Book Description
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.
Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. It recounts how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur, Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a massive industry that slashed the cost of transporting goods around the world.
But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential.
Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe.
Customer Reviews:
No where near technical enough.......2007-10-03
Like many jounalists' stories this is set around a particular factor. In this case an entrepeneur who no doubt had a big role to play.
But there were lots of other factors which are not given much play and others bearly alluded to. Also, not even one drawing of a container or its fittings!
So OK as an intro but by no means a comprehensive history.
Global supply chains explained.......2007-08-13
It's hard to dispute that containerization has dramatically altered the rules of the game: global supply chains, logistics, and outsourcing are all direct consequences of the massive trade flows enabled by modern containerships. Marc Levinson's account of this industry is an interesting mix of politics and history. A good section of the book is dedicated to labor disputes, and the general resistance of the dock workers and US unions to mechanization. In retrospect, they were worried for the right reasons, modern ports require very little human involvement and the days of breakbulk shipping are long gone. In all, 'The Box' offers a good mix of the politics, strategy, and historical research.
Interesting Look at the Building Blocks of Globalization.......2007-08-08
Although THE BOX may be somewhat too American centered, economist and business journalist Marc Levinson has written an eminently readable history of the advent of the modern logistics industry that goes a long way toward bringing the attention of a nonspecialist audience to the topic. Despite his belief that his subject has "all the romance of a tin can" (p. 1), his account is anything but dull because he builds much of his narrative around a cast of colorful entrepreneurs, engineers, and union leaders. The most significant character is Malcom P. McLean, who launched modern containerization in April 1956 by having fifty-eight truck trailers loaded onboard a refitted oil tanker that sailed from Newark, New Jersey, to Houston. The main background to Levinson's account, however, consists of the various roadblocks to containerization put in place and enforced by government regulators in agencies such as the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the United States Maritime Administration, and the Federal Maritime Board. In the author's opinion, the bureaucrats, far from having the consumer's best interest in mind, usually undertook to protect established commercial interests by limiting competition in the transportation industry....
Levinson's treatment of the revolutionary days of container shipping, which lasted until the early 1980s, is very thorough, but his account of the more recent past is much less so. Indeed, people familiar with the industry may get the impression that a final (non-American) chapter is missing from the book. For example, although Levinson describes the rise of container ports in western Europe and East Asia, he devotes only two paragraphs to the fact that European and Asian firms that were late entrants in the game now dominate the industry. No U.S. firm is currently listed in the world's top eighteen container ship companies. Five of these top firms (including the three largest) are headquartered in Europe, three in China (two in mainland China and one in Hong Kong), three in Japan, two in Taiwan, two in South Korea, and the remaining three in Singapore, Chile, and Israel. (See Ted Smith-Peterson, "Railroading's New Economy: The Spigot," TRAINS 66, no. 9 [2006]: 34-41.) In Levinson's opinion, these late entrants achieved success because they "arrived with financial and managerial skills foreign to many of the carriers they replaced, skills appropriate to an industry in which raising capital and managing information systems were far more important than maritime knowledge" and because they were not burdened with "the legacy of government subsidies and directives that had crippled many of their predecessors by forcing them to buy ships built in their home countries or to sail routes determined by regulators" (p. 275). No doubt many readers would like to know more about these developments and about which skills Levinson means.
Levinson also barely alludes to more recent technological advances and to the amazing fact that the rest of the world now handles only one-third as many containers as the Chinese do (for both domestic and international trade). Furthermore, in the words of one industry analyst, China has now become the "U.S. railroads' growth engine" and has been the cause of an American "rail renaissance" (Tom Murray, "Railroading's New Economy: The China Factor," TRAINS 66, no. 8 [2006], p. 28).
Despite such shortcomings, however, THE BOX is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in understanding the emergence of our contemporary "globalized" world economy.
Superb for non-specialists.......2007-05-08
I read this book a few months ago for my nonfiction "foreign policy" book club and we loved it. I continue to rave about it and recommend it to others in diverse fields from national security to development to leadership studies. As generalists unfamiliar with shipping, this book was incredibly readable and engaging. Chapters treated a diverse range of topics, which we found well covered and incisive, such as the discussion of the role of labor unions, business entrepreneurship, and interplay between containerization and globalization. Kudos to Mr. Levinson for a superb effort.
A fascinating read about "boring" containers.......2007-04-25
Ever looked at a modern city's ports and wondered about those gigantic cranes or the logistics chain that they were a part of? Or wondered how we went from a world of stevedores/longshoremen and manual unloading to the gigantic container ships and nearly automated loading and unloading? Or better yet, how goods get so cheaply from the world's manufacturing facilities in China to the US, Europe and other places?
