Hardcover. New York, Harry N Abrams, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 192 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Black and white pictures throughout.
Hardcover. Brussels, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, light blue cloth stamped in dark blue, 58 pages. An illustrated history of the Belgian financial institution. Tipped in color frontis of founder Samuel Lambert, b&w photos and illustrations. Text in English. A promotional piece. Clean copy.
Hardcover. GR, Steidl, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 272 pages. Bill Wood's business was photography, and he produced tens of thousands of images over the course of his career. A tall, slender, hardworking family man with a penchant for bow ties, Wood (1913-1979) was born, lived and died in the Fort Worth, Texas area, and his photography played a central role in how his clients chose to see and to portray themselves and their city. Bill Wood's Business features approximately 300 of Wood's photographs, alongside essays by Diane Keaton and Marvin Heiferman that pay homage to the skills Wood (and professional photographers like him) brought to the business of photography. What drew Keaton and Heiferman to this project was the extraordinary range of Wood's images, as well as a shared appreciation of archives and the construction of photographic realities. In an earlier collaboration, Still Life (1982), Keaton and Heiferman explored the Surrealism, the fantasies and the economic motivations percolating beneath the surface of the glamourous color publicity photographs that Hollywood studios orchestrated and distributed in the mid-twentieth century. Since then, Keaton (in her film and book projects) and Heiferman (in his curatorial, writing and publishing work) have continued to survey the quirks of American iconography. Keaton purchased the archive of Wood's negatives 20 years ago, and in Bill Wood's Business, she and Heiferman team up again to look at and through photographs, to show what they are intended to depict and what they actually reveal.
Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st pbk, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 366 pages. In this lively study, Rachel Sherman goes behind the scenes in two urban luxury hotels to give a nuanced picture of the workers who care for and cater to wealthy guests by providing seemingly unlimited personal attention. Drawing on in-depth interviews and extended ethnographic research in a range of hotel jobs, including concierge, bellperson, and housekeeper, Sherman gives an insightful analysis of what exactly luxury service consists of, how managers organize its production, and how workers and guests negotiate the inequality between them. She finds that workers employ a variety of practices to assert a powerful sense of self, including playing games, comparing themselves to other workers and guests, and forming meaningful and reciprocal relations with guests. Through their contact with hotel staff, guests learn how to behave in the luxury environment and come to see themselves as deserving of luxury consumption. These practices, Sherman argues, help make class inequality seem normal, something to be taken for granted. Throughout, Class Acts sheds new light on the complex relationship between class and service work, an increasingly relevant topic in light of the growing economic inequality in the United States that underlies luxury consumption. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. UK, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 298 pages. Commodifying Communism is an ethnographic study of the role of personal ties between private entrepreneurs and local officials in the organization of China's emerging market economy. It is based on almost two years of fieldwork in Xiamen City, Fujian, one of China's five special economic zones. A close examination of how private business is conducted through these ties sheds light on the dynamism of China's market economy and its political consequences. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. In Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America, Wendy A. Woloson takes seriously the history of objects that are often cynically-made and easy to dismiss: things not made to last; things we don't really need; things we often don't even really want. Woloson does not mock these ordinary, everyday possessions but seeks to understand them as a way to understand aspects of ourselves, socially, culturally, and economically: Why do we--as individuals and as a culture--possess these things? Where do they come from? Why do we want them? And what is the true cost of owning them? Woloson tells the history of crap from the late eighteenth century up through today, exploring its many categories: gadgets, knickknacks, novelty goods, mass-produced collectibles, giftware, variety store merchandise. As Woloson shows, not all crap is crappy in the same way--bric-a-brac is crappy in a different way from, say, advertising giveaways, which are differently crappy from commemorative plates. Taking on the full brilliant and depressing array of crappy material goods, the book explores the overlooked corners of the American market and mindset, revealing the complexity of our relationship with commodity culture over time.
Hardcover. NY, Basic Books, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Credit-card debt is choking American prosperity off at the neck. In Credit Card Nation, Robert D. Manning tells a fascinating story about the present and future consequences of credit dependence across all strata of U.S. society. Through extensive interviews with consumers, Manning talks to debtors, and to average Americans, affected by what Manning describes as our "credit card nation": an American juggernaut of indebtedness that spans personal, corporate, and governmental debt. 406 pages, clean copy.
