The essays in this volume examine selected national, regional European, and international policies of Charles de Gaulle, giving consideration to their significance in his own time, and today. Not everything de Gaulle did withstands the test of time. Nor, obviously, was everything beyond criticism in his own time. Nonetheless, a main finding, in the words of one essayist, is that de Gaulle had an 'uncanny sense of where history was going' and the skill to position his country accordingly. De Gaulle also stands as a testament to the power of individuals in history, a somewhat unfashionable viewpoint in modern university curriculums. Today, when France's destiny appears increasingly to depend on structures and institutions beyond its national control, including a Europe weakened by the sovereign debt crisis, and a global economic system accountable to no one, it seems timely to reconsider the record of the twentieth century's greatest Frenchman, whose skill at dealing with the problems of his time can inspire today's generation of politicians and statesmen.

The essays in this volume examine selected national, regional European, and international policies of Charles de Gaulle, giving consideration to their significance in his own time, and today. Not everything de Gaulle did withstands the test of time. Nor, obviously, was everything beyond criticism in his own time. Nonetheless, a main finding, in the words of one essayist, is that de Gaulle had an 'uncanny sense of where history was going' and the skill to position his country accordingly. De Gaulle also stands as a testament to the power of individuals in history, a somewhat unfashionable viewpoint in modern university curriculums. Today, when France's destiny appears increasingly to depend on structures and institutions beyond its national control, including a Europe weakened by the sovereign debt crisis, and a global economic system accountable to no one, it seems timely to reconsider the record of the twentieth century's greatest Frenchman, whose skill at dealing with the problems of his time can inspire today's generation of politicians and statesmen.

This book reexamines patterns of relationship among plant life history traits in phylogenetic perspective. The reexamination first recognizes that because evolution is a branching process, traits are not randomly distributed across taxa and that therefore analysis of trait correlations cannot treat species as independent data points. It then discusses the use of phylogeny to reconstruct the evolutionary pathways of traits. Part 1 looks at the use of the phylogenetic perspective on trait correlation. Parts 2-4 examine traits from the reproductive phase from seed production and dispersal to recruitment and growth. The final section looks at interactions between plants and competitors, herbivores and microbial symbionts, recognizing that these interactions may have an ancient evolutionary history.

This book, written in 1977, brought together for the first time current knowledge of plants that might be relevant to understanding their population biology. "This monumental volume did more than summarize the state of plant biology; ...it linked the conceptual and theoretical developments in population ecology, mostly derived from the study of animals, with field observations and experimental evidence of population regulation and life history evolution in plants. " "The field of population biology was already well established in the 1960s although with a clear zoocentric emphasis. However, it is because of Harper's work that the field experienced a veritable explosion, reached maturity and became a mainstream scientific endeavour worldwide. This field is so vast now that it would be pointless, if not impossible, for someone to summarise it. It is precisely because of this that PBP is as relevant now as it was in 1977. John Harper's style of highlighting unanswered questions and the limitations of both theory and empirical evidence served and still serves as foundation for research agendas worldwide. Much remains to be done in this field and this alone makes PBP an essential element in the library of every student/researcher of population biology, whether interested in plants or animals." From the "Preface to the 2010 Printing" written by Jos Sarukhn, Rodolfo Dirzo and Miguel Franco.