These are the questions the book addresses. It does so by focusing on the humble containers at the root of all this process and retelling their history over the last 50 years or so. If we didn't have a global standard for shipping container sizes, none of the infrastructure built around them like container ships, cranes, ports, rail cars, truck trailers and others would be possible.
The book shapes the story of the shipping container around one man Malcolm McLean who is widely regarded as the person who first used containers and built a shipping business around them. The book does a good job of detailing the history of the container including the initial struggles, the opposition of the longshoremen's labor unions and the rise and fall of ports as they bet (or did not bet) on the economies of scale that were brought about by the container. One does get a sense by reading the book of how much of our global economy we owe to the changes brought about by containers.
So why only 4stars? For one, I think the subject matter is interesting only to a narrow cross section of the population. Second, the book does drag quite a bit in places. The author does a great job of making the matter accessible, but he could have gone further. A certain pedantic nature does creep into the book and I felt some of the material could have been edited out of the book to trade off readability at the cost of scholarly completeness.
Book Description
From the moment that Master and Commander, the first of Patrick O'Brian's sequence of 20 novels about the 19th century British Royal Navy officer Jack Aubrey and his surgeon colleague Stephen Maturin, was published in 1970, critics hailed his work as a masterpiece of historical recreation. Called "the best historical novels ever written" by The New York Times, the books have sold more than 3 million copies. This first full-color illustrated companion to the Aubrey-Maturin series, timed to benefit from the release of the blockbuster Twentieth-Century Fox film adaptation starring Russell Crowe, explains the fascinating physical details of Jack Aubrey's fictional world. An in-depth historical reference, it brings to life the political, cultural, and physical setting of O'Brian's novels. Annotated drawings, paintings, and diagrams reveal the complex parts of a ship and its rigging, weaponry, crew quarters and duties, below-deck conditions, and fighting tactics, while maps illustrate the location featured in each novel.
Customer Reviews:
It expands the O'Brian reading experience.......2007-09-25
I feel that it is a must have companion to:
A Sea of Words, Third Edition: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian.
The books complement each other and in particular to the wonderful illustrations in this book helps to clarify and in places, expand the information that one finds in A Sea of Words.
Perfect company for the 'Sea of Words' .......2007-09-25
This informative, wonderfully-organized book is presently one of two on my coffee table and is picked up by just about all who visit.
Yes, I have all twenty (twenty-one) of O'Brian's works on Jack Aubrey's travels and travails and this text sets the whole collection off nicely.
Sweet.
tg.......2007-09-14
This is a fine complement to the Aubrey-Maturin series as it brings to life the action, locations, politics, etc about the period when the action took place by artwork, maps, tools, ship information and many other things that you read about but if you have this book when you are reading then it really brings everything to life. Highly recommended. Also recommend the Sea of Words and Harbours and High Seas: 3rd Edition, both by Dean King. The first explains the terms you wonder about when reading the series, and the second includes synopses and tracing of each voyage on maps. These are great.
Beautiful pictures.......2007-08-22
This is a good overall book for visual explanation for the O'Brian series of books. I enjoyed this book, but must admit that I was looking for something more in depth. I haven't seen anything better yet, but will keep hoping that someone will write something even better. There is a lot of ground to cover and although this is a good book, and I would happily purchase it again, I am still looking for more visual information that just doesn't seem to be out there.
A short overview of the sailing Royal Navy.......2007-01-24
If you have read every sailing naval action book already, there isn't a lot here new. But, if not, this is a good book to have either as a reference or a coffee-table piece- it can do either, and the illustrations are certainly good.
Amazon.com
Melding superb research and the extraordinary expedition photography of Frank Hurley, The Endurance by Caroline Alexander is a stunning work of history, adventure, and art which chronicles "one of the greatest epics of survival in the annals of exploration." Setting sail as World War I broke out in Europe, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by renowned polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, hoped to become the first to cross the Antarctic continent. But their ship, Endurance, was trapped in the drifting pack ice, eventually to splinter, leaving the expedition stranded on floes--a situation that seemed "not merely desperate but impossible."
Most skillfully Alexander constructs the expedition's character through its personalities--the cast of veteran explorers, scientists, and crew--with aid from many previously unavailable journals and documents. We learn, for instance, that carpenter and shipwright Henry McNish, or "Chippy," was "neither sweet-tempered nor tolerant," and that Mrs. Chippy, his cat, was "full of character." Such firsthand descriptions, paired with 170 of Frank Hurley's intimate photographs, which are comprehensively assembled here for the first time, penetrate the hulls of the Endurance and these tough men. The account successfully reveals the seldom-seen domestic world of expedition life--the singsongs, feasts, lectures, camaraderie--so that when the hardships set in, we know these people beyond the stereotypical guise of mere explorers and long for their safety.
