Product Description
Everyone has heard of Hasbro's games and toys--G.I. Joe, Monopoly, and "Star Wars" figures--but few know of the intrigue and strategy that brought the company to stardom. This reveals the inside story behind this successful company.Amazon.com Review
Although it may seem to outsiders like a playful pursuit, manufacturing and marketing toys is not all fun and games.Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and theCompanies That Make Them, by journalist and novelist G. WayneMiller, revealsthe realities of the business and thepeople behind it. By focusing on Fortune 500 toymaker Hasbro and theHassenfeld family, which has guided the company since its founding somenine decades ago, Miller offers a rare insider look at this uniqueindustry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Intriguing true story!
This was a great story about the history of Hasbro and their battle with Mattel.It's such an interesting story, you'd think it was fiction.It's really cool to read about how some of your favorite toys started out.

A minor character steals the show.
Some readers may be fascinated the saga of Barbie, GI Joe, Mr. Potato Head, and other best-selling toys, but I got lost in the melee of Hasbro and Mattel executives.

There was one person in the book whom I found especially interesting, however.On pages 282-284, we are introduced to Dave Brewi, a buyer for Toys R Us.This employee has the uncanny ability to predict which toys designed for boys will sell and which ones will not.His amazing talent became so well-known that some manufacturers consulted with Brewi before marketing a new product.

If someone writes a book on Dave Brewi, let me know.

TOYWARS
Good book, I was there..as Girls' Toy Design Director,... knew and met all of these people....well told...

Great Story
The toy wars were one of the most interesting conflicts in Business history. How Mattel and Hasbro divided up the toy industry is a fascinating story and one that anyone interested in business should read. This book is very well written and Miller had access to all of the relevant material for weaving an excellent story together.The downfall of GI Joe and the everlasting presence of Barbie are two very interesting ideas that I won't spoil here.I will just say this is a must read for those studying business and want to learn about cutthroat competition.

A Story Worth Telling
Although "Toy Wars" is subtitled "The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them", Miller's tale trains its spotlight almost exclusively on Hasbro. This, however, does not make the tome any less interesting and insightful. The toys themselves take a back seat to the colorful personalities that run the industry and shape the imaginations and desires of millions of young minds.

We learn that running a toy company is not only about designing good toys. It is also about licensing, mergers and acquisitions, focus groups, `cartoons-as-subtle-advertising'--and a lot of Machiavellian wheeling and dealing.

Hasbro's story was a story worth telling-and Miller tells it well. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Shellfish Research, published by National Shellfisheries Association, Inc. on December 1, 2008. The length of the article is 7227 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of the algal toxin domoic acid.(Abstract)
Author: R. Wayne Litaker
Publication: Journal of Shellfish Research (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2008
Publisher: National Shellfisheries Association, Inc.
Volume: 27Issue: 5Page: 1301(10)

Article Type: Abstract

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Dollars & Sense, published by Economic Affairs Bureau on January 1, 1999. The length of the article is 804 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them.(Review)
Author: Steven Stycos
Publication: Dollars & Sense (Newsletter)
Date: January 1, 1999
Publisher: Economic Affairs Bureau
Issue: 221Page: 33(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Wayne Miller's photographs chronicle a black Chicago of fifty years ago: the South Side community that burgeoned as thousands of African Americans, almost exclusively from the South, settled in the city during the Great Migration of the World War II years. The black-and-white images provide a visual history of Chicago at the height of its industrial order-when the stockyards, steel mills, and factories were booming-but, more important, they capture the intimate moments in the daily lives of ordinary people. Miller was adept at becoming invisible, and his photographs are full of naked, disarming emotion.

One of the first Western photographers to document the destruction of Hiroshima and the survivors of the bombing, Wayne Miller had just returned from his stint as a World War II Navy combat photographer under the direction of Edward Steichen when he received two concurrent Guggenheim fellowships to fund his Chicago project. Taken over a course of three years beginning in 1946, his photographs span city scenes from storefront church services to slaughterhouse workers in the taverns at night to a couple making love. In addition to affording a glimpse into the hopes and hardships shared by a community of migrants who had just made the long journey from the rural South to the urban North, the images collected in Chicago's South Side reflect the enormous variety of human experiences and emotions that occurred at a unique time and place in the American landscape.

A few celebrities appear in these images-Paul Robeson, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington. But mostly we see ordinary people-in clubs and at church, sporting events, parades. Much is on view that is of interest to the student of mid-twentieth-century black Chicago: the neighborhoods Richard Wright's Bigger Thomas traversed in Native Son, the Bronzeville limned in Gwendolyn Brooks's earliest poems, and the street life that inspired the urbanscapes of painter Archibald Motley. The kitchenette apartments that Miller so deftly memorializes are bursting with people of all ages sleeping, dressing, courting, and dreaming. One senses the intimacy between his subjects and the emotions that animate their lives.

