Book Description

This study shows how myths construct and express the social identities of a community. Focusing on Rajasthan, it describes how myths here mostly centre around the theme of violence and its rejection. The social persona of the trading groups are created around this and hence issues of violence and its control emerge as the symbolic key to trader social identity in this cultural context.

Analyzing what myths have to say about traders, the author examines the nature of caste in general, as well as the specific place of trading castes in Indian society. Moreover he looks at the problems of the social identity of traders. By studying myths, the book shows how Indian trading groups have dealt with these problems by using symbolic material provided by their specific social and cultural milieu.

Finally the author looks at the role of myth itself as a repository of socially important knowledge.

Book Description

Now available in a paperback edition, Consumption and the World of Goods offers a new interpretation of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one that shapes a new historical landscape based on the consumption of goods and services.Leading specialists from the United States and Europe focus on problems of methodology and historiography, goods and consumption, production and the meaning of possessions, literacy and numeracy, books, newspapers, objects and images.The result is a rich new direction in early modern cultural and social history.

Contributors: Jean-Christophe Agnew, Joyce Appleby, T.H. Breen, John Brewer, Peter Burke, Colin Campbell, Patricia Cline Cohen, David Cressy, Jan de Vries, Cissie Fairchilds, C.Y. Ferdinand, Iaroslav Isaievych, Sidney Mintz, John Money, Chandra Mukerji, Jeremy D. Popkin, Roy Porter, Simon Schaffer. ... Read more

Book Description

Entertaining chronicle of finely crafted wearing apparel: luxurious, fur-trimmed evening wraps, bridal gowns and fashionably correct riding habits for women; attractive accessories for men; stylish, well-made clothing for children, beautiful samples of costume jewelry, handbags, millinery, shoes, lingerie and much more. Excellent source of copyright-free material for graphic artists; valuable information for fashion historians and collectors. 502 illustrations.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Catalog of Jazz Age Fashions for Women
The "Franklin Simon Fashion Catalog for 1923" has over 500 illustrations of fur-trimmed evening wraps, bridal gowns, casual day wear, and even what the fashionably dressed woman should wear while out riding. There are also a variety of accessories for men, stylish clothing for children, and a complete array of costume jewelry, hats, shoes, handbags and the like for the ladies. This volume in the Dover Books on Costumes series is an excellent source of copyright-free material for graphic artists as well as providing valuable information for fashion historians, collectors, and costume designers if you are doing your own stage version of "The Great Gatsby" or "Thoroughly Modern Millie." ... Read more

Book Description

"Gershman may be the best guide for novice and pro shoppers alike." —The Washington Post

For nearly twenty years, Suzy Gershman has been leading savvy shoppers to the world s best finds. Now Born to Shop Hong Kong, Shanghai & Beijing is easier to use and packed with more up-to-date listings than ever before. Inside you ll find:

• What s hot in Hong Kong, from hip new fashions and designer labels to porcelain, jade, and colorful markets
• The best of Shanghai, from the Old City to the exciting new Pudong area
• Terrific buys in Beijing, from the Silk Market to the Pearl Market to the famous antiques street of Liulichang
• A completely new section on Hanoi and its unique treasures such as contemporary art, sophisticated lacquer, and funky ethnic fashions

Book Description

Using Mexico as an example, this book examines the issues surrounding the production and trading of coffee.It describes the conventional coffee trade, tracing the coffee bean's journey from the tree, through the hands of several intermediaries in both the North and South, to its final destination as a cup of coffee. The concept of "fair trade" is introduced through the example of the Mexican peasant organization that was one of the first to embrace the idea. ... Read more

Book Description

"Tribal Art Traffic" traces the movements of hundreds of thousands of masks, statues, amulets, shields, pieces of cloth, utensils, and weapons from overseas tribal cultures to and within North Atlantic societies, in colonial and post colonial times. While the focus is on the relatively small Low Countries and their huge overseas territories, the Belgian Congo and the Netherlands East Indies, related developments in three adjacent colonial powers, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, are also covered, as are links to the United States.

