Books & ideas

The origins of “habitus”

Paul Bernard-Nouraud — 2026-07-14T11:31:00Z

Étienne Anheim and Paul Pasquali examine a key moment in interdisciplinary dialogue: Pierre Bourdieu's translation and editing of the art historian Erwin Panofsky.

Moderating power

Johanna Lenne-Cornuez — 2026-07-08T12:16:58Z

Bernard Manin sees Montesquieu as a political philosopher who was attentive to the plurality of political forms and the way that such pluralism can, in moderate regimes, prevent the abuse of power. This is why it is important, he explains, to keep reading this Enlightenment philosopher.

Peace, prosperity, petroleum

Louis Fagon — 2026-06-23T07:04:14Z

The intensive use of carbon energies has brought prosperity, particularly since 1945, along with relatively peaceful international relations. Decarbonation makes it necessary, according to Pierre Charbonnier, to invent a new form of geopolitics.

Argentina's complex origins

Gonzague Espinosa-Dassonneville — 2026-06-11T16:11:59Z

Could Argentina, instead of being the modern country we know, have developed into fourteen independent states engaged in never-ending competition? From the “disunited province” of Rio de la Plata to the affirmation of a single nation-state, a new book describes a quest for unity that lasted five decades.
Reviewed: Geneviève Verdo, Des peuples en mal d'union. Aux origines de l'Argentine (Peoples without unity: The origins of Argentina) Paris Flammarion, 2025.

A total history of the Saint-Bartholomew's Day Massacre

Alexandre Goderniaux — 2026-06-09T07:20:00Z

Thirty years after La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy (Saint Bartholomew's Night), 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.

The Origin of Byzantine Studies

Mathieu Couderc — 2026-06-02T08:12:22Z

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.

The Other Cold War

Louise-Marie de Busschère — 2026-05-26T11:21:14Z

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.

The people who count

Marion Pollaert — 2026-05-19T13:22:12Z

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?

Newness: same old song?

Lucile Truffy — 2026-05-14T06:30:00Z

The love for newness did not begin with modern consumer society. It has long been capitalism's primary engine and has been central to how it imagines the market. At present, its environmental impact is disastrous.

The Correspondence of Sentiments

Vincent Boyer — 2026-05-12T09:14:20Z

Can morality be grounded in the sense of sympathy? According to Adam Smith, sympathy with the sentiments of others is precisely what allows for self-command, a cardinal virtue that enables us to act from a sense of duty.