In June 2000, Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold Seagram Co. to French media giant Vivendi in a $34-billion deal. Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Edgar Jr. seemed finally to have silenced the detractors who for fifteen years had scorned him, calling him a naïve dilettante and “the star-struck whisky king.” As the third-generation president and CEO of a family dynasty in the booze business, Edgar Jr. had made controversial corporate decisions. In 1995 he sold Seagram’s holding in the secure but boring DuPont to buy Hollywood studio MCA. In 1998, he acquired PolyGram, thereby creating the world’s largest record company. In 2000, when convergence was the corporate mantra, he merged Seagram with Vivendi. At fifteen, Edgar Jr. had been designated by his grandfather, Sam Bronfman, Seagram’s legendary founder, to eventually head the business Mr. Sam had built as a bootlegger during Prohibition. For Edgar Jr., that choice turned into a curse as he agonized over Mr. Sam’s prescient 1966 warning: “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. I’m worried about the third generation. Empires have come and gone.” In 1994 when Edgar Jr. succeeded his father, he announced: “I’m not going down in history as the one Bronfman who pissed away the family fortune.” Despite all his efforts, Edgar Jr. could not avoid his destiny. The value of the Bronfman family holdings in Seagram – swapped for shares in Vivendi – fell by almost three-quarters from $8.2 billion to $2.2 billion between 2000 and 2002. Business Week featured Edgar Jr. on its “Worst Managers List,” calling him the “most desperate billionaire around.” In this unauthorized biography, acclaimed and award-winning business writer Rod McQueen tells the gripping story of an empire’s demise. Based on 150 revealing interviews with high school friends, associates from his Hollywood and Broadway days, as well as former colleagues, officers and directors at Seagram and Vivendi, The Icarus Factor tracks Edgar Jr. on his meteoric rise and spectacular fall. In addition to Edgar Jr. himself, McQueen interviewed many powerful media and entertainment leaders including Frank Biondi Jr., Jack Valenti, Barry Diller, Ron Meyer, Doug Morris, and Herbert Allen Jr. What emerges is a compelling and intimate portrait of a man who wrestled with his own fervent dreams and family responsibilities. This is a story about duty and destiny, passion and performance, family and failure. Above all, it is a cautionary tale about the complex relationship between a father and a son with catastrophic consequences.
One of most ground-breaking shows in the history of television, The Twilight Zone has become a permanent fixture in pop culture. This new graphic novel series re-imagines the show's most enduring episodes, in all their original uncut glory, originally written by Rod Serling himself, and now adapted for a new generation—a generation that has ridden Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorTM ride, studied old episodes in school, watched the annual marathons, and paid homage to the show through the many random take-offs that show up in movies and TV shows everywhere. Destination: Homewood. Step off the beaten path as Martin Sloan takes the journey of a lifetime. Somewhere up the road he's looking for redemption— but he'll find something entirely different.
Andrew Pickens (1739–1817), the hard-fighting South Carolina militia commander of the American Revolution, was the hero of many victories against British and Loyalist forces. In this book, Rod Andrew Jr. offers an authoritative and comprehensive biography of Pickens the man, the general, the planter, and the diplomat. Andrew vividly depicts Pickens as he founds churches, acquires slaves, joins the Patriot cause, and struggles over Indian territorial boundaries on the southern frontier. Combining insights from military and social history, Andrew argues that while Pickens's actions consistently reaffirmed the authority of white men, he was also determined to help found the new republic based on broader principles of morality and justice. After the war, Pickens sought a peaceful and just relationship between his country and the southern Native American tribes and wrestled internally with the issue of slavery. Andrew suggests that Pickens's rise to prominence, his stern character, and his sense of duty highlight the egalitarian ideals of his generation as well as its moral shortcomings--all of which still influence Americans' understanding of themselves.
Western conceptions of objectivity and individuality have resulted in a readier appreciation of the worth of the animals and nature than has been recognized. This provocative book takes issue with the popular view that the Western cultural tradition, in contrast to Eastern and Aboriginal traditions, has encouraged attitudes of domination and exploitation towards nature, particularly animals. Preece argues that the Western tradition has much to commend it, and that descriptions of Aboriginal and Oriental orientations have often been misleadingly rosy, simplified and codified according to current fashionable concepts. Animals and Nature is the result of six years' intensive study into comparative religion, literature, philosophy, anthropology, mythology and animal welfare science.
Unlike previous books on the history of vegetarianism, Sins of the Flesh examines the history of vegetarianism in its ethical dimensions, from the origins of humanity through to the present. Full ethical consideration for animals resulting in the eschewing of flesh arose after the Aristotelian period in Greece and recurred in Ancient Rome, but then mostly disappeared for centuries. It was not until the turn of the nineteenth century that vegetarian thought was revived and enjoyed some success; it subsequently went into another period of decline that lasted through much of the twentieth century. The authority-questioning cultural revolution of the 1960s brought a fresh resurgence of vegetarian ethics that continues to the present day.
This volume provides a brief résumé of the history of testosterone research, from the early pioneers through to the most recent advances in the field. We discover how steroid hormones were first identified and how testosterone was shown to be essential for male development. Moving forward we explore how and where testosterone is produced, and how the body controls testosterone production. We then investigate the impact testosterone has on different body systems both during their development and function, and how perturbation of testosterone action is associated with disease. We complete our story with an exploration of the emerging roles of testosterone in clinical therapy, and the future potential for manipulation of the testosterone signaling system for human health benefit.