This book charts the means and places through which tribal objects circulated and continue to circulate: colonial trading posts, missionary posts, attics and cellars, living rooms, museums, flea markets, monasteries, auction houses, artists' studios, private collections, and art galleries – are

In the second part of the book dealers, collectors, and curators relate their more recent experiences with objects-in-motion. This chronicle of European taste, trade and desire sketches the emergence of a western market for tribal art in the course of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Book Description

"Gershman's guide may be the best guide for novice and pro shoppers alike," praises The Washington Post, and you'll agree. For more than ten years, Suzy Gershman has been leading savvy shoppers to the world's best finds. Now Born to Shop France is easier to use and packed with more up-to-date listings than ever before. Inside you'll find:

• The best of the shopping scene, from Paris' designer boutiquest to colorful markets in Provence
• Excellent values, from Chanel to Champagne
• Great gift ideas, even for the friend who has everything-plus the best gifts for less than $5
• The best airfare, hotel, and dining values-so you can maximize your shopping dollars
• Detailed city maps and shopping tours, including Reims, Lyon, and the Riviera

Reviews (1)

I took this one along with me everywhere I went.
This book helped me to maximize my shopping dollars on my trip to France. With excellent values and gift ideas, I was able to find everything I wanted. Suzy offered an insider's guide to be best shopping scene ranging from Paris' designer boutiques to markets in Province. She also offered advice on where to find the best airfare, hotel, and dining values. ... Read more

Book Description

Rexall Showcase International—the direct selling arm of Rexall Sundown—is changing forever the face of network marketing. In a little over eight years, this booming company and its legion of distributors have revolutionized the $18-billion-a-year natural health and wellness industry along with the $80-billion direct-selling industry, flooding the market with exciting new products that have attracted consumers around the world. Most important, however, it has helped tens of thousands of people just like you achieve success beyond their wildest dreams.

In Prescription for Success, bestselling author James W. Robinson takes you inside this network marketing phenomenon and shows you how it became a leader in the natural health industry—realizing revenues in excess of $160 million in 1998, a 51 percent increase over the prior year! You'll learn where Rexall Showcase is heading as it expands throughout the world. You'll also meet men and women from all walks of life—single moms, doctors, CPAs, attorneys, business professionals, and schoolteachers—who have discovered an incredible business opportunity that has changed their lives. It's an opportunity open to all, including you.

"Prescription for Success is a great American success story, vibrant with drama, inspiration, and penetrating insights. A fascinating glimpse into the network marketing phenomenon."

—Richard Poe, New York Times bestselling author of Wave 3  and the forthcoming Wave 4: Network Marketing in the 21st Century

Foreword by Damon DeSantis, President of Rexall Sundown, Inc., and CEO of Rexall Showcase International, and David Schofield, President and COO of Rexall Showcase International.

About the Author

James W. Robinson is the senior vice president and counselor to the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation. He is also the author of the bestsellers The Excel Phenomenon and Empire of Freedom (both from Prima).

Reviews (6)

An Inside Look into a Misunderstood Industry & its Lead'g Co
"Prescription for Success" not only reviews the industry of network marketing itself, but it spotlights the industry's leading frontrunner: the preventative healthcare/natural medicines division of the well-known original Rexall Drug Corporation, Rexall Showcase International.

This is a great "behind the scenes" look by an unbiased, well-informed and savvy observer of both the industry and what it is that makes a network marketing company GREAT. The testimonies are captivating and the success-track of the company is portrayed in a story-like, yet business-oriented fashion.

The information is factual and down-to-earth, and makes the book an easy read. I thought I already well-understood Rexall Showcase International's background and strengths, since I'm an "insider" of sorts, leading (with my husband) one of the fastest growing RSI independent distributor organizations in the country--so I expected to be a bit bored. However, I was delightfully surprised and continually fascinated by what I learned from this book. If you want to understand the industry and the mechanics of what may end up to be the most successful MLM of all time, don't pass this one up--whether or not you are a current distributor, or care to become one.

A window admitting light into a sometimes dark industry.
Mr. Robinson gives a peek inside one particular company in the industry called network marketing. His experienced comments combined with those of several leaders in Rexall Showcase Intn'l. combine to really let one see what goes on, how it's done, and why. I found it to be a portrait of a group of very diverse individuals who have discovered a common way to do more good than they could have, by branching out into this type of business. The enthusiasm revealed is similar to that in the autobiograhical book by Mary Kay Ash.

Inspiration and validation for us who aspire to do the same.
This is a well written account of the rise of Rexall Showcase International and the vision of the people who made it work. Distributors stories are inspiring and encouraging and reveal that with the available tools and support, it's up to each individual to determine how far up the ladder he wants to go. Robinson presents some pros - and some cons - of network marketing in general and the entepreneural opportunity of Rexall Showcase International in specific.

