The Books that made me
Extraits
Documentaires jeunesse
Paris au fil du temps
Who made Paris the way it is ? What were the major phases of its construction ? How did Paris adapt to modern times and its growing population ? Discover the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, explore the filthy alleys of medieval Paris, admire the royal squares classical era, join the crowds in the Belly of Paris, stroll down the spacious Haussmanian boulevards... This book is an invitation to wander through the different eras that have made Paris the city it is today. With flaps that fold down, panels that open up, wheels to turn, mini-books to flip through, and panoramas to behold on every page !
05/2015
Archéologie
Fantastic Beasts in Antiquity. Looking for the monster, discovering the Human, Textes en français et anglais
Not satisfied with what nature offered, human beings wanted to go beyond reality and invented mysterious and intriguing creatures populating their world. During Antiquity, every culture had its own strange creatures, that mixed the forms of one or more animal, plant and human species in an infinite number of more-or-less fanciful combinations. Griffins, sphinxes, mermaids, centaurs, satyrs, pygmies, werewolves, winged monsters and unspeakable hybrids, fantastic beasts abound in the imagination of many populations throughout Antiquity. Most of them continue to live, sometimes transformed, through fairy tales, literature, movies and videogames. Faced with the abundance and variety of the ancient fantastic bestiary, the questions that come to mind are : Where do fantastic beasts come from ? How do they appear in different cultures ? What is their history, how did they survive until now ? And above all, what are fantastic beasts ? This book will explore these questions through the lens of archaeology, art history, philology and philosophy. The result is a hybrid book, precisely like the fantastic animals that constitute its object, a book which offers different approaches of analysis while being aware that our means are often vain to capture these elusive figures, which ultimately are more like us than they seem. Man, like Oedipus, will often prove to be more monstrous than the Sphinx...
02/2021
Non classé
A linguistic picture of women's position in society
A discussion of English and Polish gender systems, generic words, forms of address, referring expressions and other topics, provides evidence that in these two languages males and females are not treated equally. The main concern of this book is linguistic sexism. The data indicate that speakers of both languages treat male as the norm, attribute less desirable qualities to the speech and behaviour of women, stereotype women more than men, or simply make women linguistically invisible members of society.
12/1986
Autres langues
Japanese for busy people I. Revised edition
In the ten years since its publication, Japanese for Busy People has won acceptance worldwide as an effective, easy-to-understand textbook, either for classroom use or for independent study. In this new edition, numerous revisions and additions have been made, taking into account the comments and responses of both students and teachers who have been using the course. In Book 1, the revisions are directed at making the grammatical explanations easier to understand, while adding further explanations of points that students have difficulty with. Changes have also been made in favor of more natural practice sentences and dialogues. In addition, new appendices list the particles, interrogatives, and sentence patterns in the book, as well as the kanji introduced. More fundamental revisions have been made to Book II, which has been expanded and divided into two volumes, Book II and Book III. The changes result in a smoother transition from Book I, make new grammatical elements clearer, and present more natural practice dialogues and exercise sentences. This concise course in natural Japanese is ideal for such students as businessmen whose aim is a working knowledge of the spoken language in everyday life. "Survival Japanese for Adults," as it might be called, gets to the heart of the language without recourse to childish or classroom-only Japanese. Vocabulary and grammar have been limited to about one-third that usually encountered in beginner courses, and words and patterns that students will find immediately useful are emphasized. The thirty lessons are composed of dialogues, notes on grammar, and vocabulary, exercises, and quizzes. In addition to developing verbal fluency, by the time the student is one-third of the way through Book 1, he or she will have mastered the two phonetic syllabaries of Japanese, hiragana and katakana.
01/1994
Livres 0-3 ans
We are shapes
This clever board book teaches a dual lesson : as children are introduced to shapes, they are also taught interpersonal development. An adorable cast of characters - square, rectangle, triangle, circle, but also squiggly and lumpy - come together to build a house. Each shape contributes its unique quality, and collectively they achieve something that they could not do alone. Visually inspired by the children's books created by Russian Constructivists, this charming book teaches young readers everywhere that we are far stronger together than alone
04/2022
Non classé
Experimental Social Dilemmas
Most of the papers on social dilemmas were presented at a conference on social dilemmas that was held at the University of Groningen in the spring of 1984. Social dilemmas are interpersonal situations that are characterized by a conflict between private and collective interest, i.e. in attempting to further their private interests, participants may end up worser off than if they had abandonned self-interest and worked for the good of the community. The chapters in this book describe efforts made by social psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists to advance our understanding of the psychological processes that influence people's behavior in social dilemmas. It is assumed that understanding of these processes can help our search for solutions.
