Documents All books
Philippe Ratte
De Gaulle and the Republic
A decisive speech for the history of France. A history lesson from an exceptional moment of founding and reform. An analysis of the founding of the Fifth Republic. A close look at what Gaullism was.
Vincent Lanata
The Days in May that Made History in Fran
The history of France is presented here in an amusing and unexpected way. The final chapter offers a consideration of themes that remain decisive in the life of France: war, Europe, geopolitics, and others.
Pierre Lévy
Cyberdemocracy
This book offers a synthesis of the various ways in which the advent of the Internet has transformed daily life in democratic societies, both on a regional and international level," writes Pierre Lévy. This ambitious and down-to-earth analysis is well served by Pierre Lévys style and prophetic vision. He has taken into account the latest and most innovative developments, as well as the political changes brought about by the new information society. Pierre Lévy, a philosopher, teaches at the University of Quebec, in Trois Rivières. He is the author of Cyberculture and World Philosophy.
Pierre Lévy
Cyberculture
What is cyberculture? What are the social and cultural implications behind this technical phenomenon? Could it be held responsible for altering our relationship to knowledge? These are some of the questions addressed in Cyberculture, which covers such aspects of new technology as numerisation, navigation, memory, programming, software, virtual reality, multimedia, interactivity, and electronic mail. Written for the non-power user, this is a clear, complete and highly accessible presentation of new technologies, their uses and future stakes. Pierre Lévy is a philosopher who teaches at the University of Paris-VIII, in the hypermedia department.
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.
Claude Bébéar
The Courage to Reform
"We need to reconstruct political thought. Antiquated ways of seeing, archaic thought patterns, and bygone paradigms anaesthetise France and paralyse the nations ability to act. Political action must now provide a global reply to the question: What must be done? Courage depends above all on independent thought freed from all customs and conventional patterns, writes Claude Bébéar.
Jean-Denis Bredin, Thierry Lévy
Convince A Discussion of Eloquence
Two of France's most celebrated lawyers demonstrate the power of skillfuloration and how it can subordinate the actual facts. Anyone that is fascinated by speech, judicial history, and the art of debate, will truly enjoy gaining the knowledge, power and sense of conquest that this book imparts as they learn from the masters how to use eloquence advantageously. Entertaining, savage and brillant, this dialogue promises to help all with the art of elocution.
Polo Tonka
Conversation with Myself
How does one live with schizophrenia? This exceptional document gives an inside view of the disorder.
Colonel Passy
Colonel Passy Memoirs of the Chief of the Secret Services of a Liberated France
These two volumes constitute a new edition of Colonel Passys memoirs, which were first published by Plon in a three-volune limited edition (Deuxième Bureau-Londres; 10 Duke Street-Londres; Missions Secrètes en France). The new edition has been presented and annotated by historian Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac, a specialist in the period. André Dewawrin, alias Colonel Passy, headed the Bureau de Contre-espionnage, de Renseignement et dAction (BCRA) of the Free French in London, from 1940 to 1944. He became General Koenigs chief of staff, in 1944. A former student at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, he headed the department of research and study for the French Ministry of Defence after the war.
Claude de Calan, Pierre Etaix
The Clown and the Wise Man
"One of us is an acrobat and a filmmaker who tries to provoke laughter; the other one tries to contribute to the progress of mathematical physics. Yet, we could endlessly throw our ideas back and forth. The surprising closeness of our approaches, the strange fraternity between our two disciplines, which are as far away from each other in their goals as in their techniques, gave us great joy. It is our feeling of wonder that wed like to share here," write Pierre Etaix and Claude de Calan. Sometimes known as the French Buster Keaton, Pierre Etaix is a master of burlesque and the inventor of unequalled visual gags. Claude de Calan is a scientist at the Centre of Theoretical Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique.
Marie Desplechin
The Class
Teenagers from a school in Lille speak out about their lives, joys and difficulties: Marie Desplechin has put together a fascinating book
Julien Cohen-Solal
Cinq sous de glace Fifty Years of Pediatrics
Julien Cohen-Solal has made some of the greatest progress over the past several decades in France in understanding the needs of young children. After many of his books have become classics in the field and served as landmarks to many families, Cohen-Solal tells today of his childhood and adolescence in Algeria during the 30s and 40s, of his discovery of the Parisian post-war medical world, of the influences and discoveries that punctuated his education, and of relationships with parents and children that were important to him. Now is the occassion to celebrate fifty years of pediatrics in France, fifty years of scientific, clinical, and psychological advances.
