Documents All books
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
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.
Françoise Héritier
Thought in motion
Based on a series of interviews, this book traces the career of a brilliant anthropologist, whose thinking enlightens and moves us
Raymond Aubrac
Where the memory lingers
Discreet by nature and secretive by necessity, Raymond Aubrac has been closely involved in more than half a century of history, in France and abroad. Within France, he is one of the great figures of the Resistance, and is one of the last survivors of the meeting at Caluire, on June 21st 1943, in the course of which Jean Moulin was arrested. A confidant of Ho Chi Minh, Raymond Aubrac also played a central role in the secret negotiations which accompanied the Vietnam war. In this book he gives a new, personal account of these events and others, including his meeting with de Gaulle, his role in the reconstruction of France, and his work at the heart of the UN.
Raymond Boudon
Why intellectual peoples don't like liberalism
Given the intellectual force of liberalism, its political appeal, its economic effectiveness and its historical significance, why is it so unpopular among French intellectuals? Why does it elicit so little serious discussion? And why is it the object of so much confusion, so many clichés and misunderstandings? Is it simply out of resentment, because intellectuals feel that the market does not afford them the material and symbolic rewards that they believe they deserve? Is it just because they prefer to play a critical role in a society where capitalism is triumphant? Perhaps, but these reasons do not explain everything and they certainly dont explain the systematic rejection of liberal thought in France. A sociologist of knowledge rather than of social determinism, and a specialist in belief systems, Raymond Boudon ruthlessly analyses the cognitive mechanisms that make liberalism so hateful in the eyes of French intellectuals. The result is a keen, detailed review of the clichés that have encumbered discussions for more than thirty years. Raymond Boudon, a professor at the University of Paris-IV, is a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He us the author of numerous works, most notably LInégalité des chances, La logique du social, LIdéologie ou lorigine des idées reçues, LArt de se persuader, Le Sens des valeurs and Déclin de la morale? Déclin des valeurs. He is the co-author, with R. Leroux, of Y a-t-il encore une sociologie?
François Dalle
The L'Oréal Adventure
It is difficult to imagine that in 1948 L'Oréal was a small company operating mainly in France and in a few neighbouring countries. Over a period of 35 years, L'Oréal's annual revenue rose from $ 30 million to $ 3 billion. This book shows that money and classical management techniques played a minor role in L'Oréal's growth. For François Dalle the company's success can be explained by the wide acceptance by the staff to what he calls the "spirit of L'Oréal" : this is what enabled L'Oréal to diversify its activities, spread all over Europe, Japan and America and successfully manage the hard times of the 1970s and '80s. François Dalle managed L'Oréal from 1948, at first with Eugène Schueller, then as CEO, a position he held from 1957-1985.
Laurent Wauquiez
The struggle of the middle class
In the run-up to the French presidential elections, here are a series of proposals that offer the middle classes the future perspectives they deserve
Dominique Bourg
In Defence of an Ecological Sixth Republic
Proposals for a reform of the French Constitution in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential elections
Claudine Monteil
Simone de Beauvoir Today
The author evokes her long friendship with Simone de Beauvoir and offers a detailed portrayal of women’s lives today.
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Beda Romano
The Short-Term View Conversations About the Big Crash
A leading figure in Italian and European politics and economics provides a critical synthesis of the conduct that led to the crash, and suggests paths to be explored to mould new thinking in economics.
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.
Éric Giuily
A Question of Spin Winning Strategies, Losing Strategies
A leading expert reveals in six crucial points how to communicate convincingly
Christian de Duve, Jean Vandenhaute
On Science and Other Matters
In these posthumously published interviews, the late Christian De Duve, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, gives his views on some of the major issues of our times
Maxime Schwartz, Jean Castex
The Discovery of the AIDS virus The Truth about Gallo/Montagnier affair
In Stockholm, on 10 December 2008, the King of Sweden awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of the AIDS virus...
Dominique Schnapper
As Time Goes By A Chronical of 2001-2002
From a mythical meeting in the year 2000, to From our almost mythical appointment with the year 2000, to the presidential upheavals in 2003, this book presents the first expansive record of our entry into a new century. Through insightfully chronicling the passage of time, with both emotion and analysis, the author is able to present us with a picture of our contemporary world. Dominique Schnapper is a director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Jean-Claude Carrière
Money
Arguing from a moralist’s point of view, Jean-Claude Carrière contends that money has become an invisible, all-powerful force
Monique Dagnaud
The State and the Media
Can the control of television broadcasting be justified? Should a broadcasting policy that favours cultural diversity be defended? What are the ties between media bosses and politicians or administrators? Can it be said that the content of programming is governed by an elitist plot? How is French media control different from that of other countries? How did it develop and how can it be applied to on-line media? Is there a French model of broadcasting? How has it evolved? Who will win the battle that is now being waged: the citizens or the giant global groups? Monique Dagnaud is a sociologist
