Good Breeding: Chunky Version

Book Description

An Abrams favorite, now available in a new, fun format!

When Yann Arthus-Bertrand's astonishing book of photographs of domestic livestock and their breeders first appeared in 1999, The New York Times Book Review hailed this remarkable treasure as "a curiously appealing blend of art with kitsch...drama tinged with comedy." Now this wonderfully whimsical book is being rereleased in a fun new format.

Customer Reviews:

Love it.......2007-08-14

I gave this book to my Dad for Father's Day, years ago. Whenever I go to his house, it's there and I have to look through it again. Get a hardcover copy if you can ... it will wear out otherwise. :-)

I never tire of looking at this book.......2006-04-15

I'm not from a rural background, nor do I have any experience of animal husbandry, nor do I even have much interest in photography, but when I first saw this book in a store it simply drew me in.
Inside you will find page after page of superbly composed, full-colour photographs of various livestock breeds pictured with owners, owners' children or handlers from all over Europe, even some from as far away as Argentina. On some pages you will see soft-haired, placid sheep, on others tall and elegant horses, plump pigs whose faces almost seem to show amusement, graceful, homely-looking cows, on some occasions even goats or donkeys. Yet my personal favourites are the pictures of prize bulls. These handsome creatures seem to exude power, yet starkly defy their fearsome reputation as they stand patiently with their handlers, some of whom are just tiny children.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand's photographic juxtapositions of animal and master are often endearing, sometimes humourous, but crucially they are never, however often you happen to glance at them, dull. This book is not just a portfolio. Look through it and it will warm your heart.

loooooong wait.......2005-10-25

ordered this book a loooong time ago---have yet to receive it--- when i do receive it i will rewrite a review

Marvelous photographs of magnificent animals!.......1999-12-15

Arthus-Bertrand displays the most amazing photographs of breeding quality livestock that I have ever seen. Anyone who appreciates animal husbandry, agronomy, or farm animals in general will love this book. The photographs of bulls are exceptional!

A compelling book of portraits -- animals and their keepers........1999-09-25

This is the only photography book I've ever purchased, simply because I couldn't put it down in the bookstore. Since buying the book, I've passed it around to several friends -- some who are familiar with livestock -- and some who are not. Makes no difference. It's impossible to look at this book without going through the whole thing, page by beautiful page. The animals look strangely like their owners (or is it the other way around?). Each portrait is stark and simple, drawing your eye to the relationship between animal and handler. Buy this book. You won't regret it. Outstanding gift!

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Impressive
Snoozefest
In actuality it is 3.5.
interesting males, boring as hell females
(3.5)Behind the façade of a family in transition

The Hazards of Good Breeding: A Novel
Jessica Shattuck
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393324834

Book Description

"Reading Jessica Shattuck's pitch perfect first novel is like spying on the children and grandchildren of John Cheever's Wapshots."—Los Angeles Times

This "richly appointed and generously portrayed" (Kirkus Reviews) debut novel tells the story of a WASPy, old-Boston family coming face to face with an America much larger than the one it was born in. Told from five perspectives, the novel spans an explosive week in the life of the Dunlaps, culminating in a series of events that will change their way of life forever.

Caroline Dunlap has written off the insular world of the Boston deb parties, golf club luaus, and WASP weddings that she grew up with. But when she reluctantly returns home after her college graduation, she finds that not everything is quite as predictable, or protected, as she had imagined. Her father, the eccentric, puritanical Jack Dunlap, is carrying on stoically after the breakup of his marriage, but he can't stop thinking of Rosita, the family housekeeper he fired almost six months ago. Caroline's little brother, Eliot, is working on a giant papier-mâché diorama of their town-or is he hatching a plan of larger proportions?

As the real reason for Rosita's departure is revealed, the novel culminates in a series of events that assault the fragile, sheltered, and arguably obsolete world of the Dunlaps.

Opening a window into a family's repressed desires and fears, The Hazards of Good Breeding is a startlingly perceptive comedy of manners that heralds a new writer of dazzling talent.

Customer Reviews:

Impressive.......2007-05-23

I enjoyed this book immensely- moving, funny, compelling and honest. Shattuck captures the essence of this subculture accurately and sympathetically, and her character portrayals and details are spot on (I should know- I went to boarding school in the town in which it takes place). Superb coming of age story of a priviledged, percocious, intelligent young woman and her unstable and very human family. Well done. I hope director Alexandra Kerry (John's daughter) does it justice as a film.

