Average customer rating:
- Beautiful woman, tragic life, a lesson for us all
- Insightful, well written & in Dorothy's own words.
- Only scratches the surface...
- A must have
- an eyeopener!!! a bit depressing...
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Everything and Nothing : The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy
Dorothy Dandridge , and
Earl Conrad
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Dorothy Dandridge: An Intimate Biography
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Dorothy Dandridge: An American Beauty
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Dorothy Dandridge
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Dorothy Dandridge - Singing at Her Best
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ASIN: 0060956755
Release Date: 2000-04-25 |
Book Description
Dorothy Dandridge's life story is the stuff Hollywood dreams--and nightmares. Completed shortly before her tragic death in 19665, Everything and Nothing recounts her rags-to-riches-to-rags story form her personal point of view. Dandridge recalls her humble beginnings in Depression-era Cleveland, Ohio, her rise to fame and success as the first African American to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination (for her role in Carmen Jones), the disappointments and pain of her childhood and family life, and her downward spiral into alcoholism and financial troubles, Everything and Nothing is a mesmerizing and harrowing journey through the life and times of one of Hollywood's most unforgettable stars.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful woman, tragic life, a lesson for us all.......2005-07-08
Mrs Slaughter says, "Dorothy Dandridge's book is filled with hilarious laughter and oceans of tears. It is evident to me that she wrote this book when she had reached the utter end of her tether. I think there is much to learn from her life. Importantly that success has nothing to do with how much fame or money one is able to amass but rather peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment which can only be achieved intrisically through one's own ability to love themselves enough to give themselves the very best of this love without relying on external factors. Dorothy was an obviously beautiful, talented and intelligent woman who lost all she had in a quest to derive happiness and acceptance through circumstances and people which she was unable to control. This unfortunately led to much self-loathing and the eventual demise of one of our age's most important African American icons. A brilliant read and excavation into the complex mind of Dorothy Dandridge."
Insightful, well written & in Dorothy's own words........2005-06-30
I recently completed this book. In my opinion, this version of events about Miss Dandridge's life meant more to me than any other biography written by others who claimed to know her & her struggles. I say this because this was the one literary piece she left behind before she died. This was from HER. This was her story. Only she can explain her feelings about the ups and downs of her life. Her disappointment with her first husband, her mixed emotions of love & burdensome feelings about her retarded daughter, all of the trists with strange men who treated her like a dog treats a fire hydrant, and last but not least, her heartbreak of her "friends" lethal words & non-support of her wish to tell the world her story. It was very clear to me that she was heading down a path of destruction & death. She candidly spoke of wanting to commit suicide more than once. I wish she could have lived on into the next few decades & was able to witness the changes in society & Hollywood's portrayal of black people. I think she could have been saved & able to one day say "I am finally free from being the female negro role model" as Lena Horne was able to say. I felt as if I knew Miss Dorothy. For the life of me, I could not fatham why she would engage in affairs with physically disgusting looking men like Otto Preminger ( I've seen him ) and Mr. Tyner, the millionaire with the spit foam in the corners of his mouth. These actions of hers proved contradictary to the fact that thru-out the book she kept saying that physical attractiveness in a male is very important to her. I guess when it all boiled down to it, she just wanted a man around and to be married. What a terrible loss this is. For those trully interested, read this book before any others about Dorothy Dandridge ( i.e. Donald Bogle, Earl Mills ). This one is from Dorothy in her own words before she died.
Only scratches the surface..........2004-07-02
After reading other works on Dorothy Dandrige I thought this purported autobiograph left a few things to be desired. The book reveals personal details of her life but downplays certain players in her life. For example, the lesbian relationship between her mother and "friend" Auntee was passed off as being no more than a casual friendship. I understand DD reasons for not revealing things about her mother considering she was still alive at the time the book was published. She only mention a few details about her fame with the movie CARMEN.
The book is written well but only takes a cursory view of her life and success. It seems to accentuates the most tragic details of her life and downplays her contribution to others. It's a good book, but please read Donald Bogle's book if you want a more thorough revelation of her life.