Alexander reveals Shackleton as an inspiring optimist, "a leader who put his men first." Throughout the grueling ordeal, Shackleton and his men show what endurance and greatness are all about. The Endurance is a most intimate portrait of an expedition and of survival. Readers will possess a newfound respect for these daring souls, know better their unthinkable toil and half-forgotten realm of glory. --Byron Ricks
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Narrators Michael Tezla and Martin Ruben join forces to read Caroline Alexander's extraordinary account of Sir Ernest Shackleton's improbable Antarctic adventure. Tezla narrates the text while Ruben reads diary entries from the ship's crewmembers, employing a variety of native accents. The approach effectively divides the book into listener-friendly chunks, but at times, keeping track of all 27 crewmen requires the fortitude of the explorers themselves. Tezla describes the ice and snow with a haunting beauty but manages maintain the tension throughout, while Ruben injects character and humor into his various vocal interpretations. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs
Book Description
In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in the history of exploration: the first crossing on foot of the Antarctic continent. Weaving a treacherous path through the freezing Weddell Sea, they had come within eighty-five miles of their destination when their ship, Endurance, was trapped fast in the ice pack. Soon the ship was crushed like matchwood, leaving the crew stranded on the floes. Their ordeal would last for twenty months, and they would make two near-fatal attempts to escape by open boat before their final rescue.
Drawing upon previously unavailable sources, Caroline Alexander gives us a riveting account of Shackleton's expedition--one of history's greatest epics of survival. And she presents the astonishing work of Frank Hurley, the Australian photographer whose visual record of the adventure has never before been published comprehensively. Together, text and image re-create the terrible beauty of Antarctica, the awful destruction of the ship, and the crew's heroic daily struggle to stay alive, a miracle achieved largely through Shackleton's inspiring leadership.
The survival of Hurley's remarkable images is scarcely less miraculous: The original glass plate negatives, from which most of the book's illustrations are superbly reproduced, were stored in hermetically sealed cannisters that survived months on the ice floes, a week in an open boat on the polar seas, and several more months buried in the snows of a rocky outcrop called Elephant Island. Finally Hurley was forced to abandon his professional equipment; he captured some of the most unforgettable images of the struggle with a pocket camera and three rolls of Kodak film.
Published in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History's landmark exhibition on Shackleton's journey,
The Endurance thrillingly recounts one of the last great adventures in the Heroic Age of exploration--perhaps the greatest of them all.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-08-30
This book is simply outstanding. A must read for all whould-be-adventurers!
The photos are right up there with Ansel Adams, but with REAL drama.
beautiful pictures.......2007-08-26
There are more complete books out there detailing what Shackleton and his men went through on their Antarctic exploration, and after viewing the haunting, beautiful and often other-worldly photographs presented in this book, I think you will want to further explore this story.
This book is fine in what it offers, giving a good summary of those events, without getting into some of the mind numbing list of stores etc. in the more detailed books, but the photographs are what makes this a special book - one to leave out on the coffee table and pick up on a hot summer day and leaf through and feel the temperature drop eighty degrees.
Excellent!.......2007-06-27
Thank you for a wonderful book in outstanding condition and great price I will keep in mind this dealer!
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition.......2007-06-26
The book is well writen and easy to read....enjoyable to read!!!! Great pictures and overall a nice solid book...
Incredible read for any fan of an Adventure Story.......2006-11-24
Wow is all I can say - this book is amazing and so are the photos. I had the chanc to see a museum tour that was dedicated to this story. I started this book early in the evening and was unable to put it down until the early morning when I read the last page.
This is an incredible story of human courage, leadership, and adventure. This is truly a must read.
Amazon.com
The facts speak for themselves. In 1857, the Central America, a sidewheel steamer ferrying passengers fresh from the gold rush of California to New York and laden with 21 tons of California gold, encountered a severe storm off the Carolina coast and sank, carrying more than 400 passengers and all her cargo down with her. She then sat for 132 years, 200 miles offshore and almost two miles below the ocean's surface--a depth at which she was assumed to be unrecoverable--until 1989, when a deep-water research vessel sailed into the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia, fat with salvaged gold coins and bullion estimated to be worth one billion dollars.
Author Gary Kinder wisely lets the story of the Columbus-America Discovery Group, led by maverick scientist and entrepreneur Tommy Thompson, unfold without hyperbole. Kinder interweaves the tale of the Central America and her passengers and crew with Thompson's own story of growing up landlocked in Ohio, an irrepressible tinkerer and explorer even in his childhood days, and his progress to adulthood as a young man who always had "7 to 14" projects on the table or spinning in his head at any given moment. One of those projects would become the preposterous recovery of the stricken steamer, and the resourcefulness and later urgency with which the project would proceed is contrasted poignantly with the Central America's doomed battle in 1857 to stay afloat.