12/1986
Sciences politiques
As Others See Us
This collection of articles shows that some media products ought to carry a mental health warning : Some school books still contain simplistic presentations of England and Germany. English and German journalists admit that the entertainment value of their articles sometimes takes precedence over impartial reporting. English children's books may contain a reasonable mixture of good and bad Germans but some wartime films needed more sinister types for propaganda. "Made in Germany" originated in English legislation as a label against German competition but became a German marketing tool. A minister in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet made unprintable remarks about Germany. When they were printed, the Ridley Affair proved to be the beginning of the downfall of Britain's controversial Prime Minister.
03/1994
Littérature française
Mehersthan Memoir (Meher Baba)
Mehersthan Memoir (Meher Baba) This book is dedicated to the unique One who has assumed a form and name to lead the play of universal existence. He throbs in our loving heart ; He breathes in our living soul. He sings in our fervent spirit and he thinks in our purified mind. That infinite Ancient One from his supernal height, bends towards us to embrace us in his love, and to feed our soul with the nectar of his bliss. Blessed are they that have the mind to know him, the heart to feel him and the love to live in his consciousness ! He may have been born to human parents in Poona, studied in a college, played cricket, left home, have seen great souls, sat alone silent, spoken in gestures, written books - but that is not his history. Many live such a life ; many scholars write books ; many saints sit in contemplation ; many monks leave home for mountain resorts ; but they cannot be one like him. Millions of bulbs challenge in vain the darkness of night. One sun rises and the night dissolves into his golden light. One sun rises and the night dissolves into his golden light. We have seen monks, yogins and saints. Some live alone for peace. Some open Ashrams and collect donations to run them. Some comercialise their name and form. Some display miracles to surprise human minds ; some offer boons ; some predict the future ; some curse you when you do not offer them what they want. Some seek pleasure and treasure. But who seeks God and finds God in the self to awaken God-awareness in other men and women ? Who says "I am God and you are God too"? Who rises above the prattle of words, the rattle of weapons and battle of ideologies to the lofty peace of supersonic silence and pours his blessings from the dizzy height of the soul in tune with God ? Who is he that embraces all in the heart and awakens the soul which has none of the human creations of caste, religion, race, pedigree nor colour ? Editions ASSA, Christian Piaget
07/2017
Documentaires jeunesse
Quentin Blake and the Demoiselles des Bords de Seine
Quentin Blake is one of the best-known illustrators of our time. He was Roald Dahl's regular illustrator, and their books have enjoyed world popularity with generations of children. Blake has collaborated with many other well-known authors and also created his own picture-books such as Clown and Zagazoo. Quentin Blake was born in England in 1932. For more than 20 years he taught in and then led the illustration department of the Royal College of Art. In 1999 he became the first Children's Laureate and in 2005 was appointed CBE for his services to children's literature. In France, where he spends a great deal of his time and where he has been published by Gallimard for the past 30 years, Quentin Blake has the same huge reputation as in Great Britain. His work has been exhibited there, and he has produced several books especially for French readers. In 2002 he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. It was on account of this reputation that he was invited by the Petit Palais to select and present the exhibition Quentin Blake et les Demoiselles des Bords de Seine, and in the exhibition and this book he displays his enthusiasm for 19th century French art with a perceptiveness and liveliness which will speak to readers of all ages.
12/2005
Littérature française
Sons of Fantasy
When we were children, we believed anything was possible... This book is a fantasy novel originally written for children. But, if you are a father or a mother, a teacher or a writer, if you still have some bits of fantasy in your soul... then, this novel is for you too. We all know how geniuses changed the world with their childlike Imagination, and how people use creative thinking to solve problems. This is a story about hope ; "Sons of Fantasy" shares the story of M. Alger, a father grieving for the loss of his dear wife, who left him with two beautiful kids. Norris and Socrates were adjusting to life without Mom... But things got more complicated when one of them was paralyzed because of a severe psychological trauma due to an overdose of fantasy... This family has a very interesting neighbor who lives a few feet away. He has a weird little hobby, reading books in the most unlikely places... He for example travelled to Romania and read "Dracula" by Bram Stoker in the Castelul Bran Castle, because it's said that the main character Dracula lived in it. And then all of a sudden he stopped travelling... He got a month ago a big long hat that belongs to the greatest witch that lived during the middle ages, "Moje Gayla". In fact, after being burned by the church, one of her relatives kept her belongings inside a wooden box... and in the twentieth century one of her grandchildren donated the box to "The Magic Square Museum" in London. Genius bought the hat at a public auction as an art relic to decorate one of his rooms. Could this weird neighbor be the reason of Socrates' psychological trauma ? Or maybe he is the one who will cure him ? And what has the hat to do with all this ?