THE prime method and vehicle to use for wealth building
The author does an excellent job in humanizing the network marketing profession as it is performed by Rexall Showcase International, both the company and its growing independent distributor force. He leaves no doubt that network marketing done with the right company that has the right products and the right moral ethics is the most compelling way for any of us to build wealth - and Rexall Showcase International is THAT company.

concise look at the future of business as it's done today
James Robinson has done a great job presenting an old company with a new business plan that looks at trends and capitolizes on them. His handling of the material is concise yet comprehensive and leaves the reader with no question about the viability of this business opportunity. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to add to or diversify their income on a part-time basis as it looks like a no-brainer to be a prescription for success. ... Read more

Book Description

Collected and highly valued all over the world, Navajo weaving has been the subject of many aesthetic and historic studies. Grounded in archival research and cultural and economic approaches, this new book situates Navajo weavers within the economic history of the Southwest and debunks the romantic stereotypes of weavers and traders that have dominated the literature.Beginning with an analysis of trader archives revealing that nearly all Navajo textiles were wholesaled by weight until the 1960s, M’Closkey scrutinizes the complex interactions among artists, dealers, collectors, and museum curators that have facilitated the explosion in value of those old weavings. She also examines the production of Mexican copies of Navajo-style rugs, which in recent years has combined with the market for pre-1950 textiles to diminish the demand for contemporary Navajo weavings. Navajo patterns, she points out, remain unprotected by copyright because traditional designs have been in the public domain for decades.

Much of the exploitation M’Closkey delineates has been justified by the ethnographic classification of functional textiles as nonsacred crafts. But the author’s conversations with Navajo weavers suggest that their motivations for weaving go far beyond economics. Weavers’ feelings for hózhó, the Navajo concept of harmonious beauty, encompass far more than any western concept of aesthetics. M’Closkey shows that the weavers’ views of their work are marginalized when the work is treated as a collectible craft and culture is split from commodity.

No one who studies, collects, sells, or enjoys Navajo textiles (either genuine or knock-offs) can ignore this book. Sure to be controversial, it will be important reading for anyone concerned with the merchandising of Indian art. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT--HISTORY MADE CLEAR
This is a book I would have been proud to have written, but Kathy M'Closkey has done it exceedingly well. She has told a long overdue and in-depth history of Navajo weaving that binds together themes usually glossed over or ignored in most academic texts--both art historical and ethnographic--and sets the record straight. One of her central and most telling points is that, given the past (and still current) Anglo-dominated marketing and auction systems, the more Navajo women wove, the poorer they became.

The author also addresses the problem of knockoffs of Dine' creativity and design seen today in the increasing number of overseas copies (from Mexico, India, Europe, and elsewhere) of Navajo weaving designs being marketed in the U.S. and sold worldwide.

Richly documented from the records of traders, trading posts, government, and other original sources--especially the testimony of the Dine' (Navajo) weavers themselves--the author gives voice to a history too-long hidden from the general public and now made clear and plain. "Swept Under the Rug" reveals how the weavings were severed from their makers' stories and how, because of this, the prevailing and standard "history" of Navajo weaving does not reflect Dine' values, but rather those of an externally controlled access to the public and marketplace. Fair-trade grassroots indigenous initiatives and cooperatives such as Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Sheep Is Life, the Dine' College Navajo Textile Project, and others, are starting to bring about change and empower the Dine', through the work of their own hands, to reach the market directly, reclaiming the present and a future for the wool and weavings at the core of their culture and economy.

This book is a must-read complement to the few books in print about Navajo weaving that give voice to the Dine' themselves, such as in "Weaving A World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing," by Roseann S. Willink and Paul G. Zolbrod, and in parts of "Woven by the Grandmothers: Nineteenth-Century Textiles from the National Museum of the American Indian," ed. by Eulalie H. Bonar. ... Read more

Book Description

Still the most comprehensive guide to more than 1,000 antique dealers, this guide offers everyone from the serious buyer to the occasional collector the most up-to-date, inside information to New York State antique dealers. Features include three self-contained geographic sections; an easier-to-use Antique Street Guide for Manhattan; entries with hours, phone and fax numbers, price ranges, and descriptions; appendices listing dealers by specialty areas and special services as well as a general index; and a glossary of terms and a list of antique publications.

Reviews (1)

Over a thousand dealers are listed by section
Travelers to or residents of New York who want a fine updated guide to the dealers of the City plus Westchester, Long Island and Upstate receive a fine pocket-sized take-along tote to the best shops, written by two long-time writers in the antique industry. Over a thousand dealers are listed by section, an invaluable street guide for Manhattan has been reorganized for better efficiency, and appendices list them by specialty areas and special services as well. Antiquing New York is a 'must' for any New York bound antiquing enthusiasts seeking the best places to explore for antiques of all kinds and categories. ... Read more

Book Description

Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) was the foremost British economist of his time.Among his areas of expertise was monetary analysis.Written in 1923, MONEY, CREDIT, AND COMMERCE devoted to this subject, is his last major work.

