Catalog All books
Alain Ehrenberg
Tired of Yourself Depression and Society
Examining the changes that have occurred since the 19th century in both psychiatry and society at large, this book shows how the internal collapse that is depression is the ultimate symbol of our culture of powerlessness. The depressed person cannot rise above the demands imposed on him or that he imposes on himself. He has no recourse but fatigue, inhibition, and indecision. But what does it mean to learn to be oneself? Is our society merely creating huge numbers of hypochondriacs? Can we any longer draw a line between the small unhappinesses and frustrations of daily life, and pathological suffering? Alain Ehrenberg is a sociologist.
Émile Biasini
Africa and Us
Economist Charles Gide once described colonization as "a force of nature." Biasini believes that to imagine that our current phase of decolonization actually is an end to colonialism is just another manifestation of our society's megalomania. Africa today is going through a phase of change. It must stay faithful to its roots, digesting all the various cultures which have influenced it, while facing a new colonial menace. Its own elites, once fled abroad, have returned to Africa and are quickly becoming the colonists of their own countries. And such colonial ambitions, history teaches us, must inevitably lead to imperialism. Emile Biasini was a civil servant in colonial Africa. Under De Gaulle, he helped found the Ministry of Culture.
Georges Charpak
Children, Researchers and Citizens
Georges Charpak has taken the initiative for a complete reform of our methods of science teaching. He proposes a teaching method based on creativity and problem-solving, instead of the old theoretical, book-based approach. This book recounts the experiences of two teams of French educators in a research institution created by Leon Lederman in Chicago, and the lessons which we can take from their experiences. Pollens shows that to learn is to discover, and that it is in discovering that one learns. Georges Charpak is a Nobel laureate in physics, and the author of La vie à fil tendu and Feux follets et champignons nucléaires, both published by Editions Odile Jacob.
Christian Delacampagne
Of Indifference An Essay on the Banalization of Good and Evil
What can we forget, and what had we best remember? What is "good" and what is "bad" indifference? Christian Delacampagne proposes a re-evaluation of genocide and of crimes against humanity in the face of an intellectual confusion that leads, according to Hannah Arendt, to a real "banalization of evil." Christian Delacampagne is a philosopher and a journalist at Le Monde.
Maurice Rheims
crise mine
A well-known writer, art collector, academic, and sometime auctioneer reflects on life in our times and on the art of living well. In an age when it has become fashionable to lament a kind of society-wide depression, Rheims examines other periods of crisis and general malaise throughout history, and ends with a resounding affirmation of the power that curiosity, beauty, and art will continue to hold. Maurice Rheims is president of the Fondation de France's cultural development fund, and a member of the Académie française. He is the author of many essays, novels, and books on art.
