Biography: business and industry Books

Book SynopsisNo one would think from his friendly and informal style that Ken Shearwood was a housemaster at a public school. Nor would most people ima gine that the familiar but little under stood craft which provides his first book with a lively narrative and some juicy characters was as arduous an ad venture as he found it at the time or as fascinating as he has made it in his story. After the war he bought a small boat and joined the handful of Mevagissey fishermen who carry on a daily battle against the subtleties of fish and the dangers of the sea off the coast of Corn wall. He and his wife grew naturally into village life as they found it. Constantly making mistakes, breaking unwritten laws and solving problems in a most unorthodox fashion, he never ceased to regard himself as an amateur, a landlubber who never truly found his sea-feet. This total lack of self-importance which makes him a very enjoyable companion. Whether he is playing football, squeezing his boat out of a nasty situation or making a new friend, his sense of adventure is keen, and his eye as fresh as the sea itself. "The simple terrors of his first trip away from the rest of the fleet in darkness and bad weather off the Dodman are splendidly described and informed with the subtle rhythms of fishing itself. With the lightest of touches [he] conveys vividly the dangers and disasters that attend the work." - Sunday Times "A delightfully valuable Cornish volume." - The Cornishman

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Book SynopsisThe story of how a man born in South Wales founded a town city in his own image in modern day Ukraine

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Book SynopsisPost-war American publishing has been ruthlessly transformed since André Schiffrin joined its ranks in 1956. Gone is a plethora of small but prestigious houses that often put ideas before profit in their publishing decisions, sometimes even deliberately. Now six behemoths share 80% of the market and profit margin is all.André Schiffrin can write about these changes with authority because he witnessed them from inside a conglomerate, as head of Pantheon, co-founded by his father, bought (and sold) by Random House. And he can write about them with candor because he is no longer on the inside, having quit corporate publishing in disgust to set up a flourishing independent house, The New Press. Schiffrin's evident affection for his authors sparkles throughout a story woven around publishing the work of those such as Studs Terkel, Noam Chomsky, Gunnar Myrdal, George Kennan, Juliet Mitchell, R. D. Laing, Eric Hobsbawm and E.P.Thompson.Part-memoir, part-history, here is an account of the collapsing standards of contemporary publishing that is irascible, acute and passionate. An engaging counterpoint to recent, celebratory memoirs of the industry written by those with more stock options and fewer scruples than Schiffrin, The Business of Books warns of the danger to adventurous, intelligent publishing in the bullring of today's marketplace.Trade ReviewAndre Schiffrin is an old-fashioned New York publisher, the sort that loves and believes in books. Not just best-sellers, but little books with big ideas. * The Times [London] *André Schiffrin presents a somber portrait of American publishing where the pursuit of profit has strangled all creativity. * Nouvel Observateur *Newsworthy and important, eloquent, smart, thoughtful, and well-presented. * The Nation *An absorbing account of the revolution in publishing during the last decade. * Financial Times *Forceful evidence that corporate insistence on higher profits has been cultural and business folly. * Business Week *

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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