This book provides readers with fresh new theoretical tools to better understand how sociopolitical actors (from governmental institutions to ecological NGOs; from local residents to multinational companies) clash about transport initiatives. It questions both the dominant understanding of what is geopolitics and conventional conceptions in transport geography used by transport planners. Drawing on a structuralist approach and addressing the capital notion of 'political control of mobility', it demonstrates how transport geopolitics, by being more inclusive of all modes of transport and all scales of analysis, may help prepare transport diplomacy in a time of critical global and local turbulences. It offers a valuable resource for research and teaching in the fields of transport studies, land-use planning, conflict studies, human geography and politics, presenting insightful theoretical material and concrete transport conflict examples to support teaching about territorial conflicts, political governance and transport political geography.

The Invention of Taste provides a detailed overview of the development of taste, from ancient times to the present. At the heart of the book is an intriguing question: why did the sensory attribute of human taste become a social metaphor and aesthetic value for judging cultural qualities of art, fashion, cuisine and other social constructions? Unique amongst the senses, taste is at once a biologically derived sense, private, personal and individual, yet also a sensibility which can be acquired, shared, and communicated. Exploring the many factors that defined the evolution of taste – from medieval morals and medicine to social and cultural philosophy, the rise of aesthetics, birth of fashion, branding trends, and luxury worship in the age of mass consumption – Luca Vercelloni’s ambitious text provides readers with an outstanding introduction to the subject, making it the cultural history of taste.Now available for the first time in English, Taste features a new final chapter and a preface by series editor David Howes. Rich in detail and examples, this interdisciplinary work is an important read for students and researchers in sensory studies, philosophy, sociology and cultural studies, as well as gastronomy, fashion, design, and branding.

"First published in French as Casseroles, amour et crises"--T.p. verso.

From Michael Pollan to locavores, Whole Foods to farmers' markets, today cooks and foodies alike are paying more attention than ever before to the history of the food they bring into their kitchens—and especially to vegetables. Whether it’s an heirloom tomato, curled cabbage, or succulent squash, from a farmers' market or a backyard plot, the humble vegetable offers more than just nutrition—it also represents a link with long tradition of farming and gardening, nurturing and breeding. In this charming new book, those veggies finally get their due. In capsule biographies of eleven different vegetables—artichokes, beans, chard, cabbage, cardoons, carrots, chili peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, peas, pumpkins, and tomatoes—Evelyne Bloch-Dano explores the world of vegetables in all its facets, from science and agriculture to history, culture, and, of course, cooking. From the importance of peppers in early international trade to the most recent findings in genetics, from the cultural cachet of cabbage to Proust’s devotion to beef-and-carrot stew, to the surprising array of vegetables that preceded the pumpkin as the avatar of All Hallow’s Eve, Bloch-Dano takes readers on a dazzling tour of the fascinating stories behind our daily repasts. Spicing her cornucopia with an eye for anecdote and a ready wit, Bloch-Dano has created a feast that’s sure to satisfy gardeners, chefs, and eaters alike.

The 2008 global financial crisis has led to the re-emergence in public discourse of the idea that capitalism could end. For many, it was proof of the notion that capitalist civilisation has an endemic tendency towards crisis that will ultimately bring about its demise. Must we assume, however, that such an eventuality would inevitably result in the liberation of humanity, as many orthodox Marxists claim? Through a collection of specially revised essays, first published in France between 2007 and 2010, Anselm Jappe draws on the radical new perspective of “the critique of value” as a critical tool with which to understand today’s world and to re-examine the question of human emancipation. The Writing on the Wall offers a powerful new analysis of the decomposition of capitalism and its critics.

Preliminary Material /Buford Norman and James Day -- France's First Revolution: Hamlet and the "Unresolved Man" of 1589 /George Hoffmann -- On Civility: The Model of Sparta in Montaigne's "Defence de Seneque et de Plutarque" /Sue W. Farquhar -- Of Cannibals, Credo, and Custom: Jean de Léry's Calvinist View of Civilization in Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Bresil (1578) /Scott D. Juall -- Bien m'en avés rendu le conte: Redeeming economies in Yvain /Marcella Munson -- La Civilisation du goût: Savoir et saveur à la table de Louis XIV: (ou, Gastéréa et l'histoire de la cuisine française au dix-septième siècle) /Béa Aaronson -- Un idéal de la culture française entre humanisme et classicisme: "civiliser la doctrine" /Emmanuel Bury -- De la société de salon à la société de cour: l'ambivalence du processus de civilisation /Sophie Rollin -- Les traces ineffaçables de la civilisation dans Paul et Virginie /Murielle Perrier -- Work, Machines, and Vapors in Late Eighteenth-Century France /Laura Balladur -- La représentation des populations noires dans l'œuvre de Paul Morand: enjeux idéologiques et politiques /Nicolas Di Méo -- Roman et société dans la France contemporaine /Denise Brahimi -- L'image de la France dans le dialogue de Gaulle-Sirius: Suprématie politique et leadership humaniste /Liliane Ayad Toss -- Civilité: une certaine modalité du vivre-ensemble /Hélène Merlin-Kajman.