A must have.......2001-12-01
From the pages I got to read it is a book I will definitly buy. It was very good and I recommend it highly.
an eyeopener!!! a bit depressing..........2001-08-20
i recently completed reading this book i found dorothy's own story a completely modern and intelligent account to be in accord with many of the same ugly problems that face us today...racism and sexism...how devastating it was for her to be so talented and beautiful yet...she was treated like ... because of her color and men only wanted to treat her like a prostitute because to them yes she was very beautiful and famous...but she could not be treated with dignity and respect because she was a black woman...she found this overwhelmingly frustrating that these powerful, handsome men did not want the human dorothy dandridge with feelings and intelligence...they just wanted to be seen with her or just to try her out sexually then put her back right away in the dump somewhere...dorothy tried and she stated in her book that many times she thought things would be different for her...she deserved to be loved..yet... no fault of her own she lived a life without love from day one...her mom just wanted to make money off of the child dorothy and her sister vivian...her mother let a obviously jealous and abusive stranger have full control over young dorothy and sibling something that dorothy could not ever understand ... her mom would just come along to collect the dough that the children made and go...her father only shows up after absolutely no contact at all to see the successful adult dorothy now in her twenties and a fast rising star...leaving dorothy to wonder would he contact her after all of these years if she was a criminal or doing badly...her first philandering husband was another user...he offered no support to dorothy or their disabled daughter in any kind of way...after several disfunctional relationships her sister does not even bother to contact dorothy...in between a string of user lovers,an abusive gold digger husband no#2, bad investments, aging and a fledging career...topped with crippling racism in that era and in her field of entertainment...dorothy dandridge's lonely heart simply could not take any more...her mind could not find rhyme or reason to anymore letdowns..she was tired of life and did not stick around for the next blow because she was too fragile for anymore heartache...all of this lead up to her untimely death...while lena horne went through similar heartbreaks, racism and letdowns...lena horne was a stronger person than dorothy dandridge and lena refused to let the people and situations created by them destroy her...nevertheless this is a beautiful and bittersweet account of an angel named dorothy dandridge...may we read and learn from this story and pray for dorothy dandridge's soul and thank her for that legendary knockout portrayal as Carmen...showing that the 50's black woman in hollywood could be shown as more than a fat, greasy and homely domestic with bad english
Amazon.com
Donald Bogle was almost single-handedly responsible for reviving interest in historic black film with his seminal work, Toms, Coons, Mammies, Mulattoes, and Bucks. Here, in his new biography, he turns his gaze on Dorothy Dandrige, a bronze goddess of the silver screen. Stunningly beautiful and enormously talented, Dandridge had the misfortune to practice her craft at a time when Hollywood trafficked only in black stereotypes. She starred in several films--among them Carmen Jones, an adaptation of Bizet's Carmen, and the musical Porgy and Bess. But because there were few black male romantic leads, and Hollywood could not conceive of pairing her with a white actor, Dandridge's career languished. In 1965, she was found dead in her apartment of a drug overdose. Bogle's excellent book brings Dandrige and her times to life again, portraying this remarkable woman in all her strength and fragility.
Book Description
She captured America's hearts in such stunning films as Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. Finally, the true story of America's first Black movie star is revealed in this brilliant, in-depth biography-from her turbulent childhood in Cleveland, to her Hollywood girlhood, her battles against racism, her rise to fame, her marriage and affairs, and her professional and personal decline. The first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award Dorothy Dandridge paved the way for thousands of Black women entertainers. She toured the South with "The Dandridge Sisters," appeared in dozens of movies and on Broadway, played the Cotton Club, and worked with such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Maxine Sullivan. But Dandridge's stardom only seemed to exacerbate her deep-seated insecurities-shadowing her success until she died of an overdose at the age of 42. Filled with photographs, and rich with research as well as personal anecdotes from Harry Belafonte, Etta James and others, Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography is not only a fascinating study of the woman and the performer, but also a riveting look at Black Hollywood as it existed within the larger culture.
Customer Reviews:
No, Dorothy, this isn't Kansas anymore.......2007-02-07
An enlightened bio of a regretably glossed-over star. This book is, however, about more than just Dorothy---it reveals much about the history of Hollywood in general, and black entertainers in particular. Read it definitely for the story of this beautiful, talented woman, but read it also for TinselTown info you won't find thus condensed anywhere else.
