Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth (A World Bank Policy Research Report)

Book Description

This policy-oriented book identifies the issues countries should consider as they reevaluate their old income security policies and formulate new methods. The choice between the various models for providing old-age security has broad implications for the operation of labor and capital markets, the fiscal system, and the level, growth, and distribution of GNP. The author concludes that a mixed strategy is more effective than any single method of income security. This will be an important book for international economists and policymakers.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent blueprint for pension reform.......1999-03-03

Averting describes the World Bank's current thinking on how developed and developing countries can sustain economic progress in the face of the 'crisis' of ageing populations. Its focus is pensions policy: designing policies which are redistributive while minimising the adverse effects on economic growth of high tax burdens and future public spending promises. There are three problems with pension provision. First, the 'chain-letter' nature of pay-as-you-go social security is leading to unsustainable commitments. In some countries, a downward spiral has arisen from attempts to maintain excessive initial returns on pension schemes across generations in the face of adverse demographic trends. Higher pension taxes, payroll tax evasion and increasing scheme indebtedness result. In a number of countries, pension scheme's debt exceeds the value of other government debt.

Secondly, there is the incentive within both social security programmes and private, final-salary, 'defined-benefit' schemes to use early retirement as a means of unravelling lifetime employment commitments. With greater longevity, there are some countries in the world where periods of pensioned retirement are beginning to exceed the length of the working life. This puts pressure on funded pension scheme finances, let alone those of unfunded (pay-as-you-go) schemes.

Finally, there is the alleged deleterious effect of public pension commitments on private savings rates. But the Bank never clearly states either why high savings rates are important; after all, in standard models with ageing populations, a cut in the capital stock may be optimal.

Accepting the broad thrust of the bank's policy agenda, there is the important issue of heterogeneity of pension provision across countries. The basis of the Bank's generic pension reform package is the so-called 'three-pillar' approach: a first pillar of a mandatory state minimum pension (which might be income-tested, but not earnings-related); a second mandatory pillar of privately provided pensions from company defined-benefit plans or retirement savings accounts, held individually or group provided. The third pillar would be voluntary through other forms of savings (typically defined-contribution schemes).

For many countries, this 'ideal' represents a radical departure from existing practice, with much greater emphasis on private provision and funding, exploiting international capital markets to a greater extent than traditional 'provident' funds, and a significant downgrading of state, earnings-related provisions. The Bank's proposals are clearly influenced by Latin American reforms, notably Chile. A good deal of attention is paid to the 'double burden' imposed on a single generation when switching from pay-as-you-go to full funding.

The defined-contribution environment needs careful domestic regulation from the outset, such as scheme would have the added attraction for many countries of increasing the depth of the domestic capital market or allowing them to take advantage of the widening international capital market for appropriate diversification.

The Bank also underplays the public-choice aspect of pension provision: the blueprints for pension reform are to be transmuted into policy by benign governments (assisted by multilateral agencies) with a long enough time horizon to forgo any short-term redistributive considerations. And on a personal carping note, as an erstwhile consultant to the Bank on pension reform, there is, if not a gulf, at least daylight between the Bank's public position in this book and the conservative and bureaucratically-minded instincts of some of its own staff, when specific reforms along the lines proposed in this book are mooted.

The book shows how far thinking on pensions has come. Ten years ago, the case for ever-increasing state pensions could be trotted out on the spurious grounds of market failure. Defined-contribution plans would have been rejected as too risky and infeasible. And few countries would have woken up to the potential financial crisis confronting them, and to the range of options. This book is by far the best survey on international pension policies and how to adapt the demographic transition. It is of interest to economists and policy-makers alike, and shows that the 'economics of pensions' impinges on a wide range of issues of interests to economists in general.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from San Diego Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on October 8, 2001. The length of the article is 583 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pension Reform Enhances Sponsored Retirement Plans.(Brief Article)
Author: Laura Just
Publication: San Diego Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 8, 2001
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: 22 Issue: 41 Page: 16

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

PPA '06 makes Sec. 529 tax incentives permanent.(Pension Protection Act of 2006): An article from: The Tax Adviser

Average customer rating:

