Country Commercial Guide: Kuwait (Country Commercial Guides)
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    Country Commercial Guide: Kuwait (Country Commercial Guides)

    Manufacturer: Books for Business
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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    GeneralGeneral | Reference | Subjects | Books
    ASIN: 0894990446

    Book Description

    Kuwait's GDP for 1999 was US$29.713 billion, up 17.4 percent from the 1998 level of US$25.305 billion. The rise was almost exclusively due to historically strong international oil prices, and saw the contribution from the oil and gas sector to Kuwait's GDP rise from 31 percent in 1998 to about 37 percent in 1999. Per capita income for Kuwaitis rose 18.2 percent year-to-year, from US$11,143 in 1998 to US$13,176 for 1999, again, almost exclusively attributable to improving oil prices. Kuwait should show positive growth of about 25 percent in GDP for 2000, provided international oil prices remain in the US$23-25 per barrel range.

    The United States is Kuwait's second largest trading partner, after Japan. Excellent quality, reliability and service help the United States maintain a strong position in this very competitive market, although the strong dollar continues to hurt our price competitiveness vis-a-vis third country suppliers. When compared to 1998, U.S. exports to Kuwait decreased 38.5 percent to US$909 million in 1999.

    American companies are engaged in more than 15 industrial and non-industrial joint ventures in Kuwait, accounting for more than US$1 billion of direct investment. The largest venture is Union Carbide's petrochemical project EQUATE, a joint venture with Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company and a group of private investors. Kuwait imports a wide variety of U.S. military, industrial and consumer products. Leading military imports over the past five years include aircraft and parts, air defense systems, radar systems and tanks. Leading industrial imports include oil field equipment/parts, aircraft parts, medical equipment and generators. Significant consumer imports include passenger vehicles and trucks and processed food products.

    Kuwait is a highly price-competitive market with low tariffs (generally only four percent ad-valorem), few import barriers and no exchange controls. Procurement for large public sector projects continues to dominate the business scene, as Kuwait accounts for little or no manufacturing and non-oil exports.

    High value U.S. food products with strong market potential in Kuwait include frozen chicken parts, processed fruits and vegetables, cheeses, frozen beef, snack foods, almonds, fresh apples and pears, breakfast cereals, fresh carrots and lettuce, packaged rice and miscellaneous food products, particularly hot sauces, salad dressings, catsup, mayonnaise, vinegar, iodized salt, ice cream, frozen dough mixes, Tex-Mex foods and coffee whiteners. Also, growth in the local food processing industry is driving up demand for semi processed products such as vegetable oils, including corn, soybean and sunflower-seed oils, beverage bases, dried pulses and a variety of food ingredients, particularly for the snack food and bakery industries. Finally, demand for U.S. forestry products, particularly hardwoods, is on the increase, fueled by a robust housing construction market.

    As Kuwait's young population (48 percent less than 15 years of age, 70 percent under 24) matures, U.S. exporters will find a broad range of marketing opportunities. Also, recent passage of an improved Copyright Protection Law should generate additional opportunities for U.S. suppliers of computer software, audio-visual entertainment products and books.

    Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Regulations: January 2001 Supplement
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      Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Regulations: January 2001 Supplement

      Manufacturer: Bna Books
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      GeneralGeneral | Law | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Intellectual Property | Law | Subjects | Books
      ASIN: 1570182566

      You Can Get a Better Job: A Sensible Approach to Employment
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        You Can Get a Better Job: A Sensible Approach to Employment
        Stokes
        Manufacturer: Not Avail
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        Job HuntingJob Hunting | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        MotivationalMotivational | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        ASIN: 096633860X

        Book Description

        It is unique in its target market and the manner in which it was written. “You Can Get A Better Job, A Sensible Approach To Employment,” has as its target market, those individuals for whom nothing has been previously written. It is written for those who do not have access to the information required to place and keep them on the cutting of today's competitive job market. It is written for those who have been excluded from consideration by other “career & job” book publishers, because they were not thought important enough to be provided with information to meet their needs.

