History and Geopolitics All books
Robert Darnton
Berlin Journal, 1989-90
Robert Darnton was in Germany at the moment when the boundaries of post-war Europe came toppling down. Suddenly, the university professor discovered that History was in the making, and the masses were in motion. This is his personal account of the combined drama and celebration that accompanies every revolution. A professor at Princeton University in the United States, Robert Darnton is a specialist in the history of European culture. He is the author of L'Aventure de l'Encyclopédie, Le Grand Massacre des chats and Edition et Sédition.
Jean-Louis Flandrin
The Chronical of the Table For a Historical Gastronomy
When the knowledge of the historian is put to the service of the palate, we are presented with a literary-culinary feast! J. Flandrin invites us to his table. His story of taste and culinary originality sheds new light on today s gastronomy. Revived by his pen is a curious world of age-old recipes, stove-top tips, cooking etiquette and table manners which no sweet-toothed reader can resist.
André Miquel, Jamel Eddine Bencheikh
Of Arabia and Islam
Two French specialists on Islam, one Algerian, the other a native Frenchman, discuss Islam and its confrontation with the Western world. Interweaving references to the past and present, they recount a long history of cultural confrontation, marked by continuous debate and violent conflict, repulsion and fascination. Resolutely optimistic, yet painfully aware of the religious intransigence which enshrouds their subject, their conversations shed new light on the conceptions of power and unity within the Muslim world.
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.
Peter Reichel
The Fascination of Nazism
All authoritative regimes look to dominate and effectively use art, culture, and the media. Each tool of popular influence is merged together to create and enforce a mythology. But no regime ever went as far as Nazism, no doubt because the Nazis were the first to understand mass culture. Peter Reichel unveils the unrivaled skill with which they knew how to create a world of illusions that allowed them to drag the Germans to disaster. Peter Reichel is a professor at the Institute of Political Science in Hamburg.
François Godement
The Renaissance of Asia
How can the dynamism of modern Asia be explained ? Is there a unified Asian identity which could point to subsequent unification ? What is the role of the State, and the future of democracy in Asia ? François Godement presents one of the first major histories of the contemporary Far East in which he not only traces the recent history of the continent, but also reveals the future for occidental societies. François Godement is a professor at the Institute of Eastern Languages and head of research at the French Institute for International Relations.
Maurice Duverger
Europe of Men
How is it possible to get many nations, separated by history, culture, political structures, to live together? If the European community functioned well with 6 members, in a mediocre way at 9, and at 12 members with difficulty, beyond, the E.E.C. will be ineffectual and paralyzed. One solution is available: to change the institutions. The author, a former member of the European Parliament, proposes here a new theory of federalism, the only way according to him, to progressively substitute to the power of the technocrats that of the members of Parliament and citizens.
