5 comments about Love It, Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work.

1. What an excellent guidebook to show each employee how to take charge, have fun, be more productive, and enjoy time at work. Even the best managers and leaders can't provide all those results for their people. The employees have to do it themselves. Thanks, Bev and Sharon, for providing the guideposts along the way.



2. This eminently practical book reaches out to you in a real way. Clearly the authors understand the frustrations of employees and offer not one but several layers of approaches to help you get the most from your job. How to think about leaving or staying, what to ask, what to say, conversations to have, and checklists to get clear on your views all help you to make the best decisions. The authors pack so much practical assistance into one short book it is just amazing. This book is designed for fast easy reading. Don't miss out on this great treasure!!



3. Given the rave reviews for this book, I was surprised by the lack of content and value. The book's message is a truism: only you are responsible for your own happiness. It goes on to encourage you to ask for what you want. These aren't bad assertions but they're more complicated to implement than this book would have you believe. The content is structured like an article in a woman's magazine: it uses a bulletized format with basic questions to ask yourself like "What do you enjoy" followed by inane suggestions like "Decorate your office". Cloying and without substance, this book fails to answer many core questions. What if your boss declines your request? What motivates an organization? How do you make lateral moves? Where are the examples of individuals who reengineered their work situation and how exactly they did it ? Granted, too many employees don't understand the work relationship or how to work an organization. But this is not the book that will address those issues. If you're still determined to read this book, my copy is up for sale on Amazon's used site.



4. Think of this book as a compilation of your own notes to improve your own career. It is written exactly the way I'd organize my own thoughts and plans in a serious way to plan and grow my own career. Very practical and concise tips and easy to read. Takes few minutes to read each topic. The theme of 26 Topics for 26 alphabets is also nice. Finish it quickly and then use from time to time as a reminder to set priorities in your day to day life.



5. Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans have written a useful book for employees who are tempted by greener pastures. The authors caution that those who pursue a glittering opportunity often wind up in a golden mess. Thus, it makes sense to at least try to improve your job before seeking another one that, ultimately, may be even worse. The book's format offers one item of advice for each letter of the alphabet. At times, the formula wears a bit thin (X for "X-ers and Other Generations"), but the advice itself is sound. It primarily consists of encouraging you to decide what you want and go get it. We recommend this book to currently employed malcontents (you know who you are!) and to those who need help mustering the nerve to discuss job satisfaction with their employers. Perhaps the best piece of advice is to only approach your supervisors for a favor when you understand their WIIFT: "What's In It For Them."

2 comments about Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy : Manual for Activists.

1. This manual takes you through waht you need to know about organizing. From strategy development to research to implementation, this book shows you how to do it. Well written and simple to understand. Outstanding reference for novice to experienced organizer.

   The best purchase you can make and you won't need to buy others.




2. This book is disappointing. While it may help a college student or other really new person grasp some of the concepts of organizing it is not useful to practioners.
   
   The Midwest Academy used to have a very good training manual covering many issues. As the book got slicker looking the information got worse.
   
   Get Shel Trapp's old Basics of Organizing instead - much more useful, and free on the internet.

5 comments about Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace.

1. One day soon workplace abuses like "mobbing" and "narcissistic abuse" will be as much within public awareness as sexual abuse/harassment/discrimination is today. I'm old enough to remember when sexual abuse in the workplace was "cutting edge." The questions during that time went something like this: is it really "abuse"? or is it just boys having fun and women just dressing too sexy? Why get all worked up about a little too much testosterone in the office? The problem is--it rarely had much to do with testosterone and more to do with abusing/using another human being.
   
   I see that we are in a similar situation now with narcissistic abuse in the workplace. Not all organizational "mobbing" is caused by narcissism, but a whole lot of it is. In order to make a narcissistic organization "work" some people have to be designated as "second-rate." Ironically, the "second-rate" people most often have more on the ball than the "first-rate" people because they are too smart and emotionally healthy not to get involved in the narcissism of it all anyway. They just want to work.
   
   One of these days, and I hope I live long enough to see it as much as Gloria Steinem ever wanted to live long enough to see laws against sexual abuse, I want to see laws against the emotional phenomenon of "mobbing" as other bellwether countries in the world have already done. What a great day that will be for the human race.
   
   This is an excellent book. Well written. Well researched. As a recent victim of "mobbing" I can tell you that it does exist. Victims of sexual harassment/discrimination in the workplace years ago had to experience the phenomenon of either too few people believing them or too many people believing that it really wasn't that big of a deal. One great thing the authors do is to verify that "mobbing" is serious emotional abuse. That name it and call it for what it is: evil.
   
   Why do we put up with "mobbing" today and why isn't it within the awareness of the average American yet? The author gives us some ideas why:
   "One is that mobbing behaviors are ignored, tolerated, misinterpreted, or actually instigated by the company or the organizational management as a deliberate strategy." Been there, been a victim of that, got the T-shirt.
   "The second reason is that this behavior has not yet been identified as workplace behavior clearly different from sexual harassment or discrimination"
   "Thirdly, more often than not, the victims are worn down, feel destroyed and exhausted. They feel incapable of defending themselves, let alone initiating legal action." (page 20)
   
   This is a super, comprehensive, competent book. I suppose that the only critique I would have of it is that the authors should have spent more than two modest pages on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. More often than not, this personality disorder is at work when "mobbing" is taking place. I really think a deeper discussion of this phenomenon could have added more psychological depth to the book. Furthermore, by doing so the authors could have helped "mobbing" victims by giving them definitive proof that the "mobbing" perpetrators, not the victim, are the ones who should be ashamed if anyone should be ashamed.
   
