Books about Galbraith from Amazon.com

Of Galbraith's classic examination of the 1929 financial collapse, the Atlantic Monthly said:"Economic writings are seldom notable for their entertainment value, but this book is. Galbraith's prose has grace and wit, and he distills a good deal of sardonic fun from the whopping errors of the nation's oracles and the wondrous antics of the financial community." Now, with the stock market riding historic highs, the celebrated economist returns with new insights on the legacy of our past and the consequences of blind optimism and power plays within the financial community..
Price: $7.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.

Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a "corporate republic," bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.

Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to "make markets work"? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?

The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.

A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, The Predator State will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive..
Price: $14.73 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With all the financial know-how and experience of the wizards on Wall Street and elsewhere, how is it that the market still goes boom and bust? How can people be so willing to get caught up in the mania of speculation when history tells us that a collapse is almost sure to follow? In this primer, the renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith reviews the major speculative episodes of the last three centuries - from the 17th century tulip craze to the calamitous junk-bond follies of the 1980s. His insights provide important lessons on speculative economics, and demonstrate conclusively that money and intelligence are not necessarily linked..
Price: $7.02 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Called by New York Times columnist David Brooks the "smartest and most devastating" critic of President George W. Bush's Iraq policies, Peter Galbraith was the earliest expert to describe Iraq's breakup into religious and ethnic entities, a reality now commonly accepted.

The Iraq war was intended to make the United States more secure, bring democracy to the Middle East, intimidate Iran and Syria, help win the war on terror, consolidate American world leadership, and entrench the Republican Party for decades. Instead,

• Bush handed Iran its greatest strategic triumph in four centuries
• U.S. troops now fight to support an Iraqi government led by religious parties intent on creating an Iranian-style Islamic republic
• As part of the surge, the United States created a Sunni militia led by the same Baathists the U.S. invaded Iraq to overthrow administration gave Iran and North Korea a free pass to advance their nuclear programs
• Obsessed with Iraq's nonexistent WMD, the Bush administration gave Iran and North Korea a free pass to advance their nuclear programs
• Turkey, a key NANATO ally long considered a model pro-Western Muslim democracy, became one of the most anti-American countries in the world
• U.S. prestige around the world reached an all-time low

Iraq: Galbraith challenges the assertion that the surge will lead to victory. By creating a Sunni army, the surge has, in fact, contributed to Iraq's breakup and set the stage for an intensified civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. If the United States wishes to escape the Iraq quagmire, it must face up to the reality that the country has broken up and cannot be put back together.

Iran: Having helped Iran's allies take control in Baghdad, the Bush administration no longer has a viable military option to stop Iran's nuclear program. Galbraith discusses how a president more pragmatic than Bush might get Iran to freeze its nuclear program as part of a package deal to upgrade relations between two countries equally threatened by Sunni extremism.

Turkey, Syria, and Israel: A war intended to make Israel more secure, undermine Syria's Assad regime, and strengthen ties with Turkey has had the opposite result.

Nationalism: In the coming decades, other countries may follow Iraq's example in fragmenting along ethnic and religious lines. Galbraith draws on his considerable experience in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia to predict where and what the United States might do about it.

The United States: George W. Bush substituted wishful thinking for strategy and as a result made America weaker. Galbraith provides some rules for a national strategy that will appeal equally to conservatives and liberals -- indeed, to anyone who believes the United States needs an effective national security strategy..
Price: $11.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A classic introduction to growing up gifted, newly revised and updated Based on surveys of hundreds of gifted kids, it covers high expectations, perfectionism, teasing, multiple intelligences, and much more. Kids learn they're not alone, they're not "weird, " and being smart, talented, and creative is a bonus, not a burden..
Price: $5.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]

When parents and teachers think about gifted kids they - not surprisingly - focus on their intellectual needs. But gifted kids are much more than test grades. Delisle and Galbraith take a close-up look at gifted kids from the inside out. Topics include: * Self-image and self-esteem * Perfectionism * Multipotential * Depression and stress * Feelings of 'being different' The authors suggest ways to help gifted underachievers and those who are bored in school, along with ways to encourage healthy relationships..
Price: $12.39 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Galbraith's classic on the "economics of abundance" is, in the words of the New York Times, "a compelling challenge to conventional thought." With customary clarity, eloquence, and humor, Galbraith cuts to the heart of what economic security means (and doesn't mean) in today's world and lays bare the hazards of individual and societal complacence about economic inequity. While "affluent society" and "conventional wisdom" (first used in this book) have entered the vernacular, the message of the book has not been so widely embraced--reason enough to rediscover The Affluent Society..
Price: $7.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The End of Iraq -- definitive, tough-minded, clear-eyed, describes America's failed strategy toward that country

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Price: $3.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Organization structures do not fail, says Jay Galbraith, but management fails at implementing them correctly This is why, he explains, the idea that the matrix does not work still exists today, even among people who should know better. But the matrix has become a necessary form of organization in today's business environment. Companies now know that if they have multiple product lines, do business in multiple countries, and serve many customer segments through a variety of channels, there is no way they can avoid some kind of a matrix structure and the question most are asking is "How do we learn how to operate the matrix effectively?" In Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work, Galbraith answers this and other questions as he shows how to make a matrix work effectively..
Price: $34.79 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A practical guide for executives and managers who need to make restructuring decisons. This book shows business leaders at all levels how to examine their choices by leading them systematically through some fundamental questions: should we restructure to meet our strategic goals?; what are the best structural options to achieve our success?; what lateral processes are necessary to aupport the new structure; and how do we staff the restructures organization to optimize results? The guide includes examples and worksheets that pilot readers through the essential steps of organizational design..
Price: $16.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]