Snoozefest.......2004-09-04

This book was so boring, I forced myself to read half of it before I just could not go on. I did not care one ounce for the characters. I was hoping something horrible like a nuclear attack or that their town would catch leaprosy just to make it interesting. I figured out the "surprise" instantly. (I flipped through the last chapter just to see if I was correct.) BORING book.

In actuality it is 3.5........2004-06-26

Well I picked this up after hearing good things about it and reading a interview with the author. I was attracted to her personality and I went out and bought this book. I think my money was well spent, it wasnt a fantastic book. But for a debut novel this is very good and promising. The plot revolves around the troubles of the Dunlap family who live in a W.A.S.P.y town in Massachusettes. Jack and Faith Dunlap are recently divorced, and their daughter Caroline has just returned home from college then there is Carolines younger brother who is troubled by the leaving,not of his mother but of the familys maid,Rosie(who ends up being pregnant with Jack Dunlaps child). The book basically deals with issues each of them face and how they deal with them. Their are some very interesting characters besides the Dunlap family that come into the story and this book is worth your time. To tell the truth I had to read it twice to really appreciate it.

interesting males, boring as hell females.......2004-06-24

What is it with female writers? (myself being an exception). They must have never met an interesting person of the female persuasion. The little brother, Eliot, and the father are complex, interesting characters, while the typical "nervous breakdown" mother and daughter Caroline are mere satellites to the "men in their lives". It really makes me sick to see male writers like Jonathan Franzen come up with beautifully complex portraits of women (Denise in The Corrections, Renee in Strong Motion) while every book I have read recently by a female just trots out the same silly, self-deprecating, doormat-like, joyless, self-denying, anti-hedonistic neurotic cliches in depicting their female characters and their lives.

(3.5)Behind the façade of a family in transition.......2004-04-14

In The Hazards of Good Breeding, a pithy social commentary, it is the rigid social structure of their ancestors that defines the Dunlap's approach to the future, in a distinctly American fashion as the characters and plot are set into a story that recognizes the inherent humor of the human condition. During one fast moving week in Boston, the Dunlap family is on a collision course with a steadily evolving world. Against a background of American history and family tradition, where "all the comforts and grace of good fortune...lie in decaying abundance", the Dunlap's have failed to acknowledge the enormous changes that have touched their family, redefining roles and expectations.

The eldest Dunlap boys are grown, but the two remaining children are caught in the intimate family dynamic, post-college Caroline and pre-boarding school Eliot. Their confusion about their parent's activities leads each to precipitous actions, particularly Eliot.
Eliot is a sensitive, compassionate young man who misses his mother, who lives in New York, and his babysitter, who has been conspicuously absent for the last six months. Eliot's mother, Faith, crumbling beneath the weight of her failed 22-year marriage, leaves Eliot in the care of his distant, awkward father in their historical home. During this one fateful week, Jack has a moment of revelation, reflecting on the texture of a constantly changing world.

While Caroline Dunlap circles the men in her family, alternately serving in her mother's place and ruminating on her own future, a handsome filmmaker falls into her life to further complicate matters. Faith, the ex-wife, is reawakening after long months of emotional confusion, tentatively reaching out to her children, prompted by their needs and her motherly intuition. But the babysitter, Rosita, is the anomaly in this family dynamic, her absence a catalyst for Eliot's fantasies and Jack's mid-life angst.

In spite of the Dunlap's historical heritage, this family is like most others, one foot stuck in yesterday, yet drawn into the vortex of a rapidly changing future. Through a series of events, the family moves towards rapprochement, albeit in unexpected ways, as their world shifts subtly, reconfigured in a manner that provides for individual needs. It is these characters' very real confusion that renders them accessible, even familiar. In her quirky style, Shattuck looks upon the Dunlaps with kindness and compassion. Luan Gaines/2004.

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Hilarious, big-hearted, small town story

Early Book by the Fannie Flagg of Canada

Empire Falls "light"

Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award

The problem with CanLit...