        You Can Get A Better Job” is written for those entering the employment scene for the first time, High school students, those with no marketable skills, the semi-educated, and the moderately educated blue-collar worker. This includes many of those being laid-off from companies across the country. There is also material in the book for semi-professionals, and professionals who are seeking to improve their standing in the work place. The book is not only self-help in nature, but is motivational, instructional and is packed with reference material.

        Maximizing Profit: How to Measure the Financial Impact of Manufacturing Decisions
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • A Great New Teaching Tool for Today's Decision Makers
        • Do you know your Maximum Profit?
        • An Engineer's Perspective
        • Improved Profitability in These Economic Times?
        • ASQ "Must Read"
        Maximizing Profit: How to Measure the Financial Impact of Manufacturing Decisions
        Walt Thrun
        Manufacturer: Productivity Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        Corporate FinanceCorporate Finance | Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        Production & OperationsProduction & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        Quality ControlQuality Control | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        Office AutomationOffice Automation | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        ManufacturingManufacturing | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
        Production, Operation & ManagementProduction, Operation & Management | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
        All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        Similar Items:
        1. Who's Counting? A Lean Accounting Business Novel (Winner of the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence) Who's Counting? A Lean Accounting Business Novel (Winner of the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence)
        2. Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization
        3. Practical Lean Accounting: A Proven System for Measuring and Managing the Lean Enterprise Practical Lean Accounting: A Proven System for Measuring and Managing the Lean Enterprise
        4. Better Thinking, Better Results Better Thinking, Better Results
        5. Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions

        ASIN: 1563272717

        Book Description

        1563272717

        MAXIMIZING PROFIT - How to Measure the Financial Impact of Manufacturing Decisions

        Walt Thrun

        Product and process technology has grown at a faster pace than the development of critical financial measures that guide manufacturers in making key decisions. Maximizing Profit addresses this issue in simple, no-nonsense language with practical techniques that help managers measure the financial effects of typical manufacturing decisions, assess their impact on plant profitability, and understand why current practices are counterproductive.

        The focus of efforts in recent years has been on execution-based skills. The author contends that if we do not first identify the wrong things being done in the plant with meaningful financial measures then we will only be sharpening our execution-based skills to do the wrong things better.

        Employing a hypothetical company case study, based on the author's actual experiences, Maximizing Profit guides you through a series of common manufacturing decisions such as product mix, process improvement, make-or-buy, and capital investment. You can follow along step-by-step as the team sheds prior assumptions and uses optimization techniques to inform their decisions. A CD with an easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet tool - an optimization algorithm - is included with the book so that you can try things out for yourself.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars A Great New Teaching Tool for Today's Decision Makers.......2003-04-23

        Walt's book brings together some important elements of Engineering Economy, Operations Research, and more recent works that stem from the The Goal and Theory of Constraints. However, Walt concentrates primarily on the strategic planning facet and leaves detailed scheduling and capacity analysis to other works. He uses "total contribution" and "total system ROI" as the criteria and introduces "integrative reasoning" as a philosophy to optimize product mix and evaluate a variety of tactical and strategic options. This philosophy is presented in a single, continuous case that extends through the entire book, becoming stronger as it flows from example to example and chapter to chapter. The progressive case study is a chain of tightly related examples which evaluate and rank strategies for product mix, productivity improvements, outsourcing, contract manufacturing, capital planning, budgeting, acquisitions, and multi-plant synergy.

        After reading lots of of other current works and spending time on the job, one still may not learn the key lessons carried in this one book.

        5 out of 5 stars Do you know your Maximum Profit?.......2003-03-25

        Using the Profit Maximization Techniques developed by Walt Thrun will allow any production facility to calculate their maximum profit obtainable. Now there is no need to guess what your optimum product mix should be for your plant, what Capital Projects to implement, what your budget and forecast should be. This has the potential to revolutionize productivity as we measure it today. Let's quit getting better at doing the wrong things and start doing the right things.

