Sabine Melchior-Bonnet

Great Men and Their Mothers Napoleon, Louis XIV, Francis I, Kennedy and others

Another way to write the biography of a number of great men. An unusual historical perspective, intertwining serious research and a talent for writing. A history of representations of the maternal figure and a study of the evolution of the filial bond. A historical standpoint that offers readers a fresh look at the lives of men they thought they knew well, from Louis XIV to Stalin, via Napoleon and Kennedy

Dominique Schnapper

Sociological Reflection on the Jewish Condition

Following the “days of suspicion” initiated in 1967 by the speech of General de Gaulle, which put an end to a form of accord between France and the State of Israel...

Michel Cassé

Nothingness and Creation

This book is foremost a piece of scientific popularization. M. Cassé leads us on an historical stroll through physics. First we meet the ideas of Galileo and Newton. Then Einstein modifies the classical notions of time and space. Finally quantum mechanics revolutionize our sense of matter. On a deeper level, Cassé sees physics as an arena for debate on the nature of reality. This is why scientific discourse often tends toward reverie and poetic meditation, particularly when concerning itself with the void, a central notion for modern physics and the complex protagonist of Cassé's scientific journey.

Robert Nozick

The Examined Life

Mouzayan Osseiran-Houbballah

The Child Soldier

The existence of thousands of child-soldiers is one of the scandals of our time. UNICEF has estimated their number in the world today at 300,000 — a figure that has grown in recent years due to the increase in the number of civil wars. What happens to them when the fighting ceases? Why are they no longer visible in Beirut, or elsewhere? Why do so many of them end up in drug-detoxification centres? What does the future hold for these children who know nothing besides how to handle weapons? Mouzayan Osseiran-Houbballah is a psychologist.

Juan Luis Arsuaga

The Neanderthal Necklace Our Ancestors of the Ice Age

The conflict between Neanderthal man and Homo Sapiens during the European Ice Age is told here by Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of Europe’s most eminent pre-historians. Why did the stronger, better adapted Neanderthal become extinct, while our ancestors flourished? How can this critical phase in human development be explained? The tragic story of the extinction of this species — so like and yet unlike our own — can help us to understand our human strengths and assets. It would seem that we are here because Neanderthal man is dead... Juan Luis Arsuaga is a professor of palaeontology at the University of Madrid and a lecturer at University College London.

Jean-Philippe Wolf

Assisted Reproductive Technology: What Are the Limits? Donor Anonymity, Same-Sex Parenting, Surrogacy

An eminent biologist discusses the diversity of infertility cases, existing medical responses, current hopes — and the controversies surrounding Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

Marie-Jo Bonnet

What Does a Woman Desire When she Desires a Woman?

From Madame de Sévigné to Pauline Delabroy-Allard, George Sand to Djuna Barnes, Simone de Beauvoir to Monique Wittig, not to forget Céline Sciamma or the 10% et Nina series… An analysis of the different faces of lesbian love over time.