https://booksandideas.net// Books & Ideas is the English-language mirror website of La Vie des Idées, a free online journal which has gained a large readership and established itself in France as a major place for intellectual debate since 2007. en SPIP - www.spip.net https://booksandideas.net/local/cache-vignettes/L144xH68/siteon0-04014.png?1675949311 https://booksandideas.net// 68 144 https://booksandideas.net/A-total-history-of-the-Saint-Bartholomew-s-Day-Massacre https://booksandideas.net/A-total-history-of-the-Saint-Bartholomew-s-Day-Massacre 2026-06-09T07:20:00Z text/html en Alexandre Goderniaux History Wars of Religion violence Cairn.info <p>Thirty years after <i>La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy (Saint Bartholomew's Night)</i>, Denis Crouzet revisits the massacres of August 1572—a collective purge, a royal enigma, and a popular initiative, which his new book illuminates with bold erudition by reintroducing confessional violence, with all its historical depth, into the story.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-Origin-of-Byzantine-Studies https://booksandideas.net/The-Origin-of-Byzantine-Studies 2026-06-02T08:12:22Z text/html en Mathieu Couderc History empire Cairn.info <p>It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that Byzantine studies acquired their official scientific and academic status, after a long process involving rigorous selection of the documents that have survived to the present day.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-Other-Cold-War https://booksandideas.net/The-Other-Cold-War 2026-05-26T11:21:14Z text/html en Louise-Marie de Busschère History war postwar guerre froide <p>In an era marked by ideological conflict and geopolitical rivalry between the two superpowers, France managed to chart its own course, far from traditional bipolar frameworks.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-people-who-count https://booksandideas.net/The-people-who-count 2026-05-19T13:22:12Z text/html en Marion Pollaert Philosophy History democracy people Ancient Greece <p>What is the nature of the distinctive rationality that underpins Cleisthenes' reform, which many see as the birth of Greek democracy? What social mechanisms, civic experiences, and forms of vernacular knowledge made this new system of political organization possible?</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-lesson-of-the-Pandemic https://booksandideas.net/The-lesson-of-the-Pandemic 2026-05-11T07:11:00Z text/html en Guido Alfani History Middle Ages pandemic <p>An unparalleled demographic catastrophe, the Black Death disrupted the economic, social, and cultural balance of medieval Europe in the 14<sup class="typo_exposants">th</sup> century. Long considered a major turning point, it now appears as an indicator of the structures, limitations, and resilience of medieval societies.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Terrorists-Under-the-Radar https://booksandideas.net/Terrorists-Under-the-Radar 2026-05-07T06:30:00Z text/html en Christian Chevandier History violence terrorism May 68 Cairn.info <p>Alongside its Paris branch, the French terrorist group Action Directe also operated a Lyon branch, responsible for dozens of attacks and robberies, and marked by a crude ideology and domestic abuse within the group. We look back at far-left violence in the post-1968 era.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-Origins-of-Environmental-History https://booksandideas.net/The-Origins-of-Environmental-History 2026-04-28T07:03:34Z text/html en Kevin Bouillot History environment nature anthropology science Cairn.info symbole <p>Our understanding of nature differs from that of the Greeks and Romans. From the “month of the ox” to “the forest goddess,” the ancients never thought to separate humans from the flora and fauna around them.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Arendt-in-Dark-Times https://booksandideas.net/Arendt-in-Dark-Times 2026-04-23T07:30:00Z text/html en Anne Schwarz History antisemitism world war exile Cairn.info <p>As 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Hannah Arendt's death, a new book offers a fresh perspective on a little-known yet pivotal period in the philosopher's life and work.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Returning-to-Life https://booksandideas.net/Returning-to-Life 2026-04-21T06:30:00Z text/html en Laura Hobson Faure History Shoah world war postwar <p>A collective work traces the emotional and psychological journeys of Holocaust survivors in the immediate postwar period. It examines both the practices of caregivers and the strategies survivors employed to reintegrate into society.</p> https://booksandideas.net/An-Anti-Totalitarian-Publisher https://booksandideas.net/An-Anti-Totalitarian-Publisher 2026-04-16T07:30:00Z text/html en Robin Freymond History communism publishing anti-totalitarianism Aron Cairn.info right <p>Backed by Raymond Aron and Manès Sperber, the French publishing house Calmann-Lévy championed anti-communism and the fight against totalitarianism from the end of World War <span class="caps">II</span>.</p>