Societal issues All books
Manès Sperber
Being Jewish
A non-practicing Jew, Manès Sperber learned to read the Bible at the age of three and continued to re-read it until the end of his life. Neither religious, nor a militant Zionist, nor an aethiest, nor aligned with any cultural Judaism, he professes as his only faith a "religion of good memory." His is a Judaism lived as humanism and as an ethic, as a refusal of all idolatry, of exclusion of others, and a constant combat against hate of any kind. It is a profound attachment to the Israelite nation and a prudent attitude towards the State of Israel that Sperber illustrates in these brilliant essays prefaced by Elie Weisel, where analysis of Jewish thought and identity walk hand in hand with the eternal question: Why anti-semitism?
Serge Tisseron
The Benefits of the Image
Should sex and violence be banned on our television screens ? Is there a danger that their presence can lead to them becoming common-place, or to delinquency ? In light of this current debate, Serge Tisseron argues that as soon as we become accustomed to a type of image, and it ceases to upset us, we invent another type which will once more allow us to confuse image and reality, and thus to shiver again with fear and anxiety. In a society which is flooded with images, it is thus essential to use them as best we can, and to avoid the dangers that are inherent in them. This book aims to contribute to this end. Serge Tisseron is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, doctor of psychology and research fellow at the University of Paris-X. For the past fifteen years, he has worked on the relations that viewers have with different types of images.
Michel Schneider
Big Mother The Psychopathology of Political Life
Listening, closeness, emergencies, love - politicians today play up to the mother. Leaders dare not lead, the citizens are now so child-like that they simply wait to be told what to do by the State : the Leisure State behaves like those mothers who cannot stand to think that their children can play by themselves, and insist on keeping them busy. Where are the fathers ? Is this the end of the paternal reference and the symbolic order of things ? A psychoanalyst, Michel Schneider was formerly a director of music and dance at the Ministry of Culture.
Alain Bauer, Marie-Christine Dupuis-Danon
The Bloodhounds: A Story of the French Intelligence Services in Their Own Words
Interviews with the great leaders in French Intelligence. These interviews break with a culture of secrecy; what the leaders say in no way glosses the difficulties, or the missteps, of the Services, or the manipulations that occur for reasons of high-level – or low-level – politics.
Monique Dagnaud
The Californian Paradigm How the spirit of cooperation can change the world
An original reflexion on California as a new social and political model. A high-quality argument on the possibility of an alternative economy and society that is more cooperative and egalitarian.
Yves Michaud
Changes in Violence An Essay on Universal Goodwill and Fear
For better or for worse, violence has accompanied humanity throughout its history. It is consubstantial with history, technical knowledge and even culture, and it is unlikely that it will disappear. Human beings are inhabited by darkness great darkness and they must have the courage to confront it. Then why are we so frightened and shocked by each flare-up of violence on the international stage and in our own streets? We feel that there is both more and less violence; that life on our planet has become easier and yet more ruthless; that although benevolence is the universal law, hate is equally strong, if not stronger; that feeling safe may be a right but that fear reigns. Yves Michaud, a philosopher, teaches at the University of Paris-I.
Jean-Pierre Sueur
Changing the City For a New Urbanity
Twenty years after France introduced its urban policy, the situation in the cities leaves much to be desired. Widespread problems include insecurity, violence, inequality, unemployment, pollution, poor housing or housing in hideously ugly tower blocks, traffic jams, and the emergence of ghettos. The author gives a critical reading of the various remedial urban policies introduced during the past few years and points to ways in which the underlying causes of todays urban problems may finally be confronted, so as to ultimately and truly change our cities. Jean-Pierre Sueur, a former government minister and member of Parliament, is the mayor of Orleans.
Xavier Emmanuelli
Children of the Streets A clinic of exclusion
A fascinating analysis: from the witch-children of West and Central Africa to child-soldiers, child refugees, victims of war and catastrophe, exploited children, handicapped children, orphans who have never known human closeness, child-mothers and child-prostitutes…
Laurent Danon-Boileau
Children Without Language
I have been treating children [with language difficulties] for the past ten years, and making clinical observations from three theoretical points of view: I have used linguistics, psychoanalysis and recent finding in the cognitive sciences. By taking into account and examining the difficulties encountered when working with such children, and by paying attention to the specific character of their development, we will be able to provide essential information for anyone wishing to reflect seriously on a central issue for all of us: Why speak? writes Laurent Danon-Boileau. Laurent Danon-Boileau is a linguist, psychoanalyst and writer.