   You know, now that I think about it, the authors should have focused more on "shame" as well. A huge part of the "mobbing" phenomenon is "shame dumping." The victim is supposed to be ashamed for not being "good enough" or whatever. The fact is that the "mobbing" perpetrators are probably highly motivated to avoid shame and thus dump their shame on a "not good enough" co-worker/employee. By spending more effort on unpacking the phenomenon of "shame", I believe the authors could have done a better job of helping "mobbing" victims put the shame that was dumped on them back on where it belongs--the perpetrators.
   
   All in all, though, this is an excellent addition to the discussion of emotional abuse in the workplace. We're in denial as a country, in my opinion, to the severity of it in all areas of society. We need to follow the other European countries who call it for what it is and write laws against it.
   
   But, one day...one day...we'll call it for what it is. I just pray I live that long and that my children won't have to fight that inevitable fight.
   
   Let's win it soon.



2. 
   Although a little dry at times, MOBBING: EMOTIONAL ABUSE IN THE WORKPLACE is nonetheless an important book detailing a little-known phenomenon that has become rampant in companies and universities everywhere. The author explores the difference between mobbing and simply bullying, explaining that the former entails multiple coworkers ganging up on a single person in order to humiliate, discredit, and eventually dispel them from the workplace. Often the ringleader is a boss who finds the employee threatening. The author details the steps in the harassing process, and outlines the adverse effects on the workplace and the victim, explaining why the US needs to have legislation in place to prevent this common, but primarily unidentified, process. This is a very important book for HR professionals, as mobbing occurs in fifteen percent of all workplaces, yet is rarely recognized by the administrative employees called in to deal with the effects. Many times the situation is manipulated so that the victim appears emotionally unstable and paranoid. As someone who was herself the victim of a mobbing at a former job, I found this book a valuable tool in putting into perspective what had happened and why. If only I could get my ex HR director to read it!



3. This book is HIGHLY recommended.Management really should pay attention to who is MOBBING who.The MOBBER S are UP TO SOMETHING and I am sure it is not in your companies best interest.People just trying to DO THEIR JOB and at first DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS TREATMENT GOES ON ?The Mobbers out to harm company. I think the companies have pretty much let them.You have let this go on for so many years.As a target I am telling you all TARGET"S WANT A SAFE WORKPLACE.People do not want to play games on the job.Go ruin your own reputation you gossiping liars.
   NO TOXIC "OUT OF CONTROL "coworkers who mob.People just go to work to make a living, not a living hell.



4. Before my experience of becoming a victim of "mobbing", I had never heard of this word. I've had to deal with a bully or two in the past, and the usual work pressures caused by demanding bosses and strict deadlines. But nothing prepared me for the experience of being mobbed. It was passive aggressive style mobbing. This book was a great resource for myself, though it made me sad that some friends and relatives couldn't believe such a thing could occur, or didn't want to admit such a thing could occur in this country. This experience has really changed my view of people. Of course, I could tell some of the participants would have caused me grief whether or not the mobbing environment existed. And it was easy to see that others were less enthusiastic about the mobbing and just did it to "fit in". Since managers were involved in my situation, the only recourse I had was to quit for the sake of my health. This book is written very clearly and will help you understand your situation, and the best way to respond.
   
   But immediately after quitting, I then became a victim of "gang stalking", which has many similarities to mobbing, but takes place in the "community". I first encountered the word "gang stalking" during my research on "mobbing", and it sounded quite preposterous to be honest. However, now that it is happening to me, I'm finding that it isn't such a new phenomenon either. An example is the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program). I keep asking myself "Why Me?. Its not like I'm a radical trying to bring down the government.
   
   Could this have happened if it weren't for the so called "Patriot Act", creating opportunity for abuse of power and high technology? See "Opening Pandora's Box: How Technologies of Communication & Cognition May Be Shifting Towards a Psycho-Civilized Society" by Kingsley Dennis of Lancaster University. Another good paper is "The Mind Has No Firewall" by Timothy Thomas of the US Army War College.
   
   I'm sure the number of people that experience "mobbing" is going to far outnumber the number of people who ever experience "gang stalking", but please believe that this is a reality in modern day America. So much for the 8th amendment about "cruel & unusual" punishments, not to mention all the other laws against this type of activity. With mobbing, I was afraid of losing a source of income & diminished health. With gang stalking, I'm afraid for my safety. I've received threats of bodily harm, threats of being framed for crimes, persecuted by the government and its extra legal "vigilantes" leaves no hope for justice, and imprisonment. Most interactions don't involve a major threat, but are just acts of harassment to let the victim know they are under surveillance. Anything to maintain a climate of fear and uncertainty. Hearing "directed conversations" (which repeat certain threatening themes, or relate to something personal in your life) at a restaurant or while walking, street theater, being tailgated or crossing paths with vehicles of various companies or government units (for instance, they all happen to appear at the intersections you stop at to condition the victim to start interpreting that type of vehicle as a threatening symbol), ect... after a while leave the victim realizing there are too many occurrences for all of them to be isolated random events, but are being coordinated by a government agency. Why would the government go to all of this trouble with our tax dollars? To quell dissent? Unify people by finding scapegoats for the vigilantes to persecute? Persecution on behalf of corporations?
   