A Boy of Good Breeding: A Novel
Miriam Toews
Manufacturer: Counterpoint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Summer of My Amazing Luck: A Novel

A Complicated Kindness

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A Spot of Bother (Vintage)

Gallatin Canyon: Stories

ASIN: 1582433402

Book Description

From the award-winning author of A Complicated Kindness comes a delightfully funny and charming novel about growing up, getting old, and falling in love in a small town

Life in Winnipeg didn't go as planned for Knute Corea-McCloud and her daughter, Summer Feelin'. But moving back in with her parents in Algren, Manitoba, and working for the longtime mayor, Hosea Funk, has its own challenges: Knute finds herself mixed up with Hosea's attempts to achieve his dream of meeting the Prime Minister-even if that means keeping the town's population at an even 1500. It's not an easy task, with citizens threatening to leave, Summer Feelin's father threatening to move back, Hosea's lady friend looking to move in, and one Algrenian on the verge of giving birth-to twins or possibly triplets. Hosea's search for his own roots takes us back to Algren's days as an outpost prairie town, when his mother, Euphemia, was seduced by a mysterious cowboy. Discovering the true identity of that cowboy fuels Hosea's many obsessions and just might reveal whether he is, indeed, a boy of good breeding.

Miriam Toews's inimitable humor and her largerthan- life characters bring small-town Canada to life. A Boy of Good Breeding is a big-hearted, hilarious novel about finding out where you belong.

Customer Reviews:

Hilarious, big-hearted, small town story.......2006-09-26

After the success of Canadian author Toews' award winning "A Complicated Kindness," some of her earlier novels have been released in the U.S. While 1998's "A Boy of Good Breeding" may not be the perfect gem "Kindness" is, it's a captivating and very funny story of acceptance, love, and finding one's place in the world.

The novel focuses on two disparate characters, Knute McCloud, a young single mother having a tough time making it on her own in the city (Winnipeg), and Hosea Funk, the awkward, shy mayor of Algren, Canada's smallest town.

After losing her gas-pumping job for accidentally blowing up a motor home, then failing to seat anyone at her restaurant-hostess job, Knute moves back to Algren with her 4-year-old daughter, Summer Feelin' (S.F. for short), to help out after her father's heart attack. Tom, her father, is depressed and declining and her mother has embarked on manic house renovations, accompanied by stories of other people's personal disasters.

Hosea, Tom's best friend since boyhood, is preoccupied with a secret project - winning the prime minister's visit to celebrate Algren's designation as Canada's smallest town. To gain this distinction, the town's population must be 1,500 - one more and some other town may win, one less and Algren is demoted to village status.

Anticipating success, Hosea hires Knute as his assistant though he can't, at least at first, find much for her to do but rid the town of a recalcitrant mutt. His days are taken up with regulating the population - visiting the hospital to check on the maternity ward and the dying, tallying up those who move in and out, fretting.

Then Max - Summer Feelin's feckless father - comes back to town. And Hosea is on the brink of losing Lorna, the love of his 50-year-old life, because he daren't let her move in with him before the population count and he can't tell her why. Fact is, his mother, who never married, said on her deathbed that the PM was his father and Hosea is desperate to meet him.

This is a generous, big-hearted novel, made tart and funny by the very particular eccentricities of Toews' full-fleshed characters, and her considerable flair for comedy.

-- Portsmouth Herald

Early Book by the Fannie Flagg of Canada.......2006-09-13

I guess people have different reactions to Miriam Toews, but all of us pat ourselves on the back for picking up her fiction and reading it through despite the cultural uncertainty of being unsure about how to pronounce "Toews." Her current bestseller was so big that here in the USA her American publishers have brought back some earlier books, and this is the one I settled on, after some debate. The funny thing is that I still don't know who the boy of good breeding us. But maybe it's Hose, Hosea Funk, the mayor of the smallest town in Canada--Algren, Manitoba.

He's concerned because his mother, Euphemia Funk, once told him while she as dying that his dad was John Beart, the true Prime Minister of Canada (in the novel, that is) (the real Prime Minister, I have determined, is Stephen Harper, who was just on TV last night honoring the Canadian victims of the World Trade Center disaster). But check later, because they turn over like flapjacks there north of the border. Prime Minister Beart has made a vow to visit the smallest town in Canada, and so Funk will get his chance to meet his putative father.

He keeps obsessive track of every newcomer to town, as well as those dying, and those newborn (Veronica Epp has triplets, so to keep the population of the town at a steady 1500, Funk has to make sure three people leave or die!) This black comedy is just a backdrop, or better yet a "blackdrop," to the main story of Knute McCloud and her little daughter, the delightful Summer Feelin'. These two return to town to comfort Knute's father Tom as he feels poorly.