08/2018
Non classé
Oaths, Vows and Promises in the first Part of the French Prose Lancelot Romance
This book examines the narrative use made of oaths, vows and promises in a thirteenth-century work of fictional literature, reviewing the textual prominence accorded them by the writer in the light of legal texts of the Middle Ages that deal with the same subject. Medieval society had to deal with highly complex problems that arose out of the central importance accorded the given word. Jurists wrestled with the problems in an attempt to solve them ; the writer of a work of narrative fiction can explore such problems in terms of human drama. The writer of the prose Lancelot was clearly aware of the legal debate, and he used both the characters and plot of his fictional text to construct narrative sequences that allowed him to depict the moral and psychological perplexities that faced both society and individuals over these matters.
02/1993
Droit
Activation Policies for the Unemployed, the Right to Work and the Duty to Work
Since the 1990s and the 2000s, Western social protection systems have experienced a turn towards activation. This turn consists of the multiplication of measures aimed at bringing those who are unemployed closer to participation in the labour market. These measures often induce a strengthening of the conditions that must be met in order to receive social benefits. It is in this well known context that the authors gathered in this book decided to take a closer look at the relationship between activation policies for the unemployed and the right and the duty to work. If activation measures are likely to increase transitions towards the labour market, we can also make the assumption that they may, particularly when they are marked with the seal of coercion, hinder or dramatically reduce the right to freely chosen work. In such circumstances, the realisation of the "right to work", which is often stated to be the aim of those who promote activation, tends in practice to be reduced to an increasing pressure being exerted on the unemployed. In this case, isn't it actually the duty to work that is particularly reinforced ? After an historical and philosophical perspective on the issue, this assumption is confronted with the developments observed in the United States and in France, and then with the guidelines laid down in international human rights instruments. What follows is a discussion of two alternatives to the dominant activation model : the basic income guarantee and the employment guarantee.
06/1987
Religion
Legal Friction
Legal Friction : Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel tracks the mystery of narratives in the Hebrew Bible and their allusions to Sinai laws by highlighting intertextual allusions created by verbal resonances. While the second and the third parts of the volume illustrate allusions to Sinai narratives made by some narratives occurring in the post-Sinaitic era, twenty-three Genesis narratives are analyzed to show that the protagonists were bound by Sinai Laws before God supposedly gave them to Moses, anticipating the Book of Jubilees. Legal Friction suggests that most of Genesis was composed during or after the Babylonian exile, after the codification of most Sinai laws, which Genesis protagonists consistently violate. The fact that they are not punished for these violations implies to the exiles that the Sinai Covenant was unconditional. In addition, the author proposes that Genesis contains a hidden polemic, encouraging the Judean exiles to follow the revisions of laws of the Covenant Code by the Holiness Code and Deuteronomy. Genesis narratives, like those describing post-Sinai events, often cannot be understood properly without recognition of their allusions to biblical laws.
05/2010
Technologies
SOIL MECHANICS AND FOUNDATIONS. CD-Rom included
With its simplicity in presentation, this new book makes the difficult concepts of soil mechanics and foundations much easier to understand! The author explains basic concepts and fundamental principles in the context of basic mechanics, physics, and mathematics. From Practical Situations and Essential Points to Practical Examples and Questions to Guide Your Reading the book is packed with helpful hints and pedagogy that make the material crystal clear.
This book also includes a CD-ROM that offers readers hands-on learning. The CD contains interactive animations of basic concepts, interactive problem solving, electronic quizzes, interactive computer programs for special topics, virtual labs and much more. With the help of this CD and text, anyone can quickly master the key principles behind soil mechanics and foundations.
KEY FEATURES
* A What you should be able to do list at the beginning of each chapter alerts readers to what they should learn after studying each chapter.
