The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices [Paperback]

Polipointpress (Creator), Carol Pott (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics & | Publication Date: December 1, 2005

By summarizing the political contributions and business practices of hundreds of corporations, this handy directory helps you support companies that share your political values. Follow your money; you might be surprised. The Blue Pages includes valuable information on political contributions to each major party, employee benefits and labor practices, lawsuits and investigations, and community and charitable programs. As this information starts to affect these companies at the cash register, they may be less inclined to support positions that conflict with their customers' values. The Blue Pages organizes companies alphabetically into 13 sectors, making it easy to find a particular product or service. A complete index allows you to find companies and brands even more quickly. Using this Zagat-style pocket reference, you can be conscientious about something you do every day - shop. Slim and portable, The Blue Pages is easy to put in a backpack or purse. It also makes a wonderful gift

Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: Polipoint Press (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976062119
• ISBN-13: 978-0976062110
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 3.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful guide to where companies stand, March 14, 2006

By 

zhivago (Nashua, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices (Paperback)

An excellent reference guide, even more useful than I expected. The Blue Pages not only tells where corporate political contributions go, but it also gives a paragraph on each company detailing things such as law suits, labor relations, OSHA violations, and whether they have anti-discrimination policies on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Some companies of interest at first appeared not to be listed, but they I discovered they are in the index, and the index points to parent companies, or, in some cases, a subsidiary company.

I would encourange anybody who cares how their spending influences politics to buy this book.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shopping will never be the same, February 11, 2006

By 

Mary L "ML" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices (Paperback)

I am going to recommend this book to all of my friends. I was curious about the book after reading about it on the Daily Kos. I wanted to see for myself what all the hoopla was about. I examined THE BLUE PAGES and Buyblue.org. One is a book and the other is a website. I have to say that they really don't share very much in common. Buyblue is a blog with a limited amount of listings. As a blog Buyblue.org is very useful but their listing are very limited. THE BLUE PAGES on the other hand has lots of listings. I say use both of them and stop all of this progressive in fighting. As progressives we have a lot more important work to do. We need to spend our money with companies that share our politics. I going to take THE BLUE PAGES with me whenever I go shopping.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Book for Shareholder & Consumer Activism, March 8, 2006

By 

Stuart Gardner "www.sdgardner.com" (Fair Lawn, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices (Paperback)

Consumer and shareholder activism is one of the few channels that everyday people (regardless of political persuasion; or particular single interest) have open.

The assumption that any given corporation will act in the interest of the shareholder, let alone the consumer is very unsafe. This book provides a handy reference for a consumer, or investor to make a more informed decision.

I found the information on current activities, issues and ethical valuations to be very helpful and generally up to date.

From an entirely personal perspective I dislike Companies that make sizable donations to any party, have "well funded" PAC's and profit from the suffering of others - in some instances it is more questionable when companies are making million dollar contributions to both parties. The simple proportion of democrat to republican has to be read with care (e.g. company shown as 100 percent republican with a 5000 donation). A symbol to highlight the big donors would be very helpful.

This book will have a short life given it's nature; I hope there will be annual updates.