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It's become clear by now the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in most places around the globe hasn't ushered in an unequivocal flowering of capitalism in the developing and postcommunist world. Western thinkers have blamed this on everything from these countries' lack of sellable assets to their inherently non-entrepreneurial "mindset." In this book, the renowned Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues another reason: it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish. As de Soto points out by way of example, in Egypt, the wealth the poor have accumulated is worth 55 times as much as the sum of all direct foreign investment ever recorded there, including that spent on building the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam.
No, the real problem is that such countries have yet to establish and normalize the invisible network of laws that turns assets from "dead" into "liquid" capital. In the West, standardized laws allow us to mortgage a house to raise money for a new venture, permit the worth of a company to be broken up into so many publicly tradable stocks, and make it possible to govern and appraise property with agreed-upon rules that hold across neighborhoods, towns, or regions. This invisible infrastructure of "asset management"--so taken for granted in the West, even though it has only fully existed in the United States for the past 100 years--is the missing ingredient to success with capitalism, insists de Soto. But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else.
With a fleet of researchers, de Soto has sought out detailed evidence from struggling economies around the world to back up his claims. The result is a fascinating and solidly supported look at the one component that's holding much of the world back from developing healthy free markets. --Timothy Murphy
Book Description
"The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph" writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of four-fifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the world-famous Peruvian economist takes up the question that, more than any other, is central to one of the most crucial problems the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail?
In strong opposition to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it actually has everything to do with the legal structure of property and property rights. Every developed nation in the world at one time went through the transformation from predominantly informal, extralegal ownership to a formal, unified legal property system. In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is what also allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book revolutionizes our understanding of capital and points the way to a major transformation of the world economy.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful.......2007-09-26
I thought this was a fantistic book. The author compares the sorry state of property rights in the third world today with identical problems in earlier periods of US history.
Rich countries are frequently blamed for the problems in poor countries but this book shows why that blame is misplaced. This book also shows why billions of dollars in foreign aid have not and can not eliminate third world poverty.
Clear, Precise, Cogent and Important Thoughts.......2007-09-12
Although De Soto is trumpeted in the halls of the Chicago School as a person directly in line with his ideological primogeniteurs, it is clear that De Soto is not an ideologue.
His main thesis is that property rights are one of the fundamental underpinnings of western capitalism. Property rights allow the smooth functioning of capital accumulation without the diversion of too many supernumerary laws and institutions, and form the base impedements that allow capital markets, lending institutions and wealth creation mechanisms to function smoothly. If property rights are not highly developed then the "friction" this creates in the movement of capital impedes growth. As a concrete example, people in Africa and much of Latin America and Asia live in hovels that do represent accumulations of capital, but because these hovels, many owned by squatters cannot be leveraged to create capital or cannot be lent against. They in effect at dead capital because their ownership is in limbo. Advanced societies have smooth functioning property laws and markets that allow the process of wealth creation.
All of this is simple and De Soto does chronicle, as well as he can the underlying condition of dead capital formation, historical development of property rights and solid policies for implementing more legal property controls in the third world.
De Soto is also profoundly motivated to move backward societies forward and feels the poverty profoundly. In this sense he is very much a thinking man's economist and not an ideologue.
The one thing I would state is that the concepts De Soto is propounding are simple in nature and scope. As such I think that De Soto does repeat himself from time to time. Also the historical developments of property rights in the US is a good example of how a country with essentially third-world property rights, emerged to relatively advanced property rights. But I do think that his historical scholarship suffers a little as an Economist outside of his area of interest.
The writing style, though good, is not so exciting at times and would do better with a bit more details on specific human examples. But that should not detract from its scholarship.
Important work.......2007-07-23
This book is a very important work in the area of the economics of property rights. De Soto emphasizes the importance of property rights for the development of developing countries.
Capitalism Triumphs in "Market" and Fails EveryWhere Else.......2007-07-04
Most reader comments on the "political" and "Policy" side of the book. They applause by embracing the idea of less government intervention, better legal protection, better property right and so on. But I will comment the Economic side of the book. The most important point in this book is that there is a lot of "dead capital" in under developing countries. My wonder to this point is that which mechanism generate so huge amount of "dead capital". From the content of De Soto book, it is sure that all these "dead capital" comes from "black/underground Market" or "Illegal Free Market". The "Illegal Free Market" generate 9.3 trillion dollar. Actually I think De Soto is still highly under estimate the value since De Soto does not include all the human capital estimation. I think De Soto agree Free Market is the real source of economic growth.