* The author maintains a solid level of technical rigor despite the simplicity in presentation.
* A large number of examples are worked out step-by-step to illustrate problem-solving techniques.
* The CD-ROM includes The Virtual Soils Laboratory, which allows readers to do sophisticated soil testing at their own convenience.
01/2000
Ethnologie
Clashing Cultures. Annang Not(with)standing Christianity – An Ethnography
Clashing Cultures is an anthropological study of the Annang, an ethnic people of Southern Nigeria. The book provides a succinct historical and ethnographic description of the impacts of various cultural and religious influences upon the Annang people and the transformations that have taken place as a result. The consideration of Christianity's influence on the Annang is part of the broader historical and anthropological picture. Although it is an academic work, Clashing Cultures is also a living text. It reflects the evolving culture of the Annang regarding issues such as marriage, male/female roles and supernatural beliefs. The book deals with ritual as a practice that produces meaning, by means of images and metaphors in an unfolding drama. It looks at how the Annang extract meaning from themselves, their bodies, their gestures, their actions in social, spatial and historical contexts. The book creates a "time-oriented anthropology" in which local processes are mirrored in the context of larger ones.
12/2001
Référence
Geneva - Five Centuries of Hospitality
This book does not aim at documenting, in a rigorous way, the history of a number of people having participated in the international influence of Geneva. Its intention is to offer a look - somewhat more light-hearted than scientific - upon the lives of these people ; hence showing that Geneva's identity is indebted to a multitude of foreigners, refugees, exiles or immigrants who, with their skills, talents and strengths, have worked to make this city the place of tolerance, openness and peace that it is today.
09/2021
Histoire internationale
After The Last Ship
After the Last Ship illustrates the author's own history, as well as its connection to the history of other women and children who left India and made the journey across the Kala Pani, the Indian Ocean, and lived as migrants in other countries. In this book the author brings greater understanding of how subjectivities are shaped through embodied experiences of ‘mixed race'. She bears witness to the oppressive policies of the fascist government in Portugal in the 1960's and 1970's and the effects of displacement and exile, by reconstructing her own passage from India to Mozambique and finally to Australia. Further, the author shows the devastation that labels such as ‘half-caste', ‘canecos' and ‘monhe' can cause, when they eat at your flesh, your being, and your body. She sheds light on how identity and culture can serve as vehicles of empowerment, how experiences of belonging can germinate and take root post-diaspora.
04/2014
Comics
The Little Book of Iron Man. Edition français-anglais-allemand
He made his debut in 1963, in Tales of Suspense No. 39, wearing a cumbersome gray exoskeleton that looked more like a robot than a man. After a re-design, he became an integral member of the Avengers, and he fought evil at every turn ... as well as intense personal demons. More than fifty years and countless comics adventures later, Iron Man became a box-office smash, and one of the most popular super heroes in the world. With 192 pages of images, and text by Roy Thomas, The Little Book of Iron Man will be your favorite guide to comics' greatest armored hero !© MARVEL
06/2018
Mathématiques
Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics. Teachers' understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States
This book describes the nature and development of the "profound understanding of fundamental mathematics" that elementary teachers need to become accomplished mathematics teachers, and suggests why such teaching knowledge is much more common in China than in the United States, despite the fact that Chinese teachers have less formal education than their U.S. counterparts.
The studies described in this volume suggest that Chinese teachers begin their teaching careers with a better understanding of elementary mathematics than mat of most U.S. elementary teachers. Their understanding of the mathematics they teach and-equally important-of the ways that elementary mathematics can be presented to students, continues to grow throughout their professional lives.
Teaching conditions in the United States, unlike those in China, militate against the development of elementary teachers' mathematical knowledge and its organization for teaching. The concluding chapter of the book suggests changes in teacher preparation, teacher support, and mathematics education research that might allow teachers in the United States to attain profound understanding of fundamental mathematics.