Softcover. Chapel Hill NC, University of North Carolina Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 235 pages, b&w illustrations. Focusing on the porkpacking industry in Iowa, Fink investigates the experience of the rural working class and highlights its significance in shaping the state's economic, political, and social contours. Fink draws both on interviews and on her own firsthand experience working on the production floor of a pork-processing plant. She weaves a fascinating account of the meatpacking industry's history in Iowa--a history, she notes, that has been experienced differently by male and female, immigrant and native-born, white and black workers. Like new.
Hardcover. Vista CA, Ibis Publishing, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 315 pages. As Financial Advisor to China, Arthur N. Young had an intimate insight as an on-the-spot observer of events during the critical 18 years leading to the fall of the Nationalists and the Communist takeover. Along with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Dr. Young worked closely with the highest-ranking officials of the National Government in carrying out monetary and fiscal reforms prior to World War II, and stayed through the war to aid with problems of war finance, including procurement of American aid. As the Pacific Rim gains increasing international prominence, this book will prove to be of particular importance to students, scholars, business and political leaders with an interest in Asian affairs. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Taschen, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 580 pages. 1940-1949: Destruction and Reconstruction. This volume covers the 1940s, when fascism came to a climax and World War II led to the extensive destruction of Europe. But the second half of this decade was also a time of reconstruction, democratization, and the related search for new social values. Unlike in Nazi Germany, in fascist Italy Modernism was able to advance in architecture and design - as proved impressively by the buildings and designs by Carlo Mollino, Gian Luigi Banfi, Franco Albini, and Giuseppe Terragni that are documented herein. After the war, Organic Design emerged alongside the International style. This edition reflects upon the economic, social, and cultural problems of the time, but also shows how the force of the avant-garde continued to thrive in Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavia and the USA. Reports and features on modern industrial design and furniture, as well as domestic and business interiors stand side by side with articles about novel prefabricated houses. In publisher's shrink wrap. Due to size and weight, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.
Hardcover. New York, Augustus M. Kelley, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 256 pages, with photographs, illustrations and charts. Minor dust jacket edge wear and price clipped, otherwise,bright and tight copy.
Hardcover. Lawrence KS, Coronado Press, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 217 pages, green cloth over boards. Limited to 400 copies. The author was a scholar on the banking business in the early American west, especially Kansas.
Hardcover. NY, Blue Rider Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 583 pages. The definitive history, packed with untold stories, of one of America's most controversial and powerful companies: Facebook As a college sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from its first, modest iteration. In light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users' personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO--who has enormous power over what the world sees and says--never has a company been more central to the national conversation. Millions of words have been written about Facebook, but no one has told the complete story, documenting its ascendancy and missteps. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life, or the imperative of this book to document the unchecked power and shocking techniques of the company, from growing at all costs to outmaneuvering its biggest rivals to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram, to developing a platform so addictive even some of its own are now beginning to realize its dangers. Dj crease in production, clean copy.
Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 234 pages. Behind all of the statistics on downsizing, the shrinking of our industrial base, and the folly of short-sighted management is the human drama of working women and men and their unions, struggling for dignity, fairness, and security. In Farewell to the Factory, Ruth Milkman tells us the stories of workers in a New Jersey auto plant. Milkman's scholarship makes a valuable contribution to the national conversation on restoring the American Dream for working families. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Madison WI, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 1st, 2014-03-15, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 119 pages, illustrated throughout in color. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Carl Corey turns his camera on Wisconsin family-owned businesses in existence fifty years or longer. The businesses portrayed here--bakeries and barbecue joints, funeral homes and furniture builders, cheesemakers, fishermen, ferry boat drivers--have survived against all the odds, weathering tough economic times and big-business competition. The owners are loyal to their employees, their families, and themselves. And they are integral to their local economies and social fabric.
