New titles are added almost every day. The categories may vary significantly but the topics are always interesting and enlightening. No book is listed prior to its release.

CLICK ON TITLE TO ORDER!!!!!

In the News

Employment Reports - Guesswork

(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/05/business/05eurocharts-graphic/05eurocharts-graphic-popup.gif)

Arts.  Noah Horowitz (2011). Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 384 p.). Art Historian, Member of the Faculty of the Sotheby's Institute of Art. Art --Marketing --History --20th century; Art --Marketing --History --21st century; Art --Economic aspects --History --20th century; Art --Economic aspects --History --21st century; Art as an investment. Collecting and investing - how contemporary art market came to be, how it works, where it's headed; globalization of art world, how investors speculate in market, how emerging art forms (video, installation) have been drawn into commercial sphere.

Beverages. (Coca-Cola), Michael Blanding (2010). The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink. (New York, NY: Avery, 384 p.). Contributing Editor, Boston magazine. Coca-Cola Company --History; Soft drink industry; Bottled water industry; International business enterprises. How Coke became number one brand in world, how far it will go to stay there; secret formula for greed: 1) history of winning at any cost (franchisees made deals with Nazis, Guatemalan paramilitary squads); 2) bottlers accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, murder union leaders in bottling plants in Colombia; 3) how Coke has harmed children's health, contributed to obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools; 3) horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico (water supplies decimated while toxic pollution escalated); costs of growth andf expansion: ethics, health, public resources, sometimes even human life.

Entertainment. Dan Charnas (2010). The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. (New York, NY: New American Library, 672 p.). Vice President of A&R for Def American Recordings. Rap (Music) --Social aspects; Hip-hop; Hip-hop --Social aspects; Sound recording industry; Music trade. Victories, defeats, corporate clashes, street battles along 40-year road to hip-hop's dominance from studios, where first rap records were made to boardrooms; from first $15 made by "rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to multi-million-dollar sales of Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007; who lost, who won (Sugar Hill Records, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC's crossover breakthrough on MTV, marketing of gangsta rap, rise of artist/ entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs).

Debra Ann Pawlak (2011). Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy. (New York, NY: Pegasus, 336 p.). Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) --History; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- history. January 11, 1927 - Louis B. Mayer, MGM CEO,  gathered 36 leading persons in fledgling film industry, proposed founding of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to ensure that business would prosper in coming decades.

Fashion & Beauty.  (Chanel), Tilar J. Mazzeo (2010). The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume. (New York, NY: Harper, 304 p.). Associate Professor of English (Colby College). Chanel, Coco, 1883-1971; Parfums Chanel (Firm); Chanel No. 5 perfume; Perfumes industry --France --History --20th century. Journey to discover secret behind creation, iconic status, extraordinary success of Chanel No. 5, world’s most famous perfume; where art and sensuality met entrepreneurship and desire; how pioneering celebrity fragrance, introduced in late 1920s, took on a life of its own, became cultural monument.

(Rubenstein Helena Inc.), Ruth Brandon (2011). Ugly Beauty: Helena Rubinstein, L’Oreal, and the Blemished History of Looking Good. (New York, NY: Harper, 304 p.). Historian, Biographer and Novelist. Rubinstein, Helena, 1870-1965; Helena Rubinstein, inc.; L’Oréal (Firm); Beauty, Personal. Founding of the beauty business; Helena Rubinstein (1870–1965), Polish Jew from poor family with small salon in Australia, became first woman tycoon, self-made millionaire; Eugène Schueller (1881–1957), French chemist, found success in hair dyes; scandal when L’Oréal (founded by Schueller, Nazi collaborator) took over Helena Rubinstein (Polish Jew).

Helen Rubinstein - portrait (http://www.amuseum.org/jahf/nomination/rubinstein.jpg)

Food. (Chocolate), Orla Ryan (2011). Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa. (London, UK: Zed Books, 176 p.). Freelance Journalist (former reporter for Reuters in Ghana). Chocolate -- history; chocolate production -- West Africa -- history. How chocolate bars get on supermarket shelves; lifeline for millions of farmers in West Africa (produces about 70% of world's cocoa), crucial to economies, politics of Ghana and Ivory Coast; causes of farmer poverty in context of commodity producers' global battle to make more money from crops.