   This has been going on for quite a few months and I feel mobbing victims would be the most likely to understand or at least listen since the goals and methods are similar in many way. To Discredit & Destroy people in a way that leaves little evidence of the crime, and to provoke and blame the victim. And both mobbing and gang stalking are repetitive types of abuse that occur over a long period of time, so that the victim is always worried about "what will happen next?".
   
   Its depressing when so many people gang up on you, but I think the bright spot to remember is that these liars and cowards are forced to carry out their activities covertly, since most Americans would be outraged if the true facts were ever revealed. If you are in a mobbing situation, this book is well worth the money.
   
   P.S. The following quote from the book "Stalking the Soul: Emotional Abuse & the Erosion of Identity" is interesting. Marie-France Hirigoyen's research helped establish the anti-mobbing laws in France.
   
   by Marie-France Hirigoyen, Helen Marx (Afterword), Thomas Moore (Translator)
   "Often, emotional abuse builds over a long period of time until it becomes so unbearable that victims lash out in frustration and anger, only to appear unstable and aggressive themselves. This, according to Hirigoyen, is the intent of many abusers: to systematically "destabilize" and confuse their victims (with irrational, threatening behavior that preys on the victim's fears and self-doubts), to isolate and control them and ultimately to destroy their identity."



5. In the midst of turmoil at work I happened across the Mobbing USA http://www.mobbing-usa.com/ website which has helped me immensely; there are so many people in the United States who are in the same shoes as mine and although that is sad, it tells me that what I'm experiencing is real for people like myself who are being mobbed; I'm looking forward to when all of the USA incorporates mobbing laws to support people like myself from going through this nightmare.

5 comments about 501+ Great Interview Questions For Employers And The Best Answers For Prospective Employees.

1. "501+ Great Interview Questions For Employers And The Best Answers For Prospective Employees" is a great read for anyone in charge of hiring for a company.
   
   The author provides excellent questions designed to illicit telling responses about an applicant's history, personality and more. She points out that a lot of qualified applicants come through the doors. You don't want to necessarily interview only on skill, but should concentrate on how well the applicant will mesh within the system with those already working at the job.
   
   The book offers excellent questions, guides on how to interpret answer or what types of answers one should be looking for, as well as examples that any interviewer can learn from. Readers are taught to look for discrepancies, to delve deeper and get a fuller picture of an applicant.
   
   I've been on a lot of interviews and many of them have fallen short, asking only about previous work experience, how it relates to the new job - basically anything involving skills and experience. I really liked that the author is more concerned with how well a new employee will fit into the scheme of things, rather than skills and experience. After all, it is already outlined on his or her applications so there's no need to cover it to in depth. All in all, it is a great book for anyone doing interviews.



2. Taking a different approach to finding the perfect employees, this book is a fun resource for even the most experienced interviewer or job seeker. Dianna Podmoroff is an experienced author of similar books, and does not disappoint with this one. Each chapter deals with a specific job related skill; such as assessing analytical and problem solving ability, interpersonal skills and conflict resolution, teamwork, leadership, motivation, and stress management. What makes this book different is the expert analysis of answers after each section of questions. Podmoroff quickly pinpoints the pro's and con's of various responses, but is thankfully not presumptuous enough to claim there is ever one correct answer. She carefully illustrates how to apply different responses to appropriate job descriptions, allowing the interviewer to develop a more conscientious picture of each applicant. Interestingly enough, any job hunter can also use this book to hone individual interview skills, gaining valuable insight into the oft-confusing interviewing process. Overall, 501+ Great Interview Questions for Employers does what the name implies; offer great questions and expert analysis of answers, without the "know it all" attitude found in similar books. A valuable resource for even the most seasoned interviewer or the novice job-hunter. And by the way, there are 696 questions.



3. Good book, but there many well known questions and answers, i was looking for something more detailed.



4. I have to admit, I jumped at the chance to read this book. Many of us have been on both sides of the interviewing process, and no matter how prepared we think we are, something always throws us through a loop. `501+ Great Interview Questions for Employers and the Best Answers for Prospective Employees' is a great guide for successful interviews. This book offers excellent preparation for employers, for employees, and for college graduates just entering the workforce. This book could also be used as a business text in an informal setting.
   
   For interviewees, the questions in this book are excellent and helpful for those on-the-spot questions you would never expect during an interview. For interviewers, those same questions offer a great starting point for unique information you can request from prospective employees. These questions are broken down into specific categories in each chapter, and they cover areas as diverse as communication skills, decision making abilities, and business ethics. Once you answer a group of the book's questions, you are given a comprehensive analysis of your answers.
   
   Podmoroff's book is a great guide that makes a helpful tool for all interviewers and interviewees. Only you can hire the right employee or get the right job, so your quest will certainly take a lot of hard work. However, once you know how to ask the right questions and be prepared with the best answers, the job seeking process will be a much easier one. And with Podmoroff on your side, the process will be a piece of cake!



5. Excellent lists of questions broken down by topic area.
   Brief guidance on what a candidates answer should contain.
   Could be great for employers or employees preparing for an interview.

