Word: shrewdness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Schlesinger's book is not to be dismissed lightly simply because of his connections. If not the most balanced, it will stand for a long time to come as the most comprehensive account of Robert Kennedy's life. And if Kennedy could be a tough, shrewd politician, behind the calculations he had a true feeling for those on the outside--for the poor, for minorities, for the young. His life very much deserves the attention drawn to it by this new book. As pure history, the book will undoubtedly be sneered at by many. As simply a story, however...
...given to occasional outbursts of temper, Botha is essentially a party man, who rose through the ranks as leader of the relatively small western Cape, still the historically sacred region of Afrikaner origins. He is not the patient negotiator that Vorster was. But he has proved to be a shrewd organizer. After becoming Defense Minister in 1966, he characteristically turned the ministry into a personal fief. At the same time he systematically built up an awesome military machine...
...great feudal lord, Enguerrand de Coucy VII, the seigneur of some 150 towns and villages in Picardy. He was born in 1340, and he died in captivity in 1397, having been made a prisoner by the Turks. Coucy was the best of his kind, an able diplomat, a shrewd military leader and a man of good luck. His campaigns took him to England (where he married King Edward's daughter), Tunisia, Italy, Switzerland and Hungary. He died at century's end, appropriately for Tuchman. His only drawback as a subject is that almost nothing personal is known about...
Overseas visitors are shrewd shoppers. Manhattan's Windows on the World restaurant reports that they gobble up oysters and clams (as part of a $19.50 prix fixe dinner), which are much more expensive in Europe. Says Nick Lapole, director of public relations for Mamma Leone's restaurant in Manhattan: "The French and Italian tourists we are getting eat and drink rather lavishly and don't care what it costs." Because of all the dollars in their pockets, they are also losing their reputation for being stingy tippers. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires and cheaper souvenirs are being snapped up by tourists...
Today the city government is still there, housed in an imposing modern edifice. So are the markets, in their original buildings-but only after a lengthy, civic tug of war and some shrewd, imaginative thinking about the inner city of Boston. Last week's opening of the North Market marked the completion of the third and final stage of a $30 million, 6.5-acre renovation project. With some 30,000 people visiting the area daily, the market is almost outdrawing Florida's Disney World. Says Terry Rankin, head of the Boston Society of Architects: "The danger...