Dorthy Dandridge - human, superstar, human.......2006-06-12
I checked this book out from the library for Black History Month. I felled in love with the story that I chose to buy it in order to finish reading her life's story. I was able to relate to her life on many levels. She was an oscar nominated woman, she was a great performer/singer, as well as known for her acting skills. She, too, experience the same concerns that many of us face today. She was insecure about her talent at times & suffered great anxieties. She found it difficult to find love which offered her security that many women today experience. She was a pioneer & champion for african americans rights. I have told many that I was impressed with the fact that she was a superstar dealing with real issues that many of us assume that only happens to the little folks. I love Dorthy Dandridge & I will treasure this book always.
Much Better Than The Movie.......2006-05-09
Even though I liked the Telefilm, and thought Halle Berry was the obvious choice to play Miss Dandridge (both were born in Cleveland), I was somewhat disappointed with it, after having read this book first. Dorothy's many trials and heartaches were only lightly touched upon in the film version. This book reads like a well written novel, starting from her early years as a child performer. The physical, verbal, and sexual abuse at the hands of her mother's lesbian lover. The failed marriages, and financial ruin. And most heartbreaking of all, the birth of her extremely mentally challenged daughter. But there are the triumphs also. Like making the cover of Life magazine, and receiving a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for the 1954 film "Carmen Jones." A first for an African-American actress. Unfortunately, the making of this film marked the beginning of an affair with the director Otto Preminger, that would end on a very sour note. Something she apparently never fully recovered from. Even being verbally abused by the same director during the making of "Porgy and Bess."
Another great aspect of this book, is the social background of Black Los Angeles and Hollywood during the '30s, '40s and '50s. And who could ever imagine, Dorothy riding the streets of L.A. with her good friend Louis Armstrong, and him puffing on a marijuana joint? A must read for those interested in the history of Black Hollywood and Tinseltown in general.
I now know everything about her...........2006-01-21
I wanted to read about Dorothy's life so this book was a perfect. It has all the details about Dorothy's childhood, her lesbian mother, her failed marriages and romances, her depression, her fantasies, her romantic feelings with Harry Belafonte (hmmm...I knew there was something special between the two....who could blame here???), racism, and abuse. I really feel like I could so relate to her feelings about life. I'm not quite happy myself. Her personality is very much like mine and she's not too different from Marilyn Monroe. It really pisses me off that she had to dealt with racism and movies that were never produced with her in it. I think it was really stupid that they never allow two couples from different race to kiss on the screen. It's just really sad...a really sad period for Dorothy to put up with. It really a shame how her mother Ruby never truly cared about her and let that pschyo Aunt Ma-Ma into her life. What an unfit mother!!! Anyway, I would definately recommend this book to others who are interested in Dorothy's life.
My apologies in advance.......2003-06-30
I really wanted to like this book, because I've been a Dorothy Dandridge fan long before the HBO movie and am impressed by Donald Bogle's efforts to keep Black Hollywood history alive. However, like a few other reviewers mentioned, I found the pace of this book incredibly slow. This, in part, is actually due to the constant quotes of Dottie's friends- and the anecdotal examples from Bogle which precede or follow them- which quickly become repetitive. In other words, the book is too detailed (yes, it is possible for a biography to contain too much information, especially when an intended point has already been made). The prose, as well, is flat and dull. Dorothy Dandridge was a vivid, glamorous, electric, hot-blooded performer and deserved that type of stylized language to capture her and the slick era she lived in, but the book's words and structuring is very plain and uninspiring. And since her life was immensely bleak, filled with disappointments, humiliations, injustices, and defeats, all of these elements combine to make reading this biography quite painful.
I also felt cheated because of the lack of photographs. Dandridge was one of the most beautiful women of all time yet there are only two really breathtaking portraits of her here, the cover included. I've seen some fabulous ones of her over the years but why they weren't included in this bio- even reduced in size- is beyond me (two full-page pictures of her mom, though-?!). The rest of the Dottie pics are everyday candid shots, many unremarkable (a few- pics with her different men, her last singing performance- are good, though).
I got as far as when Carmen Jones was in the works (about the middle) and just skipped over the Preminger affair, her Oscar nomination, and her second marriage so I could read about the last days of her life, which is surprisingly written with conciseness and left me wanting to know much more. Maybe I'll read the middle someday when I have the patience and will for it. You'd just think that a book about her life would just jump off the pages- a drop-dead-gorgeous entertainer, possible manic depressive, a tragically [disabled] child, marriage to Nicholas brother, an affair with Peter Lawford, Otto Preminger, raised by a lesbian couple, Black superstar in segregated Hollywood, possible suicide... Whoa! Hopefully a book will one day come along that'll do justice to a goddess who should never, ever be forgotten or overlooked.