No comments about Punching In: One Man's Undercover Adventures on the Front Lines of America's Best-Known Companies.

5 comments about Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.

1. A sensational and touchy topic being told in a powerful fashion. It's sad to see such catastrophic things are happening in such modern societies.



2. This emotional, very heart-wrenching piece is easily recognizable for what it is, the prototypical "liberal reformer" solution to all complex social problems: Wave your hands a lot, shout loudly and then look for the most gradual, most ineffectual, and most incremental and containable solution to the problem available. Ignore theory and the root causes as long as you can, and don't worry about whether your solution actually works or even alleviates the problem; the overall goal is to keep the party going.
   
   Surely it is improper to attack the messenger as I am currently doing, but it is equally improper for the author to raise the issue of "disposal people" at only one end of a mean-spirited global economic chain that is connected by the same economic logic and societal arrangements that produces disposable people all along its path - and not just in the Third World. To do so is as hypocritical as my unkind attack, and masks, rather than reveals, the true root causes of the problem.
   
   The ghettos of America and of its Native American Reservations, for instance, while not engaged directly in the kind of slavery the author describes going on in other parts of the world - at least not in any formal sense -- are no less engaged in the kind of skewed economic processes that produce the same dead-end imperatives that lead directly to disposable people in India, Thailand, or Brazil.
   
   It is the rationing of intangibles, and the rationing of access to the things that make people free, productive and their lives worth living that is the root cause of the problem. At the end of the logical chain, it is societal rationing that produces disposal people. And each nation is free to call the process any name it chooses. The point is that when examined closely, no one can argue, as the author would have us do, that the difference between the two is not simply just one of degree, rather than of kind.
   
   American ghettos and Native American Reservations are also engaged in the same kind of human disposal processes as is true of Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Brazil. Those who doubt it probably have never heard of Katrina or watched New Orleans on CNN News. The tried and true liberal formula is to point a finger at one end of a long interconnected chain of logic that begins with some egregious sin like slavery in some "god forsaken" Third world country -- a chain that always ends in middle-class consumer goods, comfortable living and profitable investment portfolios in some equally far off First World Nation. Then one is required to pretend that there are no connections between the two poles; and worse yet, he must also pretend not to understand that it is "relative poverty" and "relative class status" that produces the sins no matter where one is along the chain. Slavery never exists in a social and economic vacuum as the author's arguments would lead us to believe.
   
   The trick to the "liberal solution" is to sub-optimize the problem (otherwise know as to compartmentalize and remain in denial): Raise the issues, but not loudly enough to disturb either the existing global or societal arrangements, or that would probe too deeply into the economic systems and machinery that sustain the production of such disposal people. For if one probes too far, he is likely to find himself full-circle, staring himself in the mirror.
   
   The beauty of the liberal solution outlined in this book however is that it offers much needed solace in reduced guilt for doing absolutely nothing. It keeps the game going. But in the end it is all a parlor trick, a mind game that yields benefits at both ends: Liberals get to feel good about what they are saying, but not doing, by offering piecemeal ineffective solutions, and the system of which they too are mere cogs in the wheel, continues to issue them benefits. And, most of all, the game moves along undisturbed.
   
   As the Frederick Douglas' speech that the author cited in the last chapter of the book suggests, there can be no compromises with the kinds of evils as great as those that produce disposable people, whether one calls them "slavery," "bonded laborers," "indentured servants," "contract workers," "au pairs," "domestic servants." or "underpaid factory workers." Slavery is, as the author so carefully noted in this same section, just a matter of semantics.
   
   Surely the author knows that there are no sub-optimal solutions short of revamping both the American and the global economy, both of which thrive on disposable people like a baby thrives on mother's milk.
   
   Four Stars



3. This is a great book, although some of the information is a bit dated, but it's still a good read if you want to know about modern day slavery. The website listed probably has updated statistics.



4. I had no idea of the extent of "modern" slavery. This book reveals some of globalization's losers: how people become slaves and what keeps them enslaved. Jesus wept . . .
   The book was delivered quickly and on time. Read it and find out how multi-national corporations, unregulated markets, and greed propigate the new slavery. >Sam



5. It is almost impossible to find a corporation with international reach that has not been somewhat involved in any sort of human rights abuse in a wide range of industries: Manufacturing, Telecommunication, Extractive, Food and Beverages, Infrastructures, Pharmaceutical and Composite of all the above. In each of these industries, there has been a wide range of human rights infringements in the form of: torture, disappearances, hostage-taking, harassment of human rights defenders, forced labor, bonded labor, child labor, relocation, denial of women's rights, arrest and detention.
   
   The vendors and all consumers, to a certain extend, are also responsible because they are complicit by purchasing the products. If we haven't participated by investments, we have by consumption. Kevin Bales writes it entirely on page 243 of his book, and at the end, : I believe that when people know that their purchasing and investing can actually help free slaves, they will do the right thing. Unfortunately, today most of us are in ignorance about slave/made goods or how our pensions or stocks and shares may be investments in slavery. (This is part true. I still have my doubts about whether people would really do the right thing. They know about Global Warming but it doesn't stop them from driving huge cars. Every pack of cigarettes says that "Smoke causes cancer" yet they still smoke!...)
   
   However, this book will shed light into your lifestyle. It'll make you realize and hopefully change your ways, slowly, but surely.

5 comments about State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence.

