Reviews (3)

A beginning
My opinion on this book lies some where between the two already presented. The application of economics and game theory to this problem is most definitely original and is the greatest achievement of the book. It is a tribute to the authors that such a simple model that so ruthless applies Occam's razor can explain so much, however the work is flawed it simply does not reflect reality. The reasons behind democratisations are more complex than this model, as powerful as it is, can reflect. This book and the model developed within should be viewed as beginning which other works can develop and expand upon. I have no doubt that economists will continue to contibute to this field with more advanced and better models. For this reason alone political scientists and historians should not ignore this text, but rather accept it for what it is a new way of looking at an old problem.

Wielding Occam's Razor
Economists are turning their focus of inquiry to subjects that were once the exclusive preserve of their colleagues in other social sciences--history, sociology, and political science. The title of this book, "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," appears to have been deliberately, even provocatively, chosen for contrast with its famous predecessor, "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," by the sociologist Barrington Moore. It is as if the economists are saying, "You've had your go. It is now our turn."
Interesting but ...
This substantial work provides a useful review of the relevant literature,and outlines the simple but powerful idea that the political impact of different types of assets [land, labor or capital] and the costs of repression rather than democratization are key influences on the process of democratization or political repression.This approach has however already been spelt out more succinctly by Carles Boix.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Democracy    5. Democratization    6. Economic aspects    7. Economics - General    8. Equality    9. Government - Comparative    10. Political Ideologies - Democracy    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Public Policy - Economic Policy    13. Business & Economics / Economics / General    14. Economic history    15. Political economy    16. Political structures: democracy    17. Political structures: totalitarianism & dictatorship   

Reviews (65)

A Must Read!
An outstanding book that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago.In my opinion, this book should be read by every voting citizen.

A moral perspective on our interactions
One of the best books I have ever read. Principles that I wish all mankind would strive for. So simple yet so profound.

Should be required reading in Washington, D.C.
What book is is important enough that I read it once a year? The Law by Frederic Bastiat. Written in 1848 as a response to socialism in France, this book essay is just as relevant today as it was then.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Jurisprudence & General Issues   

Editorial Review

"Hutus kill Tutsis, then Tutsis kill Hutus--if that's really all there is to it, then no wonder we can't be bothered with it," Philip Gourevitch writes, imagining the response of somebody in a country far from the ethnic strife and mass killings of Rwanda. But the situation is not so simple, and in this complex and wrenching book, he explains why the Rwandan genocide should not be written off as just another tribal dispute.Read more

Reviews (199)

Disappointed
I was disappointed by the tone of the first chapter.
Remarkable and Life-Changing
This book will change your worldview.Gourevitch makes you realize how much we marginalize Africa, and how we refuse to recognize unpleasant realities to avoid the responsibility for dealing with them.While his account includes a lot of horrible examples of inhumanity, there are also some splendidly inspiring examples of humanity, which make you believe that change is possible, and even ultimately inevitable.

What a horrific tale
A lot of books I've read down through the years, even books I have enjoyed, I have forgotten almost as soon as I finished them.
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Subjects:  1. Africa - General    2. Current Affairs    3. Ethnic relations    4. Genocide    5. Government - Comparative    6. International    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics and government    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Rwanda    11. Armed conflict   

Subjects:  1. Cases    2. General    3. Law    4. Legal System    5. Politics / Current Events    6. United States    7. Jurisprudence & General Issues   

Reviews (2)

Law and Ehtics in the Business Environment
I would have to compliment the teacher that picks this book for their course. The book is interesting and easy to read. The fact that most of the cases are from real life situations makes the reading more interesting and easy to follow! Great book.

Excellent Supplement
This book provides an excellent supplement to a regular college businesslaw text by exposing real world dilemmas, and how they were handled by thecourts.Can be used to generate discussion on ethical responsibilities,sexual harassment,and some aspects of agency law. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Business & Economics    3. Business & Financial    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business Ethics    6. Business Law    7. Business/Economics    8. Case studies    9. Cases    10. Industrial laws and legislation    11. United States    12. Law / Business    13. USA   

Subjects:  1. Asia    2. Asia - General    3. Asia - History    4. Encyclopedias    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: American    8. History / United States / General    9. Humanities    10. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    11. Reference works    12. USA   

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Business & Financial    3. Corporations    4. Directors of corporations    5. Financial statements    6. Law    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Legal status, laws, etc.    10. United States    11. Law / Business   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (9)