Jean-Bernard Raimond
The Choice of Gorbachev
Who is Michel Gorbachev really? Is he communism's gravedigger or simply an apparatchik worried about postponing his disappearance from the political scene? Or is he one of history's free and tragic heroes, who found himself transported in spite of himself by the collapse of the world that had made him powerful? Jean Bernard Raimond is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and served as the Ambassador to France in Moscow.
André Miquel
Chateaubriand’s Memoires from Beyond the Grave Selections chosen and presented by André Miquel
For the 250th birthday of François-René de Chateaubriand: colloquia, commemorations (Saint-Malo, Combourg, Châtenay-Malabry) celebrate the great writer.
Jean-Pierre Sueur
Changing the City For a New Urbanity
Twenty years after France introduced its urban policy, the situation in the cities leaves much to be desired. Widespread problems include insecurity, violence, inequality, unemployment, pollution, poor housing or housing in hideously ugly tower blocks, traffic jams, and the emergence of ghettos. The author gives a critical reading of the various remedial urban policies introduced during the past few years and points to ways in which the underlying causes of todays urban problems may finally be confronted, so as to ultimately and truly change our cities. Jean-Pierre Sueur, a former government minister and member of Parliament, is the mayor of Orleans.
Jean-Didier Vincent
Casanova - The Diseases of Pleasure
J.-D. Vincent, author of The Biology of Passions, now turns his energetic eye upon the famous Venitian adventurer of the 18th century, whose Memoirs are strangely peppered with glorious descriptions of his diseases: no less than eleven small poxes for a multitude of conquests...
Monique Dagnaud
The Californian Paradigm How the spirit of cooperation can change the world
An original reflexion on California as a new social and political model. A high-quality argument on the possibility of an alternative economy and society that is more cooperative and egalitarian.
Yves Pouliquen
Cabanis: An Ideologue’s Life
The brilliant intellectual life of the French Revolutionary period is vividly revived here in this biography of Cabanis, physician, physiologist and Enlightenment philosopher.
George W. Bush
By the Grace of God
George W. Bush is the new President of the United States. Who is the real man behind the publicity ? What are his values ? What are his ideas for the future of America and the world in general ? This book not only represents a true reflection of the man himself, it is also an invaluable source of information on modern day America.
Michel Zink
Books from the Past, Readings for Today
When you read an ancient text — which is what you do whenever you read anything besides today’s paper or the latest bestseller...
Alain Bauer, Marie-Christine Dupuis-Danon
The Bloodhounds: A Story of the French Intelligence Services in Their Own Words
Interviews with the great leaders in French Intelligence. These interviews break with a culture of secrecy; what the leaders say in no way glosses the difficulties, or the missteps, of the Services, or the manipulations that occur for reasons of high-level – or low-level – politics.
Aldo Naouri
Bits of Existence
Short, narrative texts in which Aldo Naouri reflects on his formative life experiences that constructed the man he became and the pediatrician that has taken care of children his entire life.
Michel Schneider
Big Mother The Psychopathology of Political Life
Listening, closeness, emergencies, love - politicians today play up to the mother. Leaders dare not lead, the citizens are now so child-like that they simply wait to be told what to do by the State : the Leisure State behaves like those mothers who cannot stand to think that their children can play by themselves, and insist on keeping them busy. Where are the fathers ? Is this the end of the paternal reference and the symbolic order of things ? A psychoanalyst, Michel Schneider was formerly a director of music and dance at the Ministry of Culture.
Pierre Sudreau
Beyond All Frontiers (New Edition)
At the moment when former barriers are crumbling, but old hates and fears are re-emerging, Pierre Sudreau mixes historical tale, political thought and insightful meditation while inviting us to define a new morality of humanity. Deported to Buchenwald, Pierre Sudreau was a police chief at the time of the Libération, and later served as the Director of the Ministry of the Interior. He was a Minister under Charles de Gaulle, and resigned in 1962 at the time of the Constitutional reform. In 1974, he was the author of a celebrated report about business reform.