Economic-union Books

The book gives a clear clue of the integration of the EU through the past fifty years. It reviews the general background behind every integration, which is much helpful to particularly law students.

In a word, it is a good stuff to read before we learn EU law.

I knew virtually nothing about the Europena Union before reading this book, so I don't know how valuable it would be for an experienced EU scholar. However, for someone like myself it covers all the basics (what istitutions are involved?) and a good history from conception to today. The reading is a little dry, mostly due to the number of details involved, but not difficult to read. It makes a good starting point for those wishing to familiarize themselves with the the general history of European integration before going on to further study.

I read carefully Alesina's book. It is well written and it really gives Europe and Europeans something to think about. Basically, the authors defend that Europe should start doing things "The American Way", that is, work more, attract young researchers/scientists to universities and spend more in military programs.

Several of these ideas are valid and I believe the authors are completely right in their insights, namely, the absolute need to attract young scientists and researchers to european universities.

This being said, there are other issues, where it is unclear Europe could follow the approach the authors sugggested:

a) Banks - the authors defend European banking system should learn some lessons from the American Banks. The book was written in 2006, there is, before subprime crisis. To be honest, I don't think Europe should copy the US Banks model of management. And subprime crisis is right here to prove what I am saying;

b) Military spending: this is the most controversial aspect of Alesina's book. Military spendig is connected to one of the last barriers of sovereignity - military secrets, national defense system, industrial secrets. It is impossible to forget what could be the reaction inside Europe, if national governments started a big military program. Suppose, Germany would say: "we are going to start a giantic military program". I don't think UK or France would be at ease.

A possible solution: European programmes. But once again, this is easier to say than done. Europe is at peace only for 60 years. It is not exactly peaceful to agree on military spending/programmes.

All in all, it is an interesting book. But some of the ideas, I am afraid can work really well in a Union such as the USA, but probably not in European Union.

This book deals with several major policy problems that Europe and Europeans are facing today. The usual suspects include non-competitive research and universities, mishandling of the increasingly multiethnic societies, liberalization of markets, high price of the social state, rigid labor market, to name just a few. There seems to be an increasing amount of literature and critical articles dedicated to these issues, in a stark contrast to the inability of European politicians to get a firm grip on them. Even though this book claims that Europe should not necessarily adopt Anglo-Saxon social and economic model, it is hard to escape this conclusion when reading the actual comparisons with the UK, US and other "Anglo-Saxon" countries.

One big policy issue that is not being discussed here deals with the collapse of the European family and its roots in the dismantling of the Judeo-Christian religio-ethical tradition. A good place to start reading more about this is George Weigel's "The Cube And The Cathedral: Europe, America and Politics Without God"

Additional criticism of this book concerns its editing. There are numerous spelling and other mistakes, and several graphs and charts are not all that clear. Otherwise, it is a very readable and engaging book.

For anyone wanting to get a first taste of what the EU is all about, this is a 'must read' book. The contents have been carefully categorised such that the reader is gradually introduced to the various facets of the EU. I must add though that some of the topics do not go deep enough but perhaps the real aim of this book is only to get you on the right track in your journey to find out more about the EU. But nevertheless 'chapeau'.

I recently read this book for a European Politics Today class, and the teacher warned us ahead of time that it would be "hellish." It wasn't exactly hellish, but it definitely doesn't excite the reader like A Wider Europe by Michael Baun. For a pretty detailed overview of the history and workings of the European Union, this book could not be better, though.

Good book, well I don't know much else to say, I read it a long time ago, but I remember being enthrulled with it; I couldn't put it down!

Sloane takes us on a journey through Hoffa's life. From his early childhood, to the end. Sloane spends time on Hoffa's relationship with Ferral Dobbs and the tactics and strategies that he learned in Minneapolis that Made Hoffa one of the most effective Union organizers of all time. This book literally cuts through the crap and vilification and shows Hoffa the man, the Union organizer, and the Union leader. A must read

Beware of mistakes in this book! Some of them concern elementary things and can easily confuse the readers, especially beginners. To give an example, at page 236, discussing the QMV the authors state that the number of votes required for an adoption of a proposal from the Commission 'as of first of January 2005' is 258 and the majority of of the members voting in favour. In Article 205 of the EC Treaty we read that 232 votes in favour are needed.
Such small mistakes spoil the impression made by the book very much.

George and Bache provide a very readable and informative overview of all the main questions connected with the EU. The layout is particularly well done and enhances the effectiveness of the text.

The authors start with a discussion of the main actors in the EU (Commission, Council, Parliament, Commitee of the Regions and Economic and Social Commitee) but also include such timely topics as the question of legitimacy or the concept of multilevel governance and other theoretical approaches to European integration. A separate chapter focuses on organised interests.

In part 2 the authors provide a well-structured overview of relevant policy areas. All in all, this book can be recommended as a well written introduction to European (EU) studies.

R.W. Davies, who can probably lay claim to the title of being the single person most knowledgeable about the economic history of the USSR, was asked to write this popular introduction to the topic in the Cambridge series "New Studies in Economic and Social History", intended for a wider public than usual for such monographs. The result is an excellent and readable, while information-dense, overview of about 84 pages of real content.