        5 out of 5 stars An Engineer's Perspective.......2003-03-08

        As an engineer in a manufacturing environment I loved the book because it quantitatively expresses the contribution that engineers make to the bottom line. This book will definitely be popular with SME and AIIE. I have been fighting the standard cost battle for years, knowing that it didn't work, but not knowing exactly why or be able to offer an alternative. This book nails both of these issues down in succinct fashion. This book is a real winner!

        5 out of 5 stars Improved Profitability in These Economic Times?.......2003-03-05

        Imagine having a tool that could make quantum leaps in company profitability with no added capital investment, cost reduction, or product price increases. It's about working smarter, not harder. It's about using existing manufacturing resources to make the most of the one resource every manufacturing operation shares: time. Within this text lies that tool, evidenced not only in my reading of the book, but in my application of its concepts. Like any tool, it will only be effective when the reader moves past reading the directions to putting the tool into action.

        4 out of 5 stars ASQ "Must Read".......2003-03-04

        This easy-to-read book offers a refreshing new look at non-traditional methods to measure manufacturing performance in terms all decision makers can understand...profit! Armed with readily available computer tools, Walt Thrun confidently and logically assaults conventional thinking and methods in performance measurement and leads the reader to obvious conclusions about the relationship between constraints and profitability. Such measures as "overhead absorbtion, cost allocation and plant utilization" are replaced with "profit optimization, contribution maximation and return on investment". He demonstrates, in detail, how to quantitatively measure the impact of strategic decisions and manufacturing improvements on the bottom line. The concept that local optimization results in global optimization is effectively debunked. The concepts of this book are consistant with the body of knowledge described by the American Society for Quality for Quality Engineer and Quality Manager certification. This book is a "must read" for ASQ members and other quality professionals interested in quantifiable measurement of process improvements.
        MAXIMIZING PROFIT: HOW TO MEASURE THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF MANUFACTURING DECISIONS
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          MAXIMIZING PROFIT: HOW TO MEASURE THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF MANUFACTURING DECISIONS

          Manufacturer: Productivity Press New York
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000IAPHV4

          Generation X: Americans Born 1965 To 1976 (American Generations Series)
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            Generation X: Americans Born 1965 To 1976 (American Generations Series)

            Manufacturer: New Strategist Publications
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover

            StatisticsStatistics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            ResearchResearch | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Reference | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: 1885070527
            Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976 (Generation X)
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              Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976 (Generation X)

              Manufacturer: New Strategist Publications
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

              DemographyDemography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
              Yearbooks & AnnualsYearbooks & Annuals | Almanacs & Yearbooks | Reference | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Reference | Subjects | Books
              All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
              NonfictionNonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
              ReferenceReference | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
              Similar Items:
              1. The Millennials: Americans Born 1977 to 1994 (Millennials) The Millennials: Americans Born 1977 to 1994 (Millennials)
              2. The Baby Boom: Americans Born 1946 to 1964 (Baby Boom) The Baby Boom: Americans Born 1946 to 1964 (Baby Boom)

              ASIN: 1885070896
              Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976, 5th ed.
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976, 5th ed.
                Inc. New Strategist Publications
                Manufacturer: MarketResearch.com
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Digital

                GeneralGeneral | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                Market ResearchMarket Research | Business | Subjects | Research Reports | e-Docs | Formats | Books
                ASIN: B000GEHN3M
                Release Date: 2006-06-01

                Book Description

                The fifth edition of Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976 brings you a detailed demographic and socioeconomic portrait of an age group that is marrying, setting up new households, and having children. Though small, Generation X has a powerful presence in the marketplace. Generation X’s 10 chapters bring you the facts about their Education, Health, Housing, Labor Force, Living Arrangements, Population, Spending, and Wealth. While the federal government has produced most of the data in Generation X, each table was individually created by the author and calculations were added to reveal trends and highlight important information. Generation X aged 30 to 41 in 2006 is establishing buying patterns that will remain with it for life. In the fifth edition of Generation X: Americans Born 1965 to 1976, you get the numbers and the analysis about a much-misunderstood cohort of Americans.

