16. Women's Studies - General    17. Business & Economics / General   

Reviews (1)

Excelent review of bargaining theory
This is an excelent and rigorous review of the literature on bargaining theory. Its a good place to start the study of barganing as well as a good reference for people familiar with the subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economic History    5. Game theory    6. Labor    7. Management - General    8. Negotiation in business    9. Business & Economics / Economic History    10. Economic theory & philosophy   

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. Case studies    3. Gender Studies    4. Labor    5. Minority Studies - General    6. Race discrimination    7. Sex discrimination in employme    8. Sex discrimination in employment    9. Social Science    10. United States    11. Wages    12. Women    13. Equal opportunities    14. Office & workplace    15. Social Science / Gender Studies    16. Work & labour   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Efficiency, Industrial    4. Industrial efficiency    5. Labor    6. Labor Productivity    7. United States    8. Business strategy    9. International business    10. Management & management techniques    11. Ownership & organization of enterprises    12. USA   

Subjects:  1. Economic conditions    2. Emigration & Immigration    3. Employment    4. Feminism & Feminist Theory    5. Gender Studies    6. Labor    7. Mexican-American Border Region    8. Social Science    9. Social conditions    10. Sociology    11. Women    12. Women's Studies - General   

Reviews (1)

An eye-opening, fun read for anyone wanting to get ahead
I loved this book. The real-life examples made it so easy to apply the tools to my own situation. Dominguez's style is funny and easy to read. I have definitely gained some valuable insight and confidence to execute new strategies in my own situation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business Life - General    3. Career Development    4. Career/Job    5. Careers - General    6. Careers / Job Opportunities    7. Interpersonal relations    8. Job Satisfaction    9. Labor    10. Managing your boss    11. Advice on careers & achieving success    12. Business & Economics / Careers    13. Business communication & presentation   

Reviews (1)

"No such thing as society"
Zygmunt Bauman's argument, put very simply, boils down to the fact that in the present consumerist society, the plight of the dispossessed is to be helpless spectators of other people's party, and to be made to experience the humiliating gap between themselves and the successful: the big spenders.
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Subjects:  1. Labor    2. Poverty    3. Public Policy - Social Policy    4. Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Sociology - Social Theory    8. Unemployment    9. Consumer issues    10. Macroeconomics    11. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Reviews (3)

The BEST book on race discrimination since maybe ever
Give this book to relatives, friends, students who think that race discrimination is history in America.Royster is a fabulous interviewer and writer.Her fifty young graduates of vocational high school (half African-American, half white) open up to her with heartbreaking honesty.White kids are successful because of the web of older white friends, relatives, and teachers in their school who make sure that they have jobs, even when they have criminal convictions.They praise the skills of some black classmates but feel no obligation to help them, as they themselves have been helped.The black young men think many of the white men are "cool," but make no demands.Anyone who doesn't see the need for affirmative action should read this book.

Exclusionary Networks
In examining the seeming intractability of race and exclusionary tactics of white-male social networks, sociologist, Deirdre A. Royster asks and answers five fundamental questions that serve as a foundation for substantive discussions and analysis, among academic and non-academic audiences alike. Her questions are: (1) What happens when whites and blacks share a track placement, the same teachers, and the same classrooms? (2) Can desegregated institutions, in this post-civil rights era, provide equal foundations and assistance for blacks and whites? (3) Does the problem of embeddedness - in this case, historically segregated job networks - stifle the emergence of cross-racial linkage mechanisms and networks beyond schools? (4) Or does the post-Civil Rights era provide a new, color-blind labor market in which blacks show signs of work-readiness and achievement succeed on a par with white peers in terms of initial employment outcomes?(5) Finally, are black students, as the racial deficits theory suggests, lacking something that should make them less desirable as workers than their white peers? Of her questions, I find number one of considerable interest, for it illustrates what are some outcomes even when the playing field is leveled.
Right on, Dr. Sistagirl!
Since so many conservatives think that racism no longer exists, the market will cure all evils, and blacks do poorly because of individual rather than social failures, Dr. Royster puts these ideas to the test.She interviews 25 white men and 25 black men who studied the same vocational courses at the same high school to see if they did just as well in the marketplace.Though the black men get just as good grades and attend classes just as much, their individual initiative does not explain why their white counterparts consistently found jobs easier, were paid more, worked in fields in which they prepared, and were just generally better off.
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Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. Anthropology - General    3. Blue collar workers    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Discrimination & Racism    6. Discrimination in employment    7. Employment    8. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    9. General    10. Labor    11. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    12. Social Science    13. Sociology    14. United States    15. Black studies    16. Equal opportunities    17. Racism & racial discrimination    18. Social Science / Sociology / General    19. USA    20. Work & labour   

Reviews (2)

Fascinating history, important analysis--read it!
This is a terrific book--an important history that brings together a story of race, labor unions, economic change, politics, and culture, but never loses sight of the actual people involved.Very well written--not dry and academic like some history, but also very rich analytically.Buy it and read it!

