History All books
Anne-Marie Lugan Dardigna
Women of Literary Salon Feminism and the Literary Salon: Women in 18th-Century France
In France, the struggle for women’s rights is a very ancient one. In the 17th and 18th centuries it found expression in literary salons led by such famous figures as Madame de Tencin, Madame du Deffant, Madame Geoffrin and later by Madame du Châtelet and Madame d’Epinay.
Sylvie Schweitzer
Women Have Always Worked A History of Working Women in the 19th Century
For women, the victory of recent years is one of empowerment in their professional lives: they now have the means to compete with men in every field. Yet societys traditional image of what is a male or female profession remains very powerful. In 2001, French women had managed to enter professions that were previously practically closed to them but French men are still reluctant to enter traditionally female professions. This book reviews two centuries of womens work. It shows that women have always worked but not everywhere. Womens access to increasingly prized jobs goes hand in hand with economic and global development.
François Godement
Whither China?
A fascinating inquiry into the core of Chinese political life, by an eminent expert on China.
Yves Pouliquen
When the Académie Française almost Disappeared From the French Revolution to the Empire
The history of the Académie Française under the Revolution and the Empire
Anthony Rowley, Fabrice d'Almeida
When History Captures Our Emotions
the authors recount 20 stories that made history and that reveal the role played by the emotions over the centuries
Marie-Jo Bonnet
What Does a Woman Desire when She Desires a Woman?
The desire of women for their own sex is a subject that has been concealed and heavily censored since Antiquity. Yet it has constantly resurfaced throughout history - despite repression, denial and today's feigned indifference - and its existence is a historical and anthropological fact, whatever the dominant opinion may say. Marie-Jo Bonnet argues that lesbianism transgresses social norms and female stereotypes, and breaks with the phallic model and the restricted social role that is assigned to women even today. She sees lesbian desire as a radical instrument of emancipation and offers an original analysis of the women's liberation movement, of recent discussions about homosexuality and, finally, of the persistence of lesbophobia. Desire, regardless of its subject, is always a unique and complex experience, and Bonnet does not ignore this fact. In an original, wide-ranging study of lesbian love through literature, she delves into the work of such major writers of the past as Marguerite Yourcenar, Violette Leduc, Simone de Beauvoir, Djuna Barnes and, surprisingly, Madame de Sévigné, as well as of more recent writers such as Monique Wittig, Anne Garreta and Christine Angot. The author's thesis is that women's desire for their own sex can serve as a tool to empower them to conquer their own space of creativity and liberation. Marie-Jo Bonnet, a writer and historian, is the author of Les Relations Amoureuses Entre Femmes (XVIe-XXe siècle).
Marek Edelman
Unpublished Notebooks from the Warsaw Ghetto
A work enriched with many elements that clarify the text and enable it to enhance the previously known history of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Jean-François Muracciole , Lucie Muracciole
The True Novel of the Free French People Another way of reading and understanding history
A gallery of portraits of the men who decided to join the Resistance and follow de Gaulle, who at the time was completely unknown. Fictional history and Great History come together to weave a surprising tale of the Resistance.
Emmanuel Terray
The Trial of the Revolution
In the first part, the author begins by letting the prosecution talk about the French Revolution. In the second part, Emmanuel Terray asks: where are we today, after two other revolutions, in Russia and in China?
Jean-Pierre Rioux
They Taught Me the History of France
After his defence of French history, Jean-Pierre Rioux identifies his influences and his “masters”, thereby shedding light on his intellectual commitments, and painting the portrait of a generation. An ode to the greater and lesser figures of French history.
Robert Belot
The Statue of Liberty The secret of the most famous monument in the world
A fascinating historical narrative presented as a lively investigation. Decoding the signification of the Statue of Liberty, based on the political and cultural beliefs of its creator, Auguste Bartholdi
Pierre Vermeren
Shock of Decolonisation from 1962 to the present
The failure of French decolonisation, and government cowardice in the face of recent violence