Also in De Soto analysis, capital is the fuel for economy growth while the Keynesian believe that both individual and government spending the fuel for economy growth. De Soto book does not directly compare this 2 different ways to go. But De Soto clearly show that Foreign loan or aid does no help since it only simulate spending only. From my understanding, De Soto recommends to use Market to replace the government to release the "dead capital". Government is only require to provide minimum effect to ensure that the contract is fulfilled.
Spot on!.......2007-06-24
It's been a while since I read the book. As a citizen and resident of a third world country I can vouch that what de Soto says is the absolute truth. I have also had a business in the USA and the difference is just staggering. The longest procedure in the USA for setting up my business was getting the sales tax permit and that took about two hours. A similar procedure in my country can take months.
I'm a bit amazed that some reviewers are commenting about the book being badly written. I don't have that recollection but then, it's been a while since I read it and I enjoyed it very, very much.
Book Description
These days, the hills are alive with the sound of musings about Islam. Publisher's Weekly reported this spring that a spate of new books on the religion are hitting the bookstores, and they're unlike the critical books that came out after September 11; the new tomes assure readers that Islam is a religion of peace. That, as Alvin Schmidt points out Thre Great Divide, is wishful thinking. Muslims are right to point out that the Bible has its parts (such as the book of Joshua) that sound bloodthirsty to modern readers, but the Quran is Joshua all the way through, without its contextualization in the peace-emphasizing prophetic and New Testament books. Professor Schmidt does not hack away at Islam, nor does he attack Christianity because of headlined absues that arise in it. He doesn't hyperventilate about the Abu Ghraibs of Christianity - the misogyny of some church fathers, the bloody entry of the Crusaders into Jerusalem, the pro-slavery rhetoric of some antebellum fire-eaters. Instead, he compares the normal practice of Christianity and Islam. He shows how Christianity grew by the blood of its martyrs, but Islam grew by killing those who opposed it. He compares the view of women in the New Testament and the Quran, showing how Christ's teaching eventually led to the development of complementary roles for men and women but Muhammad's teaching eventually led to the development of complementary roles for men and women but Muhammad's teaching led to subservience. He shows how Christians looked at slavery critically over the centuries and how many fought for its abolition; Islam, though, has no intrinsic anti-slavery position, so it's no surprise that some Islamic countries today still allow it. Christians who understand these specific differences, delineated in Schmidt's book, will strengthen their own faith and be ready to enter into discussions with Muslims without offering either appeasement or shotgun-blast aggression.
Customer Reviews:
Wake Up Call.......2007-03-14
This book is a must read for every American. We need to be aware of the reality of the Islam belief system as it is being practiced by the radical Muslims today.
Scholarly and well-documented . . . .......2005-09-05
The Great Divide-The Failure of Islam and the Triumph of the West, by Alvin J. Schmidt, a scholarly and well-documented work, is a factual, non-emotional critique of Islam. He contrasts the biographies of Jesus and Muhammad, and the spirit and intent of the Bible vs. the Qur'an. Dr. Schmidt shares pertinent information regarding the treatment of Muslim women, and covers such issues as slavery (which is ongoing in Islam), "charity", the Crusades, Islamic liberty and justice, and church and state. Dr. Schmidt addresses the big question of this century candidly, as to whether or not Islam is a religion of peace, sidestepping the quagmire of political correctness. This is a "must read" for all who want to learn the essential facts of Islam.
Correctly Chronicles Islam.......2005-03-01
Alvin Schmidt's book about the "great divide" between Christianity and Islam is Christians, as well as, secular people need to read. It demonstrates the essential difference between Christianity and Islam; one (Christianity) is a religion founded on love and freedom from bondage, while the other (Islam) seeks to enslave and make others "submit." He opens the book by noticing the fundamental differences between Jesus and Muhammad and their views on such things as marriage, God, heaven.