Gordon Parks's memoir of poverty and hope in the freezing tenements of the South Side supplements the photographs, while Robert Stepto's essay contextualizes the South Side in the history of postwar Chicago. Chicago's South Sideis a superb testament to the talent of the photographer, to the spirit of the people the images portray, and to the moment in American history these photographs capture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

SOUTHSIDE OF CHICAGO
SOUTHSIDE OF CHICAGO NEEDS PICTURES OF MARTIN LUTHER KING DR. BACK IN THE YEARS OF (1948-1970S) SOUTHPARK HAS AND ALWAYS IS A BEAUTIFUL STREET. THERE ARE HOMES THAT ARE STILL THERE, BUT ONLY A FEW. I ENJOY THIS BOOK VERRRY MUCH! ALSO WE NEED A BOOK ABOUT THE SOUTH-WEST SIDE OF CHICAGO, IN THE ENGLEWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD FROM 59TH AND RACINE TO 59TH AND ASHLAND. THE BLOCKS BETWEEN THEM LIKE THROOP, ADA, LOOMIS & BISHOP ARE VERY GOOD NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE ENGLEWOOD AREA ON THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF CHICAGO AND GOOD SCHOOLS.

Excellent book
I highly recommend this book to study the social aspects of 20th century South Side Chicago.The images are fantastic and I use it for historical costume research.

Miller's Chicago, South Side Study
while in France recently at Chalon-sur-Soane I visited their photography museum. They were doing a special exhibit of this work. I was so totally impressed on how Miller could capture these photos while seeming to be invisable to his subjects that I investigated when I returned and discovered that this book was available. I bought TWO; one for myself and one for my daughter who is a serious photographer.

Extraordinary photographic record ... and extraordinary photographs
These striking images of Bronzeville -- "Chicago's Harlem" -- will blow you away. The humanity they portray, in all its beaten-down, lifted-up, heartbreaking reality, makes me wish I knew personally every man and woman depicted herein.

Wayne Miller, a white photographer now well into his 80s, went into the Bronzeville ghetto over a two-year period and made these touching pictures; then they "went into a drawer" for 40 years, until finally the Univ of Calif Press published this book. (The book itself is as well-produced a book of photographs as you are likely to find anywhere.)

My grandfather Nathan Joseph ran the States Theatre at 3507 S. State St., in the heart of Bronzeville, for some50 years (unfortunately the States is not depicted herein). I myself have written a novel of Bronzeville called "To Love Mercy" (Mid-Atlantic Highlands, ISBN 0-9744785-3-9). A historical Afterword appears at the end of "To Love Mercy;" it is an oral history of Bronzeville, in the voices of a dozen people who lived there in the '40s and '50s. This Afterword is illustrated with seven of Wayne Miller's photos from "Chicago South Side, 1946-1948."

I have given close to a dozen copies of "Chicago South Side" as gifts. I was coming to Amazon to buy two more copies when I saw this opportunity to write a review.

These photos have moved me to tears. Buy this book.

Shocking and Intimate
This book is a treasure. I wish I could find more by this photographer (my searches have come up empty). The photographs take you right inside each scene, and often pack a powerful punch of sadness, joy, intimacy, life. The printing quality is excellent. If the publisher can collect more of his work, I will be the first customer. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Master P, Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Jay Electronica, C-Murder, Dj Khaled, Romeo Miller, Birdman, B.g., Mack Maine, Mannie Fresh, Currensy, Baby Boy Da Prince, Soulja Slim, Mia X, Silkk the Shocker, Vl Mike, the Knux, Freak Nasty, 54th Platoon. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 106. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. As a teenager, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his multi-platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over two million copies. Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R ... Read more

Product Description
Harpo Marx's pockets. The truth about crop circles. Bizarre job opportunities. A robot poet. A flashback to the Sixties. Within the cornucopia that is Strange Vegetables you will find these and other speculations on things scientific and fantastical, real and surreal, complete with a special garnish here and there to illuminate a poem. Praise for Strange Vegetables: "Strange Vegetables is a wok full of steamed whimsy. Venerable poet G.O. Clark's playful verse induces a smile on every page, punctuated with the occasional shock of melancholy recognition or an urgent, earnest tug on the heartstrings." -- Mike Allen, award winning author of The Journey to Kailash. ... Read more