Miriam Toews is like Fannie Flagg but with more writing ability. Reading this book makes me want to move to a small town where, even if we don't have money, we care about each other. There maybe were too many characters with humorous names, as though the spirit of LIL ABNER were thriving in Manitoba, but quirky is as quirky does, and we should all have such problems.

Empire Falls "light".......2006-08-29

Hosea Funk is an eccentric middle aged mayor of Algren, the sometimes "smallest town in Canada," which he strives to keep that way to increase his chances of winning a contest which would result in a visit by the prime minister, who he's been told is his father. He flits in and out of the lives of the residents of the town, irritating some, like the town doctor, with his nosiness, necessary to keep his plan on track. Births, deaths, and decisions of townspeople to move into or out of the town limits could all affect the count of residents that he diligently keeps track of, much to the irritation and wonderment of those who knowingly and unknowingly provide him information. His never known to be promiscuous mother's decision at a dance to go off into the night with an out of town stranger, results in his sudden appearance after months spent in a baggy hot wool sweater. Hosea, whose grandparents are somehow able to, at least temporarily, swallow as having been left with his mother by a man on a horse, grapples with the decision of whether to commit to his girlfriend from the city, increasing the town's population and risking the loss of the contest, or to risk losing the girlfriend altogether. Subplots about his friend Tom's daughter, Knute, who comes to work the him, granddaughter, Summer Feelin', and the boyfriend who up and left the town and that of Tom's life after suffering a heart attack, round out the story. Mayor Hosea eventually makes all the right moves and wins at the most important thing, the game of life - a quick quirky read which feels a bit like Empire Falls.

Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award .......2006-08-06

Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award and ably narrated by Ruth McIntosh, A Boy Of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews is an abridged audiobook set in a small Canadian town - a town so small that the Mayor schemes to keep the population at an even 1,500 to win a contest for being the smallest town in the nation. Young mother Knute and her four-year-old daughter have returned to town to escape the havoc of the big city, but when the mayor enlists Knute for his schemes, she must figure out how to keep the town population down when folks keep getting married, having babies, and more. The return of Knute's old boyfriend Max further complicates issues in this charming, down-home folksy story, originally broadcast on CBC radio. 3 CDs, 4 hours.

The problem with CanLit..........2006-08-01

The problem with CanLit is its overly self-conscious need to be "not American", with "uniquely" "Canadian" "settings" and "characters".

Some (most notably Carol Shields and Jane Urquhart, possibly Robertson Davies, occasionally Margaret Atwood) rise above the genre and write for an audience that goes beyond the coy quaintness so beloved of Canadian cultural conservators, and reach a broad readership who appreciate the universal themes in their work. The rest write for a limited audience in a style no more nourishing than most scifi, mysteries and romances. CanLit is just another species of genre fiction at its most government-subsidized mediocre.

A Boy of Good Breeding is an okay read, but it seemed more of a caricature than a story. If this author's other work genuinely warrants the accolades she has received (Governor General's award, Margaret Laurence award for Fiction, numerous Book of the Year awards), this book surely must be an anomaly, and I wonder why the author persisted with the project.

The narrator and the characters all seem to think this is a far funnier story than I thought it was, perhaps because nothing in the book really made me care about the people or the setting. A plus, perhaps, is that it wasn't set in Toronto for a change (which every Canadian knows is the true center of the universe) but for all that I didn't find the story or the thematic undercurrents all that interesting.

Surely this is a harmless read compared with W.P. Kinsella's overrated and arguably racist portrayals of the "hilarious" antics of those wacky inhabitants of Hobbema, Alberta, or Jack Hodgins' impenetrable magic realism, or W.D. Valgardson's self-absorbed personal angst, but even at that, I don't think the vast cultural investment in Canadian literature has, in the case of A Boy of Good Breeding, paid off.