Most of us laugh at something funny multiple times during a typical day. Humor serves multiple purposes, and although there is a sizable and expanding research literature on the subject, the research is spread in a variety of disciplines. The Psychology of Humor, 2e reviews the literature, integrating research from across subdisciplines in psychology, as well as related fields such as anthropology, biology, computer science, linguistics, sociology, and more. This book begins by defining humor and presenting theories of humor. Later chapters cover cognitive processes involved in humor and the effects of humor on cognition. Individual differences in personality and humor are identified as well as the physiology of humor, the social functions of humor, and how humor develops and changes over the lifespan. This book concludes noting the association of humor with physical and mental health, and outlines applications of humor use in psychotherapy, education, and the workplace. In addition to being fully updated with recent research, the second edition includes a variety of new materials. More graphs, tables, and figures now illustrate concepts, processes, and theories. It provides new brief interviews with prominent humor scholars via text boxes. The end of each chapter now includes a list of key concepts, critical thinking questions, and a list of resources for further reading. Covers research on humor and laughter in every area of psychology Integrates research findings into a coherent conceptual framework Includes brain imaging studies, evolutionary models, and animal research Integrates related information from sociology, linguistics, neuroscience, and anthropology Explores applications of humor in psychotherapy, education, and the workplace Provides new research, plus key concepts and chapter summaries
Respect for animals has always been a part of human consciousness. Poets, thinkers, philosophers, scientists and statesmen have long celebrated our compassion towards Earth's other beasts.Awe for the Tiger, Love for the Lamb compiles the most significant statements of sensibility to animals in the history of thought. From the myths of the ancient world to the Middle Ages to Darwin and beyond, Preece captures the most telling and fascinating accounts of humankind's relationship to the wild world, placing them in historical context. Jung called it an unconscious identity with animals, while Wordsworth saw it as the primal sympathy which having been must ever be. Linking the diverse chords of human experience that are touched by the animal world, Preece shows that despite a historical thread of cruelty, there still remains in all humanity a constant underlying concern for other beings as an integral part of the moral community. With musings and meditations from Lao Tse to Mohammed, from Plato to Jane Goodall, from classical religion to parliamentary proceedings, Awe for the Tiger, Love for the Lamb is an original, superbly researched history that deepens our understanding of all living beings.
Firmly based on the authors’ personal experience, this book tackles a wide range of issues relating to the teaching of the arts in the primary school. The authors illustrate how primary children of all ages can be educated to both know about and to practice all the major art forms, and how a school staff can effectively accommodate and practice them all, even within the constraints of the National Curriculum. This book is unique in primary school education terms, as its primary focus is specific and it embraces every major art form – dance, drama, literature, music, visual arts and film.
As the most populous province in Canada, Ontario is a microcosm of the animal welfare issues which beset Western civilization. The authors of this book, chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, find themselves constantly being made aware of the atrocities committed in the Society’s jurisdiction. They have been, in turn, puzzled, exasperated and horrified at humanity’s cruelty to our fellow sentient beings. The issues discussed in this book are the most contentious in animal welfare disputes — animal experimentation, fur-farming and trapping, the use of animals for human entertainment and the conditions under which animals are raised for human consumption. They are complex issues and should be thought about fairly and seriously. The authors, standing squarely on the side of the animals, suggest “community” and “belonging” as concepts through which to understand our relationships to other species. They ground their ideas in Wordsworth’s “primal sympathy” and Jung’s “unconscious identity” with the animal realm. The philosophy developed in this book embraces common sense and compromise as the surest paths to the goal of animal welfare. It requires respect and consideration for other species while acknowledging our primary obligations to our fellow humans.
In a single timely tome, Rod Fisher packs a lot of what’s known about the history of the timbered house in Qld – the sum of research, writing and practice over 4 decades. While breaking new ground on its origin and development, the first 4 chapters concern several key themes: 1. the evolution of a Vernacular class of housing in the north of Australia: from aboriginal to modern day, comprising a series of styles and the means of identifying each one by era and attribute 2. the historical context to traditional housing: using census data and contemporary testimony to amplify its configuration which reflects cyclical condition, personal choice and social acceptance 3. the human dimension to the main varieties of habitat and its environment: specifically the pros and cons of observers and occupants of the day followed by resolution of their discrepancies 4 whether Brisbane was in any way different from the rest of the state: examining which varieties made the greatest imprint, from elite and multiple types to the predominant gabled, hipped, pyramidal and later multi-gabled dwellings of the Vernacular tradition The next couple of chapters are casestudies illustrating those aspects, particularly the evolution of traditional housing and the impact of historical change. Though set in Brisbane they reflect larger issues: 5. the early inner suburb of Petrie Terrace: which exhibits not only changes in timbered housing over time, but also the effect of road improvement, shopping centre diversion, stadium development, building renovation and gentrification more generally 6. a timbered dwelling of nearby Bowen Hills: which, being modified several times in its lifetime and finally removed elsewhere, demonstrates change, as well as the influence of the locale and the impact of transportation improvements on housing and community At the same time, this volume serves as a guide and reference, partly by information, advice and example, but more specifically by means of the handy classification of Vernacular styles in the 1st chapter, and ultimately by instructions for researching any house in Qld: 7. a step-by-step guide to historical investigation and exposition: using a dwelling in Annerley/Tarragindi as the example That practical purpose is reinforced in the final 3 chapters by a Supplement of related material, Glossary of requisite terms and Bibliography of relevant sources on both the history and heritage of timbered housing – plus plentiful illustrations of course. As there hasn’t been a work on this intriguing subject for a long time – nor anything ever like this one – it will serve general readers, professionals, researchers, writers and academics on the one hand, and owners, occupants, renovators, restorers and vendors on the other, whether in Brisbane, Qld or elsewhere in Australia. To all and sundry, its core message is conveyed by one of Joni Mitchell’s bygone ballads: Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ‘Till it’s gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot
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