Chapter two is a perfect, yet quick history lesson that is most relevant for secular people and Christians who insisted on thinking Islam, in its normative state, is a religion of peace. He accurately shows the differences in the growth of the two religions. Initially (first 300 years) Christianity spread through a passive movement relying on a sociological construct based on loving their neighbor and martyrdom. Islam spread immediately by the sword - this is objective historical data, no polemics here.
The other chapters are good, and while I cannot whole heartily endorse all his assertions, when he deals with history he is accurate and when he asserts a particular theological concept or idea, the reader knows the difference. The material and arguments are well laid out and overall, this is an outstanding work that any laymen can read and get an accurate historical understanding of the Islamic religion as it compares to Christianity.
I do need to note, there are muslims who seek a spiritual interpretation of the koran and Islamic history; they do so with either great courage or a congnitive dissonance. But if the West insists on accepting a politically correct Islam, then I hope these Islamic mystics succeed; because the West doesn't heed, it may very well fail.
Sociologist Compares Christianity to Islam.......2005-01-19
Schmidt writes this perspective on Islam from a sociologist's perspective also viewing it somewhat from the viewpoint of history and theology. He convincingly shows that the current view of Islam's history and beliefs compared with Christianity's is somewhat distorted and untrue.
He aspect by aspect shows how today's world is not shown the entire breath of Islam's past and current cultural and theological stance on many societal issues: women, charity, liberty, justice, war and peace, Jesus, the Crusades, science and medicine, law. These are all fascinating and enlightening discussions, and at the least would fester further research and inquiry into interested subject matters with bibliographical materials included for such persual.
If one seeks but a theological comparison of the two, one would be wise to check out the best source I have found: Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb's "Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross."
Finally, the truth is told.......2004-12-08
Schmidt writes what many are afraid to talk about: The truth about Islam. He does an excellent job of comparing Islam and the Koran to Christianity and the Bible. He backs his statements up with facts and provides solid references. This book is going to tick you off- whether you are Conservative or Liberal, Christian or Muslim. The sometimes shocking details provided here will educate you on a variety of issues and take you on a journey through history. This book is a real eye opener. Contrary to what the media would like you to believe, Muhammad was not a nice guy. This should be required reading for not only all Americans, but all infidels (non-Muslims) as well.
Book Description
Now the basis for the made-for-television ESPN Original Entertainment movie "Codebreakers" (premiering at 9 P.M Eastern Time on 10 December 2005), A Return to Glory is the first book to bring readers behind closed doors at West Point during the unprecedented, widely controversial, tragic cheating episode of 1951.
Told with great precision and keen insight, A Return to Glory fuses the intertwined struggles for officers and cadets to maintain honorable conduct on the athletic field with the challenges to officers and enlisted men on the battlefields of Korea, the Cold War's first frustrating and deadly "limited war." The parallels and corollaries are astounding and often profound.
The book also tells one of the great, never-before-told collegiate football stories of the twentieth century, namely the inspiring true story of how the vaunted Army football team—nationally dominant during much of the decade preceding the incident—recovered from losing almost 40 players in the devastating cheating scandal of 1951.
Timeless and compelling, A Return to Glory is as surprising and meaningful for today's readers as it will be for those who lived the events of a half century ago. Both a period history and lively true story, the book tells of authentic and unsung heroes and young men attempting to live up to the extraordinarily high standards demanded by the Academy and its Honor Code.
While the work accurately portrays the joys, rewards, and tragedies of life in the military, it also tells thought-provoking, often humorous, uplifting stories about people and institutions, "warts and all," woven into a larger story and theme, with deliberately broad appeal intended to reach the general public.
Most importantly, in a new age of desperate battles that challenge the integrity of military leaders on and off today's battlefields, A Return to Glory tells the inspirational story of some of their Army forebears who selflessly chose the harder right over the easier wrong...and prevailed.
Customer Reviews:
Review by a 1973 West Point Graduate.......2006-01-13
I bought and read the book "A Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor and Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53" after hearing about it from other West Point graduates. It is a hefty tome, weighing in at over 1000 pages--a little intimidating when I first lifted it out of the shipping box.
However, as soon as I started reading, this book captured my full attention. I found it quite readable and very interesting. It is a thorough, detailed, and almost scholarly work.