Publishing. (Cosmopolitan), James Landers (2010). The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine. (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 376 p.). Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism and Technical Communications (Colorado State University). Cosmopolitan (New York, N.Y. : 1952); Cosmopolitan; American periodicals --History --19th century; American periodicals --History --20th century. How Cosmopolitan survived three near-death experiences, became one of most dynamic, successful magazines of 20th century; how it became cultural touchstone; March 1886 - Paul S. Schlicht, of Schlicht & Field Company, seller of office supplies and labor-saving devices (Rochester, NY), launched The Cosmopolitan as family literary magazine; published quality fiction, children's stories, homemaking tips; May 23, 1888 - suspended business; 1889 - acquired from Joseph N. Hallock by John Brisben Walker, wealthy entrepreneur; introduced illustrations, attracted writers such as Mark Twain, Willa Cather, H. G. Wells; became leading market for fiction; 1892 - circulation of 75,000; 1905 - acquired by William Randolph Hearst for $400,000; turned it into purveyor of expose journalism to aid his personal political pursuits; 1920s - changed to fiction periodical (featured leading writers such as Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, William Somerset Maugham); 1930s - circulation of 1,700,000, advertising income of $5,000,000; mid-1960s - almost died; Helen Gurley Brown, ambitious and savvy businesswoman, submitted plan for dramatic editorial makeover; took helm, saved Cosmopolitan; published articles about topics other women's magazines avoided; 1980s - profit center of Hearst Corporation, culturally significant force in young women's lives.

(DC Comics), Paul Levitz (2010). 75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking. (New York, NY: Taschen, 720 p.). Former President and Publisher of DC Comics. DC Comics, Inc. --History; DC Comics, Inc. --History --Pictorial works; Comic books, strips, etc. --United States --History and criticism; Comic books, strips, etc. --United States --History and criticism --Pictorial works. History, from pulp origins to future of digital publishing.

Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson - Founder, DC Comics (http://www.majormalcolmwheelernicholson.com/sitebuildercontent/ sitebuilderpictures/mmwn-family-copyright.jpg)

(New Press), Andre Schiffrin (2010). Words and Money. (New York, NY: Verso, 176 p.). Former Publisher of Pantheon Books, Founder of The New Press. Publishing industry -- history; media -- consolidation. Revolution in publishing during last decade; media consolidation has contributed to ongoing demise of serious journalism in newspapers, magazines, serious broadcast news, online journalism; how the American corporate model has extended its reach to Europe, around globe; alternative policies to help to save journalism, media in US.

Shipping. Bill Sharpsteen (2011). The Docks. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 328 p.). Los Angeles-based Photographer. Harbors --California --Los Angeles; Stevedores --California --Los Angeles. Port of Los Angeles -vulnerable microcosm of labor, environmental, security issues; people who have made port largest in country, one of nation's most vital economic enterprises; critical entryway for goods coming into country - 40% of all waterborne cargo, 70% of all Asian imports.

Textiles. (Courtaulds), Geoffrey Owen (2010). The Rise and Fall of Great Companies: Courtaulds and the Reshaping of the Man-Made Fibres Industry. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 320 p.). Former Editor of the Financial Times. Courtaulds; fibres industry -- history. What companies can do when industry goes through period of turbulence, forces change; Courtaulds - world's leading producer of man-made fibres; 1970s - textiles, clothing, man-fibre production shifted to low-wage countries (especially China); decisions taken by individual managers, national context in which they operated; institutional differences between countries, role of shareholders and financial markets played important role in determining which companies survived.

Wall Street - Commodities.   (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), Emily Lambert (2010). The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 240 p.). Senior Writer (Forbes magazine). Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Commodity exchanges --Illinois --Chicago --History; Chicago (Ill.) --History. History of Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade; emergence of futures business as kind of meeting place for gamblers, farmers and subsequent transformation into sophisticated electronic market where contracts are traded at lightning-fast speeds; disastrous effects of Wall Street's adoption of futures contract without rules, close-knit social bonds that had made trading it in Chicago work so well; futures markets are real "free" markets; speculators can serve a vital economic, social function; how markets should work (written, cultural limits).

Wall Street - Panics. (1929), Michael Perino (2010). The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora’s Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance. (New York, NY: Penguin, 352 p.). Dean George W. Matheson Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law. Pecora, Ferdinand, 1882-; Stock Market Crash, 1929; Stock exchanges --United States --History --20th century; Financial crises --United States --History --20th century. 1933 - Ferdinand Pecora, Sicilian immigrant, former New York prosecutor, appointed Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate's Committee on Banking and Currency, put Wall Street on trial for Great Crash; turned hearings around, cross-examined officers of National City Bank (today’s Citigroup), particularly  Charles Mitchell (Chairman); rigorous questioning revealed that City Bank sold worthless bonds to public, manipulated  its stock price, paid excessive compensation, bonuses to executives; spurred Congress to take unprecedented steps to rein in freewheeling banking industry, led directly to New Deal economic reforms.

Ferdinand Pecora - (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/graphic/xlarge/PecoraFerdinand.jpg)

Wall Street - Trading.  Andrew W. Lo and Jasmina Hasanhodzic (2010). The Evolution of Technical Analysis: Financial Prediction from Babylonian Tablets to Bloomberg Terminals. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 212 p.). Harris & Harris Group Professor of Finance (MIT Sloan School of Management) and the Director of MIT's Laboratory for Financial Engineering; Research Scientist at Alpha-Simplex Group, LLC. Technical analysis (Investment analysis) --History. History of "dark art" of technical analysis (trading technique to divine trends, reversals, cycles, other predictable patterns in historical market prices); creation, evolution of technical analysis from rise of speculative trading in ancient Babylon, through Middle Ages, Renaissance, Industrial revolution to rise of Wall Street as world's financial center; eastern markets of China and Japan vs. Western practices; contributions of Charles Dow, Munehisa Homma, Humphrey B. Neill, William D. Gann.

