This book provides an account of economic development in Palanpur, a village in rural North India, based on five detailed surveys of the village over the period 1957 to 1993. These five decades have seen economic well-being rise in some important respects, but stagnation and even decline in other areas. The analysis presented here focuses on the reasons behind this uneven progress. The authors tie in the background issues of the evolution of poverty and inequality and mobility over time with causal factors such as technological progress, demographic and sectoral changes, the operation of markets, and the role of public action. The richness and unique nature of the qualitative and quantitative data collected and presented by Lanjouw and Stern yields an analysis which illuminates questions of direct importance to researchers in a wide variety of disciplines.

Half a century of music making in Nigeria has indeed witnessed giant strides, development, transformation, assimilation, and acculturation. This book succinctly presents a holistic discourse of musicality in Nigeria from the 1960s through the technological age of the 21st century transmitted through European and American cultures. It examines cogent topics such as traditional and popular music, art music, church music, choral activities, composers and their works, performance practices, maintenance of musical instruments, the impact of radio and television stations, feminine quantum leaps, music publishing, music technology, archival centers, copyright society, Nollywood music, and music entrepreneurship.

Praise for Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times "Dennis McDougal is a rare Hollywood reporter: honest, fearless, nobody's fool. This is unvarnished Jack for Jack-lovers and Jack-skeptics but, also, for anyone interested in the state of American culture and celebrity. I always read Mr. McDougal for pointers but worry that he will end up in a tin drum off the coast of New Jersey." — Patrick McGilligan, author of Jack's Life and Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light Praise for Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty "A great freeway pileup—part biography, part dysfunctional family chronicle, and part institutional and urban history, with generous dollops of scandal and gossip." — Hendrick Hertzberg, The New Yorker "McDougal has managed to scale the high walls that have long protected the Chandler clan and returned with wicked tales told by angry ex-wives and jealous siblings." —The Washington Post Praise for The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood "Real glamour needs a dark side. That is part of the fascination of Dennis McDougal's wonderful book." —The Economist "Thoroughly reported and engrossing . . . the most noteworthy trait of MCA was how it hid its power." —The New York Times Book Review "Over the years, I've read hundreds of books on Hollywood and the movie business, and this one is right at the top." — Michael Blowen, The Boston Globe