Thompson, who spent nearly a decade planning and organizing his recovery effort, emerges as one of the great unsung adventurers of these times (the technical innovations alone required for such a task produced a windfall for the scientific community and defined a new state of the art for deep-sea explorers and treasure hunters), and the story of the steamer's sinking is compelling enough to make any reader wonder why the Central America sinking isn't synonymous with shipwreck in this Titanic-happy age. --Tjames Madison
Book Description
"White knuckle reading...with generous portions of adventure, intrigue, heroism, and high technology interwoven."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
This enthralling true story of maritime tragedy and visionary science begins with a disaster to rival the sinking of the Titanic.
In September 1857, the S.S. Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying passengers returning from the gold fields of California, went down during a hurricane off the Carolina coast. More than 400 men--and 21 tons of gold--were lost. In the 1980s, a maverick engineer named Tommy Thompson set out to find the wreck and salvage its treasure from the ocean floor.
With knuckle-biting suspense, Gary Kinder reconstructs the terror of the Central America's last days, when passengers bailed freezing water from the hold, then chopped the ship's timbers to use as impromptu liferafts. He goes on to chronicle Thompson's epic quest for the lost vessel, an endeavor that drew on the latest strides in oceanography, information theory, and underwater robotics, and that pitted Thompson against hair-raising weather, bloodthirsty sharks, and unscrupulous rivals.
Ship of Gold is a magnificent adventure, filled with heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance.
Customer Reviews:
What an Adventure !.......2007-09-21
This is an appealing book on many levels. 19th century sea adventure, heroes, tradegies, great survival stories, heart stopping excitement, 20th century high tech recovery adventures, interlopers and bottom feeding lawyers and insurance companies, it's got it all. Why 4 stars rather than 5 ? I found it a tad long after they found the boat and began that part of the story. But, that is a small point. Well worth the reader's time.
Ship of Gold is a good story with excellent details about the recovery of the gold........2007-08-28
Ship of Gold is a good story with excellent details about the recovery of the gold.
In my next recovery book I will look for more diving experience. The ROV's do not have the same adventure value as the human diving experience we have on the North Sea but then again the North Sea is maximum 40 meters deep. We don't need ROV's at these depths.
I liked the sonar specialist story and the systematical scanning of the area's with the best values in the probability matrix.
Hands down one of the best book ever! .......2007-08-20
This is by far the best book ever. I have purchased more copies then I can count and I have given it to all of my family members and most of my friends. All of them loved it. Even my mom told it was one of the best books she had ever read. Being she reads a book every two weeks that's a pretty good compliment.
This is a short book, but it takes a long time to read. It's not that it's a hard read; it's just that it's so good you will take your time to read it. Almost like savoring a great wine.
I don't recommend many books, but this one should be on the top of your reading pile. Once you read it you will understand why and I'm willing to bet you will recommend it to all of your friends.
Good modern day treasure hunt.......2007-07-04
I liked the way the author took the reader back and forth from the past to the present. It was interesting to see how much planning and inguenuity it took to accomplish the recovery of the gold. Once the treasure was found, I have to admit to having a mild case of 'gold fever' due to the vivid descriptions provided by G. Kinder. The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 is because of the Tommy (the technical mastermind of the recovery) praising!!!! Alright already, he certainly must walk on water, and if he doesn't, he'll surely invent a way to. Inspite of the Tommy factor, this is a good book.
Also recommended: In the Heart of the Sea
Fantastic Nonfiction.......2006-12-28
When the Central America sank in 1857 she took 21 tons of gold and more than 400 souls to the bottom of the sea, including one of my ancestors. Kinder's incredible book weaves the tale of the shipwreck together with the story of the thrilling recovery more than 130 years later.
Ship of Gold is a fantastic book from historic and scientific perspectives. If you read this book, you will gain new insights about the Gold Rush and 19th-century sea travel; better yet, you will be amazed by the technological and biological advancements which were a direct consequence of Tommy Thompson's recovery.
I read Ship of Gold to fill in the details of an old family legend. I was pleased to discover a truly amazing work of nonfiction.
Book Description
Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in
Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist
Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.
Customer Reviews:
Magellan Iluminated.......2007-10-01
The author brings the voyage and the societal context of the journey to the reader. The book contains what is likely to have been all of the evidence available, yet is lively and interesting. Anyone who enjoys the superb biographies by Ronald Chernow will enjoy this, too.
Was going good, but lacked that little "something".......2007-09-30
It seems that the author was very well documented. It was very clear his effort in keeping a "balanced" position, and not to be too much "judgemental". The author tried his best to make us understand how things in the 16th century use to work (if anyone thinks that our times are tough, take a look at those days). And for all that, I am happy. But there was missing that little "I don't know what" that takes a "good" book, into a "great" book. Anyway, the book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know about that amazing story of humankind.