Guaranteeing the Good Life: Medicine and the Return of Eugenics (Encounter Series)

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Guaranteeing the Good Life: Medicine and the Return of Eugenics (Encounter Series)

Manufacturer: Eerdmans Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The track: The story of good breeding and bad behaviour

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The track: The story of good breeding and bad behaviour
Mike Hayes
Manufacturer: ABC Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0733308910

Good breeding: The soybean industry looks to enhance health and taste with specialty breeding. (Product Focus).: An article from: Food Processing

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Good breeding: The soybean industry looks to enhance health and taste with specialty breeding. (Product Focus).: An article from: Food Processing
John Gregerson
Manufacturer: Putman Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Food Processing, published by Putman Media, Inc. on November 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1166 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Good breeding: The soybean industry looks to enhance health and taste with specialty breeding. (Product Focus).
Author: John Gregerson
Publication: Food Processing (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2002
Publisher: Putman Media, Inc.
Volume: 63 Issue: 11 Page: 26(3)

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Good goats come in small packages. (Nigerian Dwarf goats): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal

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Don't bother buying this article

Good goats come in small packages. (Nigerian Dwarf goats): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Norm Bober
Manufacturer: Countryside Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00093SAI2
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Countryside Publications Ltd. on January 1, 1996. The length of the article is 922 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: A family purchases a pair of milking goats, whose breed is known as Nigerian Dwarves, as an alternative to milking cows. After experiencing some initial problems with the goats, the family finds that the goats are good milk producers and decide to breed them to ensure continuous milk production.

Citation Details
Title: Good goats come in small packages. (Nigerian Dwarf goats)
Author: Norm Bober
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1996
Publisher: Countryside Publications Ltd.
Volume: v80 Issue: n1 Page: p49(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Don't bother buying this article.......2007-06-01

This article is barely 2 pages long and is from 1996. You can get more and better information by going to web sites of people that breed Nigerian Dwarf Goats. This article is not worth the money!

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Good vibrations at Iskco Ltd. (company profile): An article from: Arkansas Business
George Waldon
Manufacturer: Journal Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arkansas Business, published by Journal Publishing, Inc. on April 29, 1991. The length of the article is 1531 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Good vibrations at Iskco Ltd. (company profile)
Author: George Waldon
Publication: Arkansas Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 29, 1991
Publisher: Journal Publishing, Inc.
Volume: v8 Issue: n17 Page: p22(2)

Article Type: company profile

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Livestock industry gets a real boost from science.(gene mapping guarantees good breeding)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included): An article from: SaskBusiness

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Livestock industry gets a real boost from science.(gene mapping guarantees good breeding)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included): An article from: SaskBusiness
Dr. Yves Plante
Manufacturer: Sunrise Publishing Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from SaskBusiness, published by Sunrise Publishing Ltd. on February 1, 2001. The length of the article is 735 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Livestock industry gets a real boost from science.(gene mapping guarantees good breeding)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Author: Dr. Yves Plante
Publication: SaskBusiness (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2001
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing Ltd.
Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Page: 19

Article Type: Brief Article, Statistical Data Included

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Rains mostly good for Christmas trees. (Mississippi Crop Report).(Industry Overview): An article from: Mississippi Business Journal

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Rains mostly good for Christmas trees. (Mississippi Crop Report).(Industry Overview): An article from: Mississippi Business Journal
Bonnie Coblentz
Manufacturer: Venture Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, published by Venture Publications on November 11, 2002. The length of the article is 476 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rains mostly good for Christmas trees. (Mississippi Crop Report).(Industry Overview)
Author: Bonnie Coblentz
Publication: Mississippi Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 11, 2002
Publisher: Venture Publications
Volume: 24 Issue: 45 Page: 39(1)

Article Type: Industry Overview

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Book Description

In this much-anticipated revision, Maurice Meisner again provides piercing insight and comprehensive coverage of China's fascinating and turbulent modern history. In addition to new information provided throughout this classic study, the new Part Six, "Deng Xiaoping and the Origins of Chinese Capitalism: 1976-1998," analyzes the country's uneasy relationships with democracy, socialism, and capitalism. Meisner incisively displays the contrasts between China's speech and actions regarding these subjects. Retaining the elegance, lucidity, fairness, insightfulness, and comprehensiveness he is known for, Meisner moves far beyond his previous work to paint a never-before-seen portrait of the political and social realities of China on the brink of the millennium, and the global implications of its rise to economic and political power.

Customer Reviews:

A clear, cogent, and thorough historical overview.......2007-07-23

This is THE book to read for those looking for a one-volume overview of China since the revolution. Meisner presents a clear, cogent, thorough, and sympathetic but not dogmatic overview of Communist China and Mao's struggles to wrest China away from the road to bureacratic capitalism. He presents the failures of Chinese Communism as well as its successes, and is equally at ease with economic, intellectual, political, and social history.

