Emerson: The Mind on Fire (Centennial Books)

Book Description

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most important figures in the history of American thought, religion, and literature. The vitality of his writings and the unsettling power of his example continue to influence us more than a hundred years after his death. Now Robert D. Richardson Jr. brings to life an Emerson very different from the old stereotype of the passionless Sage of Concord. Drawing on a vast amount of new material, including correspondence among the Emerson brothers, Richardson gives us a rewarding intellectual biography that is also a portrait of the whole man.
These pages present a young suitor, a grief-stricken widower, an affectionate father, and a man with an abiding genius for friendship. The great spokesman for individualism and self-reliance turns out to have been a good neighbor, an activist citizen, a loyal brother. Here is an Emerson who knew how to laugh, who was self-doubting as well as self-reliant, and who became the greatest intellectual adventurer of his age.
Richardson has, as much as possible, let Emerson speak for himself through his published works, his many journals and notebooks, his letters, his reported conversations. This is not merely a study of Emerson's writing and his influence on others; it is Emerson's life as he experienced it. We see the failed minister, the struggling writer, the political reformer, the poetic liberator.
The Emerson of this book not only influenced Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, Dickinson, and Frost, he also inspired Nietzsche, William James, Baudelaire, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Jorge Luis Borges. Emerson's timeliness is persistent and striking: his insistence that literature and science are not separate cultures, his emphasis on the worth of every individual, his respect for nature.
Richardson gives careful attention to the enormous range of Emerson's readings--from Persian poets to George Sand--and to his many friendships and personal encounters--from Mary Moody Emerson to the Cherokee chiefs in Boston--evoking both the man and the times in which he lived. Throughout this book, Emerson's unquenchable vitality reaches across the decades, and his hold on us endures.

Customer Reviews:

The Value of This Book.......2006-11-30

In the past, my experience in reading Emerson has been similar to reading the Tao Te Ching; interesting, non-mainstream in its point of view, puzzling to understand what exactly it means. So I would pick up the Tao and read it at different times of the day and different frames of mind, hoping that it would resonate with me, but it never did. Maybe it was the cultural difference, or the language, or not being able to easily identify with Lao Tzu. Such had been my experience with Emerson. I wanted to understand him better because what little I did understand made me want to learn more, but I just couldn't get there.

This biographer, Richardson, really did his homework and any who want to understand Emerson better should appreciate this work. Emerson kept exhaustive journals and collections of his thoughts for many years. He read widely and deeply, kept detailed notes, and thoroughly indexed the notes. What perfect material to access for writing a biography! Apparently Richardson went back and studied much of the source material that Emerson references in his journals and brings into this biography an understanding of who Emerson was reading and what it meant to Emerson, so we receive the pleasure of following along on a journey in the development of a powerful mind. Then Richardson is able to write about this development so that it is easily readable to us moderns. It's quite a remarkable achievement.

"Mind on Fire" shows me that Richardson is certain that studying Emerson and his message is worthwhile. So much consideration has gone into this biography that when I laid it down after almost non-stop reading for several days over the holidays, I felt like I really understood Emerson for the first time, and now have much better insight. I plan to let this book simmer in my mind a few more months, then pick it up and read it again.

If Richardson could also write something as lucid and detailed to help me understand the Tao Te Ching, I wouldn't have 10,000 questions about the 10,000 things. ;-)

When the genius of biography meets the genius of literature.......2005-09-24

Mr. Richardson's 'Thoreau A Life of the Mind' was not only the best biography I've read on Thoreau, but one of the most exhilerating and enlightening reading experiences of my life. So I decided to read his 'Emerson The Mind on Fire.' And it was every bit as intimate and intelligent.

There are times you feel that you're intruding upon Waldo and Henry on one of their walks. It was an endless stroll of two intellectuals and humanists on the path of being very human. Each of the one hundred chapters (both books) are kept short, which helps move the reader from topic to topic without ever feeling put upon (too much detail can drag what is otherwise very interesting.) Though, for me personally, I would love to savor every moment these two great men shared. I don't think I could ever get bored.