Russian Muckraking
This is a hard book to judge. In the first place, it's a collection of articles for what the author refers to as a newspaper, though the "New Gazette" appears to publish biweekly. This leads to some jarring articles next to one another: the first article denounces officials involved in the identification of the corpses of Russian soldiers killed in the first Chechen War 1994-6, and the second article, immediately following, denounces the first one as biased and reverses all of its statements. It's a bit strange.
Good overview
I have to disagree to some degree with those who say this is a *completely* biased piece.I also have suspicions that those who trash this work have not read it in it's entirety, if at all.Anna is certainly an advocate for the Chechen people, but she also attempts to show, albeit in small bits, the human side of Russian troops.Her writing is vivid, impassioned, but sometimes choppy.It can be difficult to read sometimes, but that may be the translation.I'm not sure how the September 11th attacks should obscure any opinions in favor of Chechen independence.Those views expressed appear to be shallow, with a blind, "follow the leader" approach.This shouldn't be an issue where you chant, "go team!"--Why not consider both sides?If you go to www.hrw.org there are plenty accounts of Russian abuse of Chechens, to be fair there is also abuse from Chechen fighters on civilians.This is a dirty war because it is corrupt on all sides.You can also find numerous other articles, not just from Politkovskaya, that echo the same problems with corruption, human rights abuses, etc.Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times is also a good source.Why is it so unfathomable that soldiers might commit abuses, be xenophobic, rape, etc.What about Elza Kungayeva's rapist?He was a high ranking colonel.Even though her rape was ommitted from her autopsy report and he was never actually convicted of rape, he still murdered her.Is that okay?Is that fair or right?Is that not terrorism at it's finest? To form a solid opinion you really need to consider all sides; you need to look at the root problems, it isn't a simple issue.---And it's obvious that it cannot be resolved through military measures alone.There really has to be some considerate discussion.(Putin has blasted that idea so I don't think it will happen.)And you cannot put blinders up and think that abuse is impossible, or even okay.It's too easy to reduce the Chechens to a nation of terrorists.

An Interesting Story yet Too Biased for Comfort
This book was somewhat of a disapointment. This is largely due to it's obviously biased viewpoints. However, what really bothered me was its lack of real information. The story was basically a compilation of dramatic stories all stressing how inhumane or heartless the Russian soldiers were and how ignorant westerners are, which would have been okay had that not been the only thing Politkovskaya said throughout the book.
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Subjects:  1. Chechnia (Russia)    2. Chechnëiìa    3. Civil War, 1994-    4. Current Affairs    5. Government - Comparative    6. History    7. History & Theory - General    8. Media Studies    9. Political    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Politics/International Relations    12. Politkovskaia, Anna    13. Politkovskaëiìa, Anna    14. Press coverage    15. Russia (Federation)    16. Travel    17. Armed conflict    18. CHECHNIA (RUSSIA)_HISTORY_CIVIL WAR, 1994-    19. Chechnia    20. Chechnya    21. European history: postwar, from c 1945 -    22. History / General    23. History / Russia (pre- & post-Soviet Union)    24. Journeys    25. Other prose: from c 1900 -    26. Politkovskaya, Anna    27. c 1990 to c 2000   

Reviews (1)

Great book!
This book is great, the website that comes with the book works well also. The author explainsRead more

Subjects:  1. Crime    2. Criminal Investigation    3. Criminal Procedure    4. Criminal justice, Administrati    5. Criminal justice, Administration of    6. Criminology    7. Government - Judicial Branch    8. Government policy    9. Legal System    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. United States    13. Crime & criminology    14. Law / Jurisprudence   

Reviews (3)

Mediocre
This edition is one of the better editions to come out. My professor didn't use the book in class, in fact he gave it bad reviews. We were advised to have the book to look up topics in more detail. We were also advised to study the chapter review questions, as they were used as test questions.
Buy It
An excelent source of information on Business Law. I had this book for my first college course in Business law and without it I might have failed. The book utalizes real cases and situations to explain virtualy every topic. The text is presented in a very clear and concise manner and applies to Business Law as practiced in America today. I personally have even used the information in this book to argue a case of my own in small claims and won. Im sure the other reviewer of this book just didn't take the time to study and learn the information. Rely on experience, not ramblings, buy this book!

Not understandable
I found the book to be confusing in most cases. It would seem as though it would make runaround in descriptions. It would try to explain things in to much detail, thereby confusing the hell out of you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Business & Financial    3. Commercial law    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. United States    7. Business law    8. Law / Business   

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Business & Financial    3. Law    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Securities    6. Taxation    7. Taxation - General   

Reviews (1)

Informative
This book saved my life! It had the most information on Laws pertaining specifically to business. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Business & Financial    3. Commercial law    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. United States    7. Business law    8. Law / Business   

Subjects:  1. Business & Financial    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Business law    5. Law / Business    6. USA   

