Peter F. Drucker: Adventures of a Bystander (1978/1994)
Filed under book | Tags: · biography, economy, history, journalism, management, politics, technology
“Regarded as the most influential and widely read thinker on modern organizations and their management, Peter Drucker has also established himself as an unorthodox and independent analyst of politics, the economy, and society. Adventures of a Bystander is Drucker’s rich collection of autobiographical stories and vignettes, in which this legendary figure paints a portrait of his remarkable life, and of the larger historical realities of his time.
In a style that is both unique and engaging, Drucker conveys his life story – from his early teen years in Vienna through the interwar years in Europe, the New Deal era, World War II, and the postwar period in America-through intimate profiles of a host of fascinating people he’s known through the years. Their personal histories are, as Drucker tells us, the beads for which his own life serves as the string.
An amazing pageant of characters, both famous and otherwise, springs from these pages, illuminating and defining one of the most tumultuous periods in world history. Along with bankers and courtesans, artists, aristocrats, prophets, and empire-builders, we meet members of Drucker’s own family and close circle of friends, among them such prominent figures as Sigmund Freud, Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John Lewis, Buckminster Fuller, and Marshall McLuhan.
A brief encounter with Freud becomes the catalyst for an absorbing, multidimensional description of the economics, politics, and social psychology of pre-World War II Europe. Drucker introduces us to Fritz Kraemer, a brilliant, monocle-wearing eccentric who became an influential mentor to the young Henry Kissinger. His personal memoir of Henry Luce documents the development of modern journalism, while in “The Indian Summer of Innocence,” he rescues and preserves the very heart of the American experience during the last New Deal years before World War II.”
Originally published in 1978 by Harper & Row, Publishers
Publisher Transaction Publishers, 1994
ISBN 1412814103, 9781412814102
344 pages
commentary (Michael Hohl)
Comment (0)Tom Nicholson: Gorila (2012) [Slovak]
Filed under book | Tags: · corruption, journalism, politics, slovakia
“Kniha Toma Nicholsona je pokusom o sondu do stavu spoločnosti.
O otázkach, ktoré priniesla Gorila, nediskutovali len zasvätené elity, ale jednotlivé okolnosti spomínané v tomto materiáli rozoberali občania s nástojčivou potrebou dozvedieť sa viac o spise a jeho pozadí. V rámci verejnej diskusie politickí lídri nedokázali presvedčivo komunikovať a odpovedať na najdôležitejšiu otázku zo strany verejnosti. Príslušné orgány dodnes nepredložili dôveryhodné výsledky vyšetrovania. Vlažné reakcie politikov priniesli obrovskú aktivitu médií, ktoré sa kauze venovali. Celý proces sprevádzala neistota na strane novinárov.
Materiál Gorila by mal byť spravodajský spis, o ktorom – zatiaľ nemôžu svedčiť jeho autori a tvorcovia, lebo nie sú zbavení mlčanlivosti. Príbeh, ktorý budete čítať, je podávaný subjektívne, z pohľadu autora. Nie je len o samotnom údajnom spise Gorila, ale aj o tom, ako spis vznikol, ako s ním narábal autor a ako reagovali politici či polícia. Je to príbeh, v ktorom nájdete gaunerov aj pozitívne ohlasy.
Tom Nicholson rieši dilemy a opisuje svoju novinársku cestu za overovaním autenticity tohto materiálu. Robí štandardnú novinársku prácu a je na čitateľovi, aby posúdil, či ju odviedol kvalitne, alebo nie. Táto kniha nevie jednoznačne doložiť autenticitu spisu Gorila a nie je ani jej ambíciou o tomto čitateľa presvedčiť.”
Publisher Dixit, s.r.o., 2012
ISBN 9788097103910
spis Gorila, (záloha, TXT)
Od Fica do Fica (filmový dokument Zuzany Piussi, 80 min., 2012), režisérkin komentár
recenzia knihy (Tomáš Němeček, Lidové noviny)
Wikipedia (Slovak)
Wikipedia (English)
Publisher
Stephen Harper: Beyond the Left: The Communist Critique of the Media (2012)
Filed under book | Tags: · capitalism, communism, democracy, fascism, journalism, left, marxism, mass media, migration, neoliberalism, politics, television, wikileaks
Attacking the cherished assumptions of liberal media criticism, Beyond the Left updates and recharges the Marxist critique of the media.
The ideological distortions of the conservative media, from Fox News to the Daily Mail, are widely acknowledged and often denounced among contemporary critics and commentators. But what if The Guardian newspaper and BBC news, in fact, constitute the most insidious forms of capitalist propaganda? In a wide-ranging and erudite polemic, Beyond the Left analyses capitalist news and current affairs media from a radical perspective. The book rejects the liberal and pluralist paradigms that often underpin critiques of the media, showing how media texts reflect and reinforce the material interests of the ruling class and arguing that the principal ideological menace today is posed not by the right wing, but by the left-liberal media, as it co-opts and obscures radical political positions and reinforces a range of mystifications, from anti-fascism and humanitarian war to green politics. Drawing on the work of radical media critics as well as the writings of revolutionary communist groups and considering the recent reporting of war, industrial action, immigration and the environment, Beyond the Left updates and recharges the Marxist critique of the media.
Publisher Zero Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing, 2012
ISBN 1846949769, 9781846949760
114 pages
review (Laura Cooke, Socialist Review)
Comment (0)