Fabulous story, fabulous storytelling
In this wonderful book, African American tobacco workers tell their own story of civil rights struggle and union organizing.It is long, but so was the struggle, and I couldn't put it down.Oral interviews give us the black workers' own accounts, sending, for once, the white supremacists to the back of the bus.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Civil rights movements    3. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    4. Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union of America    5. History    6. Labor    7. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    8. Labor unions    9. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    10. Political Science    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Politics/International Relations    13. Southern States    14. Tobacco workers    15. American history: from c 1900 -    16. Civil rights & citizenship    17. Labour economics    18. North Carolina    19. Political Science / Civil Rights    20. Racism & racial discrimination    21. Second World War, 1939-1945    22. Tobacco industry    23. Trade unions    24. Winston-Salem, North Carolina    25. Work & labour    26. civil rights movement; mass production industries; the New Deal; communist activists; anticommunists; Local 22; Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers-Congress of Industrial Organizations (FTA-CIO); R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; white supremacy; Moranda Smith; Ruby Jones; Phillip Murray; Walter White; Donald Henderson; Paul Robeson; Henry Wallace   

Reviews (1)

Raise your right hand and .......
Place your left on this bible! This is what I consider to be my very own bible and it was introduced to me by Kathleen Scokzen in a class called Global Women's Issues. This woman (well, maria and Kathleen!) is right on point and brilliant if you ask me.Her explanation of the Object/Relations theory is probably one of my favorite sections.Anyway, everyone should own this book! Amen ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Feminism & Feminist Theory    2. International    3. Labor    4. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Women's Studies - General    8. Social Science / Women's Studies   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Career/Job    3. Careers - General    4. Careers - Job Hunting    5. Careers - Resumes    6. Careers / Job Opportunities    7. Employment Interviewing    8. Job Finding    9. Labor   

Editorial Review

Work, for most of us, is something we do, not something we think about. We may wonder whether our work is sufficiently stimulating, whether it brings in enough money, or whether it makes a difference in the grand scheme of things, but we don't often question what, in fact, work really is, and why we work in the first place. In Read more

Reviews (7)

Excellent book
Prof. Ciulla tackles this central component of Life from different directions. The book will make you think and maybe even change your preferences in life.

Makes use of myriad areas to exemplify values and attitudes
This book explores the over-worked state of Americans today and why people work at all. The author helps readers discover the values and attitudes expressed in their jobs using history, literature, popular culture, and personal anecdotes.Many good insights.
A more optimistic 'Nickel and Dimed"
Sciulla's book avoids policy conclusions, and other theoretical certainties as other books like Fogels' 4th Awakening. She notes the interesting point that "Today, clock time measures events" in the past events measured time. For example, in Magadascar a half hour was measured by the time it took to cook rice. She became interested in the nature of work when she subsidised one job teaching philosophy with another as a waitress in a restaurant. Ms. Ciulla is particularly struck by the fact thatt wealth has not brought happiness. People continue to want to earn a living. Even when people have enough to live on, many of them continue to want to work, remaining perplexed at the fact that while life is supposed to be easier, many continue to seek meaning through employment.However, she notes, employment provides a schedule and a rythm for daily life and serves as an outlet ofr greater forms of community participation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Industrial & Organizational Psychology    2. Industrial Psychology    3. Labor    4. Psychological aspects    5. Psychology    6. Social Conditions Of Labor    7. Sociology    8. Work    9. Work ethic    10. Business & Economics / Time Management   

Editorial Review

A regular feature in the Web zine Read more

Reviews (21)

Not on par with "Working"
As other reviewers before me have noted, "Gig" is a fun book, but it's not an in-depth study of people's relationship to the jobs they do as was Studs Terkel's excellent "Working."
You think you hate your job?
Then you should read this book. Gig is an unexpectedly engaging collection of vignettes of diverse American workers. It makes you think long and hard about your job...as well as all those jobs that someone has to do, but that no one really wants to. (What does the garbage man really think about when he's riding the back of the truck?) My favorite profile: man who runs a company that cleans up murder scenes and homes where people are simply found dead from natural causes.