What I find particularly interesting is how the author interweaves a number of contemporary story lines which, naturally, impacted on one another:
-- stories of West Pointers in the on-going combat of the Korea
War, including the story of First Lieutenant Dick Shea and other West Point graduates at the battle of Pork Chop Hill
-- the discovery, investigation, and resolution of the cheating scandal
-- the year of activities which celebrated the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the founding of West Point
-- the story of the glory days of Army football, its fall due to the scandal, and its incredible re-building under the legendary Army football coach, Col. Earl "Red" Blaik
-- a fascinating look at an interesting period in college
football in general, for example, the differences between "Iron Man" football, where the same team played both offense and defense, and the platoon system, then a new idea, which allowed separate offensive and defensive squads
-- the debate about what place of competitive football should occupy in collegiate life, if any at all, a debate which raged not only at West Point but at many top-notch civilian colleges of the time.
-- and, finally, what everyday life as a cadet was like during these tumultuous times, as seen through the eyes of the author, Bill McWilliams, who entered West Point the summer the scandal was breaking news.
I would offer one word of caution. If you saw the very abbreviated story as told in the TV show, "CodeBreakers," which was based on "Return to Glory," you may be surprised to discover how much more involved this book is and how much longer it is. However, the reader will find the book version all the more interesting because it delves much more deeply into every aspect of the 1951 cheating scandal than any movie could ever do.
For any reader with an interest in West Point, history, football, the Korean War, sports, or leadership topics, or any combination of the above, "Return to Glory" would be a great gift.
How an institution recovered and perservered!.......2005-11-17
"A Return to Glory" by Bill McWilliams is 3 books in one. It is the
story of West Point's tragic 1951 cheating scandal; Academy graduates in
the Korean War, including a condensed version of the
last battle for Pork Chop Hill; and the restoration of the
Academy's honor system and football program/team in the years
immediately following the 1951 incident.
Weaved into the work is the story of Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and
all he went through following the cheating incident, in personal
efforts to retain the Cadets ultimately discharged. The book has numerous
examples of the extensive correspondence between Blaik and General
Douglas MacArthur that demonstrates their close friendship and Blaik's
relentless pursuit of the cadets' retention. This also went to the highest
levels in the Pentagon and all the way to President Harry S. Truman.
The 1951 cribbing incident, as some refer to it, occurred during the
first year of the Korean War. The 1951 Army football team was the
pre-season pick for the number one college football team in the
country. Even Army's second-string team was rated better than the other
top-10 teams of that era, which included Southern Cal and Notre
Dame. A total of 83 Cadets resigned. Among them was Coach Blaik's
son Bob, Army's starting quarterback.
Earl Blaik nearly resigned following the 1951 disclosures, but at
General MacArthur's urging, didn't, and in the 1953 season,
brought his Army team back to national ranking.
The middle portion of "A Return to Glory" deals with events
surrounding the last battle for Pork Chop Hill three weeks before
the Korean War ended and the actions of West Point graduates from
1950 through 1953. The war had become trench warfare of World War
I revisited.
This is an engrossing and riveting work. You get more than a hint of
the pressure a football coach is under.
The Honor Code at West Point worked and still does, albeit in ways,
not necessarily to everyone's liking. I should know, I have a son and
daughter currently enrolled as upperclass Cadets.
"A Return to Glory" has lessons for today not necessarily limited to
football and the military. While many changes have occurred at West
Point in the last half-century, the important fundamentals haven't.
"A Return to Glory" is 1115 pages.
Duty, Honor, Country.......2002-02-19
The work is meticulous. One must like details. And if one takes the time which is well spent, it is a great book. The Academy was under critical fire for this difficult period where a lot of things were breaking down, from a Cheating Scandal to conflicts between the academic and athletic departments, the Korean War rages on and is always in the foreground, a nationally ranked football is descimated with resignations. The title says it best. A great read and wonderful historical review and analysis of a very difficult time.
But you have to love football (especially details)..........2002-01-26
Excellent coverage of a variety of issues relating to the Glory Days of Army Football - pre, during and post. Well told story but I found the extensive, play-by-play details of far too many football games somewhat distracting. Still, if you love the Academy, this is a fascinating period to read about.
