"Candide" is Voltaire's most famous work, a satirical masterpiece, which was first published in 1759. It is the story of its central character, the titular Candide, who lives a sheltered comfortable life and has been indoctrinated into the philosophy of Leibnizian optimism, by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. When Candide travels throughout the world he begins to witness the pervasive hardships of life, an experience that leads to his ultimate disillusionment...

In this new collection of incisive essays, Robinson returns to the themes which have preoccupied her work: the role of faith in modern life, the inadequacy of fact, the contradictions inherent in human nature.

The American Dream is one of the most familiar and resonant phrases in our national lexicon, so familiar that we seldom pause to ask its origin, its history, or what it actually means. In this fascinating short history, Jim Cullen explores the meaning of the American Dream, or rather the several American Dreams that have both reflected and shaped American identity from the Pilgrims to the present. Cullen notes that the United States, unlike most...

Thanks to collapsing birthrates, much of Europe is on a path of willed self-extinction. But birthrates in Muslim nations are declining faster--at a rate never before documented. Europe may have the resources to support an aging population, if at a terrible economic and cultural cost. But in the impoverished Islamic world, an aging population means a civilization on the brink of total collapse. Muslim decline poses new threats to America, challenges...

When the societal paralysis of despair leads humanity into a dark age, optimism itself becomes a radical concept. If we are to survive as a species, we must regain our ability to imagine a future. We must re-energize ourselves to be better not just as people but as a species. The book we need at this time. An instruction manual for saving the world. Award-winning playwright, author, humorist and filmmaker Dylan Brody turns his attention to the serious...

A galaxy of legendary figures from the annals of Western historyIn this enlightening and entertaining work, Paul Johnson, the bestselling author of Intellectuals and Creators, approaches the subject of heroism with stirring examples of men and women from every age, walk of life, and corner of the planet who have inspired and transformed not only their own cultures but the entire world as well. Heroes includes: Samson, Judith, and Deborah • Henry...

In this book the author transports readers to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. In this work he has crafted both a work of history and a story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. Nearly six hundred...

Extrait : "Un livre satisfait rigoureusement à ce qu'il doit au lecteur si, exact dans l'énonciation des faits, il est logique et clair dans les déductions. Il mérite, de plus, qu'on le considère comme l'acte d'un bon citoyen, s'il met au jour une vérité qui paraît opportune à proclamer. N'est-ce pas là le but que doit se proposer, selon Socrate, quiconque écrit pour le public ?" À PROPOS DES ÉDITIONS LIGARAN : Les éditions LIGARAN...

"The magnificent and final work of an author who dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and the divine."--Provided by the publisher.