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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.
Uri Savir
The Process 1,100 Days that changed the Middle East
In The 1100 Days, Savir offers the reader a front-row view of the complex negotiations and the clash of interests between the opposing delegations. The author, who played a major role in the negotiations - along with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres - recounts the saga of one of the most significant political events of the late twentieth century. Numerous questions are still to be answered: How can the process of negotiation begun in Oslo be completed? What hopes are there for a peaceful solution? Uri Savir was secretary general of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1996. He now heads the Peres Institute for Peace.
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.