Emerson has many close friends with whom one gets to know intimately. His personal address book was a whose whose of literary and intellectual greats.

The relationship between Emerson and his second wife, Lidian, is of great interest. She was also intellectual and as much a partner in life as she was a wife. Her presence is everywhere in Emerson's life.

Emerson's essays are pure poetry. And the behind the scene snippets into how they became a part of his legacy was both insightful and relevant to the day to day interactions and causes he committed himself. His transformation from the unremarkable child into the neverending 'student' of self-education and commitment to social conscience throughout his entire adult life is one to be admired.

Mr. Richardson is one of the best biographers of nineteenth century literaries. He is truly one with his topic.

Perennial Philosophy in the Key of Americana.......2005-09-16

Robust account of one of the seminal figures of early America, one attempting the creation of an indigenous culture cast in a more universal mode than that of the provincial Christianity of his roots. The courage to give up his secure life as a minister for the uncertainties of exploration and creative renewal marks Emerson's trail through a pioneer's psychological American wilderntess, to touch on and integrate everything from the post-Kantians, to the Buddhists/Hindus to the Persians and Sufis. That Emerson evolved into a near firebrand abolitionist is an aspect of his life unsufficiently told, and this part of his later career runs clear in this book. All in all, a first rate pioneer story of another kind.

Firing the Mind.......2004-08-31

This is the only biography of Emerson that truly matters. Richardson locks in on the essentials - the development of a seeking mind is search of the ground of being and the nature of reality. Emerson is our Founding Thinker and to do him justice, a biographer has to grapple with the how and why a mind grows, changes, struggles and reaches new heights. Even if you haven't read much Emerson, this biography sheds light on what Emerson meant when he said, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

The Best of the Best.......2003-06-20

Robert Richardson's biography of Emerson is superb. Though, as Richardson reminds us, Emerson did not like superlative language when precise and adequate language would do, it is the case that at times the superlative, the precise and the adequate converge (as, in fact, they often did in Emerson's writings). Richardson's biography is indeed superb in its unfolding of Emerson's life -- the loves, the friendships, the losses, the intellectual and spiritual hunger, the religious quest, the writers in America, in Europe, in Persia and elsewhere to whom Emerson owed and acknowledged debts, the grasping at and for a world, the determination of a single, brilliant human being to find his way and to see his life, and all individual lives, as imbued with the divine and thus worth living.

The book is also superbly written. Each short chapter offers enough substantive insight to urge the reader into the next. It is a long book, but not long-winded. Richardson provides the reader with some morsel of insight in a few pages of narrative, and then offers a rest to digest what has been said. His placement of quotations from Emerson's journals, essays and other works is brilliant, offering the reader a useful sketch of Emerson's metaphysics and ethics. In my own case, this has allowed time to reach for other literature more fully descriptive of the events or scenes offered in a particular chapter, or to reread chunks of Emerson's writings while moving through the biography. The book is a useful tool not merely for a study of Emerson's life but for a study of Transcendentalism and of the interplay of ideas across the Atlantic that shaped American thought in so many ways. One sees more clearly where and how such writers as Nietzsche and Thoreau obtained the seeds of their own truths from Emerson's works and thoughts.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Theological Studies, published by Theological Studies, Inc. on September 1, 1996. The length of the article is 889 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: Emerson: The Mind on Fire.
Author: Donald L. Gelpi
Publication: Theological Studies (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1996
Publisher: Theological Studies, Inc.
Volume: v57 Issue: n3 Page: p538(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Emerson: The Mind on Fire: A Biography.

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICPTYC

Book Description

This arresting historical novel deals with the rivalry between two great men whose friendship turns to enmity as one (Attila) becomes corrupted by power, while the other (Aetius) is ennobled by it. Ross Laidlaw's masterful portrayal of these two figures is based on his intimate knowledge of the times and is written in a narrative style that vividly evokes the brutality, decadence, and desperation of this fascinating period of history.