awesome, awesome read
I only read one entry a night to drag it out.It's that good. Not only is there much hilarity, you actually learn insider info about how things work--excellent cocktail conversation.I must have told 20 people things I've read in here, and I"m only a third finished.Read more

Subjects:  1. American    2. Attitudes    3. Business & Economics    4. Business Life - General    5. Business/Economics    6. Careers - General    7. Case studies    8. Interviews    9. Labor    10. Occupations    11. Social Conditions Of Labor    12. Social History    13. Sociology    14. Working class    15. Social Science / Sociology / General    16. USA    17. Work & labour   

Reviews (3)

Had it not been for this book, I would have been cheated...
I'm a paralegal, you would think I would know these things.However, I was in a position where I knew I was being wronged, but would have to research and learn an entirely new form of law to make my case.This book had already done that for me.It has simple answers to complex questions; it is organized into a format which allows the reader to make educated decisions. I highly recommend this book whether you are in a situation now, or want to be prepared should you ever find yourself in a situation later.

Employees' most valuable and complete guide:workplace laws
Even after working in Corporate America for several years as a manager, it wasn't until I started my own business that I started paying attention to employment laws. And then I was amazed at how little attention I had paid to my rights in the workplace when I was an employee! I now realize that I didn't know anything about my privacy rights, or when I was being illegally discriminated against or what to do if I got fired. Part of the reason was that I had been lucky enough to work for good employers (and especially great bosses) who were very fair and I never felt the need to understand my rights because they took care of protecting them proactively through their internal guidelines and implementation. A classic on workplace rights
Updated version of a comprehensive classic on workplace rights from hiring through firing ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Employee rights    2. Human Resources & Personnel Management    3. Labor    4. Labor & Employment    5. Labor And Employment Law    6. Labor laws and legislation    7. Law    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Popular works    10. Practical Guides    11. United States   

Subjects:  1. African American labor union m    2. African American labor union members    3. Business & Economics    4. Discrimination in employment    5. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    6. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor    7. History    8. Labor    9. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    10. Labor unions    11. Modern - 20th Century    12. Multicultural Nonfiction    13. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    14. Political activity    15. Politics / Current Events    16. Pullman porters    17. United States    18. Black studies    19. Civil rights & citizenship    20. History / Modern / 20th Century    21. Illinois    22. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    23. Political activism    24. Second World War, 1939-1945    25. Social history    26. Trade unions    27. USA    28. Work & labour   

Reviews (29)

Middle Management
Middle management is vulnerable to job loss in the event of restructuring.Typically a reconfigured company sheds forty percent of its jobs.The computer revolution is most pronounced in the manufacturing sector.A world with fewer and fewer workers is a disturbing trend.
A rather poor effort
I often enjoy reading books written trying to read the future that are several years old. If only to see why the writer was right or wrong and where he went wrong.
Food For Thought For Our Future
Some reviewers see this book as a "gloom'n'doom" "Malthusian" feeding of technophobia, but I disagree.Look at the news - reports of job losses despite increased productivity and corporate profits are not going to go away.Technological advances make this an inevitability.What Rifkin ultimately questions is how we deal with that - we could either head towards great social upheavals because of mass unemployment leading to people being unable to provide for their own basic needs, or we could enjoy a cultural and social rebirth where people are free from wage slavery and are free to pursue meaningful and fulfilling endeavors.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Forecasting    3. General    4. Labor    5. Labor productivity    6. Personal Growth - Success    7. Self-Help    8. Technological unemployment    9. Work    10. Employment & unemployment    11. Self-Help / Success    12. Unemployment   

Reviews (2)

A Beautiful Book
Unseen America is a fantastic visual reference to the United States unseen or overlooked by us. Often we see things but don't recognize, the "little people", who keep us in our comfort zone. This book with photo's by those "little people" brings home our underlying culture. The black and white photographs are sometimes disturbing and revealing. This is the "Unseen America" we all need to see!

Important in today's world in America...
It is very important in today's world in America for us to have contact with all ages, all races, and with a wide range of socio economic groups.If we remain enclosed in one homogeneous world, be it economic or cultural, we loose the full experience of our composite richness.It is not only out of our benevolence that we should reach out, but out of an awareness that we ourselves benefit from them. Their hearts and souls have much needed medicine for us. This book is a wonderful contribution to that effort. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary Photo Collections    2. Labor    3. Photo Essays    4. Photoessays & Documentaries    5. Photography    6. Portrait photography    7. Portraits    8. Social Classes    9. Social Stratification    10. Subjects & Themes - General    11. Subjects & Themes - Travel - U.S./General    12. Working class    13. Photography / General