For those looking for a history of the Chinese Revolution itself, I recommend Lucien Bianco's "Origins of the Chinese Revolution". For a great eyewitness account of the struggles of the Red Army in the 1930s, see Edgar Snow's "Red Star Over China". For a masterful depiction of the struggles for socialism at the level of a single village, see William Hinton's "Fanshen" and it's sequel "Shenfan".

Anyone interested in modern China should own this book.......2005-07-25

Maurice Meisner got on my good side in the introduction to this, the third edition of his history of the People's Republic of China: He admitted and set about correcting errors in earlier editions - specifically, his previous, erroneous view that China's economic opening was a political expedient, not a genuine and astounding policy shift. How often do you come across an author -- or anyone! - admitting he was wrong? So I read on, confident I was in the company of an honest analyst. My rising expectations were rewarded. Meisner's analysis is fair-minded and authoritative. I've read a good bit of modern Chinese history, but almost every page of this book delivered a new insight or deepened my understanding of what I already knew. Among the things that struck me: the extent to which the Chinese revolution originally was a rural phenomenon and the consequences of those origins; how successful the communists were in establishing order and a functioning government in the early years after their victory; the fact that much of the violence of the Cultural Revolution was started not by starry-eyed Maoist zealots but by entrenched bureaucrats diverting attention away from themselves and toward helpless intellectuals and people with "bad class backgrounds.''

The book is sometimes repetitious; Meisner drives home his themes again and again. And I found myself a little frustrated at times by what I took as Meisner's Utopian socialist outlook. He seems sympathetic to the idea that pure socialism - worker ownership of the means of production - would have created some kind of perfect, democratic society in China. Sometimes he measures the success of Mao and his successors not by how well they improved the lot of the people but by how well they moved China along the Marx-ordained path to socialism and on to communism. He sometimes seemed to bend over backwards to explain or minimize Mao's excesses and to expose the dark side of what he calls China's shift to capitalism. He seems to view the words "hire" and "exploit" as synonyms. More importantly, I think his apparent black-white view of socialism vs. capitalism leads him to simplify the economic changes in China; in my view, the country hasn't gone completely capitalist (though it's certainly headed that way) but is caught somewhere between the socialist and capitalist worlds - in some ways adopting the worst of both.

Even so, Meisner's vision is easily broad and humane enough to compensate for what I saw as a pro-socialist tilt. My objections are actually less complaints than responses to Meisner's provocative analysis. Bottom line: Any serious student of communist China should own this book.

A History of Mao Zedong Thought - but where are the Chinese?.......2000-02-23

I bought this book largely on the recommendations of previous readers and because I was looking for an intelligent, thought-provoking history of Modern China. On the whole, the book is all these things, but it left me unsatisfied. It's a particular kind of historical review which in the final analysis I found wanting because it delivers very broad-stroke judgements based on evidence gleaned from a very small grouping of sources. Mr. Meisner analyses modern Chinese history largely through the readings and actions of one man: Mao Zedong. Fair enough, given the title of the book. But it's almost as if no one else matters or had any impact whatsoever on what happened. The Chinese people are completely absent from this history, which is largely a history of Mao's shifting theoretical viewpoints. It may be true that the history of modern China is the history of one man's thought, but it wasn't until I got to the section dealing with Deng Xiaoping that I began to feel that I was reading a history of a people with a multitude of viewpoints and opinions. It may be an impossibility to know what actually went on in China from 1946 up to 1976 and that therefore all we have is Mao Zedong Thought, which may only be another way of saying that a history of Modern China has yet to be written.

A great general overview.......1999-08-27

I am very glad I read this book (which Howard Zinn recommended to me). I feel I have a firm grasp of the basics of 20th Century Chinese history now. Meisner really takes an independent line: he doesn't just parrot Chinese or US propaganda. I feel he makes reasonable surmises about motivations and actions which are still unclear, given the secretive nature of the Chinese government. In all, one of the best history books I have ever read.

An incredible exploration of the PRCs many vicissitudes........1999-04-20

As a whole, this an excellent text. Meisner exhibits an incredible knowledge and understanding of the tragic history of the PRC. As he takes the reader on an incredible exploration of the PRC's many vicissitudes,Meisner, despite being a historian by trade, consistenly gives the reader masterful economic and political analysis of the events that swept the "Middle Kingdom" during this last half-century. In addition to this, he dissects with precision the manifold conceptual arguments, theoretical polemics, and numerous speeches Mao offered to the people as to how and why these incredible changes could and should occur. Upon completion of it, I am definitely better versed on the myriad events that have shaped today's PRC. From China's revolutionary heritage all the way up to the rise of Deng, Meisner is consistently clear and captivating. His masterful use of economic, political, sociological, and historical analysis is impressive. He also demonstrates quite a knowledge of Marxist-Leninism and Maoism. However, at times I felt bogged down by it all, and honestly had to wonder how germane it truly is to the events that transpired. Yet, as a whole, I still have to conclude that this book is excellent and should be considered on of the key books for someone investigating contemporary China.