01/1999
Droit
Disputes on human rights violation before the ecowas court of justice
Mandated to make judgments on human rights cases since 2005, the ECOWAS Court of Justice has undeniably acquired the reputation of a forum for human rights protection, in the manner of courts of justice as prestigious as the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. With no systematic study of the Court's human rights jurisprudence having been undertaken till today, this work comes to fill the gap. Part I of the book presents the body of case law emerging after fifteen years of practice. Two feats must be acknowledged here. The feat of the Court itself, whose original mandate was, and is still in force any rate, that of a custodian of the norms of economic integration, not adjudication on human rights violation. The human rights case law of the Court was therefore born out of a sustained effort, not devoid of approximations and sometimes mistakes, all the more deserving of commendation, because unlike similarjudicial bodies, it had succeeded in ridding itself of what the author calls "a pointer of orientation for the norms relied upon", a single codified body of rules of reference. Then, the exploits of the author, who succeeded, in an effort of re-composition, in sustaining, by a consummate art of summary, a reconstitution of the various phases of the trial proceedings, and in retrieving and discussing in a systematic manner, the viewpoints of the Court. Part II is made up of a collection of studies whose themes centre on the major interrogations of international disputes on human rights : the status of the applicants, relations between the Court and other sister or rival courts of justice, the dialectics of relationship between the national judge and the international judge, etc. Part II closes up with a prospective reflexion on "The Future of the Court", where the author expresses his hopes, but also his serious concerns regarding what is to become of a court whose usefulness and cathartic function are not lost on him. The book is, as always, written in pure delightful language, and the analyses, nourished with the experience of the judge that the author was, are remarkable in richness, finesse and depth.
07/2019
Fer forgé
Ancient Bronzes
This beautiful publication presents a collection of exquisite ancient bronzes from the Wadsworth Atheneum that were collected by John Pierpont Morgan. It accompanies aspecial exhibition of the bronzes at Bowdoin College. This fully illustrated catalogue presents highlights of the ancient bronzes that were collected by J. Pierpont Morgan and are currently in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum. Purchased between 1904 and 1916, the bronzes were given to the museum by Morgan's son in 1917. Morgan was a passionate collector and spent years of his life acquiring exquisite works of art. He had a discerning eye and discriminating taste, and his driving motivation was to find works of quality and beauty. His Greek and Roman bronzes include a range of figure and vessel types : males and females, gods and mortals, humans and animals and hybrid mythological creatures, free-standing statuettes, and furniture embellishments. This is the first exhibition and publication to consider the bronzes as a group. Morgan chose each work of art for its exquisite craftsmanship, its quality of composition and execution, and its preservation. These objects represent the very best of ancient Mediterranean bronze sculpture, with carefully rendered clothing, hair, and fur, and adorned with inlays of silver and other luxury materials. Showcasing different types of objects and figures that were made in bronze in the ancient world, this exhibition and book demonstrate the high level of quality that these works of art could achieve. The bronzes are important not only for their provenance and place in America's 'Gilded Age', but also as highly significant individual works of art that represent the best of ancient bronzeworking. New high-resolution photography of each work of art will allow readers to appreciate their intricate details of craftsmanship, including copper and silver inlay. This focused publication will also present current research on these exceptional objects to help readers better understand how they were made and what they represented in an ancient context.
03/2023
Ethnologie
Glimpses of african cultures. Echos des cultures africaines, Edition bilingue français-anglais
This book covers various aspects of African traditional cultures that include: communication, marriage ceremonies, funerals, traditional rites, witchcraft, traditional cultural activities, and traditional beliefs. It will undoubtedly appeal to anyone who wants to understand better our African cultures. The reading of some of the stories will certainly raise existential questions about the nature of spirits, truth, and the place of God in the collective mind of the Africans. Some of the questions are the following: how is it possible that a human being has his double in an animal known as his totem ? How corne that, for people who do not believe in reincarnation, it is the chief who determines the future of the soul of the deceased ? In "Mourning habits in the West province of Cameroon," it appears that, if the soul is not taken care of, it will cause physical havoc in the society. Could there be a link between our souls and the physical elements of nature ? Is skull worshiping among the Bamileke merely a traditional practice or are they really able to communicate with their ancestors through the skulls ? What has led the Aghem people to firmly believe that lakes can physically move, that the dead live in their lakes, that children live in their pre-human state as caterpillars and may transform into reptiles when they are still babies ? What makes it possible for the human mind to communicate with animais, exchange messages as is shown in "How animais and things can speak and communicate in the Yambassa culture" ? Apart from the physical world as we know it, could there truly be a spiritual world that witches and wizards have access to and which system of values could this spiritual world be subjected to ? Every single paper of the more than 80 papers and squibs this book comprises is truly an invitation to explore further the untapped richness of African cultures.