Customer Reviews:
a confused man.......2004-09-03
i read this book and being a relative of dotty's i found this book to be a fairy tale of the authors own imagination, he wrote about things in this book that he couldn't have possibly known, like about her wedding night and her alleged rape, was he under the bed how, did he know that she had bruises smarting? and all these carefree stories of dotty playing and riding bikes, this woman worked since she was three she didn't have time to be a kid and ride bikes, and futhermore dotty was a professional, she would not have gotten involved with this man whom she viewed to be just a little to solicitous, and struck her as wimpy, this book is no better than her ghost written memoir which she wrote when she was depressed and made up a lot of things that didn't happen and the co author also added things that weren't true either i am tired of dotty being exploited, the best bio is by donald bogle but he falls short too because he is obviously too much in love with his subject to be objective
Dorothy Dandridge.......2004-06-02
The Book Dorothy Dandridge Gives an in dept understanding of Dorothy Dandridge's life as an actor an singer the book also explains all of the troubles that Dorothy has faced and overcame such as racism and jealousy and still she has managed to become the first African American to be nominated foe an academy award.
One thing that I liked about this book is that how it shows the determination that Dorothy Dandridge has had throughout her life it shows the ups and downs that she has faced and how she strives to reach Stardom.
In conclusion I would recommend this book to people who seeks guidance in their life and likes to use other peoples life stories to inspire them to better themselves.
Memories from a friend.......2003-03-16
Putting the best light on his friend, Mills presents a good recitation of facts that really begins when Dandridge was first "discovered". More information comes from the additional material by Halle Berry and others at the end of the book.
Mills has a bias toward the actress that is probably love. He presents primarily good and inspirational items about Dandridge and leaves out the other. I would have prefered a more objective read, but this is one perspective. There are not too many books about this lady, so a really objective one would be good.
The book reads quickly, holds your interest, (although it didn't "grip" it) and the pictures are an added bonus.
I recommend it for anyone looking at this actress, the African American experience in film or for a light read.
A Satisfying Biography.......2002-07-17
Dorothy Dandrige's friends hated this book and I can't understand why. Earl Mills, knew her as well, if not better, than anyone else and his book does a fine job in telling the reader why DD was so tragic. The humiliations, the anger, the stupidity that she had to put up with from Hollywood and America are all spelled out without going into hundreds of pages. The story of DD's ghastly marriages and her retarded daughter were quite moving. This book is respectful of DDs memory and is clearly written by a man who loved her and was able to see the real woman behind the star. Frankly, I enjoyed this far more than I did the huge minutiae laden book by Donald Bogle.
Less Is More. . ........2000-10-05
Having read Donald Bogle's version, where you get endless details, Earl does a concise, though captivating, story. You get the relevant facts from someone who was a manager, friend, and ultimately, lover. Earl's version captures the essence of Dorothy Dandridge beautifully. You get to know her, see her, (he has some photographs that I've not seen in other books) and get a feel of what she was about. In your minds eye you can visualize her just as Earl does. He depicts her eloquently and gives a good, factual description of her career and all the trials and tribulations that she endured. His story (Dorothy's story) is about many things. Love, rascism, what being a 'colored' woman really meant during her time and he also gives a notable account of how things really haven't changed. Because Dorothy was gorgeous, talented and because she never found the love that she was searching for, even though she had the man who truly loved her right by her side, is what makes this story a tragic one. The side story about her retarded daughter is also extremely heart-wrenching.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on September 22, 1998. The length of the article is 1155 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: Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography.(Review)
Author: Ed Guerrero
Publication:
Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 1998
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 23
Issue: 4
Page: 60(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Heartbreaker: The Dorothy Dandridge Story: The Dorothy Dandridge Story (Avisson Young Adult Series)
William Schoell
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Customer Reviews:
bloodless.......2006-02-05
i do not understand why each book on dandridge is un able to paint a more interesting picture of this fascinating yet tragic woman, her story has it all! so heres hoping a writer comes along and can give this goddess her just due- because frankly this isn't it.
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Book Description
Shows how standard miniatures kits can become finely crafted furniture. Easy-to-follow instructions teach how to create likelike period rooms from kit materials or from scratch.
Customer Reviews:
Great for everyone, stunning fishined products.......2000-05-02
This is a fantastic book for the craftsman of miniature furniture and room settings. Suitable for the beginner or experienced modeler, the instructions here lead to stunning finished products.
