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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.
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.
Collectif
The Judicial System as a Public Service
Should the judicial system be reformed ? This question is at the centre of lively debates. It is to institutions such as the chancellery, courts of law and magistrates, that it falls to forge the judicial system, the deliverer of order, equilibrium and social cohesion. However, these institutions seem today to be weak, both in terms of organisation, and in methods of recruitment. It is thus necessary that changes are made. This is especially so as the duty of the judicial system is to operate in such a way that all individuals remain citizens, by delivering them judgements in a reasonable timescale which are certain to be respected. In this respect, it is a public service. The objective of this book is to assess the forms and the effects of a decisive reform in order to benefit our society.
Jacques Delors
France and Germany - the Leap Forward
"During the past fifty years, the Franco-German ship has been shaken by numerous storms--although they never seriously halted her forward movement. In our opinion, strengthening the friendship between our two countries and working towards European political union will not lead to the loss of our French and German identities, nor will it dampen their vitality, for there can be no great design unless our national communities are fully alive and strengthened by a sense of social and citizens' cohesion." Jacques Delors
Rita Levi Montalcini
Praise of Imperfection New Edition
Rita Levi Montalcini's life has been entirely dedicated to scientific research. She grew up in a tightly knit Jewish family and studied medicine in Turin. Forced into inactivity by the racist laws of Fascist Italy, she set up a makeshift laboratory in her bedroom and began studying the development of the nervous system. Her research, which she completed in the United States after the war, led to the discovery of the nerve growth factor whose role is to stimulate the growth of nerve fibres. Her autobiography, written with warmth and simplicity, traces the progress of her life, including being awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Rita Levi Montalcini
Against All the Odds
What do Primo Levi, the author of one of the most powerful accounts of life in a Nazi death camp, and Max Delbrück, one of the founding fathers of molecular biology, have in common? The answer is that they--as well as the others described in this book--were able to face the trials and tribulations of their lives with exceptional courage, and without losing their sense of humanity. Through a series of portraits, drawn with great warmth and restraint, Rita Levi Montalcini recounts the course of several exemplary lives. Rita Levi Montalcini taught neurobiology at Washington University for thirty years.
Charles Millon
Internal Peace
With regard to those who deny the fundamental and cardinal principals of law, which are the absolute respect of the dignity of the human person, the respect of each man whatever his race, class or religion and the eminent and equal dignity of each person; with regard to those who adopt a mindset of hatred, of cynicism and contempt, it is not only out of the question to collude with these people in any way, it is also necessary to fight against them and have the courage to exclude them. Charles Millon, a former Defence Minister and currently deputy mayor of Belley, gives us in this book an insight into his analysis of politics, his personal agenda, his strategy, and his proposals for the law, and for France, so that each one of us can make a judgement with full knowledge of the facts.
Patrick Lemoine
Right of Sanctuaries
This book is a detailed reconstruction of daily life at the Asile du Vinatier, a psychiatric institution near Lyon, from 1937 to 1945, a period marked by the earliest institutional attempts to treat mental illness. It was also the time when the blindness of administrative rules, the meanness of politicians, and the indifference of society at large resulted in a collective drama: the gradual extermination of mental patients. Patrick Lemoine is a psychiatrist and department head at the Hôpital du Vinatier in Lyon.
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.
Guillaume Franck
Towards the Conquest of the American Market
After two centuries of setbacks, could France be ready to face the " American challenge " ? How can we explain that in less than ten years, fifteen large French companies will have installed themselves permanently in America ? And why have they so often chosen external growth in deciding to buy an American company and move to America ? Towards the Conquest of the American Market is a collection of case studies, valuable recommendations and anecdotes to help tomorrow's entrepreneurs succeed in their American adventure. Guillaume Franck is a consultant and professor at the School for Advanced Commercial Studies, France
Edwige Rude-Antoine
Lives and Families Immigrants, Laws and Customs
For more than twenty years, immigration concerned only single men seeking employment. Today, whole families migrate creating new legal and cultural problems: people forced to return to their native country, polygamy, excision, arranged marriages. In her book Edwige Rude-Antoine analyzes the State's intervention in citizens' private lives and its significance. She also determines concrete principles that constitute a harmonious, multi-cultural society. Edwige Rude-Antoine has a PhD in law and specializes in immigration.
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.
Denis Jeambar
A State Secret
From a resounding victory, full of promises, to a surprise, humiliating defeat, the presidency of Jacques Chirac didnt manage to astonish the French nation or the world. This book lifts the lid on the plotting and secrets of the presidency. Denis Jeambar is the editor of the Express.
Commission Canberra
Eliminating Nuclear Arms
"Legally, politically and strategically nuclear arms have been reduced to a tiny number of marginal hypotheses and will soon be mere anachronisms. They have lost their justification, their reason for being. But they continue to represent a danger for humanity : they could be used by accident or by mistake due to the mistaken interpretation of another country's attitude. We must therefore do everything in opur power to eliminate them once and for all." Michel Rocard
Bill Clinton
Between Hope and History Meeting America's Challenges for the 21st Century
For many people, America remains a model. A model of an economy in full growth, a model of a society which has created millions of jobs, a model of a nation reuniting men and women from the most diverse origins. Today, like before, America demonstrates her amazing capacity to adapt and to bounce right back. For the first time in print, the President of the United States expounds his personal vision of the American dream, a dream which he intends, from this moment forward, to transform into reality. A political document, but also offering many subjects, from education to budgetary concerns, for general reflection.
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.