Book Description
"Astonishing . . . Moving . . . One of the best books ever written about a sport."
*Walter Clemons
Newsweek
"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE."
*David Guy
Chicago Tribune
In The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the unique brand of reportage, both penetrating and supple, that distinguished his bestselling The Best and the Brightest and October 1964. This time he has taken for his subject the dramatic and special world of amateur rowing. While other athletes are earning fortunes in salaries and-or endorsements, the oarsmen gain fame only with each other and strive without any hope of financial reward.
What drives these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they regard themselves and their competitors? What have they sacrificed, and what inner demons have they appeased? In answering these questions, David Halberstam takes as his focus the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton. The man who wins will gain the right to represent the United States in the 84 Olympiad; the losers will then have to struggle further to gain a place in the two- or four-man boats. And even if they succeed, they will have to live with the bitter knowledge that they were not the best, only close to it.
Informative and compelling, The Amateurs combines the vividness of superb sportswriting with the narrative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent.
"RIVETING."
*Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times
"[A] MASTERFUL JOB . . . Maintains the suspense to the very last stroke . . . Halberstam makes us care about the four men, their disappointments and the brutal testing of their friendships."
*Dan Levin
Sports Illustrated
Customer Reviews:
A way to see into rowing and the people who do it.......2005-01-21
For someone who's not a rower, Halberstam gets most of this right - the technique, the atmosphere, the obsessiveness (which is common to all levels of rowing, just intensified among Olympians). In some ways the selection for the '84 Olympics was a crux point in the US rowing system, and Halberstam shows just why. If you want to get a view into a sport most people ignore, written by a top author, this is a good place to do it - same if you just want a peek in the mind of world-class athletes. If you want to really learn about the 84' Olympics selection camp, I'd recommend reading this in combination with Brad Lewis' "Assault at Lake Casitas", for a another viewpoint from one of the main actors (and the '84 doubles gold medalist).
Incidentally, the movie Rowing Through was based on The Amateurs. It's quite divergent from the book, but not too bad if you can ignore a good bit of gratuitous sex and some hardly-Olympic-caliber rowing in the scenes on the water.
top 2 rowing books ever.......2004-12-16
halberstam is very engaging in not merely following the story of the 1976 Olympic US rowing scullers, but in relentlessly digging into their lives for historical details of their rowing past, psychological stabs at what drives them, and their social interaction with their teammates. this book was quite well known in the 1980's, but seems to have been forgotten by many in the rowing community - what a shame!! i expect every serious rower today would still find this an extremely compelling and interesting story, and for those of us who read it 20 years ago, i can testify that it is very well worth a re-read. and the other top rowing book? virtually unknown and quite hard to find, brad alan lewis' `assault on lake casitas' is just as great as `the amateurs', and a fantastic companion to it!!
Another great book from David Halberstam.......2004-09-30
I read this book in spite of the facts that I have no interest in rowing and know nothing about it. I read it only because it was written by David Halberstam, and I've loved everything I've ever read by him.
This book was no exception. Even though I still know very little about the sport, I now appreciate how grueling it is, and how much training these guys do.
You can't go wrong with a David Halberstam book, and this one's no exception.
A great Recommendation to anyone.......2004-08-03
After being recommended to read this book, I know recommend it to anyone with an interest in any sports or great literature. I do crew and mountain biking and only wish I had read this book earlier. The book follows a few oarsmen on their path to the Olympics and describes the hidden world of crew and its politics unbelievably well. What you can take away from this book is an undeniably better mental toughness in whatever you do from crew to paper pushing, this book will make you better at it.
A Look at a lonely calling.......2003-03-27
Someone recommended this book to me one day during the Olympics. I read it straight through at one setting. It is the story of a lonely sport, rowing, and the men who endure incredible pain and sacrifice just for the chance of competition. These are not men who party at night, sleep late and wave to the cameras. No, they are dedicated, serious students who have been called to wield an oar.
The author shares a trait with Paul Johnson and Daniel Boorstin- that is the art of intertwining personal tales within the plot of his story in such a way that both complement each other. If you want a good beach book, this is the one.
Book Description
Those who serve the public trust must take special care to ensure they make ethical and responsible decisions. Yet the realities of bureaucracies, deadlines, budgets, and demands for quick results make the payoffs for dealing formally with ethics seem unclear. Since its original publication, The Responsible Administrator has guided professionals and students alike as they grapple with the challenges of making ethical, responsible decisions in real world situations.