Average customer rating:
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Triumph in the west, 1943-1946
Arthur Bryant
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0006AWAB6 |
Average customer rating:
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The Case Against Paul Raeburn/ (English Title = Triumph for Inspector West)
John Creasey
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0060808926 |
Book Description
One of the last century's most influential figures in higher education, Clark Kerr was a leading visionary, architect, leader, and fighter for the University of California. Chancellor of the Berkeley campus from 1952 to 1958 and president of the university from 1958 to 1967, Kerr saw the university through its golden years--a time of both great advancement and great conflict. This absorbing memoir is an intriguing insider's account of how the University of California rose to the peak of scientific and scholarly stature and how, under Kerr's unique leadership, the university evolved into the institution it is today.
In this first of two volumes, Kerr describes the private life of the university from his first visit to Berkeley as a graduate student at Stanford in 1932 to his dismissal under Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Early in his tenure as a professor, the Loyalty Oath issue erupted, and the university, particularly the Berkeley campus, underwent its most difficult upheaval until the onset of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. Kerr discusses many pivotal developments, including the impact of the GI Bill and the evolution of the much-emulated 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education. He also discusses the movement for universal access to education and describes the establishment and growth of each of the nine campuses and the forces and visions that shaped their distinctive identities.
Kerr's perspective of more than fifty years puts him in a unique position to assess which of the academic, structural, and student life innovations of the 1950s and 1960s have proven successful and to consider what lessons about higher education we might learn from that period. The second volume of the memoir will treat the public life of the university and the political context that conditioned its environment.
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Black '41: The West Point Class of 1941 and the American Triumph in World War II
Bill Yenne
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Weapons & Warfare
| Military
| History
| Subjects
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| Biological & Chemical
| Control
| Conventional
| Nuclear
Home Front
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
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Life & Institutions
| Military
| History
| Subjects
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General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Military Science
| History
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General
| Americas
| History
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History of Technology
| Technology
| Science
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| Books
ASIN: 0471541974 |
Book Description
Commemorates the 50th anniversary of the graduation of the West Point class of 1941. These were the officers who, during World War II, commanded our forces on the front lines. It is written by a professional writer of military history and includes interviews with all of the surviving members of that class.
Customer Reviews:
A Disappointing Tribute.......1999-02-20
I was disappointed with Bill Yenne's history of the USMA Class of 1941. The many editorial oversights (including misspellings and grammatical errors) and obvious lack of fact-checking (what's a "Norton bombsight"--sounds like something from The Honeymooner's) leads me to wonder if this was a really thorough project. And I don't doubt the authenticity of the stories recounted herein or of the heroism it depicts, but I cannot help but wonder what has been left out. For example, Mr. Yenne outlines the history of West Point's Kelleher-Jobes Memorial but fails to mention that West Point's Honor Board meet in Nininger Hall, named for Black '41s Alexander Nininger, the only class member to receive the Medal of Honor. Is he aware of this, and if so, why isn't this included somewhere in his narrative?
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Western Supremacy: The Triumph of an Idea
Sophie Bessis
Manufacturer: Zed Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Development & Growth
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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Economic Policy & Development
| Economics
| Business & Investing
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General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
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General
| World
| History
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History of Ideas
| Historical Study
| History
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General
| Current Events
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General
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History & Theory
| Politics
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Relations
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| Nonfiction
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General
| Political Science
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| Nonfiction
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ASIN: 1842772198 |
Book Description
Sophie Bessis book gives a thorough history of colonial and developmentalist thought. Bessis tells the story of the West's relationship with those parts of the rest of the world it came to dominate. Bessis follows this trajectory, from the conquest of the Americas, through the slave trade and the scramble for Africa, the White Man's burden, Manifest Destiny and the growth of "scientific" racism, on to decolonization, the ideology of development, and structural adjustment.
Books:
- The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81)
- The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel, and Liberal Opinion (Philosophy and the Global Context)
- The Scotch-Irish: A Social History
- The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait Of A Paradigm Shift
- The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, The Original Teachings in a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition
- The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You are Waking Up and Changing the World
- The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West
- Things Fall Apart: A Novel
- Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
- War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime 1618-1789 (War and European Society)
Books Index
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