PPA '06 makes Sec. 529 tax incentives permanent.(Pension Protection Act of 2006): An article from: The Tax Adviser
Ellen D. Cook , and B.I., III Moody
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Tax Adviser, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2007. The length of the article is 3450 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PPA '06 makes Sec. 529 tax incentives permanent.(Pension Protection Act of 2006)
Author: Ellen D. Cook
Publication: The Tax Adviser (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Page: 146(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Public Pensions and Economic Growth
Berthold U. Wigger
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Debt & Deficits | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Retirement Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 3540432965

Book Description

This book studies the normative and positive ramifications of public pension policies in a growing economy. It analyzes the impact of an unfunded public pension scheme on aggregate productivity growth and efficiency, it considers the political forces behind public pension legislation, and it develops and discusses elements of public pension design and reform. The book emphasizes the endogenous growth paradigm for an understanding of the dynamic impact of intergenerational transfers inherent in an unfunded public pension scheme. It uncovers an allocative role of intergenerational transfers which is exclusively linked to the possibility of endogenously evolving economic growth. The endogenous growth approach also allows to identify unfunded public pensions as a source of a conflict between current and future generations. This conflict shapes private old-age security considerations as well as the process of public pension legislation.

Public pensions and growth [An article from: European Economic Review]

Average customer rating:

Public pensions and growth [An article from: European Economic Review]
S. Lambrecht , P. Michel , and J.-P. Vidal
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from European Economic Review, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This paper investigates the relationship between the size of an unfunded public pension system and economic growth in an overlapping generation economy, in which altruistic parents finance the education of their children and leave bequests. Unlike the existing literature, we model intergenerational altruism by assuming that children's income during adulthood is an argument of parental utility. Unfunded public pensions can promote growth when families face liquidity constraints preventing them from investing optimally in the education of their children. We consider two alternative ways of financing a public pension system, either by levying social contributions in a lump-sum manner or in proportion to labour income. We find that there is no case for unfunded public pensions in economies where bequests are operative. By contrast, there exists a growth-maximising size of the public pension system in economies where bequests are not operative and individuals are sufficiently patient.

Public pensions, capital formation, and economic growth (A Westview replica edition)

Average customer rating:

Public pensions, capital formation, and economic growth (A Westview replica edition)
Miltiadis Nektarios
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0865319367

Social security and demographic trends: Theory and evidence from the international experience [An article from: Review of Economic Dynamics]

Average customer rating:

Social security and demographic trends: Theory and evidence from the international experience [An article from: Review of Economic Dynamics]
I. Ehrlich , and J. Kim
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000PDSMKW

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Review of Economic Dynamics, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The worldwide problem with pay-as-you-go, defined-benefits social security systems is not just financial. Through a dynamic, overlapping-generations model where forming a family and bearing and educating children are choice variables, we show that social security taxes and benefits generate incentives to reduce both family formation and fertility, and that these effects cannot be fully neutralized by counteracting inter-temporal or intergenerational transfers within families. We implement the model using calibrated simulations as well as panel data from 57 countries over 32 years. We find that PAYG tax measures account for a non-trivial part of the downward trends in family formation and fertility worldwide, especially in OECD countries.

Unemployment Insurance, Moral Hazard, and Economic Growth.(Statistical Data Included): An article from: International Advances in Economic Research

Average customer rating:

Unemployment Insurance, Moral Hazard, and Economic Growth.(Statistical Data Included): An article from: International Advances in Economic Research
Eric J. Levin , and Robert E. Wright
Manufacturer: Atlantic Economic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from International Advances in Economic Research, published by Atlantic Economic Society on November 1, 2001. The length of the article is 5300 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Unemployment Insurance, Moral Hazard, and Economic Growth.(Statistical Data Included)
Author: Eric J. Levin
Publication: International Advances in Economic Research (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Atlantic Economic Society
Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Page: 373(12)

Article Type: Statistical Data Included

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Public Pensions and Economic Growth
Berthold U. Wigger
Manufacturer: Springer Verlag 01/1//2002
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N5MO4W

Book Description

Labeled a traitor by nationalist Serbians because she opposes the war in Kosovo, a dissident journalist chronicles the intimate details that haunt her daily life. Amidst the bombardment, however, hope persists: neighbors braving air attacks to commune at midnight Easter service; young women performing ballet recitals despite all threats of danger; strangers gathered for safety, waiting for the next NATO bomb to strike. The author takes us beyond the sound bites of the nightly news by offering a firsthand account of daily life in a war zone. The Diary of a Political Idiot was named a PEN selection for 2000 and has been simultaneously published in 11 languages.

