Books & ideas

Plato Banned, American Democracy Threatened

Nathan Bracher — 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z

Not only in Texas, where a professor was ordered to remove Plato from his syllabus, but throughout the United States, ideological dictatorship has begun. It amounts to nothing less than an attack on universities, the freedom of speech, and thought. How is it possible to resist in the face of this onslaught?

The Many Voices of Civil Rights

Ana Artiaga — 2026-01-20T08:00:00Z

The American civil rights movement was more complex than is generally realized. Olivier Mahéo reconstructs its story by considering the marginalized voices and internal conflicts that are often overlooked.

Geographers in Battalions

Cédric Tellenne — 2025-09-18T07:00:00Z

At the beginning of World War II, Americans were convinced that German geopolitical thinking was behind the stunning military successes of the Nazis. They sought to turn this thinking against their enemies, before using it as a weapon against the USSR during the Cold War.

Politics from the Backstage

Bo Yun Park — 2024-10-08T18:16:22Z

Opening the doors to the backstage of political campaigns, Daniel Laurison invites us to take a closer look at the work of politicos who have played critical roles in presidential elections in the United States.

On the Road to Prison

Yoann Demoli — 2023-11-13T08:30:00Z

How is it that the car, a symbol of freedom for the American people, leads them into a cycle of debt and imprisonment?

Clemenceau the American

Nicolas Barreyre — 2023-02-07T07:30:00Z

Before becoming one of the Third Republic's leading figures, Georges Clemenceau was a newspaper correspondent in New York, immediately after the Civil War. The publication of his articles makes it possible to trace the trajectory of French republicanism, as well as its grey areas and unquestioned assumptions.

Does the world still revolve around America?

Serge Gruzinski — 2023-02-02T08:00:00Z

The United States is no longer modernity's driving force and primary symbol. American cultural imperialism is coming to an end. What better time to recall that American culture, which is as reviled as it is adulated, is itself the result of countless mestizajes - as is the rest of the continent.

From Slavery to Police Torture

Jules Naudet — 2022-10-17T07:40:00Z

Laurence Ralph's ethnography explores the various systems of punishment that injure black and brown Americans' bodies and that contribute to maintain social hierarchies that rely on the vestiges of slavery. These injuries call for healing and overcoming trauma, and also for reparative justice.

American Democracy and the Challenge of Identity Pluralism

Jules Naudet — 2022-10-14T07:00:00Z

Hakeem Jefferson argues that the United States is experiencing a democratic backsliding. He calls for deep institutional reforms that aim at better reflecting the American public, such as expanding the number of judges in the Supreme Court or having a US Senate apportionment based on state population.

Phantom Empire

Juliette Tran — 2021-09-22T06:30:00Z

At the crossroads of ethnohistory, imperial history and U.S. history, Hämäläinen's latest book sheds a new light on the Lakota people, arguing that they established a thriving nomadic empire in the heart of America, despite the growing presence of Europeans.