Among the proposals made in this work for which Marshall is most remembered is the adoption of symmetallism, a plan for the combined use of gold and silver as the monetary base.He expresses his views on the relation of business fluctuations and the credit market to general unemployment.Marshall also sees reckless inflation of credit as the main source of economic instability.

MONEY, CREDIT, AND COMMERCE remains a valuable work for students of economics and monetary policy. ... Read more

Book Description

For more than ten years, Suzy Gershman has been leading savvy shoppers to the world's best finds. Now Born to Shop London is easier to use and packed with more up-to-date listings and shopping secrets than ever before. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Indispensible!
This book was a great guide to shopping London. I wasn't looking for a bargain shopping guide and this certainly isn't that. But if you are, this book may not be for you. Suzy has expensive tastes (like me). I really needed to have some idea where all the interesting boutiques and shopping areas were and this book was exactly what I needed. ... Read more

Book Description

What role does consumption play in Japanese lives that are more than study, work, and shopping? How have those lives changed since World War II as Japan has wrestled with the meaning of white-collar careers, increasing independence for women, changing family values, a shrinking birth rate, and an aging population? Japan's first think tank devoted to the study of consumer behavior was created to answer these questions. In this book, an anthropologist reads its research, exploring Japan through the eyes of Japanese researchers and discovering patterns of change that are both uniquely Japanese and shared by consumers in other advanced industrial nations. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Consuming Japan
McCreery is an anthropologist who has spent years working in the Japanese advertising industry -- not working in the sense of anthropological field work, but actually earning a living in the Japanese advertising industry. His book draws both on his insights into the industry and its products from this perspective, and his anthropological training. It is a data-rich book that ingeneously makes use of advertising or marketing research to create portraits of what advertisers think about different generations or sub-sets of Japanese consumers. It is a fascinating mosaic of materials and in many ways an experimental ethnography. Highly recommended.

Understanding Japanese generations
You, as well as I, or lot of people more have heard stereotypes of Japan and its people, for sure. Maybe you use such stereotypes when talking about any topic on Japan. However, there are very good explanations for them, and I recommend you this book to know such basics.

In the first half, you'll read about Japan's history and the evolution of its society. In the second, you'll use those arguments to understand the behaviour of the groups of Japanese identified through the book.

The book set clearly two distinctions:
1. Talk about groups of Japanese, not "the Japanese," that is, don't use stereotypes.
2. Consider the time. Any argument is valid only in a certain period of time.

On that second point, the book was edited in 2001. It has arguments for 2005 or so. After that, you should look for new arguments.

Japanese consumers explained
The expertise gained from years of experience in Japanese advertising is supplemented with interviews and translations from Hakuhodo's think-tank newsletter on consumer mindsets. Highly recommended.

A Very Worthwhile Book
Japanese Consumer Behavior is a challenging book. There are multiple frames of reference: an analytical outsider, analyzing insiders analyzing their own culture, and changing trends within that culture. And that is just the approach. Then there is the data, relatively rapid changes across generations within a culture in response to major post-World War II, economic, gender-role, urbanizing, and, well, other real big changes. In essence there is a real fine grained analysis coupled with an analysis of the larger trends. And then there is the weird sense of dislocation, of finding "sneaker middles" in Japan bearing an almost but not quite resemblence to "yuppies" and trying to put a finger on what that "almost" but "not quite" is. The traditional anthropological road map one acquires does not apply very well to this book, hence it is an active reader book. If anyone is interested in what anthropology is going to be like in the future this is a good place to start. ... Read more

Book Description

In this major reinterpretation of the activities of London's merchant community during the early Stuart period, Robert Brenner explains the factors behind the opening of long-distance commerce to the south and east, describes the growing power of the great City merchants, and pro-files the new colonial traders, who became the chief architects of the Common-wealth's dynamic commercial policy. ... Read more

Book Description

In Thailand, a $4 billion per year tourist industry is the linchpin of the modernization process called the "Thai Economic Miracle". And what is Thailand's main attraction? Sex for hire. Year after year young women are lured to Bangkok to staff the teeming brothels, massage parlors, and sex bars that cater to male tourists from the United States, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, the Gulf States, Malaysia, and Singapore. Developed from Lillian S. Robinson's article in The Nation, Night Market traces the historical, cultural, material, and textual traditions that have combined in unique ways to establish sex tourism as an integral part of the developing Thai economy. It explores international sex tourism from the perspectives of economic-development planning, forced labor market choices, international sexual alienation, and textual traditions that have constructed sexual "Other" cultures in Western imagination. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Pseudo-intellectual garbage
A lot of hype and nonsense showing how feminists extremists view the night life scene in Bangkok. From their fanatical point of view only. And of course when one of their own disagrees with them, such as, Cleo Oldzer, rather than question themselves, they dump on her. These people remind me of the academics in the play Equus, who had no hope of enjoying life. A very boring book in which they love to babble about "tropes." Well, sweetiepies, trope THIS.