04/2011
Non classé
Revolution's Urban Landscape
What are the implications of "change" as assessed from a Revolution's discourse point of view ? Did Revolution in its Eastern European mode "happen" only to make its once heroic agents "vulgar banana eaters" (Slavoj Zizek)? To what extent is/was Revolution part of the globalization process (Americanization)? The answer of this book is that it constituted a series of occurrences of both contingency and continuation. It is Romanian Revolution as a metonymic and creative space, incorporating the Event (here the city of Bucharest, December 1989-1990), the Memory (refiguration of identities), the Contact zone (the street as a public place), and the Local-Global (the East-West dialectics) that Revolution's Urban Landscape discusses in much detail. Through combining and analysing materials from both the local cultural field and the international press (witness reports, journalistic documentation, travelogues, fiction, academic publishing, graffiti, etc.), Raoul Granqvist demonstrates a number of aspects of Revolution's self-reflexivity, vitality and amorphousness. The Romanian book industry, through its absorption and introduction of new areas of popular reading (such as the American romance), embodies, this book explains, the basic instincts of Revolution towards openness and interaction.
11/1999
Histoire de France
CRASH IN BAYEUX - The Last Flight of Sergeant Ferguson
Normandy, France, January 15, 1943. The weather is clear, the sun is shining. Two Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft fly over the Bayeux-Caen railroad. The target is a German freight train - and its locomotive. Aboard the first Spitfire, Sergeant Ferguson is aligning his gun sights on the target. It is 02 : 30 p. m. This will be his very last flight... HARASSING THE OCCUPYING FORCES TO PREPARE THE INVASION The RAF and RCAF had been flying hundreds of similar sorties over France for months, in order to weaken the German forces, particularly the Luftwaffe. The pilots of No. 401 Squadron were among those who took part in this patient work, made up of constant patrols and attacks. Among the 63 men mentioned in this book, 25 were killed in action between 1942 and 1944. A CRASH THAT AWOKE THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE Touched by William Ferguson's sacrifice, some French citizens decided to bury the young Canadian flier with dignity, honour and respect. The Germans took this as a provocation. A few weeks later, the Sipo-SD (the "Gestapo") arrested a dozen of them. They were sent to concentration camps - some of them later died in Büchenwald, Dachau and Mauthausen. Others did survive, including Paul Le Caër. He is the one who has supported the author and told him what happened. Today, he is signing the preface of this book. UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS AND TESTIMONIES Based on an in-depth analysis of unpublished documents, including the Fergusons' archives and No. 401 Squadron Operation Record Book, this work depicts the very last flight of the young Canadian pilot in detail. With a striking truthfulness, you will relive the squadron's daily life, the faith of the pilots, as well as the beginning of the sortie and "Bill" Ferguson's last minutes. FIVE YEARS OF RESEARCH AND EMOTION A young and talented historian involved in the field of remembrance in Normandy, François Oxéant has spent over five years fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. This book will help you discover all aspects of his fascinating investigation with a methodical and rigorous approach. He has met some of the last witnesses of the events and has been in touch with the pilot's family for a few years, making us share his emotion and admiration for Bill, who was barely younger than himself.
09/2014
Sciences politiques
Child and Nation. A Study of Political Socialisation and Banal Nationalism in France and England
Where do feelings of national belonging come from ? Why is it that this belonging often seems both fundamental and banal, both intangible and omnipresent ? This book argues that the answers to these questions lie in childhood and the socialisation to the nation that we experience as children. It suggests that the banality of our own everyday nationalism is due to the fact that we have spent our lives learning to take it for granted. Just as our first understandings of reality are learned during childhood socialisation, so nationhood and national belonging are internalised as natural and necessary from the very beginning of our lives. The specific nature of this early socialisation is what confers upon banal nationalism its characteristic combination of omnipresence, inscrutability and self-evidence. To try and get around this self-evidence and explore this socialisation and its results, this study has adopted an innovative methodology involving semi-directive projective interviews with young children in France and England. This book presents an analysis of how this early socialisation to the nation plays out on young children's visions of national belonging and its justifications and implications. It also looks at what this transmission in childhood means for nationalism as an ideology and the power and pertinence of the nation today.