Customer Reviews:

Not up to par!.......2007-04-03

I have been reading historical fiction for a while. Pressfield is to Grrek history as Cornwell is to ancient Brit. However, this writer is neither. The story rambles, stumbles and falls several times per chapter. I make it a practice to never quit on a book, and this one tested my resolve. Attila must be turning in his grave!

A Well Researched and Well Written Book.......2005-02-07

This is a book to get your teeth into, not something to pick up and put down. It is a book about two great men, Attila, King of the Huns and Flavius Aetius one of the great Roman Generals, friends, who turn into bitter enemies.

The book is set in the early 5th century. The German tribes are overrunning the Western parts of the Roman Empire. Nothing and no one can stop the might of their forces. The government of Rome is forced to grant them federate status.

Aetius becomes the power in Rome even over the heads of a weak and viscious emperor and his mother. In a series of campaigns he takes on the might of the Huns and forces them to settle peacefully. His one time friend Attila, now his bitter enemy launches an attack on the Eastern part of the empire and in the ensuring battle both men have everything to lose if they are defeated.

The novel portrays brilliantly the brutality of war and the blatant disregard for human life in this period of history and is a must for anyone interested in that period.

Book Description

This classic by an associate of Yugoslavia's Tito created a sensation when it was published in 1957 because it was the first time that a ranking Communist had publicly analyzed his disillusionment with the system.

Customer Reviews:

One of the great books of the last half of the 20th century........2007-10-17

Djilas was on of the top brass in Tito's Yugoslavia in the 50's and then he published this book, which was meant as a critique of where the Yougoslav Communist Party, and others, were going. The great thing about the books is that you can apply it to any particular power group and understand what is going on with them (I think it applies quite well to the corporate state as well as to the communist one). Quite an excellent read!

Highest reccomendation!

The More Things Change.........2007-05-31

Djilas explains from firsthand experience how the CP went from being a revolutionary vanguard to the new ownership class in the societies that they created. They didn't own the factories, mines, and fields by law, but they became the defacto owners (i.e., enjoying the benefits of having control) of these productive assets. Perhaps the CP bigshots and their bureaucracy didn't own title to these assets but they certainly acted and benefited from being in control of them all the same. And given human nature, perhaps this is inevitable too. That was Djilas' point.

Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot just to name a few, all tried to prevent this but were unable to halt the evolution of the CP and it's bureaucracy into acting as a new ownership class. Look at the nominally Communist states that still exist: The so-called "People's Republic of China" is really a State-Capitalist enterprise; Orwell's Animal Farm as state policy. And Cuba and North Korea are simply monarchies under a nominally communist party. Witness the way Castro turned the State over to his brother Raul, and Kim Il-Sung turned control of N Korea to his son Kim Jong-Il.

And for all his prescience Djilas spent years in Yugoslavian labor camps too. This critique is far more effective at exposing the fallacies and failures of Marxism-Leninism in practice than all the screeds written by the Cold Warriors back in the day.

The apogee of the bureaucracy.......2004-07-24

Djilas' book written in the nineteen fifties was a real bombshell for the top of the CP's and in leftist circles in Europe. It exposed the communist countries as regimes ruled by a very small oligarchy of high level party members (sometimes by only one person, the party secretary). They were totalitarian dictatorial States.
One bitter joke went around that the world's history could be summarized by three 'at' stages; matriarchat, patriarchat and secretariat.
This small oligarchy built around itself a heavy State bureaucracy (later named the Nomenklatura), through which it controlled the whole country, politically through the one party system, economically through State monopolies and ideologically through an absolute control of the media.
In fact, the masses were exploited with an iron fist.The Nomenklatura disposed of all the wealth. Everybody else had a job but lived in poverty.
Djilas' book gives a cynical picture of the functioning of a totalitarian State with its corruption, its enormous differences in living standards and its complete resistance to change.
For Djilas, communist regimes were slumbering civil wars between the government and the population. The government could only keep control by using physical (knocking down insurrections, incarceration and show trials) and ideological (censure) violence.
Djilas also analyzes the role of Lenin and Stalin in the creation of this State bureaucracy.
The Hungarian Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz defined the difference between fascism and communism as follows: fascism was a reality, communism a utopia, but both were characterized by the ruling of one party which wielded uncontrolled and unlimited power. Both were a disaster for the population.
Djilas' book is the 'classic' about totalitarian bureaucracies. A must read, not only for historians.

