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	<title>Kevin R. Kosar</title>
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	<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress</link>
	<description>Researcher and Writer in Washington, DC</description>
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		<title>Lewis L. Gould, Theodore Roosevelt (Oxford University Press, 2012)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1974</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1974#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The March 12, 2012 copy of The Weekly Standard magazine carries my review of Lewis Gould&#8217;s Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt&#8217;s reputation as a president has rocketed upward in recent decades. Gould&#8217;s book is a good reminder that Roosevelt&#8217;s presidency was pivotal&#8212;Teddy helped turn the office into the imperial institution of today. Gould also makes plain that Roosevelt was a complex figure with some colossal shortcomings&#8212;most obviously egomania. It is an exceedingly trim volume&#8212;just 104 pages.  The book has its virtues, but with its trim size comes limitations of coverage&#8230; (read more)]]></description>
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		<title>Did Unionized Federal Employees Get a 5.7% Pay Raise In 2011?</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1913</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1913#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:17:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Federal Workforce]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1913</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The short answer to this question is &#8220;no.&#8221; But you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise had you read this February 1, 2012 BGov article, &#8220;Federal Union Workers Get 5.7% Raise in Freeze.&#8221;  BGov took an interesting data find from a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report and turned it into something bigger. To understand what went awry here, one first must get a few basic facts straight about federal employees and their pay. (1) Most federal civilian employees are paid based upon the government-wide General Schedule.  The wages set in the General Schedule have not changed since January 2010.  Agencies follow the general schedule when they pay their employees. (That’s the law.). (2) With few exceptions (e.g. postal workers), most federal civil servants do not bargain for their wages.  As point (1) notes, federal wages are set by the General Schedule, which is decided by Congress and the President. (3) Federal employees earn pay raises either through earning promotions (from one General Schedule—or GS—level to the next) or by earning “step” increases due to time spent in their jobs. (Each GS level has ten steps, and it takes 18 years to go from step 1 to step 10 within [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Niall Ferguson, Civilization: The West and the Rest (Penguin Press, 2011)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1898</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1898#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:56:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[International Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Western Civilization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1898</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Civilization: The West and the Rest By Niall Ferguson Penguin Press, 2011, 402 pp., $35.00 Niall Ferguson is the bane of much of the academic world.  His crimes are many. Whereas most academics toil in anonymity, glacially plopping out inscrutable, esoteric articles for little-read academic journals, Ferguson is a supernova.  He has joint appointments at Harvard’s department of history and business school, and he is a fellow at Oxford’s Jesus College and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.  He has written an armload of books, penned innumerable op-eds (Financial Times, Newsweek, etc.), starred in documentaries based upon his best-sellers (Cash Nexus, War of the World, etc.), and has a Twitter feed that details his jet-setting (Seoul, Zambia, etc.) and hobnobbing (Bill Clinton, Bob Zoellick, etc.) lifestyle.  He is a mere 47 years old. Adding further salt to the professoriate’s wound, Ferguson comes off as a conservative. Ferguson regularly bloodies the noses of liberals, like Paul Krugman and Jeffrey Sachs, and he has outraged academics by arguing that colonialism had some positive effects.  Ferguson writes of money, war, and power, and does so without a drop of sentimentality.  Unabashedly, he looks to the past for wisdom.  He adores Margaret Thatcher. Despite the Ivory [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Paul Manna, Collision Course: Federal Education Policy Meets State and Local Realities (CQ Press 2011)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1890</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1890#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:39:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education Policy]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Over at the Federal Education Policy Hitory website, I have posted a review of Paul Manna, Collision Course: Federal Education Policy Meets State and Local Realities (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011). I think highly of the book, noting: &#8220;In Collision Course, Manna, a professor at William &#38; Mary,  has judiciously considered the evidence to date on NCLB and its implications.  The reader of this book will come away with a greater appreciation of the challenge of education reform&#8230;&#8221; and &#8220;Manna&#8217;s big take-away is &#8216;NCLB created positive momentum and inspiring results in some states and local communities … [but] overall its theories of action were fundamentally in conflict with the institutional landscape on which American schooling operates&#8230;&#8217;&#8221; (read more)]]></description>
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		<title>Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System (Basic Books, 2010)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1818</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1818#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:36:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1818</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This book arrived in spring 2010, and from the moment I saw it I knew I had to read and review it. A decade ago I was Diane’s research assistant and she served on my dissertation committee.  I learned much from her, and I long have admired her intellect and intensity, and that she made it to the top her own way. Before I could get writing, a media-political storm hit, and I ended up sitting back and watching the tempest tear.  I have listened to the wild-eyed supporters and the growling detractors, and now I feel it is time to have my say. First, I can understand why the book has many critics.  It mercilessly hammers many of the major players in the education reform movement.  Diane has turned and turned hard on the reform movements she once championed.  Former allies are baffled both by the loss of faith and her Manichean take.  It is not that reform has under-delivered; no, as Ravitch&#8217;s subtitle declares, &#8220;testing and choice are undermining education.&#8221;  Although written by an education scholar, The Death and Life of the Great American School System is a polemic and a jeremiad.  It is white hot, and chock [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Let It Flow: Chipping Away at the Three-Tier Alcohol System</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1809</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1809#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:35:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food and Drink]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1809</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From producer to distributor to retailer to consumer&#8212;usually, that&#8217;s how it works in America. Three different sets of hands are placed on alcoholic beverages before they reach the consumer. But, this hoary old way of doing things is being eroded at the edges. The Enterprise Blog has posted my quick take on this matter&#8212;-&#8220;Let It Flow: Chipping Away at the Three-Tier Alcohol System.&#8221;]]></description>