1. While I know that many bemoan the 'liberal bias'..in the business school it is more a 'management' bias........... so here is a little leavening for me to use. It is not really liberal, it does provide an interesting analysis of why unions have declined. I think I can get away with this one LOL. Good job Mr. Dine



2. This book has no insight into the problems union members have with their leaders and the ever expanding cost of union membership. I was hoping this would be a frame work on how unions can move forward but it turned out to be a rehash of old politics.



3. Now I understand what's going on with jobs, income and economic insecurity. Plus I was really inspired reading how some workers, like firefighters and food workers, have changed society despite it all. I didn't know teachers helped bring down The Wall. I'm going to recommend this book to my union leaders if they dare to read it..



4. I chanced upon this book at an airport bookstore, and after a long flight and several more hours at home with it, have put it down with an enormous sense of the righteous and epochal importance of this work. I have not trimmed my review to 1000 words because of the importance of this book, and the removal of the 1000 word limit from Amazon's current guidelines. This is IMPORTANT!
   
   In the introduction to the book, Congressman Gephardt laments that union membership is down to 8% from 35%, for two reasons: good employers whose workers do not feel the need to unionize, and intimidation by bad employers who will stop at nothing to squelch any attempt to unionize.
   
   He emphasizes the direct relationship between the health of the unions and the health of America's economy and its linch-pin middle class.
   
   He is most provocative in suggesting that unions can and should displace employers as the providers of life-long benefits.
   
   He concludes the introduction by lamenting the reality that employers pursue micro-profits instead of macro-benefits, and points out that in the absence of rules of law and fair trade, globalization will inevitably push the USA to labor conditions akin to those of the lowest common denominator--a return to sweatshops, no benefits, and despair across the land.
   
   The book itself is phenomenal. The author, a very rare journalist who not only cares about labor issues but has also won the trust of labor leaders, has written what is in my mind the single most important book relevant to how every American should perceive the 2008 election. No candidate is serious about labor at this time. Our job is to change that, and to help labor, notably the AFL-CIO and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), change that by putting labor issues in the forefront of the economic discussion. John McCain, featured in the DVD Why We Fight, condones the impoverishment of regions to stimulate enlistments in the military-industrial complex of which he is a tacit leader. Hillary Clinton does not now and never will understand the working class--she set the standard for "bitch in residence" in the White House, according to my secret service colleagues, and she is as elitist and arrogant as it gets. Barack Obama remains surrounded by advisors who do not have a clue about Generation Y, collective intelligence, or how to create a holistic strategy that can address the ten threats with the twelve policies while helping the eight challengers avoid our self-induced The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World, the loss of the The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism and the rise of the two political parties that are a form of organized crime and Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It. It is in this context that I am simply blown away by extremely balanced, well-told, important review by a journalist uniquely qualified to provide us with a book-length review of where labor has failed, where labor shows promise, and how labor is America's bottom line: as he concludes the book, Labor defines who we are as a people.
   
   + Labor has unraveled, which harms America and its economy because Labor is historically the only force apart from honest religions and selected civil society elements that truly represents the moral imperatives of both social value and economic value. Decades of progress have been rolled back by Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. Clinton in particular sold out Labor with NAFTA and the ease with which he allowed corporations to export entire programs to sweatshop countries at the same time that he reduced barriers to the dumping of both cheap and unsafe toys and other products whose "true cost" has not been properly calculated or presented.
   
   + Middle class, professionals, and women are going bankrupt, along with skilled blue collar workers, because the balance of power among labor, business, and government is gone--business rules.
   
   + 53% of Americans favor unionization.
   
   + Reagan's dismissal of the air traffic controllers was the signal act that destroyed decades of labor progress, and unleashed illegal, unethical, and unconscionable business repression of unions.
   
   + Service jobs are difficult to unionize because of high turnover, transient elements, low pay, high proportion of immigrants that can be intimidates, PLUS a lack of government penalties against business violators.
   
   + The above, combined with the government's enthusiastic support for exporting jobs, and poor labor leadership, have creating a sucking chest wound in the American economy. It could yet be fatal.
   
   + The author excels at recounting labor successes that have not been covered by the mainstream media, and he manages to do this in a way that is inspiring, objective, and not at all preachy or pontifical.
   
   + I am deeply moved by his account of how the IAFF, two lights down from my own office, used five methods to win Iowa for John Kerry:
   
   - Turned out the residents (each bringing five citizens to caucuses)
   - Used local presence EVERYWHERE to carry caucuses ignored by the other candidates
   - Able to use local knowledge to recruit those whose candidates failed to pass the viability test
   - Never gave up in darkest of times
   - High public credibility and visibility
   
   + I am reminded that "Change to Win" started in 2005, John Kerry and his boffo haircut just could not communicate the need properly.
   
   + The author explains how Kerry earned fire fighter love and respect in his turning around mid-way to Asia to come back to a major fire that killed numerous fire fighters in his state, and then worked aggressively to pass fire fighter equipment and safety laws.
   
   + There is no other union that has a firehouse, fire trucks, uniformed personnel that are unarmed, and is able to sponsor chili feeds at the firehouses while handing out leaflets in uniform on every street corner, doing retail politics to all non-union voters.
   
   + Having set the stage with successes, the author then moves into a very important middle ground in which he anticipates the continued decline of labor (and of the American economy) unless labor can reassert its influence on the national agenda.
   
