This vintage book contains one of Alexandre Dumas's most famous works, 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Set in early 19th century France during the time of the Bourbon Restoration, it tells the story one man's escape and retribution after being wrongfully imprisoned. It is a wonderfully rich work of romance full of selfishness and betrayal that explores the effects the protagonist's quest for revenge has on those around him. Alexandre Dumas was born in Villers-Cotterts, France in 1802. He became a famous and much-loved author of romantic and adventuring sagas, including 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Dumas made a lot of money from his writing, but he was almost constantly penniless as a result of his extravagant lifestyle and love of women. His fiction has been translated into almost a hundred languages and has formed the basis for more than 200 motion pictures. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

We are all fascinated by the mystery of metamorphosis – of the caterpillar that transforms itself into a butterfly. Their bodies have almost nothing in common. They don’t share the same world: one crawls on the ground and the other flutters its wings in the air. And yet they are one and the same life. Emanuele Coccia argues that metamorphosis – the phenomenon that allows the same life to subsist in disparate bodies – is the relationship that binds all species together and unites the living with the non-living. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, animals: they are all one and the same life. Each species, including the human species, is the metamorphosis of all those that preceded it – the same life, cobbling together a new body and a new form in order to exist differently. And there is no opposition between the living and the non-living: life is always the reincarnation of the non-living, a carnival of the telluric substance of a planet – the Earth – that continually draws new faces and new ways of being out of even the smallest particle of its disparate body. By highlighting what joins humans together with other forms of life, Coccia’s brilliant reflection on metamorphosis encourages us to abandon our view of the human species as static and independent and to recognize instead that we are part of a much larger and interconnected form of life.

The Study examined policies, programs, and activities in Core French; pooled ideas, experience and research on the planning, organization, curriculum development, teaching approaches, teacher education, and professional development; and identified ways and means to substantially strengthen Core French. This document includes a short review of the justification for the syllabuses, and the results obtained by the syllabus task force. It also raises questions relating to integration, evaluation, and professional development.