History and Geopolitics All books

Alexandre Minkowski
The Art of Giving Birth
How are children born today in different cultures? At once a history of birth throughout the ages and a comprehensive medical anthropology, this book constitutes a rigorous overview and breakdown of our current knowledge in the fields of foetal biology and neonatal medicine. As a professor and the director of a research laboratory at Port-Royal, Alexandre Minkowski has dedicated his life's work to the medical and scientific study of the foetus.

Max J. Skidmore, Marshall Carter Tripp
American Democracy
What do we really know about the United States? A superpower that fascinates for its success and irritates by its arrogance, this immense country is nonetheless an extraordinary political invention, a real laboratory of democracy. This book describes the functioning of the American regime, whose essence is that of being a perpetual creation.

Jacques Rupnik
The Other Europe The Crisis and End of Communism
The crumbling of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the divided Europe that was inherited from Yalta, and the renaissance of Central Europe, so neglected and forgotten that it is often simply referred to as the East. Originally from Prague, Jacques Rupnik is one of the top specialists in France of this "Other Europe". In this work, he delivers the results of a long investigation of both the terrain and the historical thought leading from the nationalisms of the last century to the Gorbachev factor.

Gérard Chaliand, Jean-Pierre Rageau
The Atlas of Diasporas
For the first time, a complete and global presentation, both historical and geographical, of diasporas. Sixty maps, many illustrations, and accurate syntheses help reproduce the great archipelago of exile, wandering and migration. From the authors of The Strategic Atlas, The Political Atlas of the 20th Century, and The Atlas of Europeans.

Jean-François Bensahel
France and Threatened Sovereignty
What may one hope for from a united Europe? What will be the future of France? Discouraging of both European illusions and those myths of the 1980s, the money-king and the triumphant individual, this work provides an indispensable reflection on how to tackle the difficult years ahead, to avert the explosive risks that weigh heavily on society and restrict the actions of the French State. Jean-François Bensahel, an ex-student of L'Ecole Normale Superior and the Ecole de Mines, holds a graduate degree in mathematics and is a high-level functionary.

Norbert Rouland
The Confines of the Law
How did law come about? How do different societies answer to the same need for justice? N. Rouland invites us to explore the many aspects of law. Through various societies, a constant question emerges: can Africans, Asians and Westerners all adhere to the same norms? Norbert Rouland is a professor at the University of Aix-Marseille-III, where he teaches judicial anthropology and the history of law.

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.