This new edition includes information on coping with new demands for accountability, as well as new cases and examples, an examination of current issues relevant to administrative ethics, and supplementary materials for professors.
Cooper’s theoretical framework and practical applications and techniques will help you consider all of the factors involved in a decision, ensuring that you balance professional, personal, and organizational values. Case studies and examples illustrate what works and what does not. The Responsible Administrator helps both experienced and novice public administrators and students become effective decision makers, provides them with a solid understanding of the role of ethics in public service and the framework to incorporate ethical and values-based decision making in day-to-day management.
Customer Reviews:
The most thought-provoking nap I've ever taken.......2003-01-08
To countereffect the wordiness of the author, I'll keep this brief. This is a thought-provoking read, and as an administrator I will take much of this book to heart. In many respects it will be life- or at least job-altering. For that, I am very pleased.
The painful part was actually getting through the book. It is very dryly written, with pretentious language and lacking clear outline. Truly painful.
I found the first couple chapters agonizing. Then the author hit his stride and offered a lot of valuable insight. I wish it had been written in plain english rather than all the superfluous fluff. We already know you're smart: now tell us what you are trying to say.
good for the book-case.......2001-05-27
I wouldn't have read it if I didn't have too, but since I did, it was pretty good. As an administrator, I will keep this on my book-case..Ha ha.
Wanted: Administrators Who Can Juggle Responsibly.......1998-10-16
Terry L. Cooper's The Responsible Administrator will someday (if not already) be listed by successful and respected public administration practitioners as one of the books that had the most influence on their careers. Those who list it as such will probably have a well-worn copy on their library shelf because it is not a piece that is read through once - even very carefully, word for word - with the reader then declaring, "Now I see how it should be done." Rather, it is a book that increases in utility as one's experience in decision-making and working through administrative ethical dilemmas increases. For this reason, its greatest impact will be on practitioners, as opposed to students and academics. Nevertheless, although it is certainly realistic about, and empathetic with the day-to-day decision-making and ethical conflicts faced by public administrators, it is nonetheless theoretically thorough and academically thoughtful.
Cooper is obviously a scholar of the philosophical and moral issues surrounding public administration and decision making. In addition to his own thoughtful analysis and theory, he provides a comprehensive and thorough review of literature relating to each item of discussion, as well as on-point case studies that amplify the ethical complexities and difficulties challenging today's administrators. Fortunately for practitioners, he is not content to conclude his treatise with conceptual, theoretical and philosophical analysis of ethical problems, but suggests a design approach for dealing with both the short-term decision-making situations and the long-term organizational, political, legal, cultural, policy and procedural issues faced by administrators as they attempt to make balanced and ethical decisions.
The manner in which Cooper presents his case studies allows the reader to interact and find conceptual application. Each one is "based on reality and fictionalized only slightly to protect those who wrote them" (p. xxi), and is very illustrative and thought provoking regarding the ethical problems being discussed. However, they are always left unresolved. Cooper says, "To indicate an outcome [in each case] would diminish the experience of dilemma they are calculated to evoke" (p. xxi). This emphasizes the ultimate purpose of The Responsible Administrator which "is to illuminate the ethical situation of the public administrator and cultivate imaginative reflection about it - not to prescribe a particular set of public service values" (p. xxi). Although the volume leaves no doubt in the reader's mind that its author has strong opinions and a well-established belief structure, it makes no attempt to proselytize the reader with a substantive system of moral values or standards for public administrators.
The premise of The Responsible Administrator is that public administrators, in fulfilling their administrative responsibilities, are faced with complex and ambiguous ethical issues which force them to juggle multiple compelling factors: the facts of each situation; their own personal values and beliefs; and external obligations and institutional norms. Through the process of resolving these issues in specific and concrete situations, administrators define administrative responsibility and develop an operational ethic for themselves. Over time, "this working ethic becomes the substance of one's professional character" (p. 6).
