In his discussion of the controversial French writer Sollers, Barthes raises critical issues of central importance - such as the nature of narrative, the theory of language, the problems of traditional realism and the relationship between literature and politics. The Introduction and notes provide an important presentation of Sollers for the English-speaking reader. Roland Barthes (19-15-1980) is one of the most important figures in the development of modern critical theory and a leading exponent of la nouvelle critique. His many works include Criticism and Truth (Athlone 1987), Writing Degree Zero, Mythologies, S/Z and Elements of Semiology.

An Historical Introduction to the European Union is a chronological political history of European integration from the 1950s to the present. It also includes a contextualising survey of wider European history since the 1600s, and places unification against a background of world politics. This clearly written introduction to the essential history, economics and politics of the European Union assumes no prior knowledge. It offers a detailed account of the Union with sections on: * how the Union works * basic principles of the Union * arguments over contested practices, including agriculture * issues of the cold war, enlargement, and the role of the United States * language * single European currency With an annotated bibliography, chronology and guide to the institutions of the European Union, An Historical Introduction to the European Union incorporates the most recent research and detailed treatment of the policies of the European Union.

Europe Since 1945 is an exciting new survey of the history of Europe since the end of World War Two. In the second half of the twentieth century Europe has known a period of peace and stability unprecedented in its history and virtually unparalleled in the rest of the world. Europe explains the reasons for this state of affairs.
Thought- provoking and wide ranging, this book discusses political, economic, social and cultural change in modern Europe. Covering both Western and Eastern Europe comprehensively and featuring extensive analysis of the 1990s, this book includes examination of:
* the Cold War
* War at the edges - Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia
* the European Union
* the issues of Nationalism
* the end of the dictatorships
* economic prosperity, the EEC and the Euro
* the break-up of the European Empires and the consequences.

The Fifth French Republic is a study of modern French politics and history, discussing the five presidents who span from 1959 to the present--Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valry Giscard d'Estang, Fran5 ois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac.
Philip Thody examines the importance of the similarities between the five men for an understanding of the general and political culture of France; the similarities and differences in the foreign policies pursued by the five presidents, including anti-Americanism; France's role in the European Union and her attitude to the Cold War; French domestic policies and administrative practices, attempts to decentralize the state, the role of the French civil service, the problem of immigration and the rise of the National Front.

The Fifth French Republic is a study of modern French politics and history, discussing the five presidents who span from 1959 to the present--Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valry Giscard d'Estang, Fran5 ois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac.
Philip Thody examines the importance of the similarities between the five men for an understanding of the general and political culture of France; the similarities and differences in the foreign policies pursued by the five presidents, including anti-Americanism; France's role in the European Union and her attitude to the Cold War; French domestic policies and administrative practices, attempts to decentralize the state, the role of the French civil service, the problem of immigration and the rise of the National Front.

An Historical Introduction to the European Union is a chronological political history of European integration from the 1950s to the present. It also includes a contextualising survey of wider European history since the 1600s, and places unification against a background of world politics.
This clearly written introduction to the essential history, economics and politics of the European Union assumes no prior knowledge. It offers a detailed account of the Union with sections on:
* how the Union works
* basic principles of the Union
* arguments over contested practices, including agriculture
* issues of the cold war, enlargement, and the role of the United States
* language
* single European currency
With an annotated bibliography, chronology and guide to the institutions of the European Union, An Historical Introduction to the European Union incorporates the most recent research and detailed treatment of the policies of the European Union.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203448731

Witty, entertaining, and informative, this book on so-called 'false friends' will be of immediate use to anyone using the French language and needing to understand French society and culture. The individual entries have been carefully designed to carry the basic linguistic information required and then develop into a wider consideration of the social and cultural context within which the specific words and phrases are used in current French. As this title is supposed to be used in conjunction with and not instead of a dictionary, it also offers a brief list of recommended reading ranging from standard dictionaries to introductory works on French society and institutions.

Europe Since 1945 is an exciting new survey of the history of Europe since the end of World War Two. In the second half of the twentieth century Europe has known a period of peace and stability unprecedented in its history and virtually unparalleled in the rest of the world. Europe explains the reasons for this state of affairs.
Thought- provoking and wide ranging, this book discusses political, economic, social and cultural change in modern Europe. Covering both Western and Eastern Europe comprehensively and featuring extensive analysis of the 1990s, this book includes examination of:
* the Cold War
* War at the edges - Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia
* the European Union
* the issues of Nationalism
* the end of the dictatorships
* economic prosperity, the EEC and the Euro
* the break-up of the European Empires and the consequences.

A study of the attempt by French politicians to use the law to forbid the use of words of English and American origin. Classifies some of these words and lists expressions in current use in America and England which are particularly difficult to render in French, comparing these with some equally untranslatable French turns of speech. The book should interest students of language, history and politics. It shows how some of Gramsci's ideas on the nature of cultural hegemony look in practice.

INTRODUCING guide to the father of existentialism and one of 20th century philosophy's most famous characters. Jean-Paul Sartre was once described as being, next to Charles de Gaulle, the most famous Frenchman of the 20th century. Between the ending of the Second World War in 1945 and his death in 1980, Sartre was certainly the most famous French writer, as well as one of the best-known living philosophers. Introducing Sartre explains the basic ideas inspiring his world view, and pays particular attention to his idea of freedom. It also places his thinking on literature in the context of the 20th century debate on its nature and function. It examines his ideas on Marxism, his enthusiasm for the student rebellion of 1968, and his support for movements of national liberation in the Third World. The book also provides a succinct account of his life, and especially of the impact which his unusual childhood had on his attitude towards French society.

INTRODUCING guide to the cult author, semiologist and analyzer of advertising, Roland Barthes. Roland Barthes is best known as a semiologist, a student of the science of signs. This sees human beings primarily as communicating animals, and looks at the way they use language, clothes, gestures, hair styles, visual images, shapes and colour to convey to one another their tastes, their emotions, their ideal self-image and the values of their society. Introducing Barthes brilliantly elucidates Barthes' application of these ideas to literature, popular culture, clothes and fashion, and explains why his thinking in this area made him a key figure in the structuralist movement of the 1960s. It goes on to describe how his later insistence on pleasure, the delights of sexual non-conformity, and the freedom of the reader to interpret literary texts in the light of ideologies such as existentialism, Marxism and Freudianism, as well as structuralism itself, continues to make him one of the most dynamic and challenging of modern writers. This is the perfect companion volume to Introducing Semiotics.

Using comic-book style illustration combined with accessible but authoritative text, the Introducing Graphic Guide series is a uniquely brilliant way to get your head around some of humankind's most thrilling ideas. In Introducing Existentialism: A Graphic Guide, Richard Appignanesi goes on a personal quest of Existentialism in its original state. He begins with Camus' question of suicide: 'Must life have a meaning to be lived?' Is absurdity at the heart of Existentialism? Or is Sartre right: is Existentialism 'the least scandalous, most technically austere' of all teachings? Introducing Sartre: A Graphic Guide explains the basic ideas inspiring his world view, and pays particular attention to his idea of freedom. It also places his thinking on literature in the context of the 20th century debate on its nature and function. It examines his ideas on Marxism, his enthusiasm for the student rebellion of 1968, and his support for movements of national liberation in the Third World. This Graphic Guide also provides a succinct account of his life, and especially of the impact which his unusual childhood had on his attitude towards French society. Introducing Camus: A Graphic Guide portrays a man who was an intellectual in the tradition of the great French humanists, a Resistance fighter during World War II, and also a great sensualist for whom sun, sea, sex, football, and theater were the answer to life's absurdity.