   + He is critical of labor for focusing only on "get out the vote" and not on putting its issues--all of which have moral authority--into the national dialog.
   
   + He points out that labor spent close to $100 million in the 2004 election across 32 states, and was a key factor in the democrats taking back both Houses of Congress.
   
   + He is forceful in discussing how the Republicans have made "cultural values" a smokescreen within which individuals vote for candidates that are inherently bad for the public wallet and public benefits. I have a note, "religion and 'values' have trumped facts and consequences."
   
   + He damns both parties: the Republicans for trying to eliminate minimum wage rights in the aftermath of Katrina, and the Democrats for taking labor for granted.
   
   + He says that the debate has not taken place regarding:
   
   - deindustrialization of America
   - dumping of unsafe and cheap products into our marketplace
   - local impact of globalization (and of course Wal-Mart as a cancer)
   - toll on families of reduced benefits
   
   + He is articulate in pointing out that labor must work at two levels:
   
   - at a national level, constant forceful attention to legislation, regulation, and the filling of oversight posts
   - locally on compliance and alerts
   
   + The author slams the Democrats for barely winning on the basis of Republican mistakes, while being completely lacking in any strategy, message, or coherent program of their own.
   
   + He is devastatingly effective in evaluating the failure of labor leaders to communicate to the public that wages are at the lowest point in history as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while profits are at the highest point ever in history as a percentage of the GDP.
   
   + He is eloquent in pointing out that most Americans have forgotten (or never learned) that strong labor equates to the greatest prosperity for the greatest number.
   
   + He recommends these two books as antecedent works:
   
   Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
   What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
   
   I would add The Working Poor: Invisible in America and Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
   
   + He documents how labor has failed to impact on trade agreements, the migrations of good jobs with benefits to overseas sweatshops, and the loss of entire segments of community economics.
   
   + The author describes a wide range of illegal and unethical business practices that repress unionization, while also describing the ineptness of the government, with the National Labor Review Board taking an average of 889 days to make a ruling--that is almost three years and in my mind is an ATROCITY.
   
   + Illegal firings that we know of amounted to 31,358 in 2005. Business enjoys a "culture of impunity" fueled by loopholes, ease of long delays, and feeble enforcement.
   
   + Labor hurt itself with its own repression in earlier decades of dissent, and its compulsion to demand strict obedience for a unified front (at the same time that businesses had similar practices)
   
   + The author believes that the country hungers for a renaissance of labor and its community-oriented values and benefits. I hope so, but right now, not a single candidate has a clue how to jump into this with both feet, a heart, and a brain.
   
   + I am totally inspired by this author, and have a note to myself: firefighters, cops, teachers, ambulance drivers and nurses: public servants driving public policy and benefits.
   
   + The author is sympathetic but very critical of labor's refusal to engage with most journalists, and he provides a superb overview of how badly labor deals with media and how badly media ignores labor issues that are fundamental.
   
   + He is most impressive in giving modern labor a relatively clean "bill of health" with most mafia connections and most strong-arm bosses now giving way to the empowerment of individual union members, open elections, and greater accountability.
   
   + He calls on labor to humanize, regionalize, and think big.
   
   + Labor should tell the story of its role in East European democratization and carry that creative role to the Second World.
   
   + Labor should compare and publicize the grotesque profits and compensation packages of industry, with those of the workers on whose backs those profits are unjustly earned.
   
   I put this book down with a sense of wonder, a hard-eyed sense of the possibilities, and a very strong conviction that this author and this book have nailed the future of America as a Republic: Labor can be the king-maker at the national and state levels in 2008, and I pray that Labor will first learn the difference between transpartisan and bi-partisan (code for preserving the two party spoils system, something both McCain and Clinton absolutely want).
   
   In that vein, I imagined a month national "open house" across police stations, fire stations, hospitals, and schools, in which Video-Teleconferencing was used to sponsor a national town-hall meeting to consider the ten threats and twelve policies, to elect a People's Cabinet, and perhaps funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation under the leadership of David Walker (former Comptroller General who told Congress USA is insolvent and quit when they would not act responsibly), a Public Budget Office capable of producing a balanced budget by 4 July 2008, and demanding that each candidate do the same (both appoint a Cabinet and produce a balanced budget for online examination before November 2008).
   
   The author, in my opinion, is long overdue for recognition and promotion as the voice of labor, serving a new virtual Labor Congress that sets aside the fiefdoms and irrationality of the labor archipelago, and speaks to America with one voice and one practical agenda to restore America the Beautiful.
   
   See also:
   Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
   Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace



5. There are so few U.S. labor reporters left on the beat. Phil Dine happens to be one of the best and offers a unique insight into why labor unions are faltering and how they can hopefully change course. I would personally recommend this book to any labor leader, labor communicator, or union member who truly cares about strengthening the labor movement to improve the lives of future generations.

5 comments about Triangle: The Fire That Changed America.

1. Investgative reporting of an American inferno a century ago makes 'The Triangle Fire' come alive as an American tragedy every bit as haunting as 9-11 ... with equally powerful historical impact. Instead of conspiracy theories or spin, Von Drehle concentrates on human lives and human indifference to show how the worker's/voting rights and feminist movements all stem from this one event. Only a journalist could have produced a book of history that appeals to anyone who enjoys a good story. The author's passion for his subject comes through on every page. While this incident has been portrayed on various theatre stages, no play compares with the movie in your mind's eye which the author's skill directs.