Customer Reviews:

Everyday life in hell.......2002-02-13

Until I happened on this book, I didn't know that I was interested in what it was like to be a Serb while NATO was bombing Serbia (and Milosevic's troops were slaughtering Albanians in Kosovo). As much as Tesanovic despised what Milosovich and other Serbian nationalists were doing (in her name), she was also outraged by the casual acceptance of "collateral damage," that is, the destruction of civilian targets (including one that counted: the PRC embassy in Belgrade) and killing of civilians by carefully targeted NATO (US) bombs.

Tesanovic uses "idiot" in an ancient Greek sense, as meaning a common personwho cannot be trusted to make public decisions: "I am unable to make judgements. I see no options I can identiy with.... All the political options sound aggressive, stupid or far-fetched compared to my simple needs" as a mother. "I don't feel safe here, or happy, or free. I'm a refugee in my own city." Belgrade is/was a city with refugees from the "ethnic cleansing" of Croatia, even as Serbs engaged in "cleansing" of Serbia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The Serbian nationalists considered Tesanovic a traitor; she considered them dangerously deluded and criminal. "In my country," she wrote, "uniforms always take away the power of speech from citizens, because uinforms carry guns, and citizens carry fear, so there is a permanent civil war going on between uniforms and civilians.

Although she defended foreign intervention again national barbarism, she was far from enthusiastic about the sanctimoniousness of the forces of civilization.Her despairing analyses of those in Serbian and in UN uniforms are acute, but what is most fascinating about the book is the detail about everyday life: a female cousin dying of AIDS, other women deciding to have abortion from concern with the toxins they have been exposed to from bombed buildings, the children with no school getting bored and ever more unmanageable in the dark, intermitent electricity, visits from friends whose water supply has been cut off.

Not too different from other war diaries I have read.......2000-11-21

This story is not much different from similar diaries andaccounts I have read about other peoples pacifist accounts inconflicts such as in Korea, Indo-China and Lebanon. The same pacifistattitudes and vibes filter through. Reading Tim Judah's (a prolificwriter of anti-Serb texts) introduction was enough for me to knowwhere this book was heading.

An important human testimony.......2000-11-02

This is the best of the Belgrade Internet diaries, by a Serbian feminist and peace activist who was at Belgrade ground zero during this very interesting and very unfortunate conflict.

Book Description

YESTERDAY'S HEROES contains all 433 Medal of Honor citations such as this excert: ... Although machinegun bullets kicked up the dirt at his heels, and 88mm shels exploded within 30 yards of him, Pfc. Dutko nevertheless made his way to a point within 30 yards of the first enemy machinegun and killed both gunners with a handgrenade. Although the second machinegun wounded him, knocking him to the ground, Pfc. Dutko regained his feet and advanced on th 88-mm gun, firing his Browning automatic from the hip. When he came within 10 yards of this weapon he killed its 5-man crew with 1 long burst of fire. Wheeling on the machinegun which had wounded him, Pfc. Dutko killed the gunner and his assistant. The third German machine gun fired on Pfc. Dutko from a position 20 yards distant wounding him a second time as he proceeded toward the enemy weapon in a halr run. Along with the citations are Official Communiques from the front, and newspaper accounts of various battles. Yesterday's Heroes is a dramatic look at the courage of the American soldier in World War II. Kenneth Jordan is also the author of Heroes of Our Time: 239 Men of the Vietnam War Awarded the Medal of Honor 1964-1972, and Forgotten Heroes: 131 Men of the Korean War Awarded the Medal of Honor 1950-1953 (both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.)., 6" x 9"

Yesterday's Heroes: 433 Men of World War II Awarded the Medal of Honor 1941-1945

Average customer rating:

Yesterday's Heroes: 433 Men of World War II Awarded the Medal of Honor 1941-1945
Kenneth N. Sr. Jordan
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUH48Y