Specialized tools and techniques for working in miniature are covered. The sections on building, modifying and enhancing furniture kits maximizes their usefulness.
More elaborate projects scratch built from patterns follow. These include tables, a large breakfront, and an upholstered chair and settee group.
Room construction and detailing ideas include floors, walls, ceilings, windows and wiring for dazzling lighting effects. The book concludes with a useful list of sources.
Great Instruction!.......2000-02-08
I am a beginner in miniatures and this book has made all the things that I wanted to do seem possible. I can hardly wait to get started on some of the kits I had purchased and put up until my dollhouse was completed. I would recommend it to any person interested in modifying kits or constructing from scratch.
Wonderful book for any level, filled with nice projects.......1999-07-15
This is a fantastic book for the craftsman of miniature furniture and room settings. Suitable for the beginner or experienced modeler, the instructions here lead to stunning finished products. Specialized tools and techniques for working in miniature are covered. The sections on building, modifying and enhancing furniture kits maximizes their usefulness. More elaborate projects scratch built from patterns follow. These include tables, a large breakfront, and an upholstered chair and settee group. Room construction and detailing ideas include floors, walls, ceilings, windows and wiring for dazzling lighting effects. The book concludes with a useful list of sources.
Book Description
Writing in the June 1965 issue of theEconomic Journal, Harry G. Johnson begins with a sentence seemingly calibrated to the scale of the book he set himself to review: "The long-awaited monetary history of the United States by Friedman and Schwartz is in every sense of the term a monumental scholarly achievement--monumental in its sheer bulk, monumental in the definitiveness of its treatment of innumerable issues, large and small . . . monumental, above all, in the theoretical and statistical effort and ingenuity that have been brought to bear on the solution of complex and subtle economic issues."
Friedman and Schwartz marshaled massive historical data and sharp analytics to support the claim that monetary policy--steady control of the money supply--matters profoundly in the management of the nation's economy, especially in navigating serious economic fluctuations. In their influential chapter 7, The Great Contraction--which Princeton published in 1965 as a separate paperback--they address the central economic event of the century, the Depression. According to Hugh Rockoff, writing in January 1965: "If Great Depressions could be prevented through timely actions by the monetary authority (or by a monetary rule), as Friedman and Schwartz had contended, then the case for market economies was measurably stronger."
Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2000 for work related to A Monetary History as well as to his other Princeton University Press book, A Theory of the Consumption Function (1957).
Customer Reviews:
One of the Top-10 Economics Books.......2006-03-26
MV=PQ (and other variations)
Monetary History of the United States is one of the greatest and most historic economics book written. Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in economics for this masterwork. It revolutionized economics. The only other book that is better is The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. I highly recommend both books.
At the time Monetary History was published, monetary economics had fallen out of favor because of the Great Depression. Economists had thought that monetary forces were ineffective as stimulating the economy in a severe downturn. The phrase "pushing up on a string" became famous. That led to the belief that government intervention of fiscal policy was needed to keep the economy stable.
Friedman and Schwartz turned that upside down by proving beyond a doubt that monetary forces caused the Great Depression, caused the recovery under Franklin Roosevelt, caused the recession of 1937-38, caused the recovery after the recession, and caused everything else in American history.
Monetary History has never been effectively refuted. It stands unrivaled.
Liberals used to credit Roosevelt for pulling America out of the Great Depression, and the complete statistics do show a strong recovery from 1933 to 1938 and from 1939 onward. Friedman showed that most Roosevelt policies had nothing to do with the recovery. What Roosevelt did right was to remove America from the gold standard and save the banking industry. Monetary history shows that this stopped the monetary contraction and led to an increase in the money supply, but nobody fully understood that at the time.
Some Roosevelt policies for commonsense stability, like the SEC and FHA, and investments, like the GI Bill and infrastructive developments (long part of American economic history), were good. But many Roosevelt policies were a waste of money and had no effect at all on the economy.
Likewise, the recent claims that Roosevelt hurt business confidence and prolonged the Great Depression are unfounded. Friedman and Scwartz showed conclusively, and with several different tests from different approaches, that the recession of 1937-38 is completely explained by a contraction of the money supply by the Federal Reserve. Labor unrest and other factors that could affect busines confidence were completely irrelevant, and this book completely disproves it. Monetary forces completely explain the Great Depression and the rest of American economic history.
