Books & ideas

Modernity's broken promises

Manjeet Ramgotra — 2025-08-27T07:37:00Z

Was the Enlightenment already in crisis at the end of the 18^th century? This unsettling hypothesis is examined through the lens of several thinkers who diagnosed the collapse of the ideals of peace, liberty, and progress amid empire, revolution and economic ruin.

The general interest of humanity

Stéphanie Roza — 2023-01-24T08:00:00Z

What if the impending ecological crisis required a recommitment to republicanism? This is Serge Audier's thesis: we must not respond to environmental challenges with an anti-modern or anti-statist reflex, but with a new conception of the general interest.

The City of Tears

Christophe Litwin — 2017-05-22T07:00:00Z

Ancient philosophy offered consolation for loss, separation, and death. Modern philosophy no longer does so, considering that it should limit its role to the quest for truth. This renunciation has, according to Michaël Fœssel, deep consequences for our current politics and their lack of any broader perspective.

The Avant-Garde System

Pamela Bianchi — 2017-02-16T08:00:00Z

In a desire to write a total history, Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel proposes a novel sociocultural and transnational approach to the artistic avant-gardes. Beyond a mere history of styles, the avant-gardes appear in her book as genuine political and social events, caught in complex networks of influence.

From the Daguerreotype to Numerical Photography

Adèle Cassigneul — 2016-09-22T07:00:00Z

Looking at the mutations of photography since its origins, one realizes that contrary to what is often believed, it exalts artificiality, fiction and imagination and relies on an anti-naturalistic aesthetic. Could the 19^th century be the matrix of our artistic modernity?

Conceptualizing Capitalism

Geoffrey Hodgson — 2015-05-07T05:30:00Z

One of the most commonly used concepts in modern humanities and social sciences, capitalism is also one of the most misunderstood. Away from politically biased takes on the subject, Geoffrey M. Hodgson proposes a new, law-based framework for understanding capitalism.

The story of connected history

Roland Lardinois — 2013-10-18T08:22:45Z

From Vasco de Gama to 11 September 2001, a collection of articles reveals the diversity of registers and themes the historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam looks at. Demonstrating a keen sense of sociological observation and a vast culture, what most surprises his readers is his critical mind and freedom of thought.

The Earth's Ambassador

Arnaud Esquerre & Jeanne Lazarus — 2013-07-22T07:17:24Z

What place should there be on Earth for the Moderns? Following the publication of An Inquiry into Modes of Existence: an Anthropology of the Moderns, author Bruno Latour talks to Arnaud Esquerre and Jeanne Lazarus about the birth and set-up of his masterful study, which uses all of his previous works as the basis for an inquiry into fifteen possible modes of existence that would allow the Moderns to rethink their place on Earth.

Revolution and the Crisis of Temporality

Guillaume Mazeau & Jeanne Moisand — 2013-05-27T07:00:00Z

The German historian Reinhart Koselleck associated the “age of revolutions” (1750-1850) with a fracture in the social representation of time. Are we currently experiencing a new fracture, as suggested by our constant recourse to the word “crisis”? Books & Ideas interviewed Yves Citton and Myriam Revault d'Allonnes, who have both reflected on the concept.

In the Land of Voluntarism

Nicolas Duvoux — 2012-04-19T16:46:21Z

In Made in America, sociologist Claude S. Fischer develops the idea that voluntarism, not individualism, is the key feature to describe social ties in America and that this notion of voluntarism best helps us understand what makes America exceptional among other Western societies.