Peoples War...Womens War?: Two Texts By Comrade Parvati Of The Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist) With Commentary By Butch Lee

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Peoples War...Womens War?: Two Texts By Comrade Parvati Of The Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist) With Commentary By Butch Lee
Comrade Parvati
Manufacturer: Kersplebedeb
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet

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ASIN: 1894946219

Book Description

A look at women's role in the Nepalese Revolution, and the relationship of women to Maoism and revolution in general. The two main texts in this pamphlet are reprints of essays by Comrade Parvati, one of the few women in the central committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). In her interview with People's March, and her essay The Question of Women's Leadership in People's War in Nepal, Parvati is refreshingly critical and honest in her appraisal of the role of women in the CPN(M)'s peasant guerilla army, drawing conclusions regarding the connections between patriarchy and the defeat and degeneration of past communist revolutions, and the centrality of women to any successful communist revolution. Commenting on these texts, North American Amazon theorist Butch Lee examines the mixed record of Marxism-Leninism and Maoism in regards to women's liberation, the role of women in armed struggle, and the role of armed struggle in winning and defending freedom and autonomy for women and children.

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Chairman Mao On People's War

Chairman Mao TseÌ‚-tung on People's war
Zedong Mao
Manufacturer: Foreign Languages Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Chairman Mao On People's War.......2006-07-01

This wonderful classic, bound in red plastic like the famous Red Book, is a crystalization of Mao's thinking in the area of his greatest genius--guerilla warfare. Mao has been criticized for many things--some true and some not--but even his enemies admit he was a genius in the strategies & tactics of guerilla war. THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS A CLASSIC--A COLLECTOR'S JEWEL!

Aging in Post-Mao China: The Politics of Veneration (Westview Replica Edition)

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Aging in Post-Mao China: The Politics of Veneration (Westview Replica Edition)
Ada Elizabeth Sher
Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Amdo Tibetans in Transition: Society and Culture in the Post-Mao Era

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Amdo Tibetans in Transition: Society and Culture in the Post-Mao Era

Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004125965

Book Description

This book investigates Tibetan recovery from the devastation of High Socialism and a new engagement with attempts to modernize the region in the era of `reform and opening' in post-Mao China.

With chapters on the negotiation of culture and identity in Amdo in contributions on public debate about traditional culture, on attempts at language standardization, and on sexuality. Concerning religion, there are contributions on critical perspectives on reincarnate lamas, and on cases of revival and reinterpretation of popular rituals. Amdo Tibetan self-expression in art, literature, and performance are studied in articles on folk songs, painters and their works, and on the changing economics of cultural production. The final chapters deal with social and economic trends in two nomadic pastoral areas and with foreign aid for new Tibetan schools.

A unique introduction to contemporary life and attitudes in north-eastern Tibet, invaluable for understanding modern Tibetan life in China today, how it developed, and what it is rapidly becoming.

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Chairman Mao Talks to the People: Talk and Letters: 1956 - 1971
Stuart Schram
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394706412
Release Date: 1974-12-12

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Chairman Mao Tse-Tung on People's War
Mao Tse-Tung
Manufacturer: Foreign Languages Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LLYZPE

Product Description

A small softcover (45 pages) in a red-vinyl covering. Includes a facsimile of Comrade Lin Piao's statement in his own handwriting.

Chairman Mao's Theory of the Differentiation of the Three World is a Major Contr

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Chairman Mao's Theory of the Differentiation of the Three World is a Major Contr
Editorial Department of Renmin Ribao (peoples Daily
Manufacturer: Foreign Lang. Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JOIAHW

Chariman Mao Talks To The People - Talks And Letters, 1956-1971

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Chariman Mao Talks To The People - Talks And Letters, 1956-1971
Tse-tung; Edited with an introduction by Schram, Stuart; Translated by Chinnery, John and Tieyun Mao
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IWIP2U

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