Don't believe the political pundits one way or the other. Monetary History is the answer.
Friedman argued that a steady monetary policy could maintain a steady economy, and he argued this when nobody believed him. Now this is widely accepted. Today the Federal Reserve Bank used monetary policy to keep the economy steady.
I highly recommend Monetary History. I also highly recommend the more updated Essays on the Great Depression by Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Great Depression is the ultimate riddle and both Friedman and Schwartz, and Bernanke understand it.
A tremendous amount of work combined with a misspecified model.......2005-09-18
Friedman and Schwartz(1963)did a great deal of worthwhile data compilation.The problem(an identical problem occurs in the 1956 work of Philip Cagan) occurs when they attempt to fit the data to the standard quantity of exchange equation MV=PO,where M is the supply of money(Friedman always selects MI to be equal to M),V is the velocity,P is the price level,O is real GNP(GDP),and PO is nominal GNP(GDP).The correct specification of the equation of exchange is M(Vw)=PO,where w is defined on the unit interval between 0 and 1.w is Keynes's measure of the weight of the evidence or Ellsberg's (rho)measure of the confidence a decision maker has in the information set he will use to calculate the probabilities of different outcomes.Friedman is a lifelong adherent and advocate of the Ramsey-De Finetti-Savage subjective approach to probability which argues that ,while the existence of vagueness(J M Keynes's weight of the A Treatise on Probability(uncertainty of the General Theory) or Ellsberg's ambiguity)is undeniable,it can't be modeled in a decision theoretic context.Only risk,represented by a normal probability distribution and its mean+ or- 3 standard deviations,can be operationalized.Friedman's section 4 of chapter 12,titled "Expectations about Stability ",discusses exactly what Savage called vagueness,Keynes called uncertainty,liquidity preference being a function of uncertainty AND NOT RISK,AND ELLSBERG CALLED AMBIGUITY.Friedman has no variable in his model to deal with it.He admits this on the second paragraph of p.675.Friedman's analysis abstracts from the role that expectations,confidence,uncertainty,and the flexibility of money(Keynes's liquidity preference)play in the demand for money .All of the Friedman-Schwartz analysis needs to be redone using the correct specification of the equation of exchange.Friedman's existing specification only holds in the special case where w=1.0,i.e.,that there is no uncertainty,ambiguity,or vagueness. MV=PO is a correct specification of the equation of exchange only if risk,measured by the normal probability distribution's standard deviation(or the standard deviation divided by the mean),is the only decision theoretic variable.All current forms of the equation of exchange ignore ambiguity and/or uncertainty and conflate risk with uncertainty.The equation of exchange has been misspecified from Hume to Friedman and Lucas.Only Keynes correctly derived a generalized equation of exchange.Keynes's analysis is contained on p.209 and chapter 21 of the GT.Lucas has already admitted that his framework of analysis breaks down completely if Keynesian uncertainty or Ellsbergian ambiguity prevents him from using his normal probability distribution.The massive 50 plus years of statistical analysis by Benoit Mandelbrot of data from all financial markets(stock,money,commodities,futures,currencies,bond) provides overwhelming empirical support for not using the normal distribution.Keynes,of course,would agree that, if the only decision theoretic variable of consequence is risk(Mandelbrot's mild risk),velocity would be stable or predictable.The fact that velocity is not constant or predictable means that Friedman's monetarism is only a very special case of Keynes's general theory,which,in terms of Mandelbrot's definitions,deals with mild and wild risk.Friedman can only deal with mild risk.
Classic in the canon of economic theory.......2005-03-08
Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz' A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 is an analysis and explanation of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Its conclusion, first published in the early 1960s, differs from the two main explanations that existed at the time.
Austrian Business Cycle Theory had argued that the Great Depression was caused by excessively loose monetary policy that fed an unsustainable economic boom during the 1920s, which eventually collapsed into depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that instead it was excessively tight monetary policy following the boom of the 1920s that turned a run-of-the-mill recession into a depression. (For the Austrian explanation of the Great Depression, see Sir Lionel Robbins' The Great Depression or Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression.)