The book focuses on providing a method whereby a design system can be developed and utilized by administrators to formulate their responsibility in dealing with conflict, tension, uncertainty and risk. "A basic assumption of this book is that the more we consciously address and systematically process the ethical dimensions of decision making when we confront significant issues, the more responsible we become in our work as administrators. It is then that we are able to account for our conduct to superiors, the press, the courts, and the public" (p. 17). The decision-making model Cooper proposes consists of four initial steps: "defining the ethical problem, describing the context, identifying the range of alternative courses of action, and projecting the probable consequences of each" (p. 245). He then prescribes stepping beyond this initial linear exercise to the "nonlinear process of searching for a fit among several considerations: moral rules, ethical principles, anticipatory self-appraisal, and a rehearsal of defenses" (p. 245). Thus, the model is a pragmatic leveling of the rational and behavioral playing fields of responsible decision making.
One chapter in The Responsible Administrator is dedicated to understanding the administrative role as it relates to the social and cultural context in which it functions. Therein he poses the question of how one sorts out "the priority of obligations between those of being a citizen in a democratic society and those associated with being a public administrator" (p. 37). This is a theme explored in even greater detail in The Spirit of Public Administration (1997), wherein H. George Frederickson concludes that the public administrator must act as a "representative citizen." Cooper suggests that the theories of Weber and Wilson regarding the separation of politics from administration are no longer viable in a postmodern society. Today, public administrators play a substantive political role and need to acknowledge their high degree of accountability to the citizenry, while at the same time being a member of the citizenry. An ethical struggle can develop, therefore, leading to confusion for the public administrator when carrying out the orders of superiors and being loyal to the organization is in conflict with his or her duty to uphold the public interest.
The Responsible Administrator is not a book that will provide much satisfaction to public servants who are looking for the answer to the question, "Why should I be moral?" But for administrators in public service who are looking for a guide to assist them in developing an operation ethic - an "ethical identity" (p. 7) - Cooper delivers. Those who commit to and adopt his design methodology should do so only if they are prepared for an ongoing and maturational process. Cooper is not proposing a read-it-once and master-it-forever theory. Rather, he is calling for public administrators to commence a life-long journey of cultivating intuitive decision-making skills, resulting in responsibility and accountability to superiors, subordinates, the law, the public and themselves.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Higher Education, published by Ohio State University Press on November 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1024 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: The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role (4th ed.).(Review)
Author: Harry J. Canon
Publication:
Journal of Higher Education (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2000
Publisher: Ohio State University Press
Volume: 71
Issue: 6
Page: 749
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
If the word "hero" still belonged in the historian's lexicon, it would certainly be applied to John Wesley Powell. Intrepid explorer, careful scientist, talented writer, and dedicated conservationist, Powell led the expedition that put the Colorado River on American maps and revealed the Grand Canyon to the world. Now comes the first biography of this towering figure in almost fifty years--a book that captures his life in all its heroism, idealism, and ambivalent, ambiguous humanity. In A River Running West, Donald Worster, one of our leading Western historians, tells the story of Powell's great adventures and describes his historical significance with compelling clarity and skill. Worster paints a vivid portrait of how this man emerged from the early nineteenth-century world of immigrants, fervent religion, and rough-and-tumble rural culture, and barely survived the Civil War battle at Shiloh. The heart of Worster's biography is Powell's epic journey down the Colorado in 1869, a tale of harrowing experiences, lethal accidents, and breathtaking discoveries. After years in the region collecting rocks and fossils and learning to speak the local Native American languages, Powell returned to Washington as an eloquent advocate for the West, one of America's first and most influential conservationists. But in the end, he fell victim to a clique of Western politicians who pushed for unfettered economic development, relegating the aging explorer to a quiet life of anthropological contemplation. John Wesley Powell embodied the energy, optimism, and westward impulse of the young United States. A River Running West is a gorgeously written, magisterial account of this great American explorer and environmental pioneer, a true story of undaunted courage in the American West.
Customer Reviews:
Powell in context of his whole life, no haloes, but three dimension.......2006-04-26
My comment at the end of my title refers to Wallace Stegner's "Beyond the 100th Meridian." While that is a very good book, it comes close to perpetuating a myth of Saint John Wesley Powell.
Compared to Stegner, who may be a point of reference for many readers curious about this book, Worster paints a far more complete picture of Powell, delving much deeper into journals and letters kept by colleagues, underlings, and exploratory co-travlers of his.