Subjects:  1. Actions and defenses    2. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    3. General    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Personal injuries    7. Private Law    8. Torts    9. United States    10. Business & Economics / General    11. Jurisprudence & General Issues    12. Personal property law   

Editorial Review

The winter holidays are usually a quiet time for news, but the December 2005 revelations of the Bush administration's extensive, off-the-books domestic spying program by Read more

Reviews (72)

Want to Know Who Knew What and When? Read This Book.
One of the few authoritative books on pre-Iraq war intelligence, Risen interviewed CIA agents and sources where possible.One of the surprises for Americans is that a group of Iraqi-Americans braved incarceration in Iraq to get information on WMD and the state of the Iraqi nuclear program BEFORE the war was launched.The courage and patriotism of these people could have saved many lives if the media had done their job.
Essential reading
As my country was involved in the invasion of Iraq and there are still Australian soldiers serving in Iraq, l approached this book hoping to learn more about why the USAgovernment intervened in Iraq and gain some insight into the function of USA government and politics. Here in OZ the government has been very deceptive and sneaky about why we are involved in a war thousands of miles from home and after reading this book l detect similar themes in the USA.
A must read if you care about your liberty
Risen's excellent book is essentially a series of lengthy newspaper stories (Risen, of course, writes for the NYT). No doubt some of the things he reports here will be expanded upon or revised. Indeed, the recent USA Today story on the NSA's large-scale data collection program is a follow-on to Risen's work. Risen paints an ugly picture of the way things work in Bush's administration; Cheney and Rumsfeld dominate, Rice gets pushed aside, Tenet was a lap dog, and Colin Powell was sadly irrelevant. It's difficult to tell whether Bush is the leader or just gets pushed along. The book details a number of distressing stories; take your pick: domestic phone-taps, ignoring contrary evidence on WMD in Iraq, kidnapping targets and flying them to secret prisons (euphemistically called 'extraordinary renditions') and more.
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Subjects:  1. (George Walker),    2. 1924-    3. 1946-    4. Bush, George W.    5. Bush, George,    6. Central Intelligence Agency    7. General    8. Government - Executive Branch    9. Intelligence Agencies    10. Political Freedom & Security - Intelligence    11. Political Science    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Politics/International Relations    14. U.S. President    15. United States - 21st Century    16. United States.    17. Political Science / Foreign Legal Systems   

Reviews (50)

It's okay
Not bad, but just too obvious.I suppose as an introduction to someone recovering from a desire for Government regulation it mayh be helpful.

An Abdication of Responsibility
Rarely do books become more important years after they have been published.
Yawn, blink, and raise your hand.I don't get it!
Justice William Brennan, "Government acts like some extra terrestrial power, not an institution that exists to serve.Government can't do anything except as the law allows."
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Subjects:  1. Bureaucracy    2. Common sense    3. General    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. Law    6. Law reform    7. Legal System    8. Political Science    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Politics/International Relations    11. United States    12. Courts & procedure    13. Current Events / American    14. Jurisprudence & philosophy of law    15. USA   

Reviews (1)

This is the book on the UCC
When I was in Law School, while in practice, while a member of the Uniform Law Commission, and while a member of the Michigan State Senate, THIS is the book I've reached for when I needed to understand the UCC. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Commercial law    4. General    5. Law    6. Sales & Selling - General    7. States    8. United States    9. Jurisprudence & General Issues   

Reviews (7)

Breathtaking in Concept, Scope and Execution
"Our Nation's Archive: The History of the United States in Documents" is a phenomenal one-of-a-kind historical compendium that will thrill not only the historian and student, but also any citizen mildly interested in our country's evolution.
Superb
This is a book for those who are interested in the history of this country and want to read that history from the original documents rather than someone's interpretation of those documents.I suggest that, serially, you look for an area that interests you and then enjoy the stimulation of reading the original thoughts on your own.Other reviews that are critical apparently prefer reading academic media with plenty of footnotes.You'll learn a lot more from reading any part of this book than you will reading almost any academic article including all of its footnotes.You'll also come away with more appreciation for the spirit of the documents by reading them in the original.

Good Primary Source Guide
Excellent book of primary sources.The author did not intend to put whole documents in this book.If you feel like you need the whole document, most of these can be found on the web. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - U.S.    3. History: American    4. Legal History    5. Political History    6. Sources    7. United States    8. United States - General    9. History / United States / General   

Subjects:  1. Appellate procedure    2. Courts    3. Courts - General    4. Criminal Law    5. Criminal Law - General    6. Criminal Procedure    7. Jurisprudence    8. Law    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. United States    11. Law / Jurisprudence   

Subjects:  1. Cases    2. Criminal Law    3. Criminal Law - General    4. Jurisprudence    5. Law    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. United States    8. Crime & criminology    9. Social Science / Criminology