An overblown effort
While the subject of this book is very interesting and deserves further study, the authors were very pretensious. The book did offer some new insights into Thai economics and how the tourism and prostituion industries interact, but one gets the feeling the authors wanted to rail against the "Farangs" that travel to the kingdom. Two items particularly irritated me. The first was how the authors referenced documents from a navigator on Christopher Columbus' first voyage to America to describe how foreigners feel about Thai prostitues. How a document written about a voyage before there was a Thailand (or U.S.A. for that matter) pertains to Bangkok massage parlors, I'll never know. The second "documentation" concerned a Thai Air advertisement. The ad featured a stewardess smiling at a white airline traveler. The authors try to convince the reader that this is proof that Thai industries are actively promoting the sex trade. If this is true, nearly every commercial on American television is an active promotion of prostitution in the U.S. There is a need for a serious study of the socio-economic impact of the sex trade in Thailand, but this is not it. This is nothing more than a tirade against prostitution and the foreign travelers who venture to Thailand. How prostitution destroys young Thais is truly a sad story, but the authors should devote a little more effort in researching their subject, rather than blindly grasping at obtuse concepts to prove a predjudicial viewpoint.

At least one 5-star review is an author
The turgid, confused prose is a dead give away. So is the overblown praise for this poorly written book. The 5 star review from "the United States of America" has to be one of the authors. If so, then the call for "objective" reviews from a postmodernist is ironic, as well as amusing. Also ironic is the book's theme of exploitation---by relying on a dated, superficial review of scholarly research, as well as sleazy pop culture, the book itself appears to be a work of Western exploitation. Except this time, it's the arrogant academics exploiting prostitutes, rather than their male customers. This harsh, intensely narcisistic diatribe may be good vita fodder, but it is not worthwhile reading.

Irresponsible elitist Ethnocentrism disguised as ¿Academic¿.
I've been involved in and taught cultural anthropology for 27 years. I don't normally underline very much in a book, but after combing through this one I found I had made some 174 major underlinings, mostly critical. I also made 137 major separate notes in the margins and at the end of chapters, alas, also mostly critical. For those of you who do not wish to read the whole of this review, let me advise you to use this book only as a classic example of how not to do anthropological research and how not to write it, and to a certain extent, how not to publish it (the backing falls apart in less than two readings and you are ultimately treated to piles of pages).

It is difficult to summarize in such a short space all the concerns I have for the serious or critical reader of this volume. Rest assured, I have no axe to grind, know none of the authors or folks associated, and have only been to Thailand once, but having invested the better part of three days reviewing this as a possible text for one of my courses, Gawd, this book is an awful waste of time. It is a little like a romance novel that seems to keep promising the academic ecstasy of greater things if you just keep reading, like solutions to the "problems" the authors keep formulating or imagining. But there is no ecstasy and nothing happens and there is no elaborated point that is not covered in the Preface and chapter one. For all of its criticism of the Thai life system, not one solution is ever postulated, not one piece of advice for the Thai government, not one applicable idea. A few vague references from the authors suggest agricultural reform and other governmental "reorganizations" would somehow keep these pathetic poverty-stricken Thai farming people from selling their daughters into the ever present malevolent, (but dang it) lucrative, prostitution profession, and the subsequent loyalty requirement that the girls send at least some of the money home to keep the farm up and their folks 'comfortable'. What happens to these women as they grow older is not explored well at all. To paraphrase, "I wonder how you keep them down on the farm after they've seen gaye Bankok?" It is as though underneath it all, the authors really don't want to allow the Thai people to have their own way of life, thank you.

In its own way, the book has bitten off more than it can chew. It tries to describe and contrast the differences between the contexts in which Thai folks struggle to make an agricultural living (never really described), the relative worth of the individual (male or female) in this process, family loyalty, the way Thais look at beauty, sensuality, sex, proper behavior, and world view in general, and the way "westerners", meaning folks as diverse and evil as German males and American males and perhaps Japanese males look at the same. No small task! But the book decries the life and condition of the Thai sex workers (mostly female) and how they got to Patpong and the Soi Cowboy. The male sex workers are not considered to be equally pathetic and as a result are all but entirely ignored.