We see a Powell who was NOT totally Stegner's beknighted prophet of a kinder, gentler Western development. Powell did favor independent farmers over corporate conglomerates, but just as much as Nevada's Sen. Stewart, he wanted to drain every last drop from the Colorado. And, Worster also shows how he ran afoul of the most ardent forest conservation advocates late in his Washington career.
In short, Worster indicates the semi-mythical Powell, not just of Stegner but some other writers, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Worster puts Powell's evangelical -- yes, evangelical -- fervor for irrigation in the backdrop of his childhood Methodism. While there's no way of proving this, it is certainly a reasonable interpretation.
He also paints a broader picture of Powell the bureaucrat. Here again, he differs somewhat from Stegner, suggesting that Powell bears a bit of the blame, at least, for his own wing-clipping by Stewart et al late in his career.
At the same time, Worster gives a detailed portrait of just how hard-working Powell was, both as a Washingtonian and the explorer of the Colorado River and Plateau.
In essence, this is "revisionist history" at its best and most proper.
In a word? Mediocre........2006-04-05
The title a River Running West is something of a misnomer. One could infer from this title that the bulk of this work centers upon Powell's Colorado River excursions (the front cover might lead one to believe so, as well). Yet, barely 1/5th of it actually does. The beginning, as to be expected, recounts the early years of John Wesley Powell, but the entire second half of this weighty tome is dedicated to his time in Washington DC as head of the USGS. Indeed, to be fully accurate, if matching title to content, a more appropriate appellation might be A Bureaucrat in the East, but bureaucracy just doesn't sell well.
Worster's underlying thread in this effort is Powell's transition from son of devout Methodists to enlightened, agnostic scientist. All well and good, if this is the Powell story. But, Worster bangs this drum so incessantly that it leaves one wondering if he was more concerned with Powell's religious upbringing than Powell himself. There's a whiff here of an agenda.
To be fair, the Colorado River excursions are suspensefully told, but as with most books of the genre, the maps are sparse and dreadful. I can't believe I am in the minority for desiring detailed maps with which I might closely trace the route of intrepid explorers. This becomes especially desirous when I have personally visited sites along their journey for then I may more accurately transform the text into mental imagery. But with sub-par maps containing spotty detail and far too many blank spaces, this becomes a mere exercise in frustration.
Despite this, Worster's biography of Powell is no less than mediocre. It follows the standard format of the genre leaving the reader educated if not exactly enthralled. It is not a book I leapt towards at every opportunity, though there was no need to coerce myself into continuing. A River Running West is but an average account of an indomitable man synonymous with western expansion. 3 stars.
Growing With the Country.......2002-03-15
Reading this book was like being present at the creation of America. It will appeal especially to U.S. history buffs and to anyone interested in the American West. Worster's telling of the feat that won Powell fame, leading the first expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, has definitely renewed my passion for exploring the West. Powell was a man of ideas, as well as action. For a quarter century he was at the forefront of debates over reserving land for American Indians, how to foster family farming in the arid West, and the thorny issue of water rights. For many years, Powell was a prominent official in Washington, as head of the U.S. Geological Survey, which he helped create, and in other positions. From what I gather in this book, Powell may have been as important as any single individual in making support of scientific research a normal function of the Federal Government. From the perspective of one man's career, Worster touches on a multitude of topics: railroads, telegraph, photography, landscape painting of the West, Mormon settlements, and many more. For the comprehension one gains of American life in those times, this biography is the equal of a first rate novel. Although a work of scholarship, it is written to be enjoyed by the general reader.
Informative but a little sterile........2001-11-16
The book is well written and informative about the events of Powell's life and the geological survey in which Powell played such a major role. My primary disappointment with the book was that I felt I didn't know the person John W. Powell much better after reading the book. The book provided very little information about Powell's life outside of his work.
An Enchanting Piece of Scholarship.......2001-09-09
I enjoyed this book immensely. Thorough, evocative, thrilling, and comprehensive in its scope, it was a delight from beginning to end.
I completed a major in Geography at Illinois State University many years ago, where Powell taught at one time, and I am embarrassed to admit the sad truth that in all the courses I took nary a word was ever mentioned about the great man. Considering his extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the natural world, it is all too sad.
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General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing
Rowing Faster
Assault on Lake Casitas
The Art of Sculling
Essential Sculling: An Introduction to Basic Strokes, Equipment, Boat Handling, Technique, and Power