12/1987
Monographies
Burmese Silver from the Colonial Period
This stunning catalogue presents an exceptional collection of rare Burmese silver. Accompanied by detailed photographs and explanatory texts, this ground-breaking book proposes a new way of looking at Burmese silver. Names, dates, places, and stories - identifying the who, when, where, and what of Burmese silver has been the focus of publications on the topic. Are these questions the best way to understand silver, however ? Alexandra Green argues that they are not. Too few pieces provide reliable information about silversmiths, production locations, and dates to allow for a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Instead, a close examination of silver patterns reveals strong links with Burmese art history reaching as far back as the Bagan period (11th to 13th centuries), connections with contemporary artistic trends, and participation within the wider world of silversmithing. The first European to write about Burmese silver was H L Tilly, a colonial official from the late 19th into the early 20th century. Tasked with collecting objects for various fairs and exhibitions, he took an interest in Burmese art, publishing articles and books from the 1880s onwards. While much of what he wrote was factually inaccurate and coloured by the prejudices and stereotypes common at the time, his two volumes on Burmese silver published in 1902 and 1904 contain pictures of pieces from the early to mid 19th century. These enable a reconstruction of how silver designs evolved as the country was absorbed into the Indian Raj, and British and other Westerners became consumers of local silver products. Tilly was also correct in his interest in silver designs. Green uses the visual information from his books to describe the continuities and innovations of designs found on silver from the mid 19th through the mid 20th century, and she places these trends within local, regional, and global flows of ideas. Many studies of Burmese silver have been plagued by a lack of understanding of the Burmese context. In contrast, Green examines silver from a local perspective, drawing on Burmese texts and information that allows for a nuanced view of the motifs, designs, and patterns that appear repetitively on silver pieces. Using Graham Honeybill's collection, formed over many years, as a basis, she explores how designs and patterns circulated around the country and were innovatively combined and recombined on pieces by silversmiths producing objects for Burmese, Western, and commercial clients.
09/2022
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
Thinking about Physics
Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood.
"Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory.
Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field.
Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.
01/2000
Non classé
A Life of Her Own
This study reconstructs Brittain's feminist theory, which mainly refutes assumptions made about women, supports companionate marriage, and demands the communal reorganization of child care and domestic work to enable a married woman to work outside her home. It compares her theory to her five novels. Doing so, it uncovers revealing feminist 'flaws', above all that marriage remains, the sine qua non for a woman's happiness. The study describes Brittain's way to the top as a formidable obstacle race, in which she constantly had to fight the men she loved, her children, her parents, and resulting domesticity in order to find time to write "the book of the decade". She reached her goal with the publication of Testament of Youth in 1933.
11/1996
Décoration
Traditional Textiles of Central Asia. Edition en langue anglaise
No region has a textile tradition more vivid and romantic than that of Central Asia. This book provides a spectacularly illustrated survey of these textiles, displaying in more than 200 colour plates the opulent silks and velvets, the exquisite embroideries, the magnificent felts and woollen fabrics, and the fine cotton weaves produced throughout the area - in the workshops of the oasis towns of the Silk Route, the houses of the smaller villages and towns, and in the nomads' tents and on their outdoor looms.
Janet Harvey describes the decorative motifs, the materials, dyes and looms ; the types of objects made and their diverse regional and tribal variations ; the clothes and costumes ; and the lavish embroideries and embellishments. A valuable source of information for designers and students, collectors and travellers, the book includes a glossary, a bibliography and a list of collections.
Janet Harvey has travelled extensively in Central Asia, studying at first hand the making and uses of the textiles to central to the lifestyle of the region.
01/1997
Histoire internationale
Perfect fundamental values and the development of Africa. From African Renaissance to Illumination
This book is the result of fundamental research on the thorny issue of Africa's development. It demonstrates that the development of human societies is first and foremost a resultant of true, perfect and eternal knowledge, a process of conversion of the soul to the True, the Good and the Beautiful, before becoming a quest for material and financial means. To acquire this knowledge, one must resort to all knowledge that deals with life and man, beginning with that of God who is the source of this authentic knowledge. Man, made in the image of God, if he goes back to this source, finds the universal fundamentals of perfect knowledge which open to him the path of complete and eternal knowledge. This enables him to launch victoriously into development. All human cultures have this opportunity to resort to the original sources of knowledge : Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and animism. This true and perfect knowledge sets the man in the certainties that renew his intelligence and make him a new, perfect and creative being of development. All the people who have developed have gone through this salutary way. Africa cannot be an exception to this golden rule. With the assistance of CERCUDE and OVAFOPAC.
02/2020