Good, overall.......2007-08-15
Good book overall though I am troubled by a description of Magellan's ancestry. According to the author, on his mother's side, the family name is Mesquitas. The author suggests that that side of the family may have been Jewish because Mesquitas refers to a mosque in Spanish. Huh? Muslims pray at mosques, Jews at synagogues. The family may have been Moors, not Jews.
Are there more inaccuracies?
A Very Impressive Read.......2007-07-13
I'm really glad historians are beginning to write for people who aren't preparing for a test and simply want a book that's as informative as it is enjoyable. This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's really unforgettable. Some reviewers obviously didn't like this, but that's life. As for me, I couldn't put it down and was wanting more at the end. Here you'll see Magellan, warts and all--plenty of warts, yet so much a man of principle even when he was misguided. What's so amazing to me is that Bergreen shows Magellan realistically standing alone for what he believes all the while facing challenges (natural and personal) that would make the most steel-hearted man alive flinch in a second. This is a portrait of bravery and dedication to purpose like I've never seen before in a man who is most certainly not without his faults. Read it and enjoy.
As exhilarating as the voyage itself.......2007-06-25
This book makes Columbus and even Cook seem like mere amateurs in comparison. Magellan is the main man! Bergreen knows how to write the story of the great explorer with the hand of a novelist. It makes a fantastic read.
As a follow-up I suggest you read the book "1492 - The year China discovered America". It puts things in perspective, like how did Magellan know about the strait from the atlantic to the pacific that would later bear his name?
Book Description
lder teens and adult readers can't get enough of Gossip Girl, the anonymous narrator who made her catty debut in the bestselling Gossip Girl and titillated readers in the juicy sequel, You Know You Love Me. Now in All I Want Is Everything, readers will love her even more as Gossip Girl dishes up dose after hefty dose of dirt on all her friends-New York's wealthiest private school teens. Sharp wit, intriguing characters, and high-stakes melodrama drive the action of this wildly popular new series.
Customer Reviews:
B, N S, D & J are back and up to no good!.......2007-07-17
In the second installment of the Gossip Girl series our favorite spoiled brats are back and at it again, and this time they are trying to get into college. As if the stress of college applications and interviews wasn't enough for Blair, she now also has to deal with the wedding of the year...her mother's (complete with cute but annoying step-brother and all) and the gnawing feeling something between her and Nate just isn't right. Poor Blair.
Serena on the other hand is just as happy go lucky as ever, however, her newfound relationship with Dan appears to be on the rocks already...ah well; there are more fish in the sea!
Lastly there seems to be a new girl catching Nate's eye and you will never guess who it is! You'll have to read to find out.
While I found the first Gossip Girl book to be mildly entertaining, `YOU KNOW YOU LOVE ME' hooked me! I will definitely spend my summer trying to play catch up before the Gossip Girl series airs on the CW this fall! Fun read for teen's and adult's (who like a little scandal) alike!
Great 2nd novel!.......2007-07-05
Cecily von Ziegesar impresses her audience again with the second installment in the Gossip Girl series. In this one, Blairs mother announces that she is going to get married to Cyrus Rose, a stubby, annoying rich man, and only after a 2-month relationship. Blair has to deal with a new family, which includes Cyrus' son, Aaron, who is a vegan, hippie, who smokes herbal cigarettes. She is still mad at Serena, who slept with Blairs boyfriend, Nate, who is "in love" with a freshman named Jenny "Jennifer" Humphrey. Blair and Serena both screw up their interviews for college. Dan Humphrey also gets on Serena's nerves and later falls in love with Vanessa Abrams. In the end Blair and Serena become friends again, when Serena comforts Blair after everything she's done to her. Cecily wrote another great book for this series, which is addicting. This book was really fun to read, and a great summer read!
GREAT.......2007-03-24
I love this book. It is written soo well and so funny. i couldnt stop reading it.
You know you love me........2006-12-15
I think that this book is really good i thought the way that the charaters interact with eachother are really descriptive. And the book is very well written also. I recommend this book to teenagers because it has alot of drama in it and it has to do with some of the situtaions that teens are put under today such as friends, prepressure and family. So there is this girl named Blair and her boyfriend is Nate and she caught Nate cheating on her with her best friend at that time her best friends name was Serena. Once she found out that her boyfriend cheated on her with her bestfriend she is not friends with Serena and she really doesnt like her and never wants to talk to her ever again. Blair goes up to have an interview for her college and her moms fiance takes her to Yale for her interview and on the way up there she realzes he is actually cute and developes a crush on him. So for months now Blair and Serena have not talked so on Blairs moms wedding day they both bump into eachother in the bathroom and they make peace. They planned a new years party and Nate showed up and he had a girlfriend her name was Jenny and at that party she walks in on her boyfriend Nate and Blair kissing.
