Polly Corrigan Book Prize shortlist  Professional intelligence became a permanent feature of the French state as a result of the army’s June 8, 1871, reorganization following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Intelligence practices developed at the end of the nineteenth century without direction or oversight from elected officials, and yet the information gathered had a profound influence on the French population and on pre–World War I Europe more broadly. In Marianne Is Watching Deborah Bauer examines the history of French espionage and counterespionage services in the era of their professionalization, arguing that the expansion of surveillance practices reflects a change in understandings of how best to protect the nation. By leading readers through the processes and outcomes of professionalizing intelligence in three parts—covering the creation of permanent intelligence organizations within the state; the practice of intelligence; and the place of intelligence in the public sphere—Bauer fuses traditional state-focused history with social and cultural analysis to provide a modern understanding of intelligence and its role in both state formation and cultural change. With this first English-language book-length treatment of the history of French intelligence services in the era of their inception, Bauer provides a penetrating study not just of the security establishment in pre–World War I France but of the diverse social climate it nurtured and on which it fed.

They say that once you are in your middle years, finding love is about as likely as being struck by lightening. Not necessarily true. Some also say that you can't find love online. We know several mid-life couples who did just that, including us We found each other in an online dating site and after a brief introductory email asking, "When are we going to meet and have coffee?" We met. It was September 7, 2001. Soon, we discovered that we were writing poems spontaneously about many of the same events in (what we thought) was a very bright, refreshing style. This series of non-rhyming, non-saccharin poems were written in a "he said, she said" dialogue style, for the most part, chronicling our first year together. From first meeting in a coffee shop, to getting married in Todd's art studio, the poems are about falling in love, painting, passion and coffee. This first book is a fresh, crisp look at love poems and has been a pleasure to compile. With the encouragement of friends and family, we published this special collection, so here it is. Besides, I just love happy endings. Todd grins and says, "Of course you do."