2. Author David Von Drehle approached this book from an interesting perspective, by analyzing the impact the fire had on the New York Political Machine at the time, Tammany Hall. I had heard about the fire from high school history class but knew very little about the machine politics that dominated 19th and early 20th century America. At the beginning of the book, the Beating of Clara Lemlich, Tammany supports the factory owners by endorsing and even taking part in such strong arm anti-union tactics as the beating of Clara Lemlich. By the end of the book, Reform, Tammany is supporting the progressive legislation that makes factories safer for it's workers. The fact that it took 90 years for New York to suffer a workplace tragedy greater than the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is testament that the victims did not die in vain.



3. An avid reader of historical fiction and nonfiction, I found "Triangle" an engrossing read. The author skillfully combines facts about the tragic day of the fire itself, along with personal narratives about the individuals involved and background information about early twentieth-century immigrant and factory life in New York City.
   
   Von Drehle manages to achieve the perfect blend, neither bogging his writing down with dry facts nor an overwhelming of emotion about the terrible loss of young life. Instead, he seems to know just how much to offer in order to provide readers with a unique insight into one of the worst workplace tragedies in U.S. history.



4. This book that chronicles the famous 1911 factory fire does a wonderful job of not only layering the reasons for the climate that allowed the fire to happen to build a powerful foundation, but also gives a terrific view of turn of the century New York City. Various forces such as the Gibson Girl, Russian progroms, Tammany Hall, and an eruption of Mt Vesuvius all brought the right conditions into play. Shirtwaists, what we would now call a woman's blouse, were popularized by Charles Dana Gibson in his Gibson Girl, and were actually a burgeoning start to the feminist movement allowing for more freedom in dress and from corsets. The industry quickly produced sweatshops and horrific conditions for workers who were pouring in from Eastern Europe and desperate for a job. Max Blanck and Isaac Harris worked their way up from poverty, but then turned their backs on workers treating them as possible theives and trying to squeeze every ounce of work out for the least possible amount of pay. The owners kept a vital door locked to prevent the workers from stealing clothing (an average of $25 a year went missing), and that in turn caused the greatest loss of life, 146 workers, in a US workplace until 9/11. Von Drehle does a terrific job of showing how this tragedy came about and the repercussions that came after it. It's a tragic part of American history that shouldn't be forgotten.



5. Had heard of the "Triangle Fire" all my life and knew basically what it was about - that poor immigrants were working to make shirts in building in New York which caught fire and many of them died - David Von Drehle gives us every angle of what caused the fire as well as the social and political problems of the era. The issues of women's suffrage and the unions added much to round out just what was going on in the early 1900's in America and how the tragic fire may at least contributed to some changes. The story was interesting and well-developed although in some spots a little tedious as the author tended to tell the same things several times, such as the placement of the tables in the rooms that burned. After a while I think I had a pretty good picture of the scene after the first couple of times. The book reminds us once again that greed is often the fuel that runs the world.

4 comments about Reducing Stress (DK Essential Managers).

1. Some of these manager books are not just for managers. They could be read and enjoyed by all employees. Of all the books I have read, this one seems to be the most wide ranging and could help everyone in your office.
   
   Let's admit it. Work and life in general can be stressful. How we cope with stress can be a key to our success. This book will show you how to reorganize your work practices. It also explains how thinking positively can reduce stress.
   
   "Make sure your home office is separate from your living space." -pg 25
   
   Well, I fail that one.
   
   "Start each day stress-free by straightening up the night before." -pg. 40
   
   This works!
   
   Learning to say no is something I really have to work on. Some people do find it difficult to say no because they are afraid of causing offense. Sometimes you just have to be assertive, after all, it is your life!
   
   There is a section on making a time to relax. there are exercises and relaxation techniques you can use and this makes the book very practical. Deep breaths, deep breaths....there, see you feel so much better now. If anything helps, breathing will!
   
   ~The Rebecca Review



2. How Stressed Are You? This is the first question arising in today's Tech times. World Health Organization has predicted that by 2020, depression will be the greatest burden of ill health in the developing world and will be the second largest cause of death and disability!!!! One wonders but sure this book has a great indepth dose of Reducing Stress pills of info with analysis Quiz on Page 16 that actually lets one recognize existence of stress and later reducing it. In Analyzing the causes of Stress, society, the working world and daily life have changed almost beyond recognition in the past 50 years and these changes have contributed to a major increase in stress, says the author. Many factors add fuel to blown minds as we deal coping with daily life. The book has cool tips on Getting Organized in life itself, manage time,check the attitudinal traits, taking out time to relax, understanding personality types, building better relationships and check Health. Emotional despair is a major health disorder and so, before it's late, check those Stress flaws and learn to use mind power through Tim Hindle's book on 'Reducing Stress' - a Good Pick.