The Nucleus of His Thoughts.......2003-07-30

Countries that are exploited for their raw materials and cheap labor must create a revolutionary movement to free themselves from foreign domination (p.16). Revolutions occur when the old political system is an obstacle to new economic or social relationships (p.18). They lead to political democracy and a freer production of goods (p.19). Djilas says the industrialization which followed the Russian Revolution was responsible for their success; defeat in war was a necessary precondition (p.22). Other revolutions offered greater legal security and civil rights (p.27). While the people are used to win a revolution, the ultimate benefits flow to the new ruling class (p.27). Djilas calls them "a new class" because they came to power to establish a new economic order, not after the new economy existed (p.38). Communists were more powerful than any other class because of their unity of belief and disciplines members (p.39).

Every ruling class justifies its rule as benefiting the ruled by preventing chaos and ruin (p.59). Party ideological unity is the basis for personal dictatorship, and strengthens it. It abolishes democracy, and makes ideas follow personal power. Ideological unity becomes prejudice (p.77). Djilas imagines a "lawful state" where the judiciary would be independent of the government (p.88). [Can that ever be?] Communists use elections and a parliament to provide a display of legitimacy for the public. Their parliaments approve that which was decided for them (p.94). Laws are issued without considering the real situations and practicalities (p.95). [Like in some states?]

Djilas notes the development of heavy industry prevented the USSR from being conquered by Hitler, but he claims this wasn't important (p.116)! A once-backward Russia attained second place in world production in its most important branches of the economy, and became the mightiest continental power (p.117). "Every ideology, every opinion, tries to represent itself as the only true one and complete one. This is innate to man's thinking" (p.124). Djilas quotes a poet to compare Calvin to Stalin as to dogmatic intolerance (pp.130-1).

Djilas essay "The Aim and the Means" tells me he enjoyed being a revolutionary, but did not enjoy life after the revolution. Its like those who look back to their years in college or the military and not the following decades. Page 158 compares the party purges to those of Imperial Rome or Renaissance times. Could these purges be like fashion: some are in, some are out? Or like high school cliques? The United States is carrying out nationalization not by changing ownership, but by putting more national income into government hands (p.199).

The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
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The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: Praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B0000CJRTI

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The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: Frederick A. Praeger, Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GS753Q

Milovan Djilas' The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
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Milovan Djilas' The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: Praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0890082928

Product Description

This book is one of the great political documents of all time. This edition contains some revisions and corrections of the original translation as first printed in 1957. The publishers are particularly grateful to Mr. Reinhard Federmann and Mr. Moshe Sharett, whose valuable criticisms and suggestions were to a large extent incorporated into this edition. A crushing indictment of Communist rule. One of the most compelling and perhaps the most important sociological document of our time - The New York Times. 214 Pages

the new class an analysis of the communist system

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the new class an analysis of the communist system

Manufacturer: frederick a. praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HGR19A

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The New Class, An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1957
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NX97MQ

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The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: Frederick A. Praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VX6QIG

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New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djilas
Manufacturer: FREDERICK A. PRAEGER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL8R3M

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The Nucleus of His Thoughts

The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System

Manufacturer: Frederick A Praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CRIFGW

Customer Reviews:

The Nucleus of His Thoughts.......2006-05-14

This 1957 book of ten essays contains no index. I found some essays thought provoking, others not. "The Essence" is the shortest chapter, and gives a sample of his thoughts. The basic philosophic ideals of Communism, dialectics and materialism, did not originate with Marx and Engels. They can be traced back to ancient Greece: the primacy of matter to Democritus, the reality of change to Heraclitus. Marx wanted to discover the basic laws of society, like Darwin's laws (p.2). The major flaw of Communism is their belief of sole knowledge of the laws of society, and their sole right to control society. This is a dogmatic religion (p.3). Society and individuals strive to increase and perfect production; this causes conflict with others, and competition to survive. Natural and social barriers must be changed to eliminated. Classes, parties, and political systems are an expression of this ceaseless movement (pp.11-12).