Keynesianism argued that the Great Depression had been caused by insufficient consumer product demand and lack of investor confidence, and that government should compensate for this by increasing its spending and financing it with government debt. Friedman and Schwartz argued instead that the problem and solution were not so much a matter of fiscal policy as they were a matter of monetary policy. Government, particularly the monetary authorities, was the cause of the depression, not the solution. Stimulative fiscal policy as prescribed by Keynes would in the long run not lead to an increase in economic growth and employment, but only to an increase in inflation. (For the Keynesian explanation of the Great Depression, see John M. Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money or John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash, 1929.)
At the time of its publication, A Monetary History was not immediately accepted by the economics profession, which then was still dominated by Keynesian thinking. But when Keynesian theory could not explain the stagflation (recession combined with high inflation) of the 1970s, monetarism came to rule the day, and Friedman would go on to win the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Friedman and Schwartz's analysis has by now become the standard explanation for the Great Depression. In the very least, the book helped reestablish the importance of monetary over fiscal policy in the stabilization of the business cycle. Money matters, even if it is not the only thing that matters. In addition, the importance of the book was methodological, in that it emphasized the importance of the empirical testing of one's economic propositions. What makes the book so persuasive is the great lengths to which the authors go to sort out the causation behind the correlation-the causation, they found, ran from money to output and prices rather than vice versa or via a fourth variable.
A Monetary History is a classic work in the canon of economic literature. It is on occasion still reviewed in the literature (e.g. Journal of Monetary Economics, August 1994; Cato Journal, Winter 2004). It clearly is an academic work written for trained economists, making it perhaps less accessible to a general audience. But several highly readable summary versions of the book exist, such as chapter 3 of Milton and Rose Friedman's Free to Choose, and even a one-paragraph summary conclusion in Capitalism and Freedom (on p. 45 of the paperback edition), which was published around the same time as A Monetary History. Alternatively, ch. 13 ("A Summing Up", pp. 676-700) is reprinted in The Essence of Friedman.
Hard to read, only for economists or wannabe economists.......2004-12-10
I hated this book because it's hard to read. I don't like wading through sentences as long as paragraphs full of obscure words that require a dictionary nearby.
I just wanted to get a general understanding of money and the Federal Reserve from a source I trust and admire - Milton Friedman. I don't mind facts and figures but I resent writing that forces me into hard labor to decipher the meaning. I think good writing is communicating in the simplest way possible, not in trying to impress the reader with the author's vocabulary and ability to construct impenetrable, wannabe-sophisticated, long, compound sentences.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an engineer and I've got a decent vocabulary and fairly decent language skills.
I've found the books by Murray N. Rothbard to be much easier to read than this book though not as easy to read as I would like. I'm still looking for the perfect monetary history/economics book. I hope there's one out there somewhere.
Negative Review Missed the Very Point of the Book.......2003-08-21
I read the reviews and found them helpful, but the unnamed reviewer that attributed the Great Depression to causes totally other than this book cites, and bashed Friedman as "not having a leg to stand on" concerned me because it seems the reviewer missed the very point of the book. Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman and his co-author undertook the monumental work of tracing money supply for each year for nearly a century. In doing so, they did the staggering amount of work required to show all of us something very powerful. To say they don't have a leg to stand on is disconcerting because it seems to indicate a review without a reading, or at least understanding. Obviously the Great Depression was the result of of complex interactions within the economy. What Friedman tries to do is show us the EMPIRICAL evidence for interaction between a contracting money supply and a worsening economic situation, and a steady money supply and a bettering economic situation. The Great Depression may have come about because of arrogant decisions and cascading failures, and those who decided to contract the money supply evidently were a very important trigger. I can say "evidently" because Friedman's research gives us the chance to observe the evidence for ourselves. To have advanced our knowledge of economics in a practical way, to have given useful facts for fending off depressions, is a gift. That's why this book will remain a watershed work in the history of economics.
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The Monetary History of the Great Depression.......2000-05-26
The Great Contraction is an expanded reprint of the seventh chapter of the authors' A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 which was first published in 1963. That monograph was a comprehensive study of money and its effects on the economy and the nation. It was one of the most important works of economics ever written; so well regarded, in fact, that it contributed to Dr. Friedman's winning of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1976.
Milton Friedman is one of the most eminent economists of the twentieth century. His pioneering efforts in the field of monetarism revolutionized the way that economists thought about and studied the economy. (In short, monetarism emphasizes the role of money, especially the supply of money, in the functioning of the economy. This is contrasted with Keynesian economics which gives central importance to expenditures, particularly government expenditures.)