The description of fieldwork, interviews, and results are absolutely minimal for the book as a whole, and forms all or parts of only three chapters. In reading Bishop's transcribed interviews, one wants to read more, to have more interviews, enough so that we can make better comparisons, to make our own judgements. The others could have been put in an appendix. But, alas, we get told what to think about these things, as short as the interviews are, and come away feeling suspicious about the authors' conclusions.

Considering the extent of the Japanese market, the German market, and the over rated but apparent "American" market for the services of the sex workers of Thailand, virtually nothing is said about the context of why German or Japanese men are attracted to Thai sex services. In "exploring" an American female's perception of American male's concepts of sexual attraction (Chapter 5, Imagining Sexual Others), Robinson (& Bishop?) impose too much of a connection forced from a naïve interpretation of the widespread classic "King and I" as the cause of it all, meaning, much of the American male's attraction to Thai women. There are heaps of literature on what attracts males to females and vice versa in a culture bound sort of way, and more on the concept of femininity. How Thai culture presents the concept of femininity, even if it is for sale, is strangely little explored. The authors tend to "over portray" the stark contrast between the ideals of otherwise "sweet little innocent girls" versus the raw, savage, foreign male sexual appetite. They barely touch on the relationships between prostitutes and their Thai male customers. See below.

Their cited references are many, but this book reviews extensively their faults rather than any of their positives, as though they were competing authors, not contributing authors. Several chapters are devoted to nothing but book and article reviews, including poetry and songs. So much are they involved in this, that they even review fictional accounts as though they were real and pass judgements upon them. They imply that Internet chat room jargon and "first-hand accounts" of men's Thai sex worker experiences, also on web sites, count as some sort of field work. Again it tells you about the authors' need to set up straw men and knock them down to prove their own preconceived point.

You get the impression they are trying to settle old scores in print. Their first genuine compliment to another author is on page 242 out of 252 pages of text, to one Wendy Chapkis.

Chapter 7, The Unspeakable, is probably one of the better sections, and touches on what can and cannot be talked about in Thai society, and thus how that contributes to ignoring the sex worker's way of life and raison d'etre, the crux of the entire book.

When it comes to attitude, this book is agony. Ms Robinson's feminist ethnocentrism first appears blatantly on page 11, though she attempts transparently to mask it or excuse it, and so the ethnocentrism continues on through the whole of her portion of the text. She falls victim to the technique that if you say something often enough, you then begin to believe it to be true, even if the original did not start out as truth. If Robinson is an anthropologist (See p. 15 ...Bishop is by training a cultural anthropologist.... Robinson holds degrees in the humanities.... But by p. 227 Robinson alludes to herself as an anthropologist. Okay, you can become one by experience after a fashion, like Mark Twain, but she still seems not to know what ethnocentrism is, or chooses not to see it in her writing. At least Mark Twain knew it well - read The Innocence Abroad), anthropologists are theoretically not supposed to write with so much ethnocentrism. Yet every section Lillian Robinson authors seems filled to the brim with heavy western value judgements that tell more about the author than the point she is trying to make.

In many parts of anthropology, context is everything. Carefully hidden in several areas of the book are references to the traditional Thai view of the necessity of prostitution and the frequency with which Thai males use these services. Before Robinson & Bishop can insinuate that foreign males are the driving force for this market, they should more openly recognize the overwhelming market dominance of Thai male use of prostitution. With this in mind, the CIA, FBI, military, politicians, press, and good ole' benign advertisers routinely practice this sort of "disinformation", in rather sophisticated ways on occasion, with the purpose of bending a targets perception towards a desired goal, and this book emulates those techniques, but under the guise of "academic research". It scares me to think that any analytical folks could draw any conclusions from this opus ad nauseum.

It is a book that seems to have been put together by coupling emailed sections over a year or two and no one ever bothered to sit down with a whole copy and read it straight through. It seems surprising that it got by reviewers, let alone publisher Routledge's editors. The writing style and vocabulary is sometimes academic haute cuisine and uses about a dozen words that most academics don't understand let alone use in their own writing. Words like "elide", "synechdote", "emended", etc., are hardly intended for most student audiences.

This anthropologist did learn a lot from the book, but unfortunately those items learned had nothing to do with why the book was written in the first place. I missed a lot in Thailand 25 years ago! The synechdoche elides the whole of this seraglio-filled book and prevents much discursive discussion. Darn.