Countries that are exploited for their raw materials and cheap labor must create a revolutionary movement to free themselves from foreign domination (p.16). Revolutions occur when the old political system is an obstacle to new economic or social relationships (p.18). They lead to political democracy and a freer production of goods (p.19). Djilas says the industrialization which followed the Russian Revolution was responsible for their success; defeat in war was a necessary precondition (p.22). Other revolutions offered greater legal security and civil rights (p.27). While the people are used to win a revolution, the ultimate benefits flow to the new ruling class (p.27). Djilas calls them "a new class" because they came to power to establish a new economic order, not after the new economy existed (p.38). Communists were more powerful than any other class because of their unity of belief and disciplines members (p.39).

Every ruling class justifies its rule as benefiting the ruled by preventing chaos and ruin (p.59). Party ideological unity is the basis for personal dictatorship, and strengthens it. It abolishes democracy, and makes ideas follow personal power. Ideological unity becomes prejudice (p.77). Djilas imagines a "lawful state" where the judiciary would be independent of the government (p.88). [Can that ever be?] Communists use elections and a parliament to provide a display of legitimacy for the public. Their parliaments approve that which was decided for them (p.94). Laws are issued without considering the real situations and practicalities (p.95). [Like in some states?]

Djilas notes the development of heavy industry prevented the USSR from being conquered by Hitler, but he claims this wasn't important (p.116)! A once-backward Russia attained second place in world production in its most important branches of the economy, and became the mightiest continental power (p.117). "Every ideology, every opinion, tries to represent itself as the only true one and complete one. This is innate to man's thinking" (p.124). Djilas quotes a poet to compare Calvin to Stalin as to dogmatic intolerance (pp.130-1).

Djilas essay "The Aim and the Means" tells me he enjoyed being a revolutionary, but did not enjoy life after the revolution. Its like those who look back to their years in college or the military and not the following decades. Page 158 compares the party purges to those of Imperial Rome or Renaissance times. Could these purges be like fashion: some are in, some are out? Or like high school cliques? The United States is carrying out nationalization not by changing ownership, but by putting more national income into government hands (p.199).

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The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
Milovan Djila
Manufacturer: Frederick A. Praeger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JWJSZW

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Economic Anthropology Basics.......2005-02-23