Book Description

Whether you're just beginning an annual giving program, or trying to improve an existing one, this is the one book you must have. With Donor Focused Strategies for Annual Giving, you'll take a fresh look at annual giving from the donor's perspective, which will enable you to better match donor interests to your organization's needs. Most important, you'll learn how to implement a significant new model--the annual integrated development program--today's most donor-sensitive, effective fund raising strategy for the long term.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best resources.......2002-03-15

Karla Williams has introduced an extremely practical and well written book for those of us who seek to raise the bar in the arena of Annual Funds and Donor Development. I have many, many books in my library that focus on fund-raising strategies, and this is the primary one that I will be using to train my staff and volunteers. Why? Ms. Williams not only presents a world-view that is compatible with our organization but then presents very practical, step by step strategies to implement this vision of donor development. She begins with a fairly in depth and clear presentation of the history of fund-raising (which helps to put things into perspective) and then moves on to what she believes is the most effective and responsible paradigm for funding non-profits: one that honors and respects the donor constituency in addition to raising the needed funds for our various causes. The book features numerous case illustrations, easy to interpret graphs, and an integrated annual develoment strategy that can be fine tuned for any organization. Bottom line: Yes it may seem expensive but it is simply one of *the* best resources for annual funds on the market today.

Donor Focused Strategies for Annual Giving.......2000-06-27

I highly recommend this book. The author has a very accessible, clear writing style. She lays out the pros and cons of various options very well. It has really helped me plan and improve my annual campaign.

Customer Reviews:

Home Buyer Beware.......2000-09-26

If you're a first-time home buyer, or repeat buyer, this book should address every real estate problem, situation or issue that would arise in your venture to buy your home. Knowledge is power, so I would advise readers to prepare themselves for what may be the biggest investment of their lives. I read it five years ago, and find that it is still very relevant today.

It covers topics such as: Developing a financial strategy dealing with, and selecting real estate agents, sellers, attorneys, lenders, inspectors, escrow and title companies, deciding on a property, mobile homes, condominiums, country property, landlording, mortgages, offers and negotiating, closings, contingencies, etc.

Average customer rating:
The Homebuyer's Survival Guide (Discloses the Hidden Traps and Snags in the Homebuying Process)
Kenneth W. Edwards
Manufacturer: Real Estate Education Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QH00UC

Product Description

The warning Caveat Emptor, or "buyer beware" is in full force during the home buying process. No matter how much disclosure takes place, or how honorable the intentions of the parties involved are, the buyer is the one who must live with the results. This direct, light, and personal road map to buying a home shows buyers how to avoid the pitfalls of the process. Learn how to: 1) Prepare your game plan, including creative financing options. 2) Choose the right real estate agent. 3) Learn the games some real estate agents play. 4) Learn the best inspection strategy for you. 5) Learn to negotiate the road to a successful offer.

Amazon.com

What's the best part of Madonna: An Intimate Biography? The sex part! According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, Madonna tried to insure her breasts for $6 million each. Prince dumped her because "he wanted to savor every second [of sex]; she was into multiple orgasms." Sean Penn demanded she get an HIV test. "Screw you," she said. "Not until you get tested," he said. When Penn found out about Madonna and Prince, he punched a hole in her wall. Madonna demanded that Prince plaster it ("You're responsible!"), and he did. JFK Jr. refused to give her a baby, and Jackie objected to his affair with someone called a "Material Girl." "Who in this world has been more materialistic than you?" JFK Jr. asked his mother. When he and Madonna dumped each other, he said, "Easy come, easy go." She compared her Broadway debut in Speed-the-Plow to "having really good sex." After their first kiss, Warren Beatty said, "Houston, we have lift-off." Madonna's tune "Hanky Panky" reflects Beatty's favorite sport, spanking. But Barbra Streisand helped convince him to dump the "floozy," so she picked up Tony Ward on Malibu Beach by putting out a cigarette on his back and pinching his nipple. When she realized he was more of a floozy than she was, she spent 21 and a half hours in the Carlyle Hotel trying to convince the married Penn to father her child. Rebuffed, she picked up Carlos Leon, a fitness trainer at Crunch, in Central Park, and presto, she had a baby. Dennis Rodman (whom she called "Daddy Long Legs") was a dud in bed, but she found true love in the daddy of her second child, Princess Diana's cousin Guy Ritchie, director of Snatch.