Davies begins with the Czarist industrialization, putting it in the context of the attempts (earlier by Peter the Great and others) to modernize Russia to maintain its military power on the continental scene. He shows how the state undertook protectionism and investment in railways, as well as inviting much foreign investment, to develop Russia's industry in the period before WWI. He then continues with War Communism and its attempts to win the Civil War and stave off famine, then the NEP and its compromise politics. The main part of the booklet, as one might expect, is taken up however by Stalin's industrialization policies, their methods, and their effects. Afterward there is a short discussion of Khrushchov's reforms, his attempts to develop agriculture more (always the weakest link in the Soviet chain) and the subsequent beginning of the collapse in the 1970s under Brezhnev.

Davies is not just a very competent historian, but also a very even-handed one. He takes the time to explain the controversial issues in Soviet economic history (and there are many), the positions of various players in it, and his own. He himself is neither afraid to criticize the USSR nor afraid to give it the credit that is due. One thing that is unfortunate is that this book was published in 1998, and therefore did not include the major new modelling study of the Soviet industrialization by Robert C. Allen, "Farm to Factory" (Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution (Princeton Economic History of the Western World)), which was published in 2003. Allen's book constitutes a major defense of the Preobrazhensky-Stalin heavy industrialization strategy as against the NEP (and Paul Gregory's capitalist road), and is recommended as a complement to this book.

If you want an overview on this subject you should give a try on this book

This book was read by myself and 15 others as a requirement for a senior course at University...

I found Nash's depiction of the Bolivian tin miners excellent. Not only did the author manage to complete a traditional anthropological ethnography, but she has presented it in a format which has made it interesting to anyone.

This book should be read by anyone studying or interested in Anthropology, inequality, or the trials and triumphs of Latin America...

The best part about this book is that it was written 20 years after June originally arrived in Bolivia to write a book on the miners. Now she has returned and reviews the history of those 20 years and shows where today's miners, family and culture stands. This book is not a comparision of the past with the present but rather a building upon a tremendous history and struggle.

For the person not familiar with the mines and miners of Bolivia this is an excelent introduction. Here one meets a world turned upside down and inside out. Mountains are filled with spirits and miners, men ans women - side by side - fight for a better life. June enables one to share in the peoples' long history of struggle through insightful first hand accounts. She also shares her personal experience while reporting the stories and brings a more human element to the work.

June has done an excellent job identifyng and bringing to light the intricate web of cultural, political, and economical elements of Bolivian mining. I myself have relatives from the mining regions of Bolivia and wish to congratulate June on her depth and understanding of the people she presents. It is rare to find someone that has the ability to understand the cultural nuances that have a 5,000 year old tradition and see how the still prevail, albiet sometimes hidden or changed, in today's world. I wish to congratulate her on taking the time to understand the people she was studying and not perpetuating common stereotypes, of disorder, ignorance or misbegotten religious views.

I highly recommend this book to all!

This book is extremely dry and technical, and a background in economics and even mathematical concepts applied to economics is definitely recommended.

It is very much a book about macroeconomical aspects of the war: how it was financed, what did the decisions regarding manpower and other resource distribution issues imply, and so on. The wealth of information regarding these aspects of the Soviet war economy make it worthwhile for anybody interested in wartime economics, despite the heavy reading.

This is the only full-lengthy study of Alexander Gumberg. It covers 1917-33, key years where Gumberg went from a poor Russian immigrant living in L.A. and NYC to a wealthy and powerful trade agent between the Soviet government and U.S. business and government figures. In the process he became a close confident of John Dewey and a host of American liberals, as well as Trotsky and Lenin. Libbey's account is extremely sympathetic and dismisses the idea that Gumberg was a spy working for the Soviets. Instead, Libbey depicts him as a man who truly is looking out for the interests of both nations that he loves.

My great aunt dated Gumberg for a time and I have about 20 letters he wrote to her from 1911-17 (the years immediately proceeding this book). Clearly, like my aunt and all of her closest friends and relatives, Gumberg was a Communist who held great hope in the Russian Revolution and the possibilities of Marxism spreading through Europe and the U.S.

Gumberg was supposedly born in 1887 (though my letters indicate 1888) in Elizavetgrad / Yelisabetgrad, Ukraine (like my great grandfather) to a rabbi. In 1903, at age 15, he emigrated to NYC. By 1908 he was a licensed pharmacist (also like my great, great-grandfather). He moved back to Russia in 1917 and began the career that would earn him a fortune before his early death in 1939.

Libbey states that Gumberg's English skills limited him in his pharmacist career in the 1910s, but the letters I have show a man with a flawless command of the language and perfect spelling. His wit and brilliance are compeling, though his constrant struggles with melancholy and anger are exhausting.

Anyway, this is a concise (180pp.) and very interesting read. It is not only an interesting biographical study, but it also provides a nice window into developing Soviet-American relations in the early years of the Soviets. Libbey writes from a liberal, sympathetic perspective.

I read this a year ago, but since Amazon still has no review of it, I'll give it a basic shot from memory.

This is an in depth history of the anarchist movement in Spain from the late 1800's up to and through the Spanish Civil war, written by an anarchist who lived through the war (it is a history however, not a first hand account). Some of the discussion of the inner politics of the movement will probably go over the unnatentive reader's head, and a basic idea of the history of the civil war and it's main protagonists--before reading the book--will probably help one get more out of it. There are clear biases, some of the history can get tedious (but it's history, what are you going to do?), but overrall I highly reccommend it to anyone looking to get an in depth understanding of the period from an anarchist perspective.

That's all I can remember. Enjoy.