The gossip keeps on entertaining.......2006-09-03
Book two in the gossip girl series finds Blair Waldorf getting ready to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Nate. This is the second time the couple has planned a romantic evening for such a momentous occasion, and soon becomes the second time that they are interrupted. To Blair's shock and horror, they are interrupted by her mother who informs them that she is getting remarried to a man Blair loathes and the wedding will be in 3 weeks - on Blair's birthday!! For Blair this is the icing on an already rotten cake as she is suspicious of Nate's loyalty and worried about college applications.
Serena is also back in this episode and still suffering socially because Blair has shut her out. Her friendship with Dan is growing, but it doesn't seem to be going where Dan would like it to go. Serena is also extremely concerned about getting into college and knows that she will have to win the school film festival to have a shot at her college applications being taken seriously by reputable schools.
Once again, these snotty, self-absorbed, rich kids are back with their trips to Barney's, Manolo Blahniks, and everything trendy. But that's what makes these books such a guilty pleasure. The reader is SUPPOSED to hate them. At the same time, it is a look into the world of the perfect and reminds us that no one is perfect, no matter where they get their milk pedicures and facials. Not great literature, but a quick and enjoyable read.
Amazon.com
Popular classicist Peter Green (author of Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.) offers an engrossing narrative of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. This is real David-and-Goliath material, with the scrappy, feuding city-states of ancient Greece fending off a much larger aggressor. The conflicts themselves are a kind of struggle for the soul of Western civilization: "On the one side, the towering, autocratic figure of the Great King; on the other, the voluntary and imperfect discipline of proudly independent citizens." The Greeks surprisingly fare better in these encounters, and make themselves legends on the plains of Marathon (192 Greek casualties versus 6,400 Persians), during the heroic last stand at Thermopylae, and elsewhere.
The Greco-Persian Wars is full of wonderful stories featuring bravery, cowardice, and treachery. Unlike so many of his fellow historians, Green understands the importance of a dramatic narrative, sometimes employing novelistic techniques to relate what happened. It's not an overstatement to say that the course of Western history might have taken a strikingly unfamiliar turn if these battles had had different outcomes. Green is a natural storyteller, and The Greco-Persian Wars is a delight to read, even for readers who have no background or special interest in the classical world. --John J. Miller
Book Description
This is a reissue, with a new introduction and an update to the bibliography, of the original edition, published in 1970 as The Year of Salamis in England and as Xerxes at Salamis in the U.S.
The long and bitter struggle between the great Persian Empire and the fledgling Greek states reached its high point with the extraordinary Greek victory at Salamis in 480 B.C. The astonishing sea battle banished forever the specter of Persian invasion and occupation. Peter Green brilliantly retells this historic moment, evoking the whole dramatic sweep of events that the Persian offensive set in motion. The massive Greek victory, despite the Greeks' inferior numbers, opened the way for the historic evolution of the Greek states in a climate of creativity, independence, and democracy, one that provided a model and an inspiration for centuries to come.
Green's accounts of both Persian and Greek strategies are clear and persuasive; equally convincing are his everyday details regarding the lives of soldiers, statesmen, and ordinary citizens. He has first-hand knowledge of the land and sea he describes, as well as full command of original sources and modern scholarship. With a new foreword, The Greco-Persian Wars is a book that lovers of fine historical writing will greet with pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
biased garbage!.......2007-08-09
Obviously mr. peter green has some hostility toward the the persian (iranian)culture. Right at the intro, he goes on about how achaemenid persia gave no contribution to the world at all! well, for one, the persian court was a frequent learning place for the greek scholars for at least 200 years.(according to herodotus himself), postal system,tolerating free practice of religon and culture, no use of slavery, intricate governmet system(which completely was a failure when greeks attempted after alexander's barbaric conquest),pioneering army technological advances( check out "persian army" by nick sekunda), building great roads connecting the empire(two third of the known world then)... not to mention that alexander and the rest of the greeks burned down and destroyed alot of persian literature, and scentific recordings, alot of persian achievements were destroyed. Therefor, what is left today is known to be the greek's acheivements to their credits without a solid proof for the most part. only the battles that the greeks had won are grossly portrayed which to the iranians was nothing but an insignificant setback, untill the barbaric advances of alexander ofcourse. Even the bible praises cyrus, darius, xerxes, and artaxerxes for the humane, and generous actions of the persian emperors especially to the jews. mr. peter green get a clue! there was a reason that the persians were always envied by the greeks, and there was a reason that the greeks call the persian emperors lord of asia!