The basic premise of The Great Contraction is that the economic and financial collapse that occurred between 1929 and 1933-the most severe business cycle contraction in United States history-was largely the result of the inept application of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve had ample power to stop the devastating process of monetary deflation and the collapse of the banking system. Had they used that power in late 1930 or even in early or mid-1931, the successive crises that typify the contraction could almost certainly have been prevented. Appropriate action would have lessened the severity of the contraction and probably brought it to a much earlier end.
The most important contributing factor to the contraction, the authors believe, was the drastic reduction in the supply of money. From 1929 to 1933, the money stock fell by 33 percent, a continuous annual rate of 10 percent. This had a devastating effect on the economy. When the money supply decreases, the amount of funds available for loans decreases. This causes interest rates to rise, making it more expensive for businesses and individuals to borrow money, and, consequently, making them decrease expenditures on consumption and investment. This results in the economy shrinking.
During the contraction of 1929-1933, however, the effects were even more severe. Due to the huge decrease in the money stock, banks were unable to acquire enough high-powered money (vault cash plus funds on deposit at the Federal Reserve) to meet the demands of depositors. This forced banks to liquidate their assets at deep discounts in order to remain open. This was a dire short term remedy that wreaked havoc not only on the banks' balance sheets, but on the bond markets as well. The rapid selling off of assets, usually corporate or government bonds, drove prices through the floor which added to the panic in the financial markets.
When their level of assets dropped low enough, or they were unable to obtain enough funds, banks were forced to close. These bank failures further decreased the money stock, resulting in even more banks closing their doors. More than onefifth of the commercial banks in the United States, with deposits of close to $7 billion, eventually suspended operations. Total commercial bank deposits fell by $18 billion, a drop of over 42 percent. This vicious circle finally culminated in March of 1933 with the declaration by President Roosevelt of a one week banking holiday. These bank failures played a key role in the downturn in the economy. They eradicated people's confidence, caused an erosion of the financial system, and, most importantly, sharply curtailed the supply of money.
The Federal Reserve System was conspicuously absent during this period, especially during the final banking crisis at the beginning of 1933. The banks in the System abandoned their leadership role and instead participated in the general atmosphere of panic. The proper role for the System at that time, as always, was to act as a stabilizer for the nation's financial and banking systems and to ensure a constant flow of money and credit. It failed in both of these tasks. It is clear what course of action should have been taken, just as it was clear at the time. The Fed should have engaged in a program of aggressive open market operations (i.e. the purchase of government securities). This would have increased the money stock, particularly the amount of high-powered money held by banks, and would have helped to stave off the contraction of deposits and the subsequent bank failures. It was not until 1932 that the System undertook such a policy (under pressure from the Congress), but it was too little, too late. Its efforts only partially offset the previous contraction of credit and did nothing to stimulate an expansion of credit. The Fed also should have reduced reserve requirements (the amount of funds banks are required to hold against deposits), something they did not do until 1933, and then only for thirty days. Finally, it should have decreased the discount rate (the interest rate the Fed charges banks to borrow money), which was actually increased at times during this period.
Since the Federal Reserve System had the ability to undertake measures that almost certainly would have reduced the severity of the contraction, why did they not do so? The authors attribute that failure to a limited understanding on the part of the Board of Governors of the connections between bank failures, bank runs, the contraction of deposits, and the weakness of the bond markets. The Governors tended to regard bank failures as the result of bad management and banking practices, or as a consequence of the financial and economic collapse. They did not realize that the failures were instead a cause of that collapse, so they did nothing to prevent them. Furthermore, during this period there was a great deal of internal conflict within the System, particularly between the Governor of the New York Bank and the rest of the Board. Prior to 1929, the New York Bank had primacy in the setting of Federal Reserve policy, something the other members of the Board resented. Therefore, when the New York Bank advocated taking strong measures to combat the plunge in the money stock, the rest of the System resisted and argued against those recommendations. Thus, the proper course of action was thwarted and the contraction increased.
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Why A Monetary History has had a long life.: An article from: The Cato Journal
Anna J. Schwartz
Manufacturer: Cato Institute
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This digital document is an article from The Cato Journal, published by Cato Institute on January 1, 2004. The length of the article is 778 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: Why A Monetary History has had a long life.
Author: Anna J. Schwartz
Publication:
The Cato Journal (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Cato Institute
Volume: 23
Issue: 3
Page: 353(3)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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