No single weapon has spread so much raw power to so many people in so little time--and had such a devastating effect--as the AK-47 assault rifle. This book examines the legacy of this world-changing weapon, from its creation as means of fighting the Nazis to its ubiquity today in every kind of conflict, from civil wars in Africa to gang wars in L.A.

Advance Praise for "AK-47"

"During the past half century, the AK-47 assault rifle has established itself as the most ubiquitous implement of destruction on the planet. No other gun comes close for its durability, low price, ease of operation, and sheer killing power. It has become a mainstay of armies and terrorists alike, and a universal icon of revolutionary upheaval. Larry Kahaner's book is the best history of this weapon that I have seen. "AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War" will appeal to anyone who has ever watched the History Channel--or the evening news."
--Max Boot, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations author of "The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power"

"Anyone who has fought or watched a war over the last half-century recognizes the AK-47, but few know much about it. Kahaner traces the rifle's role in wars from Vietnam to Iraq and from Central America to Central Africa. A fascinating biography of a weapon that has truly changed world history."
--Stephen Kinzer, author of "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq"

Praise for VALUES, PROSPERITY, AND THE TALMUD

"The ancient wisdom of the Talmud is as relevant today as it was 1,500 years ago, and its advice about business–both tactical and ethical–is as applicable to our high-tech world as it was to their world of trading mules and buying olives."
––Alan M. Dershowitz
Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law
Harvard Law School

"For too long we’ve separated business from religion and in so doing we’ve thrown the baby out with the bath water. Can religion be both relevant and use the accumulated wealth of its wisdom to be of service to business? Yes! There is a gold mine in religion for business. Come savor some of the wonderful nuggets in this book."
––Martin Rutte
Coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work
President, Livelihood

"Gaining perspective is essential to learning. Larry Kahaner provides the reader perspective from an ancient tradition that has a surprisingly modern relevance. This well-written and cogently organized book gives the reader access to the ethical foundations of the Judeo-Christian tradition, reminding us that business ethics is not the result of Enron, but a continuing concern about society and the human condition."
––Stuart C. Gilman
President, The Ethics Resource Center

"At a time of ethical crises and global uncertainty we need leaders who blend the best of business, psychology, and spirituality. Learn the lessons of values-based management from the ancient rabbis in this thoughtful, wise guidebook. Good is good, and evil is evil; the principles still apply today."
––Bob Rosen
CEO, Healthy Companies International and bestselling author of Global Literacies

"An interesting and useful prescription for modern behavior––personal and corporate––from a very old and, for many, unfamiliar source. The wisdom and ethical guidance of those early rabbis is as relevant today as it was fifteen centuries ago."
––Mike Birck
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tellabs

From combing the Internet and routine filings with government agencies to employing complex chemical analyzes, competitive intelligence reveals where the market is going, who is leading it, and why. Japanese companies have had competitive intelligence divisions for years, but companies in the rest of the world are far behind in the critical business practice of assembling and converting peripheral data and matters of public record into a market advantage.;This text provides a series of case studies which show companies how to establish competitive intelligence units, and how to protect themselves from similar effects by others.

Say It And Live It is the first collection of provocative, passionate, and intelligent corporate mission statements -- the most powerful and popular managerial tool in business today. A corporate mission statement is the most dramatic presentation of a company's vision and its goal. No other document -- annual report, press release, news article, statement from the board of directors -- tells us more about a company's values and ethics than a mission statement. Companies know that if they write it down, they will have to live up to it -- so they devote months, even years, the energy of people from the CEO on down, and significant sums of money to crafting them. Say It And Live It is the only source of information for the many business people who are presently writing their own mission statements. In it, authors Patricia Jones and Larry Kahaner show that industry leaders are frequently corporations that truly live their mission statements. Some of the winners include: Avis, Ben & Jerry's, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric, Gillette, Hallmark Cards, IBM, Kellogg's, Reader's Digest, Saturn, Southwest Airlines, UPS, and Xerox. Say It And Live It is a collection of the fifty best corporate mission statements in America. Each entry consists of the company's complete mission statement, along with an explanation of how it was written, a lesson about how that mission statement saved the company or motivated employees, or comments from the CEO or the president. The introduction points out the common elements of these philosophical documents, while the final chapter is a list of tips on how you can write your own mission statement.