Sustainability, Human Ecology, and the Collapse of Complex Societies: Economic Anthropology and a 21st Century Adaptation by Niccolo Caldararo (Mellen Studies in Anthropology Vol. 15: Edwin Mellen Press) This book is designed as an introduction to both economic anthropology and to the use of culture history as an aid in the study of the evolution of human institutions. As an introduction, it is written in a general tone without much in the way of spe¬cialist terms. The sections are divided into themes, the first being a general outline of the history of economics and how human societies have been seen to adapt to different environments over the past 5 million years. In essence, as Evans-Pritchard (1965) has said about the theories of religion, the history of economic theory also reflects the character and themes of the times in which the theories were cre¬ated. Caldararo provides a basic review of theories of human social evolution, both unilinear and multilinear in scope as well as a historical framework for their appearance. A unilinear view perceives history taking place in a straight line, one simple stage of society developing into a more complex one and so on, from hunters and gatherers through to today's global culture. A multilinear view is more complex. It conceives of all forms of human institutions as being developed forms with rich histories. Some societies developed in some locations in time into more complex ones, oth¬ers did not and some collapsed leaving no progeny. There are many different schemes which have been constructed using both these views and they differ one from the other in their components. Neither of these reviews was meant to be exhaustive surveys of the literature, rather it is hoped they will provide a picture of the development of ideas and approaches to the subjects.
A second section provides an in depth study of human exploitation of forests and the use of fire. The main significance of fire here is the fact that fire has been a major tool in human land clearance in the transition from food collection to food production in the Neolithic. Even before this transition, humans used fire to shape the distribution of plants and animals in the environment. A sub-theme will be how forest fires have evolved. Caldararo's argument here is that forest fires as we know them did not exist before the appearance of humans.
In this second section Caldararo treats the phenomenon of forest fires as a general instance of human exploitation of environments. Forest fires can be seen as an analogy of the human condition where cultures act as filters for perception and create conceptual
landscapes upon which humans act. It seems to me that studying forest fires is quite instructive to a general understanding of the human dilemma. In this exam¬ple, humans have changed the natural world in the process of exploiting resources and by doing so have created an implacable enemy. By introducing the systematic use of fire to extract resources from forests and other wild lands (e.g., increase game, create farmland), by introducing exotic plants or producing fire-adapted flora, and by depleting those animals which lived on the wild biomass, we have produced a landscape adapted to wild fire which never existed before.
This process of human produced events, "anthropogenic events" is the term often used, has converged into a self-perpetuating cycle where wild fire has become a chronic seasonal event, with periodic fires of tremendous damage which are extended and complicated by the growth of suburbs of cities into formerly rural and wild areas. In like manner we have fashioned religious precepts and ideologies upon which our economic lives are founded and have set a course by which the daily lives of billions of people are guided. People are formed within these pre¬cepts and ideologies and their numbers must ever rise to support the economic sys¬tem in which we live. Yet the nature of this course is to inexorably change the foundations on which this course is run, with new commodities, services and espe¬cially experiences - real or imagined - and thus require an unmitigated and con¬stant transformation of lives like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. The Red Queen makes the observation to Alice that, "...in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." In biology, L. van Valen (1973) proposed a similar idea as a principle in evolution regarding the effects of coevolutionary selection. In this view, every improvement in one species will provide it with a selective advantage, and variation will normally lead continu¬ously to increases in fitness in one species or another. Thus to be competitive, each species must be in constant variation to improve fitness relative to other changes in fitness of its competitors. We know, however, from the fossil record that there are long periods of stasis as well as periods of rapid and gradual change. Thus all evolutionary history has not been ruled by the Red Queen. Of course, in Caldararo's example people have created the conditions of "running in place" maintained by precept and ideology. Occasionally all controls fail and a massive forest fire results defying all human technology and destroying forest and human industry. In a similar vein, human societies must adjust the relationships of all components of their institutions to avoid the trump of entropy, the collapse of the economy, and with it, the possible loss of the current form of civilized life. Our social life has developed from that of the sparsely populated hunter and gatherer who is constantly mobile, to the densely populated and sedentary urban dweller. We have become both domesticated animals and herding animals at the same time. Caldararo discusses this in more detail in a later section.
Even the course of this complexity and domestication is uncertain. Our knowledge of the evolution of complex societies among other animals, for example the insects, shows us that complexity is reversible. Research with various solitary insects has found that reversals from complexity back to solitary behavior have occurred at least twelve times. The ants, termites and corbiculate bees that are highly social with complex behavior are from the Cretaceous period and their closely related solitary taxa have long been extinct. Varying degrees of complex social behavior are found in wasps and Halictid bees and allow for com¬parative study.
The third section of this book is on sustainability and examines this concept from an anthropological perspective, using Japan as a case study. Ethnohistorical docu¬ments are the basis but the work addresses both ancient Japan and contemporary Japan through an economic analysis and population history. A basic question here is the nature of the distribution of resources in societies. It has long been held that Pareto's Law (1897) affected all human economies. This law argues that 20% of the population will own 80% of the wealth. However, recent analysis of wealth and income data using the Lorenz curve to factor the Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality, show that the communist experiments produced societ¬ies with markedly different distributions than predicted by Pareto's Law. But even an analysis of a broad group of countries shows a great deal of variation.

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