Been there, read that, avoid this.
Much has changed in Thailand since the early 1990s when the problems of prostitution and HIV/AIDS made international headlines and prompted a rash of books analysing social conditions there -- the pro-democracy movement, Black May and the ousting of the military dictators. Under civilian democracy, most Thais no longer react to social problems as bad publicity, but as serious wounds in their national character which need to be healed. So it was with great anticipation that I read Robinson's and Bishop's new book. Unfortunately, all of that anticipation was in vain.

What the two authors try to pass off as insightful social analysis and viewing prostitution in the context of global economics, has already been covered before, with greater skill and depth, by other authors and, more importantly, by researchers and social critics in Thailand itself. In fact, the most obvious failing of this work is its refusal to give a voice to the Thais who have fought these problems first hand over the years, or even give a voice to the women victimized themselves by the sex industry. There is no discussion of solutions, or acknowledgement that the Thai sex industry is a small percentage of its former size and the dreaded AIDS crisis has been halted dead in its tracks -- all the result of the efforts and sacrifice of Thais, not of a couple of foreign academics who drop into a country for a few weeks then write a "tsk-tsk" report on troubling social conditions there.

Apart from the economic and social analysis found in the book, (much of which sounds suspiciously like word-for-word translations of reports and journals written by Thai authors on these topics), a substantial amount of material is drawn from international press reporting, which many engaged in social work in Thailand feel is part of the problem. Two articles frequently cited by Bishop and Robinson as "proof" -- "reports" by Time and the New York Times from several years ago -- were revealed to be fradulent long ago, a fact which seems to have been ignored by the two authors. Many other sources used in the book are either out-dated or so questionable in nature few serious researchers would have used them in the first place.

Perhaps Bishop and Robinson thought this would be a quick and easy way to make some money. Whatever their motivation, the result is a book which presents nothing new, muddles facts and questionable sources to fortify their conclusions, and gives us a pair of American mounting their "high horses" to damn social problems in a foreign country which we are far from solving in our own. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Rich with Insight
To write the chapters of this book, Sherry and Brown tapped some of the keenest minds currently investigating marketing and consumption questions with the perspicacious eye of anthropologists and cultural observers. Moving from the spiritual to the theoretical, there is also some very solid theory-building scholarship present in the book.

My taste in ethnography tends to run towards the more personal, and it is for this reason that I find the most personal chapters of the book-like those by Holbrook, Sherry, Schau, and Brown-to be the most satisfying. I find the book to be most powerful when its authors are the most authentic and the most autoethnographic. If I can fault the editors for anything, it would be for not drawing enough of their contributor's personal perspectives, the idiosyncratic, from the rich context of retroscapes. Perhaps this is a flaw with the entire field of consumer research. As scholars, we are reticent to emerge from behind our prose as living, emotional beings with rich experiences. This makes us vulnerable, exposed, but it is also the richest source of our knowing and our experience, as Holbrook's masterful chapter readily demonstrates.

Ethnographers and phenomenologists like Dilthey, right up to current scholars like Laurel Richardson, Norman Denzin, and Caroline Ellis have been urging scholars of all stripes to place more personal voices within our emotionally distant research narratives. Time, Space, and the Market proves it can be done. It does a superb job of realizing some of this representational potential. But the achievement is realized only in patches and spots.

All this talk of preferences for personal voices, however, should not be read as slighting the theoretical impact of the book. For those interested in building theory about retailing and retro, there is material aplenty here. The book will rewards careful and even leisurely reading by anyone interested in what it means to shop in contemporary societies, what it means to be contemporary, in what are the tensions of living and marketing in a particular era positioned vis à vis other particular historical milieux. An underlying theme of deep and continuing interest is the tension between commercialization and culture, between the worlds of communities, and the universe of marketplaces. This topic will not go away, and the variety of interesting topics and approaches here can help to inform a variety of individual contributions to its study.
The book has wonderful European-American representation, which provides North American readers with a sense of some of the genuinely exciting research taking place on the other side of the Atlantic. While there are definite variations in the quality of its chapters, this is the price paid for reflecting diversity. In summary, there are generally few Marketing books that one could recommend to people outside the field as having merit as entertaining in themselves. I believe that several of the chapters in Time, Space, and the Market actually hit that high bar of accessibility, insight, and sheer provocative fun. This is a book that deserves to be read. ... Read more