History at its best.......2007-03-25
History books should be interesting and supported by facts. Peter Green's Greco-Persian Wars scores well on both counts. He combines the historical fact with a narrative that maintains the reader's interest.
Excellent historical book.......2007-03-21
The book writes like a story. It is beautifully written and well researched. Anyone who is wanting to know the clash of the Greeks and the Persians, the battle of Marathon, the Hot Gates (a.k.a., the famous battle for the West) and the aftermath that leads to rising power of the great Greek empire, this is a must book. Mr. Green truly knows his Greek history and is not shy in making the narrative alive and reader friendly. Five stars all the way!
Par excellence........2007-01-26
This is quite simply THE book to read to thoroughly understand the conflict between Classical Greece and Imperial Persia. It rivals Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War" in depth and detail. And while not quite the break neck read of Holland's "Persian Fire" it compensates with an eminently readable style and makes Cartledges's "Thermopylae" look anemic and cadaverous even given the significantly more limited scope of the latter's work.
Green does an exceptional job of comparing and contrasting the ancient sources of information on the period, Herodotus, Plutarch, Aeschylus etc. and weaves them together with the modern scholarship of Burn and Pritchett etc. while injecting his own theories to provide a narrative that brings both the players and their times vividly to life.
Green takes Herodotus to task for bias and obvious propagandistic nonsense early and often and with common sense and logic corrects many of the more egregious errors of the primary sources, in particular the size of Xerxes army, specifically the probable confusion between chiliarchs (commander of 1,000 men) and myriarchs (commander of 10,000 men). Using Munro and Maurice among others he corrects the likely decimal error in Herodotus's calculation of the size of Xerxes army. Reducing it from a phantasmagorical 1.7 million men to more credible 170,000 infantry with another 40,000 cavalry, quisling Greeks and miscellaneous others.
Add in no small amount of irreverent levity and you have the perfect tract on what Thomas Cahill (How the Irish Saved Civilization) refers to as a "hinge" of history.
In two words, BUY IT!
Excellent and Epic.......2006-12-14
I recently bought a copy of Prof. Green's book The Greco-Persian wars and I could not put it down. The book is amazing and well-worth every penny I spent on it. Just the account of Thermopylae had me on the edge of my seat and filled with excitment and pride in what these barve 300 Spartans and their allies did for Greece and western civilization. Green's love-affair with Heroditus is quite evident and was a great use to him in this book. I loved Green's Alexander to Actium and I greatly love the Greco-Persian Wars. Buy this book and you will not be disappointed. I highly recommend this book
Book Description
Journey through the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) with one of the foremost pirate-artifact collectors and authorities. Inside this deluxe interactive adventure you'll find engaging authoritative text on all facets of pirate life and history, complemented by fantastic full-color art and over 30 fun and fascinating three-dimensional features. This one-of-a-kind book-plus includes a working period compass, a replica authentic jolly roger, a fold-out treasure map, pieces of eight, period playing cards, a flask of "gunpowder," a cat-o'-nine-tails, Henry Every's 1696 Wanted poster, and much more!
100 full-color illustrations and photographs
30 interactive 3-D features
Includes Authentic full-size removable Jolly Roger!
Customer Reviews:
Arrrrghhh!.......2007-10-13
This book is great! If you love pirates and the history of them, this is for you. There is a lot of real history and facts in this book. Plus the interactive items in it are worth it. It's not a pop-up, but it has several items you can pull out and read/play with. Definitely recommend this for pirate lovers of any age.
Pirate Popup Book.......2007-07-16
Great book for kids-preteens to learn about Pirates. Lots of "swag" to open up and look through, from official looking orders and rosters to currency and even your very own pirate flag.
Something neat to browse through and get some neat details and tidbits but certainly not an adult book
Great, fun book for young & old.......2007-02-20
Cool book, unique, worth every penny. Would love to see musuem.
Good Reference.......2007-02-03
I have seen in many reviews that people purchased this book for their children. This is probably due to the fact that there are removable items within the pages of this book. These are actually replicas of authentic 17th and 18th century documents, a really bad hand of period playing cards, and a replica of an authentic pirate flag. in regards to these documents they are somewhat difficult to read (due to the fact the printing in these times was not exactly "good"). Also the fact that this book covers pirate torture techniques and some of there deaths in gruesome detail makes me wonder if young children should be reading that. Anyway, if you want a fun book for the kids pick up "pirates" by john Matthews, if you want a good introductory to the "golden age of piracy" pick this book
Cool.......2007-01-24
What a neat book and it's by Croche...a philly guy. I just thought it was well put together, fun to look at, and there was a lot of cool info in there that made me want to go visit his museum in Key West so I could learn more.