Hardcover. New York , Arno Press, reprint, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 295 pages, green cloth covers with gilt lettering. Previous owner's stamp on front fly leaf, otherwise clean, very good. Facsimile reprint of the 1933 edition. Scarce in hardcover.
Hardcover. Zurich, Lars Muller, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. The photographer Andreas Seibert accompanied Chinese workers to document their everyday lives and their journey to the high-population centers. Their stories are told in a collection of striking photographs that provide a close-up portrait to complement the current discussion of economic growth in China.
Hardcover. Baltimore MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 3rd pr., 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gray cloth, 411 pages, b&w illustrations. Ex-lib with light stamping, residue to rear inside cover. Otherwise a clean, tight copy. David Hounshell explores the development of the 'American system' of manufacturing in the half century before the Civil War and the transition of this system into the 'mass production' of the 20th century. Hounshell explores the important role of individuals in the diffusion and development of production technology and the central place of marketing strategy in the success of selected American manufactures. While Ford Motor company was the seabed of the assembly line revolution, General Motors initiated the new era of annual model change. With the new marketing strategy, the technology of 'the changeover' became of paramount importance. Hounshell chronicles how painfully Ford learned this lesson with the change from the Model T to the Model A and then to the V-8 in 1932.
Softcover. Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 217 pages. Softcover. B/w illustrations throughout. In excellent condition, clean inside and out.
Hardcover. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 318 pages. From the time they emerged in American cities in the 1820s, commercial luxury hotels were far more than places where a traveler could eat and sleep-they were icons of style, opulence, and technological sophistication. Molly W. Berger offers a compelling history of the American hotel and how it captured the public's imagination as it came to represent the complex-and often contentious-relationship among luxury, economic development, and the ideals of a democratic society. From New York to San Francisco and points in between, Berger profiles the country's most prestigious hotels, including Boston's 1829 Tremont, which served as a model for luxury hotel design; San Francisco's world famous Palace, completed in 1875; and Chicago's enormous Stevens, built two years before the great crash of 1929. The fascinating stories behind their design, construction, and marketing reveal in rich detail how these buildings became cultural symbols that shaped the urban landscape. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press, 1st, 1974, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a price-clipped dust jacket, 162 pages. Japan's economy enjoyed unprecedented technological growth in the decades after World War II. At first stereotyped as an exported of shoddy goods, Japan enjoyed a worldwide reputation as an efficient manufacturer of high-quality products. This comprehensive analysis of Japanese management treats four related but distinct subject matters: the economic, social, cultural, and political environment pertinent to Japan's industrial and managerial system; the ideologies and background to the Japanese business elite structure and the relationship between government and business; and managerial practices (organizational structure, personnel practices, decision making). The book first describes the postwar technological environment in and outside Japan. It identifies the Schumpeterian characteristics of economic development and the particular set of relationships that Japan had with the United States and with developing nations in Asia that provided it with the incentive and the necessary mechanisms to advance technologically. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. Boston, University of Massauchusetts Press, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 267 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, tight copy with black and white photographs in center. Little to no wear to edges.
Hardcover. NY, Scribner, Armstrong and Co., 1st US, 1873, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, brick-red cloth stamped in gilt and black. 359 pages, publisher's ads in rear. First US edition with 1873 date on title page. Described by J. M. Keynes as "an undying classic", Lombard Street analyses the operation of the British financial system, focusing on the economic role of the Bank of England. Bagehot's recommendation that the Bank alter gold reserves based on economic cycles was highly influential, and the book was considered authoritative into the 20th century. Thre is mild rear to top and bottom of spine, corners bumped, otherwise clean and tight copy.
Hardcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press , 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 311 pages, b&w illustrations. In the 1930s and 1940s, English fashion houses, spurred by economic and wartime crises, put London on the map as a major fashion city. In this book, Michelle Jones examines the creation of a London-based couture industry during these years, exploring how designer collaboration and the construction of specific networks and narratives supported and shaped the English fashion economy. Haute couture-the practice of creative made-to-measure womenswear-was widely regarded as inherently French. Jones shows how an English version emerged during a period of economic turbulence, when a group of designers banded together in a collective effort to shift power within the international fashion system. Clean, bright copy.