There's stuff about her career in the book, but Taraborrelli is a lousy music and film critic. I can't vouch for the accuracy of his dish, but I promise you that as a gossip he's the real thing. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Based on ten years of exclusive interviews, Madonna: An Intimate Biography reveals surprising new insights:

* The complex nature of her relationship with her father
* How Warren Beatty broke her heart, and why the two never wed
* Her romantic involvement with John Kennedy, Jr.
* The truth of her relationships with the fathers of her two children
* How motherhood changed her into a surprisingly different woman
* What the future holds for her
* And much more

"Psychological insights [and] astute observations." (Houston Chronicle)

Download Description

Madonna! Megastar. Lover. Mother. Opportunist. Chameleon. Role model. She's all of these things...and more. Yet, who is she, really? In Madonna: An Intimate Biography, author J. Randy Taraborrelli's scrupulously researched and completely balanced unauthorized biography of one of the world's most celebrated entertainers, the reader is allowed to draw his or her own conclusions. Indeed, the portrait bestselling author Taraborrelli paints here is of a truly complex woman, one who is driven and determined to succeed at any cost, yet who displays remarkable vulnerability when it comes to matters of the heart. It is significant that Madonna: An Intimate Biography is the first such book written about the star in over a decade, because in the past ten years the ever-changing Madonna has gone through her biggest transformation yet -- from tempestuous sex goddess to happily married mother. Amazingly, as she launches her first worldwide tour in eight years, she is now -- at forty-something -- enjoying one of the most successful periods of her groundbreaking career.

Customer Reviews:

Madonna - We Hardly Knew You.......2006-04-05

What a price the material girl paid!

This is a must for any Madonna fan collection. Many former tween wanna-bes of the 1980's are now in their late 20's and early 30's ... and owe a lot of their own ambition to Madonna Veronica Louise Ciccone, native of Bay City Michigan, who at 17 ran off to New York with $50 not knowing a soul. She is a mixture of strength of mind and vulnerability of heart. She is an icon whose humanity has been assessed over and over again by tabloids. She has had a fire in the belly since she was a Bay City teenager which found sustenance after she took on the world. Now a British Lady with a house in the country, Madonna has come a long long way from the Motown roots in Michigan to New York City in the 80's to London and her 2005 release of Confessions on a Dance Floor.

At 17, a New York cab driver dropped her off at the center of everything - Times Square - and circa 2006 before her next World Tour .... Madonna's image is everywhere in H&M ad near the very spot her teenage self was dropped off at. She is still on her throne while her contemporaries from the 1980's are sometimes, nowhere to be found. Madonna is the ultimate testament of: YOU GO GIRL!

very interesting.......2003-12-30

This book is very thick, but its an easy read all the way. I know this book can't all be true, but it sure feels like it. Very well done.

A Fun Read.......2003-09-28

Madonna is one of the most successful artists in the history of pop music. A key to her success was her single-minded determination to become a star no matter what it took. Along the way she used a lot of people and bruised a lot of egos. Not surprisingly, many of those whom she stepped on were very willing to talk to Taraborrelli, a modern day Kitty Kelly whose biographies/victims include Diana Ross (the delightfully nasty Call Her Miss Ross) and Michael Jackson (The Magic And The Madness). This makes for quite a fun read.

Taraborelli does a good job of detailing Madonna's turbulent childhood (the loss of her mother, her strained relationship with her father, even the loss of her virginity!?!) but the book really takes off when Madonna goes to New York in 1978 in search of stardom. We are introduced to Camille Barbone, a talent agent who is the unsung heroine in the Madonna story. Camille invests every cent she has into Madonna's career only to be dumped by the Material Girl when she finally secures a recording deal with Warner Brothers. Early on, we also see Madonna go through a series of male musical collaborators who double as lovers, ensuring their professional devotion to her until she moves on to bigger and better things (among them Jellybean "Holiday" Benitez).