Book Description

Exploring major regions and exotic countries of the world, the authoritative Impact Guides take today's discerning travelers into the fascinating worlds of artisans, craftspeople, shopkeepers, and fine hotels, restaurants, and sightseeing.These unique guides show travelers how to have a wonderful time discovering quality products, outstanding buys, and talented, interesting, and friendly people.Jam-packed with travel tips, bargaining strategies, and recommended shops, hotels, and restaurants, the Impact Guides represent some of the most exciting travel writing today. These books especially appeal to discriminating travelers who seek quality travel experience that go beyond the standard descriptive guidebooks. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Highly reccomended
I enjoyed reading this book -it was informative, descriptive and very useful during my travels to Thailand. I would reccomend it for anyone traveling to Thailand, as well as anyone interested in learning more about the Thai culture and kingdom. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Ever feel like you've been screwed over, ripped off, cheated, or treated badly by some company or organization? No? Then don't bother buying this book. If, however, you endure the routine ill treatment one gets in auto repair facilities, tax offices, or with airlines that the rest of us encounter with great regularity, this book will show you how to complain effectively for best results, when to complain and maybe when not, what companies tend to respond to, and, if all else fails, some wonderful examples of consumer revenge when all legitimate attempts to get satisfaction bear no fruit. Useful book, quite funny in places with lots of true case histories of successful complaining. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Bear's book is interesting: of some use, but obsolete
This book, evolving, it appears, from a dissertation, is wellwritten and moderately interestng as an intellectual excursion. Italso provides insights into the contempuous ways in which some companies treat complaining customers, the laws, regulations and recourses that are available to dissatisfied customers, and offers a few useful suggestions. However, the book must now be considered long in the tooth. There are more useful books out there, e.g. by Phillips. Also Bear and his spouse have a more recent book that is more likely to be useful to people who really want to complain. That complaints often wield powerful effects is certain.

One last piece of review and advice. Before entering into a course of customer, read lots of books about the topic(s).

Bedbug Letter
I chose this book because I was mad and I was not going to take it anymore so I decided to write a letter of complaint to the object of my "affection" (my employer). I thought this book would teach me how. I mean, part of the title reads "How to be a more effective complainer". Unfortunately, the book turned out to be endless in its compilation of data and statistics but falls far short on the very job it's supposed to do: it does not tell you exactly HOW to complain and the examples it gives are very few and far in between. The contents seem more like a boring executive report not expected to be read by anyone.

Excellent, in-depth and effective
This book is incredible! It tells you what works and what doesn't, when and how to complain, be persistent, etc, all written quite humorously and with case studies. ... Read more

Book Description

While health care debates have raged across the country from the nation's capital to statehouses throughout the country, the leaders of today's community pharmacies have had to wage their own battle to preserve and protect a vital part of America's health care fabric. The story of the past three years of this battle has been told week after week in a column written by one of the actors in this process, the president of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Craig Fuller.

Today's community pharmacists are among the most trusted professionals in our society. Pharmacies are located at street corners across America. Yet how much do people know about how they really work? What are these stores...convenience stores? Health centers? And, what kinds of issues must they confront in the public debate about the high cost of prescription medication.

By looking back on events as they unfolded week after week, the reader learns what's on the minds of those people inside today's drug store. You learn just how important the role of the pharmacist is today. You learn how much goes on behind the scenes every time you fill a prescription to ensure you take the medication safely and effectively. You also learn some of the challenges confronting your community pharmacy today that could change the way you receive medication in the future.

From Washington, D.C., this account of the challenges community pharmacy faces today provides important insights into the nature of those who serve on the front line of our health care system and what they will confront tomorrow in a growing and increasingly critical debate on health care in America. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Great Look at Issues, Challanges, and Successes
NACDS, the Association that champions the cause of Chain Drug Stores (all of them, not just the big ones) offers a great look at the industry through the newsletters of the thier president, Craig Fuller. It is well organized so you can jump right in to what interests you most. Fuller's style makes it a fast and entertaining read. The reader is quickly brought up to speed on issues including prescription drug reform, the role of chain drug stores in the community, and all issues facing the industry. This is a must read for anyone with a connection to ongoing healthcare debate. Thank you NACDS! ... Read more

Book Description

Legal Programming: Designing Legally Compliant RFID and Software Agent Architectures for Retail Processes and Beyond provides a process-oriented discussion of the legal concerns presented by agent-based technologies, processes and programming. It offers a general outline of the potential legal difficulties that could arise in relation to them, focusing on the programming of negotiation and contracting processes in a privacy, consumer and commercial context. The authors will elucidate how it is possible to create form of legal framework and design methodology for transaction agents, applicable in any environment and not just in a specific proprietary framework, that provides the right level of compliance and trust. Key elements considered include the design and programming of legally compliant methods, the determination of rights in respect of objects and variables, and ontologies and programming frameworks for agent interactions. Examples are used to illustrate the points made and provide a practical perspective.