Venture Capital. (Sutter Hill Ventures), William H. Draper, III; foreword by Eric Schmidt (2011). The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership Between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs. (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan 272 p.). Founder of Sutter Hill Ventures, General Partner of Draper Richards L.P., Draper Investment Company, and Draper International. Draper, William H., 1928-; Capitalists and financiers --United States --Biography; Venture capital; Entrepreneurship; New business enterprises --Finance. How relationship between venture capitalists, entrepreneurs is critical to future of business: how to evaluate innovative ideas, entrepreneurs behind those ideas (Yahoo, Baidu, Tesla Motors, Activision, Measurex, more); value of political leadership in creating opportunity (how Deng Xiaoping brought China roaring into modern world.

Capitalism. Ha-Joon Chang (2011). 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism. (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press, 304 p.). Assistant Director of Development Studies in the Faculty of Economics and Politics (University of Cambridge). Capitalism. Question assumptions behind dogma, hype that dominant school of neoliberal economists (apostles of freemarket) have spun since Age of Reagan; how global capitalism works—and doesn't; how to shape capitalism to humane ends, instead of becoming slaves of market.

Capitalists.  (Rockefeller), Suzanne Loebl (2010). America's Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy. (New York, NY: Harper 448 p.). Rockefeller family -- history; Rockefeller - art world. Family at center of 20th-century American art world; Rockefellers' artistic philanthropies; provided money, artworks, devoted themselves to causes they believed in (helped define, direct America's artistic tastes); taught America that art does not belong to rarefied elite, can be enjoyed, understood by all; founded MoMA, Colonial Williamsburg, Cloisters, Riverside Church, Asia Society; commissioned distinguished artworks for Rockefeller Center.

Disasters & Lawsuits. (British Petroleum), Peter Lehner, Bob Deans (2010). In Deep Water: The Anatomy of a Disaster, the Fate of the Gulf, and Ending Our Oil Addiction. (New York, NY: Experiment, 176 p.). Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Former Chief Asia Correspondent (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). British Petroleum -- history; Deepwater Hrizon; oil spills - history. April 20, 2010 - Deepwater Horizon’s well exploded, killed 11; estimated 200 million gallons of crude oil spewed into Gulf of Mexico over next two months; oil slick covered 2,500 square miles, killed wildlife, menaced coastline, thousands of jobs from Texas to Florida Keys, beyond; environmental, human toll of this tragedy; wasteful over-reliance on oil comes at ever-greater cost to planet.

(British Petroleum), National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2011). Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling. (National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 370 p.). April 20, 2010 - Macondo well blew, killed 11 men; began catastrophe that sank Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, spilled nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil into Gulf of Mexico; disrupted entire region's economy, damaged fisheries and critical habitats, brought vividly to light risks of deepwater drilling for oil and gas; President Obama appointed 7-member Commission to investigate disaster, analyze its causes and effects, recommend actions necessary to minimize risks in future.

(British Petroleum), Stanley Reed, Alison Fitzgerald (2011). In Too Deep: BP and the Drilling Race That Took It Down. (Hoboken, NJ: Bloomberg Press, 248 p.). Former London Bureau Chief of BusinessWeek; investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. BP (Firm); BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010; Oil wells --Mexico, Gulf of --Blowouts. Why these disasters always happen to BP, not to other large oil companies; built on risk-taking, cost-cutting; practices of former BP CEO John Browne may have mouch to do with disaster.

Economics. Edward B. Barbier (2010). Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 768 p.). John S. Bugas Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance (University of Wyoming). Agriculture --Economic aspects --History; Natural resources; Scarcity; Economic development. Contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of world history; lessons for attaining sustainable economic development in world; response of society to scarcity of key natural resources has been critical driving force in history behind global economic development; increasing scarcity raises cost of exploiting existing natural resources, creates incentives in all economies to innovate, conserve more of these resources; economies have also responded to increasing scarcity by obtaining, developing more of these resources; exploitation of new ’frontiers’ has often proved to be pivotal human response to natural resource scarcity.

Ecoonomics - Consumption.  Eduardo Porter (2011). The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. (New York, NY: Portfolio Penguin, 304 p.). Editorial Board Member (The New York Times). Value; Values. Constant, often unconscious, cost and value assessments made every day; how critical prices motivate, shape lives (clear when distorted prices steer decisions wrong way); story behind prices; what prices tell us (relative prices of a vote in corrupt São Tomé vs. ostensibly aboveboard United States, cost of happiness in Bhutan, deducing dollar value assigned to human life: why polygamous societies place higher value on women than monogamous ones; why someone may find more value in $14 million license plate than in standard-issue $95 one; why some government agencies believe one year of life for senior citizen is four times more valuable than that of younger person).