                Glitter Easter Stickers
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                  Glitter Easter Stickers
                  Nina Barbaresi
                  Manufacturer: Dover Publications
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Paperback

                  GeneralGeneral | Activity Books | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
                  GeneralGeneral | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
                  GeneralGeneral | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
                  GeneralGeneral | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                  GeneralGeneral | Activity Books | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                  GeneralGeneral | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                  All 4-for-3 DealsAll 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                  ASIN: 0486438392

                  Book Description

                  Twelve adorable images of furry and feathery creatures filling baskets, decorating eggs, and modeling Easter bonnets.
                  Glitter Old-Time Easter Stickers (Glitter)
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                    Glitter Old-Time Easter Stickers (Glitter)
                    Anna Samuel
                    Manufacturer: Dover Publications
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Paperback

                    DecoratingDecorating | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
                    SeasonalSeasonal | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
                    DecoratingDecorating | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                    SeasonalSeasonal | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                    All 4-for-3 DealsAll 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
                    ASIN: 0486452190

                    Book Description

                    Eleven old-fashioned images of baskets brimming with chicks and flowers, quaintly dressed boys and girls, colorful eggs with Easter greetings, and more, will add a glittery touch to your holiday messages.

                    The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II
                    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
                    • Pretty good -- he has many characteristics of G W Bush
                    • Rick Utt
                    • Politics with No Personality
                    • A revisionist work that may be too forgiving
                    • Good biography of the last major monachist tyrant.
                    The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II
                    Giles MacDonogh
                    Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Paperback

                    GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Royalty | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Germany | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                    Similar Items:
                    1. The Kaiser and his Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany The Kaiser and his Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany
                    2. An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm
                    3. Kaiser Wilhelm II (Profiles in Power Series) Kaiser Wilhelm II (Profiles in Power Series)
                    4. Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters
                    5. Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr

                    ASIN: 0312305575

                    Amazon.com

                    Praised for a thoughtful reassessment of Frederick the Great in his previous book, Giles MacDonogh tackles another controversial figure in German history, Kaiser Wilhelm II. William (as his British biographer calls him throughout) has often been dismissed as an anti-Semite and a reactionary whose policies, particularly the buildup of the German navy, inevitably led to World War I. MacDonogh's readable and thorough synthesis of current scholarship depicts a more complex man with far more in common with his English mother, Queen Victoria's daughter Vicky, than is usually acknowledged. "He had inherited her memory, her lack of snobbery, openness, vivacity, moodiness, over-estimation of her own importance, her cleverness without wisdom," writes MacDonogh, characteristically listing both good and bad traits without moralizing. William's mixed feelings about his mother indelibly shaped his attitude toward Great Britain: he strove from the moment he became emperor in 1888 for an alliance with England, yet seemed compelled to undermine it due to "a combination of admiration and envy, animosity and affection." Born in 1859, his botched delivery resulted in a withered left arm, the first in a lifelong series of painful physical and mental ailments that may well have been responsible for the intemperate outbursts that have damaged his posthumous reputation. MacDonogh reminds us that William's worst threats--to tear up the German constitution, to have his enemies shot--were never carried out. After Germany's defeat in 1918, he abdicated and retired to a manor house in Holland; he may have disliked Jews, but he viewed the Nazis with distaste and until his death in 1941 gave no indication he supported the Third Reich. MacDonogh's detailed account of William's life and times doesn't so much revise the conventional portrait as add nuance, and it will be welcomed by aficionados of old-fashioned narrative biography. --Wendy Smith

                    Book Description

                    Wilhelm II, Prussia's last king and Germany's last Kaiser, was born in Potsdam on January 27, 1859, the son of Prince Frederick of Prussia and Princess Vicky, Queen Victoria's eldest child. Al-though he is widely perceived as a warmonger who seemed to delight in victory, bloodshed, and the belligerent aims of his staff, he carved out an image for himself as the 'Emperor of Peace.' Historically, he has been blamed for World War I, although he made real efforts to prevent it. He has been branded an anti-Semite, yet the Nazis wrote him off as a 'Jew-lover.' In this fascinating, authoritative new profile, MacDonogh takes a fresh look at this complex and contradictory statesman and the charges against him.

