Editor’s Note: I worked in an Interpublic Group advertising agency from 1979 to 1987. And so I was on Madison Avenue after the period covered by AMC’s hit show, Mad Men. If you hope this book is about the television show or contains salacious content as the show does, you will be disappointed. It is instead an intelligent review of the period the show covers, often referred to as the “golden age of advertising.” Cracknell himself spent 40 years in the business as a writer and creative director so his words mean more than an observer. If you have interest in the business of advertising, this is a nice history of the business with special focus on the “creative revolution” of the 60’s, the period covered by Don Draper and his colleagues in the TV show. I respect the ad business more than most because when it’s done well, as it was in the two agencies I worked for, it is a valiant and constant struggle between creativity and business discipline. The excerpt below, from the book’s epilogue, reflects my feelings about the current state of the art.

Editor’s Note: An oldie for this month since I’ve had some grey clouds the last few months. Then we spent last week celebrating my son Kevin’s love for his new wife, Chiara, reminding me that “it’s all right.”

"You've got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." Alvin Toffler

“If you're really listening, if you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact; your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold evermore wonders." Andrew Harvey

Editor’s note: I’ve often wondered how Winston Churchill could be so often quoted, and now I know. He wrote over 15,000,000 million published words – books, speeches, articles, letters and papers. This book contains “only” 350,000 of them. “By Himself” was a gift from my good friend, Rob Falls. It’s a “best of” Churchill – over 4,000 quotes that are attributable and arranged by topic. The author is a leading Churchill scholar which would be a career since another 35,000,000 words have been published about Winston Churchill. Obviously, it’s not a book I read but it’s become a favorite for perusing when I have the time and intention to learn from the ultimate statesman of the 20th century.

Editor’s Note: This song was given to me by my daughter, Caitlin, who represents the point of the song – balance. The music and rhythm also bring me upbeat, just like she does.

“Life does not consist mainly – or even largely – of facts and happenings.  It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one’s mind.”  Mark Twain

Editor’s note:  I went back and forth on featuring this book due to Kagan’s known conservative credentials and the books rambling nature.  But in the end, two ideas, one past and one future, are powerful.  The past is that the United States became “sole world power” somewhat ambivalently.  That is, Kagan says, over history we tend to 1. Resist getting engaged in conflict, 2. Engage only when there appears to be a human cost that we feel can no longer be ignored and then 3. We become uncomfortable with the power we’re given by our engagement.  The second, far more importantly, is Kagan’s future view from past learning which is that we must decide now not later how to act as one of two or three world powers since we will soon no longer be at the top alone.  His conclusion, as noted in the excerpt below, is that this is not a one dimensional issue, as it is so often considered.