Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
Overview"""It is [a] belief in diversity and pluralism and the uniqueness of each person that underlies all my writings . . . "" -from the Preface. Regarded as the most influential and widely read thinker on modern organizations and their management, Peter Drucker has also established himself as an unorthodox and independent analyst of politics, the economy, and society. A man of impressive scope and expertise, he has paved significant inroads in a number of key areas, sharing his knowledge and keen insight on everything from the plight of the employee and the effects of technology to the vicissitudes of the markets and the future of the new world order. Adventures of a Bystander is Drucker's rich collection of autobiographical stories and vignettes, in which this legendary figure paints a portrait of his remarkable life, and of the larger historical realities of his time. In a style that is both unique and engaging, Drucker conveys his life story -from his early teen years in Vienna through the interwar years in Europe, the New Deal era, World War II, and the postwar period in America-through intimate profiles of a host of fascinating people he's known through the years. Their personal histories are, as Drucker tells us, the beads for which his own life serves as the string. A colorful group, these diverse, often unpredictable, always multidimensional individuals were chosen ""because each of them, in his or her own highly personal way, reflects and refracts the thirty crucial years from the end of World War I to the first post-World War II decade-the thirty years that largely formed the world in which we now live."" An amazing pageant of characters, both famous and otherwise, springs from these pages, illuminating and defining one of the most tumultuous periods in world history. Along with bankers and courtesans, artists, aristocrats, prophets, and empire-builders, we meet members of Drucker's own family and close circle of friends, among them such prominent figures as Sigmund Freud, Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John Lewis, and Buckminster Fuller. Playing to perfection their roles as those who ""reflect and refract"" the customs, beliefs, and attitudes of the times, these singular personalities lend Adventures of a Bystander a striking ""you-are-there"" feel. A brief encounter with Freud becomes the catalyst for an absorbing, multidimensional description of the economics, politics, and social psychology of pre-World War II Europe. Drucker introduces us to Fritz Kraemer, a brilliant, monocle-wearing eccentric who became an influential mentor to the young Henry Kissinger. His personal memoir of Henry Luce documents the development of modern journalism, while in ""The Indian Summer of Innocence,"" he rescues and preserves the very heart of the American experience during the last New Deal years before World War II. Shedding light on a turbulent and important era, Adventures of a Bystander also reflects Peter Drucker himself as a man of imaginative sympathy and enormous interest in people, ideas, and history. These enthralling stories complement and complete the groundbreaking analytical writing for which he is so revered. Luminous autobiographical stories by one of the greatest thinkers of our time ""The cast of characters among whom Drucker moves is superbly rich, and the informed glimpse he provides of a vanished social and political universe is an education in itself. Adventures of a Bystander is better than a novel, more lively than an essay, and as thoughtful as both at their best."" -The Harvard Business Review. ""Adventures of a Bystander is a virtuoso performance in which Drucker displays a dazzling diversity of personal interests and knowledge, an awesome power of recall, and a crisp, highly readable writing style."" -BusinessWeek. ""Adventures of a Bystander appears in a stroke to have restored the art of the memoir and of the essay. It will doubtless be a while before its like comes round again."" -The Washington Post." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Peter F. Drucker (The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management)Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc Edition: New edition Dimensions: Width: 16.10cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 23.60cm Weight: 0.669kg ISBN: 9780471247395ISBN 10: 0471247391 Pages: 352 Publication Date: 13 February 1998 Audience: Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Professional & Vocational , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsReviewsDrucker's autobiography is a joy to read because of the mix of intriguing characters, momentous events and sharp insights we've come to expect from one of the most original management theorists. -Upside magazine It comes as a surprise to learn that Peter Drucker, the guru of business management, grew up among the intelligentsia of 1920s Vienna, where Freud's doings were discussed at the dinner table, social responsibility was de rigueur, and business was beneath notice. But Drucker decided early, he relates, to march to no common beat: on his fourteenth birthday he handed over the Young Socialist flag - that it was such an honor to carry - and headed home, lonely but light-hearted. Still, one may conclude, reading about the memorable persons he came to know, that he was not so much a nonconformist as a natural-born observer, sizer-upper, and stasher-away. One, moreover, with a purpose: to learn from success. So his arch, affectionate tribute to Miss Elsa and Miss Sophie, the fourth-grade mentors who failed to teach me what both they and I knew I needed to learn (how to write a clear hand and how to use simple tools) turns into an appreciation of Miss Elsa's Draconian workbooks and stepped goals, and Miss Sophie's veneration for craftsmanship. The two sisters - and the young, undoctrinaire Artur Schnabel (play what you hear) - also turned him into a lifelong teacher-watcher, on the lookout for what worked. Some of his models held views antithetical to his, like the five Polanyis, all committed to finding a society that could provide economic growth and stability, freedom and equality ; and one of these utopian socialists, Karl Polanyi, served as the sounding board, in 1940, for Drucker's theory of a coming society of organizations, the basis of his interest in institutional management. Other stellar vignettes - of Fritz Kraemer, the Man Who Invented Kissinger ; of English arch-dissenter Noel Brailsford - confirm Drucker's attraction to the true-believer, the throwback, the eccentric; and if his American exemplars are less flamboyant or bizarre (especially in their sexual pursuits), they still include such oddball achievers as Henry Luce and John L. Lewis, Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan. Drucker also gets off some unorthodox comments on American social institutions (he's big, for instance, on the small college) without letting his conservative bias make him less than stimulating and entertaining. (Kirkus Reviews) This was originally published in the late 1970s, but among his 29 books it remains a business readers' favourite. It is usually regarded as an autobiography. This, as Drucker points out, is not strictly true. Adventures of a Bystander is a series of essays covering many of the major events and figures of corporate history, and Drucker acts as a narrator or 'bystander' who takes no part in the action. Using his life to place these events and figures into chronological perspective, Drucker describes his encounters with individuals such as Alfred P Sloan (the creator of the modern General Motors), Fortune's Henry Luce, Fritz Kraemer (mentor to the young Henry Kissinger), the brilliant Buckminster Fuller and Sigmund Freud. Most of the people Drucker has chosen reflect and refract the 30 crucial years from the end of World War I to the first decade of World War II - years which formed the world in which we live today. Born in 1909, Drucker is one of the most influential management thinkers of the 20th century and it is a century he has immaculately observed and retold. With this book, he demonstrates that he is not just a management guru, but a man with great sympathy and interest in people, ideas and history. In all, Adventures of a Bystander is a welcome change from his usual excellent, ground-breaking analytical writing. (Kirkus UK) Author InformationPETER F. DRUCKER is the Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at the Claremont Graduate School. Widely regarded as America's leading expert on modern organizations and their management, Dr. Drucker has published 28 books which have been translated into more than 20 languages. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