Book Description
Fifty years ago—on April 26, 1956—the freighter Ideal X steamed from Berth 26 in Port Newark, New Jersey. Flying the flag of the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, she set out for Houston with an unusual cargo: 58 trailer trucks lashed to her top deck.But they werenÂ't trucks—they were steel containers removed from their running gear, waiting to be lifted onto empty truck beds when Ideal X reached Texas. She docked safely, and a revolution was launched—not only in shipping, but in the way the world trades. Today, the more than 200 million containers shipped every year are the lifeblood of the new global economy. They sit stacked on thousands of “box boats” that grow more massive every year. In this fascinating book, transportation expert Brian Cudahy provides a vivid, fast-paced account of the container-ship revolution—from the maiden voyage of the Ideal X to the entrepreneurial vision and technological breakthroughs that make it possible to ship more goods more cheaply than every before.Cudahy tells this complex story easily, starting with Malcom McLean, Pan-AtlanticÂ's owner who first thought about loading his trucks on board. His line grew into the container giant Sea-Land Services, and Cudahy chartsits dramatic evolution into Maersk Sealand, the largest container line in the world. Along the way, he provides a concise, colorful history of world shipping—from freighter types to the fortunes of steamship lines—and explores the spectacular growth of global trade fueled by the mammoth ships and new seaborne lifelines connecting Asia, Europe, and the Americas.Masterful maritime history, Box Boats shows how fleets of these ungainly ships make the modern world possible—with both positive and negative effects. ItÂ's also a tale of an historic home port, New York, where old piers lie silent while 40-foot steel boxes of toys and televisions come ashore by the thousands, across the bay in New Jersey.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Let The Title Fool You.......2007-08-19
I found the book dreadfully dull. Its in-depth discussion of container ships has little whatsoever to do with an analytical overview of their impact upon the global economy.
Certainly this is suitable for box-boat enthusiasts, but will hold little interest for political scientists or economists. Perhaps a better subtitle would have been "the history of container ships."
A fascinating, detailed account.......2006-07-24
BOX BOATS: HOW CONTAINER SHIPS CHANGED THE WORLD tells how the first container ship in 1956 changed the entire shipping industry, introducing a concept and transportation idea which would revolutionize the costs of shipping goods. From the Pan-Atlantic's owner who first thought about loading his trucks on board to his evolving line which grew into a giant container service, Cudahy charts not just the evolution of one company, but its impact on and changes within the world shipping and steamship industries as a whole. A fascinating, detailed account.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Story of the Development of a New Industry.......2006-06-11
Like a lot of other significant advances in technology modern dry cargo carriage was really put together by one man, Malcom McLean. Fifty years ago McLean, the president of McLean Trucking came up with the idea of taking trailers directly on board ships for transport to a port near their final destination. To minimize the space requirements, he had a special trailer developed that would carry a standardized trailer body. The idea of the container was born.
The first shipment in the spring of 1956 used a converted ship that could carry fifty eight trailer bodies. The idea was successful beyond the wildest dreams. The concept of a trailer body being loaded anywhere in the world, trucked to a port, transported by ship to another port, and then trucked to its final destination has literally changed the way business is done. It is largely responsible for the way today's world of manufacture being anywhere in the world and still supplying the world's markets.
This book is about half a biography of McLean, and his life. But his life largely paralleled that of the container business. The other half tells the story of the rest of the industry.
Malcom Mclean is little known outside the shipping industry. But his creation of the way the world now ships products deserves to be better known. He is one of the titans of industry.
Average customer rating:
- Great WWII History Book
- Gratifying History
|
Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference
Emory A. Massman
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0786405562 |
Book Description
The first U.S. hospital ship of World War II saw service in mid-1943. By war's end, the fleet had carried nearly 17,000 sick and wounded home.
This richly illustrated work covers all 39 ships that served as U.S. Navy and Army hospital ships during World War II. Each ship's history is fully covered, concentrating on the ship's hospital service. Information is presented on each ship's personnel, the handling of patients, types of wounds and diseases encountered, and life aboard the ships. General layouts of the ships and technical data are also included. Biographies are provided on persons for whom ships were named.
Customer Reviews:
Great WWII History Book.......2004-01-01
Massman had done produced an excellent book on a topic that generated few titles to date. This book is decently illustrated and is very readable. While pricey, it is well printed and bound. There is much information on the hospital ships themselves, and much relavent personal interest material included. I enjoyed this book, and would gladly recommend it to others with interest in this genre.
Gratifying History.......2001-05-23
Learning the history of these very heroic ships and their dedicated staff was quite an education. I was overwhelmed with excitement when I found the chapter on the USS Refuge as my father was Commander of this hospital ship and crew. Thank you MR. Massman for sharing your knowledge of this countries WW11 Hospital Ships and serviceman. It was truly gratifying for me to read about my Dad and I burst with proudness.Only wish I knew more.
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