                    Customer Reviews:

                    4 out of 5 stars Pretty good -- he has many characteristics of G W Bush.......2007-09-24

                    Lots of detail that gives a view of how at times the Kaizer was very fit for the job and at other times extremely unfit. But when things comes down for a final decision he did what he was told by who ever was his 'Cheney' counterpart of the time or based it on his religious convictions like Bush. Other parallels with Bush: lazy student; not a deep thinker; not pragmatic; not a hard worker. However, more intellegent than Bush. The bottom line: don't have a leader that did not work day and night their whole life to accel and most of their life working become a leader of a country -- they won't do it well and will not give their position the effort it is due. The cause of WWI was that things got too complicated much too fast for lazy and very limited leaders. The cause of the Iraq war was things were simple for an even simpler President too lazy the think things through.

                    4 out of 5 stars Rick Utt.......2005-05-12

                    I enjoyed reading this book. There were a few times I lost track of who was who doing what to what and when and where, but for the most part I felt I understand better the role and personality of a complex and contradictory charactor in history.

                    In regard to the Kaiser, the quote by Daisy Pless in this book may say it best. "Poor man, he means so awfully well, and everything he does is intended for the best, and still he is completly destitute of tact that everything turns out exactly opposite to what he intends."

                    Still,little comfort to the millions who died in the "War to End All Wars."



                    1 out of 5 stars Politics with No Personality.......2004-10-31

                    I picked up this book on recommendation from my dad, a history buff much like myself, and was extremely disappointed in it. Instead of dealing properly with the Kaiser himself it spent the vast majority of the time discussing and analyzing German politics and political figures active during the Kaiser's reign and made only the most fleeting references to the personal life of the Kaiser (or anything to do with him personally, for that matter). It's as if the author was too afraid to delve into the private life of this controversial figure because he knew that the bright picture he put forth of the Kaiser would be blown to pieces. Needless to say, this book should be entitled "Politics and Political Figures During the Reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II."
                    Go to another book if you are looking for a true biography of Wilhelm. This one will only disappoint.

                    3 out of 5 stars A revisionist work that may be too forgiving.......2003-03-14

                    The most recent English language biographical study of Wilhelm is The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II by Giles MacDonogh (2001). MacDonogh seems to have set out deterministically to write something other than an "indictment" of Wilhelm. He asserts that historians have been unduly critical against the emperor for eighty years, which has prompted him to examine Wilhelm "in a light which, if not ridiculously positive, [is] at least a little more indulgent than that which as coloured attitudes in the past." (viii) While MacDonogh's study is not "ridiculously positive," it does tend to minimize Wilhelm's culpability for the various blunders historians commonly associate with his reign. While he concurs with other scholars of Wilhelmine Germany that the emperor was "a mass of contradictions," (1) MacDonogh also minimizes the Kaiser's documented anti-Semitism, and strongly implies that the "cases brought up against the emperor" such as the Kruger telegram (1896), the "Hun Speech" of 1900, and the Daily Telegraph Affair (1908), were handled "reasonable, and in some cases well" by the Kaiser. (7) This attempt to show that Wilhelm did not act maliciously, criminally or incompetently is what differentiates The Last Kaiser from its predecessors.
                    In MacDonogh's account of Wilhelm's wartime role, he reaches a familiar conclusion: "it would be impossible to make out that he played the role of `Supreme Warlord' between 1914 and 1918." (3) He shows that Wilhelm "wavered over the preventive strike" long advocated by the General Staff, and "each time he looked in to the abyss he drew back in horror and countermanded" his generals' orders for such an attack. (9) This gives the kaiser too much of a benevolent, conscientious role for the time. MacDonogh portrays a Kaiser swept up with the emotions and events of August 1914, a leader who allowed himself to be carried into the war. By the first weeks of the conflict, "he had become increasingly peripheral." (367) This declension culminated in January 1917 with Bethmann Hollweg's removal at the insistence of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, at which point Wilhelm "was no more than a shadow emperor. No one listened to him." (391) Probably true.....
                    Despite showing far more sympathy toward his subject than other biographers of Wilhelm II have done, MacDonogh echoes many of their conclusions. "It is perhaps right that we condemn William," he suggests, "for if the First World War was not his undertaking, the finger of blames points over and over again to the failure of German diplomacy in which he tried so hard to play a positive role." (460) MacDonogh seems reluctant to assign Wilhelm much direct blame for the origins of the Great War or how it was conducted. On the contrary, most students of the last Hohenzollern ruler of Germany concur with the concise biographical entry in The Oxford Companion to Military History (2001): Kaiser Wilhelm II was "seduced by...nationalism and militarism," and came to discover that "leading a cavalry charge on maneuvers...is not the same thing as presiding over a beleaguered state engaged in total war." The last German Kaiser "lacked the strength of character and consistency of purpose which his role demanded, and if he cannot be blamed for leading Germany into war, he may be more justly censured for what one historian has called `a childlike flight from reality' in the crisis of 1914."