3. As the other reviewer said this book is for everyone and as the writer himself says this book wont make your stress disappear from your life it can only help you minimize it. And when I bought this book it sure did minimize my work-related stress that affected everything in my life but it still remained there.
   The more I minimized it the more it grew. I never were more confused until I re-read the book only to find the line I thought I've read and there it was saying "Stress is infectious".
   Soon after, I said bad-bye to the job of my dreams which shocked
   the world around me when they knew how madly in love I was with that workplace. Then as I have felt it in the beginning it turned
   up to be that I was drowning and that if I didn't quit that job I would have refused myself the lifejacket So my advice to all of you who deal with stupid stress generator people is :

   BE BLIND, DEAF and ignore them IF YOU are that strong,
   or If you're weak like "I was" create a lifejacket for yourself,
   grab it, swim to some other place. And as you know it the biggest
   city on earth which must have billions of work positions available is not even bigger than your smallest nail - when you look at it in the globe and an usual globe is bigger than thousands of nails put together :) Think about it!

   Something else that may help you too is Charlie Chaplin's saying
   "Life is a tragedy when you look at it in close up but a Comedy in long shot".




4. If you wake up every morning trying to figure out yet another excuse to call in sick to work so that you can take your brain off the hook for a while and allow your emotions a few hours to heal -- this book is for you. (Especially if you're the kind of person who gets up and goes in no matter how awful you feel!)
   
   Of course, it just might be that you need another job more than you need this book! However, the truth is that no matter where you go -- there you are! Stress follows you from one job to another. There's always another crazy co-worker. The people on the subway or highway will be every bit as crazy no matter what workplace you are headed for.
   
   What to do? Learn to handle the stress and reduce it with the tools in Reducing Stress (DK Essential Managers.) Wether you are in management or the lowest person on the corporate ladder, you'll find this book to be a useful tool for life. It's simple, to the point, and addresses issues that will change your life.

5 comments about Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement.

1. If you have spent the last twenty years working toward the dream of Early Retirement as I have then this book will give you the tools to complete your plan. It is very well written and organized. It is an easy read yet has lots of useful detail that I found myself re-reading to not miss any information.
   
   The book also is so detailed that once you complete the planning that it walks you through you will have the confidence to move forward with you life. It really does address the emotional side of Early Retirement also.
   
   If you want to make a positive change in your work life and retire early then read this book!



2. I haave read this book many times. I find myself refering back to it over and over again. This is one of the best books on early retirement.



3. This book really enlightened me on how to prepare and invest for early retirement, and what to do with my investments once I get there. Because I'm looking to retire early (in my mid-thirties), conventional advice that assumes a "standard" retirement age in the sixties or seventies doesn't really apply to my situation, for two reasons. First, I can take on more risk in my portfolio than someone who is older; because I still have my health, if my investments lose value, I can work a little bit longer, or work to supplement my early retirement. Second, I have to invest more in taxable accounts, because of IRA and 401(k) contribution limits and because those accounts can't be accessed until at least one's late 50s (with certain exceptions).
   
   This book answers every question I had about early retirement, and then some. It offers thorough, but still easy-to-understand, advice about determining how much you can expect to spend in "semi-retirement" (including taxes and fees/expenses on your portfolio) and what proportion of your portfolio you can withdraw once you're there (the "Safe Withdrawal Rate" and "95% Rule"). From there, you can determine exactly how much you'll need to have invested before you can retire. And then, the book suggests how you can invest for moderate returns and moderate volatility, with several model portfolios ranging from an incredibly simple, single-fund option to a pretty complex portfolio.
   
   The author also details the mechanics of how to get money out of your portfolio when in retirement. This may sound kind of silly, but until I read this book, I had no idea how one actually cashes out a portion of investments in order to spend them. Through a simple rebalancing example, the author demonstrates how to cash out, and gives advice on how frequently to do so.
   
   The book isn't solely focused on the money side of retirement, however. There are several chapters focusing on determining why you want to retire early and what you want to do when you get there. These chapters, in particular, are loaded with examples of people who semi-retired and how they spend their time and money. It also goes into a fair amount of detail about the pros and cons of relocating, including relocating abroad, in retirement. And these sections, like the money sections, include brainstorming exercises and worksheets, but for more of this kind of thing I recommend the companion workbook.
   
   I've read my share of personal finance books and am often disappointed by how full of fluff they are. This is not a book that you can read cover-to-cover in an evening; it is very thorough and offers a lot to think about, but it is not overly technical, either. (I confess that I skipped the charts about the 95% Rule and just took the author's word for it.) Also, the book is well-written and well-edited, which is always nice.



4. This book might be recommended to young, aggressive high-earning corporate types, who perhaps are able to save extremely aggressively from about around age 25 until 45, and then suddenly retire and become hippies.
   
   However, it's definitely not for a regular person who earns an average income throughout their working career, and who is lucky to have saved enough for retirement at age 65.



5. I read this book cover to cover after getting it and am now going through it more slowly, taking notes on all the useful bits of advice. To be honest, I'd never thought about "semi-retirement" until I heard of this book, and it's proved to be the one idea that excites me.
   
   The tone is pitched just right for people who have been saving and investing for years and are informed but still need some basic guidance for this new period of life. The book gives you strong kudos for living below your means and then helps you figure out how that translates into leaving the rat race earlier than you could ever have hoped for. I especially liked the chapters "Put Your Investing on Autopilot," "Take 4% Forever," and "Do Anything You Want, But Do Something." Each of them have very specific advice, examples, and resources and appealed to me in their simplicity.
   
   I really couldn't have found a better book as I contemplate leaving corporate America at age 48, and I plan to refer back to it many times. Now I feel more ready and excited "to pursue the rest of my life"...