As Madonna's career takes off, the men she chooses to date are inevitably celebs themselves. The book is most entertaining in dealing with her many relationships, including hothead first husband Sean Penn, wishy washy JFK Jr. (who dumps Madonna on Mommy's orders), old fart Warren Beatty (as much a user as Madonna), and superfreak Dennis Rodman, who kissed and told about his relationship with Madonna in his own tell-all book (a big no-no in Madonna's world).

Where the book falls short (and is kept from meriting five stars) is in its frequently contradictory assessments of Madonna's music. After raving about the contents of Madonna's third album TRUE BLUE (and its five major hits), for instance, he sums it up by saying it "wasn't a great album. A less intriguing artist might not have survived it." Even though Taraborrelli wrote for music magazines early in his career, he is not a strong analyzer of pop music.

This book ends in mid-2001, at a time in Madonna's life when her personal and professional life were seemingly at her peak (the birth of her son Rocco and marriage to Guy Ritchie, the release of her two strongest albums RAY OF LIGHT and MUSIC had all occured within the previous two years). As her wedding unfolds on the final pages, we are introduced to a kinder, gentler Madonna who has reconciled with her father and seems to finally appreciate the little things in life. For Madonna fans, it was a great time to end the book (since then, her professional life at least has not been so successful, with the universal panning of her film Swept Away - which Ritchie directed - and the subpar AMERICAN LIFE album). For all of the entertainment this amazing woman has provided, she deserves a happy ending.

PERFECT!!.......2003-09-07

I wasn't even a Madonna fan until I read this book. Taraborrelli does an INCREDIBLE job and has converted me to Madonna 'fanhood'. Revealing, exciting and most of all addictive, I read An Intimate Biography cover to cover in two days.
Excellent book choice for any Madonna fan, or like me,pepole not even interested. You'll be pleasently suprised what the combination of Madonna and Taraborrelli have to offer. You won't be disappointed!

A good biography.......2003-08-24

This book by J.Randy Taraborelli is a quite interesting biography of Madonna, providing information on her personality in various levels. We read about her relationships with her parents, her friends, love partners and collaborators, about her views on many issues, her growth as a person and an artist.
If you want to know about her, then this book is definetely worth your time.
Madonna is certainly an important personality of modern culture, and this book is fast and enjoyable and cleverly the author does show Madonna's negative aspects, and does not try to create her psychological profile.
The book is simply based on facts and accounts of Madonna's acquaintances.
I just gave it 3 stars because I found it was interesting, but it simply isn't a favorite of mine.

Average customer rating:

Madonna: An Intimate Biography
J.Randy Taraborrelli
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUNQ20

Average customer rating:

Madonna: An Intimate Biography
J. Randy Taraborrelli
Manufacturer: Simon&Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

The story of Annie Miner Peterson's remarkable life.......2006-06-04

She's Tricky Like Coyote: Annie Miner Peterson, An Oregon Coast Indian Woman by Lionel Youst (an independent scholar specializing in the history and anthropology of the Pacific Northwest) is the story of Annie Miner Peterson's remarkable life. An impressive biography showcasing Annie's hardships, determined endeavors and many accomplishments, She's Tricky Like Coyote carries the reader through the remarkable story of her 79 years of life as related through interviews with relatives, revealed in anthropological studies, and drawing upon a short autobiography, all of which combine in creating a unique story of a very special Native American woman of her times. Volume 224 in "The Civilization of the American Indian" series and a welcome contribution to academic library Native American Studies and Women's Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists, She's Tricky Like Coyote is very highly recommended reading, especially for students of the Western coastal region's Native American tribal history and culture.

Forgotten Tribes.......2005-06-05

This book was wonderful and we need more like it. The Indian tales of Oregon and Northern California are mostly unknown by peoples outside of anthropology and archaeology, and these stories need to be told. It must have been incredibly hard to be an Indian during those times and we all should question our own history. The book is worth buying and was inspirational.

Great Title, Fascinating Story.......2001-12-04

Thanks to Lionel Youst, Annie Miner Peterson's life story has been preserved. One of the last of the Coos Indians, she lived for 79 years in western Oregon and witnessed the demise of her culture. This remarkable narrative captures some of who she was and how she lived, enabling Annie to pass along some of the accumulated experiences of generations of her ancestors.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books