                    5 out of 5 stars Good biography of the last major monachist tyrant........2003-02-04

                    The book is good because it examines one of the figures who was instrumental in shapping the 20th century. The author proves that he was very erratic with his forighn policy and his views on the world. The author also disproves the misconception that it was his imperial ambitions that led to the first World War and points out that it was the militarism of prussian aristocrats.
                    The Kaiser : A Life of Wilhelm II Last Emperor of Germany
                    Average customer rating: Not rated
                      The Kaiser : A Life of Wilhelm II Last Emperor of Germany
                      Joachim Von Kurenberg
                      Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Hardcover
                      ASIN: B000GP0RZM
                      Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany's Last Emperor
                      Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
                      • Victim or Warmonger
                      • The kaiser leading his country to ruin.
                      • Adequate but fun to read
                      • Nothing new in here
                      • Soldier Sailor Victim Chief
                      Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany's Last Emperor
                      John Van Der Kiste
                      Manufacturer: Sutton Pub Ltd
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Hardcover

                      GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                      GeneralGeneral | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                      PoliticalPolitical | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                      GeneralGeneral | Royalty | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                      GeneralGeneral | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                      GeneralGeneral | Germany | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                      ASIN: 0750919418

                      Customer Reviews:

                      4 out of 5 stars Victim or Warmonger.......2006-02-25

                      As with several figures in history, readers either like them or hate them. The middle of the road is less traveled. Kaiser Wilhelm is one of those characters. John Van Der Kiste tells a concise tale of the last Kaiser's life which tends to have an apologetic tone to it. Van Der Kiste hits the highlights of the Kaiser's life from his early life to the end of the First World War. In situations where the Kaiser made a mistake of failed to stand up for himself (to Bismarck and later to Hindenburg and Ludendorff) he points out what went wrong and often explains to his deformity or troubled childhood. Van Der Kiste does not overly praise Wilhelm but is not as hard on him as other biographers or historians. The reader is left feeling sorry for Wilhelm instead of hating him, which was probably the author's intent.

                      Van Der Kiste's book is concise and as another reviewer stated, more in-depth works exist for a better understanding. This book is a good introduction to the last Kaiser.

                      3 out of 5 stars The kaiser leading his country to ruin........2001-09-24

                      This is a short biography of Germany's Last Emperor, William II.
                      As stated previously, it is short and a summary of his life.
                      The story includes his own downfall, leading Germany to the
                      Weimar Republic and then Nazi Germany.