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		<title>Rioting Mainly for Fun and Profit</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1796</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1796#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:20:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Public and Governance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1796</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The recent riots in London have been an appalling spectacle. The last thing a nation in the grips of an economic downtrn needs is to have to spend extra wealth on policing and repairing damage. And the human cost is all the more nauseating. Reeves, a family furniture business some 150 years old, was torched.  An old woman was yanked from her car and it was set afire.  Shops have been looted of luxury goods and booze. To what end? Were Edward C. Banfield alive today, he likely would say, &#8220;Mainly for fun and profit.&#8221;  Such was the title of a chapter in his book The Unheavenly City, which I have used atop my op-ed: &#8220;Rioting Mainly for Fun and Profit,&#8221; American Enterprise Institute blog, August 8, 2011. Cities always have been unruly, but I feel terribly for London. The yobs are traching it, and the decent citizens will get stuck footing the bill.]]></description>
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		<title>Colin Dodds, Another Broken Wizard (Kindle, 2011)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1787</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1787#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:41:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1787</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Can you ever go home? And should you? Worcester, Massachusetts is a long way from Manhattan&#8212;economically, socially, and spiritually. Jim Monaghan, a young business man, grew up there and has mostly escaped it.  Until he returns to Worcester. Jim falls back into his alcohol-fueled, youthful, crazy days with his old pal, Joe Rousseau, a wild man who is in trouble with a local gang.  Jim also has to ping pong between his divorced parents, both of whom seem to be at risk of fading from life. Jim and the novel move from wild romp to and pensive torpor. Jim&#8217;s life is fraught with divisions: Worcester vs. Manhattan, old life vs. new life, employment vs. unemployment, sobriety vs. intoxication, dad vs. mom, edgy Worcester chick vs. New York City girlfriend, etc. Dodds has written a fine novel.  He has  a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male.  Joe&#8217;s recklessness and gang feud create a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge. Where will the chips fall?  And will Jim ever make it back to Manhattan and become what he is? Another Broken Wizard is available on Kindle and other e-platforms at [...]]]></description>
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		<title>The Practice of Government Public Relations (CRC Press, 2011)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1772</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1772#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Communications/Propaganda]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I am happy to report a book to which I contributed a chapter is now for sale&#8212;The Practice of Government Public Relations (Taylor &#38; Francis/CRC Press, 2011). The book was edited by Mordecai Lee, Grant Neeley, and Kendra Stewart. My chapter is titled, &#8220;Doing Right and Avoiding Wrong With the Law and Politicians.&#8221; In short, it argues that practitioners should keep in mind the various institutional contexts in which they work.  Failure to do so can raise public, media, and political hackles and land one in the soup. You can see the chapter of contents and read a bit more about the book here, and you can buy it here.]]></description>
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		<title>Andre Schiffrin, The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read (New York: Verso, 2000)</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1761</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1761#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:13:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Publishing]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Andre Schiffrin&#8217;s The Business of Books provides some interesting history on big publishing in New York.  For that alone it was worth reading. Schiffrin lead Pantheon Books for decades and founded the New Press in 1990, so he is a man of experience. But Schiffrin does not analyze the changes to the publishing industry, he just rails at them.  His thesis is: Big corporations bought up publishing, dumbed down books in the mad dash for profits, and atrophied American democracy.  This is all a bit simplex and tendentious, to put it mildly, and Schiffrin offers zero evidence for these contentions. Which is a pity&#8212;it would have been interesting to see, say, a comparison of the autumn 1970, autumn 1980, and autumn 1990 offerings by the major New York publishing houses.  Some simple tabulations might have  revealed shifts in the nature of what is getting published. Still, the claim that the way we read has been changed would require a much larger analysis, one that considered media other than books. Schiffrin attempts no such thing. Unfortunately for the reader, Schiffrin exudes an incredible sense of self-importance&#8212;the books he published (often by radical leftist writers from Europe) are spoken of with utter [...]]]></description>
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		<title>M. L. Longworth, Death at the Chateau Bremont: A Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1738</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1738#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:02:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Fiction]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[There are times when a person just needs a mental escape from the daily rhythm&#8212;this summer read gave me just that.&#160; It was a lot of fun. Death at Chateau Bremont (New York: Penguin, 2011) offers charming French locales, vivid characters, and an intriguing who-done-it. The main characters, Antoine Verlaque and Marine Bonnet, are both believable and beguiling. While reading it, don&#8217;t be surprised if you feel the urge to get off the couch and pour a glass of wine. It&#8217;s all part of the book&#8217;s relax-and-take-leave effect. In a few spots I caught Longworth making clumsy authorial maneuvers. (This is her first novel.) But on the whole, she did a fine job.  I look forward to Longworth&#8217;s next book in this series.]]></description>
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		<title>Kristie Miller, Ellen and Edith</title>
		<link>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1729</link>
		<comments>http://kevinrkosar.com/wordpress/?p=1729#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:57:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin R. Kosar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews: Nonfiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Presidents]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[For some time I have been struggling to find a near-synonym for “uxorious.” It is an ugly old word that rebukes a man for being “overly fond” (Webster’s) or “submissively fond” (OED) of his wife.  Its earliest written usage (1598), by Joseph Hall, bishop of Norwich and poet, growled of “mannish housewives [who] make a drudge of their uxorious mates.”  Clearly, “whipped” will not do: That is a crude, more recent pejorative that has the same essential meaning as uxorious&#8230;(Read more at The Weekly Standard.) &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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