                      The book does its best work in describing William's early life,
                      and his frosty relations with his English mother and relatives.
                      This led to alienation from the English royalty and prevented
                      Germany from forming an alliance with Great Britain, and a more
                      liberalized regime in Germany.

                      The book describes William's views on Jews, French, Russia, and
                      Great Britain. This was not a positive side to his personality.
                      Also detailed is his relationship to his mother, wife, and various mistresses, with a possible homosexual relationship with
                      his best friend. The author does not go into detail into this
                      last aspect, because there is not much evidence. His choice of
                      people to lead his Empire resulted in the First World War.

                      4 out of 5 stars Adequate but fun to read.......2001-03-10

                      The author of this book accuses Michael Balfour in his biography of Wilhelm II of being "sympathetic" to his subject. This book is not. I found the book fun to read, tho it is not well footnoted and its bibliography is not a first-rate one, in my view. I suspect there are better biographies of Wilhelm II than this one. I read Balfour's The Kaiser and His Times, but I was not overly impressed by it, either. Does anyone know what is the best biography of Wilhelm II?

                      3 out of 5 stars Nothing new in here.......2000-10-21

                      This book was relatively interesting, but if you really want to dig into the detail about Wilhelm II's life, you'd be better off with Lamar Cecil's two volume work. There really wasn't much new news in here, and Van der Kiste treated his subject pretty lightly, all things considered. Excellent bibliography, though.

                      4 out of 5 stars Soldier Sailor Victim Chief.......2000-08-17

                      This superb book by Van Der Kiste explores the travails which confronted Wilhelm from the time he entered the world in a botched birth until the time of his exile. If the reader wishes a very real window into middle Europe from the time of the Franco-Prussian War until the advent of the Weimar Republic they need not read further than the pages of this account. Kaiser Wilhelm had his thumb in every pie baked on the continent.... from the Balkan Wars to World War I. He was beset not only with adversaries from across a continent but also from within his own government and family. Seeking a spot for Germany on the world stage the Kaiser's own indecision and poor judgement of people he chose to serve him, terminated his plans for a world wide German Empire. His failure and his inability to understand his own limitations led not only to his destruction, but also set the stage for the destruction of most of Europe in the two brutal wars which marked this century. The author artfully demonstrates that the desires of the individual must be based in reality and the desires of a nation must be as well. If not, all of us reap the whirlwind. This book is suggested reading for historians and academics alone. It is not for the casual reader.
                      The Kaiser: A Life of Wilhelm II Last Emperor of Germany
                      Average customer rating: Not rated
                        The Kaiser: A Life of Wilhelm II Last Emperor of Germany
                        Emperor of Germany) Von Kurenberg, Joachim Wilhelm II
                        Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Hardcover
                        ASIN: B000K5P5O6
                        The Kaiser;: A life of Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany
                        Average customer rating: Not rated
                          The Kaiser;: A life of Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany
                          Joachim von Kurenberg
                          Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
                          ProductGroup: Book
                          Binding: Unknown Binding

                          GeneralGeneral | Germany | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                          ASIN: B0006AU7CK
                          The Kaiser;: A life of Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany
                          Average customer rating: Not rated
                            The Kaiser;: A life of Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany
                            Joachim von Kürenberg
                            Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
                            ProductGroup: Book
                            Binding: Unknown Binding

                            GeneralGeneral | Germany | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                            ASIN: B0007DRXN2

                            A Boyhood in the Dust Bowl 1926-1934
                            Average customer rating: Not rated
                              A Boyhood in the Dust Bowl 1926-1934
                              Robert Allen Rutland
                              Manufacturer: University Press of Colorado
                              ProductGroup: Book
                              Binding: Paperback

                              GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                              MidwestMidwest | Regional U.S. | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                              GeneralGeneral | United States | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
                              GeneralGeneral | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
                              GeneralGeneral | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
                              OklahomaOklahoma | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
                              Similar Items:
                              1. Farming the Dust Bowl: A First-Hand Account from Kansas Farming the Dust Bowl: A First-Hand Account from Kansas
                              2. American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California

                              ASIN: 0870814850

                              Book Description

                              The Great Depression and Prohibition are ominous memories in most historical accounts. But here is the true story of a little boy who found life full of excitement, wonder, and joy in the small midwestern town of Okemah, Oklahoma.

                              Okemah, where Woody Guthrie once lived and wrote songs, was fighting for existence in the late 1920s and early 1930s as the oil boom ended, cotton fell to ten cents per pound, and Prohibition was in force. Yet this grim scenario frames Robert Rutland's colorful remembrance of a youth filled with adventure, characters, curiosity, and love.

                              Young Rutland was the product of a "broken" home. After his father died of pneumonia at twenty-six years old, Rutland's mother, unable to care for her children, sent Robert off to live with his alcoholic but caring grandfather, "Pop," and his wife, "Mom." The boardinghouse in which they lived had a steady stream of personalities flowing through, both for the food Mom served inside to the oil crews and assorted guests and for the booze Pop served out back.

                              Beyond the boardinghouse, life was equally rich for young Rutland: talking movies on Saturday for a dime, a library filled with magical titles, medicine shows, school yard bullies, bloody noses, and summer camp. But these simplicities of life were mixed with the often painful lessons of reality in depression-era Oklahoma, with poverty, alcoholism, violence, and racism.

                              Told with caring detail, A Boyhood in the Dust Bowl Will carry the reader back to a long-lost place and time.
                              Boyhood in the Dust Bowl, 1926-1934.
                              Average customer rating: Not rated
                                Boyhood in the Dust Bowl, 1926-1934.

                                ProductGroup: Book
                                Binding: Paperback
                                ASIN: B000ICO9QQ

                                CBI Series in Practical Strategy, Competitor Analysis: Turning Intelligence into Success (CBI Series in Practical Strategy)
                                Average customer rating: Not rated
                                  CBI Series in Practical Strategy, Competitor Analysis: Turning Intelligence into Success (CBI Series in Practical Strategy)
                                  David Hussey , and Per V. Jenster
                                  Manufacturer: Wiley
                                  ProductGroup: Book
                                  Binding: Paperback

                                  Strategy & CompetitionStrategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                  Decision-Making & Problem SolvingDecision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                  ManagementManagement | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                  GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                  ASIN: 0471499919

                                  Book Description

                                  This book provides a comprehensive guide for marketing and planning practitioners, managers and management consultants to enable them to improve the competitor information and intelligence available to their organizations, and to use it to gain advantages over the competition. Competitor Analysis: Turning Intelligence into Success goes beyond the broad concepts, and gives practical advice on how to obtain and use the necessary information, offers strategies for both attack and defence. The text builds on a sound conceptual foundation, and draws heavily on the author's practical experience.

                                  1998 Tax Return Practice Problems for Corporation, s Corporations and Partnerships
                                  Average customer rating: Not rated
                                    1998 Tax Return Practice Problems for Corporation, s Corporations and Partnerships
                                    Dalton
                                    Manufacturer: Dame Pubns
                                    ProductGroup: Book
                                    Binding: Hardcover

                                    GeneralGeneral | Taxes | Accounting | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                    GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                                    ASIN: 0873938836

                                    Books:

                                    1. County Business Patterns Florida 1999 (County Business Patterns Florida)
                                    2. Cybertools for Business
                                    3. Daily Telegraph Guide to Living Abroad
                                    4. Dealing with E-mail (Essential Managers)
                                    5. Dictionary of International Insurance and Finance Terms (International Dictionary Series)
                                    6. Dictionary of Occupational Titles: 2 Volumes in 1 (Dictionary of Occupational Titles)
                                    7. Directory of Business & Professional Associations in China, 2002-2003
                                    8. El Salvador Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Country Study Guide Library)
                                    9. Electric Power Purchasing Handbook
                                    10. Encyclopedia of Associations: Geographic And Executive Indexes (Encyclopedia of Associations, Vol 2: Geographic and Executive Index)

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