An epistolary novel chronicles the cruel seduction of a young girl by two ruthless, eighteenth-century aristocrats

Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his play Les liaisons dangereuses, which was itself adapted from the 18th-century French novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi, Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman. Dangerous Liaisons was released theatrically on December 16, 1988, by Warner Bros. It received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for Close and 's and Pfeiffer and 's performances and the screenplay, production values and costumes. Although it was a moderate commercial success grossing $34.7 million against its $14 million budget, it was cited as a box office disappointment. The film received seven nominations at the 61st Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and won three: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.

The complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. Its prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil--gifted, wealthy, and bored--form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game. And they play this game with such wit and style that it is impossible not to admire them, until they discover mysterious rules that they cannot understand. In the ensuing battle there can be no winners, and the innocent suffer with the guilty. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able to judge whether the novel is as "diabolical" and "infamous" as its critics have claimed, or whether it has much to tell us about a world we still inhabit. Douglas Parmee is Retired Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge. He is the translator of Nana, Attack on the Mill (Zola) and A Sentimental Journey (Flaubert) for World's Classics. David Coward is Professor of French at the University of Leeds. He is the translator and editor of Maupassant, de Sade, and Dumas in World's Classics.

Being a bodyguard to an internet celebrity should be a walk in the park. At least that's what Marine Silas Herrera tells himself when he agrees to escort the woman he's never heard of on some kind of press grab. He doesn't much care about how beautiful a woman is if she's rotten on the inside. Ekko Kaur is playing chicken with a country, and she's not about to blink. With cameras aimed at her she knows her former home country can't make a move and silence her like they've done to so many others. Like her brother. Now if a certain hunky, obnoxious someone would just stay out of her way. The simple bodyguard job turns complicated when Silas discovers that Ekko is smuggling people out of the country. And not just anyone. Whistleblowers scheduled to testify at the United Nations. His camera hungry client isn't at all what she appears and very soon he finds himself falling for the woman the world doesn't know. But he has to keep her alive first.

Dangerous Connections: A Series of Letters by Choderlos de Laclos is a compelling exploration of love, intrigue, and societal constructs. Through a series of letters, de Laclos masterfully portrays the complexities of relationships, power dynamics, and the human psyche, making it a profound read for those seeking depth and introspection.

The relationship between criminal syndicates and politicians has a long history, including episodes even from the earliest years of America's colonies. But while organized crime may not get the headlines it once did in North America, the resurgence of such criminal activity in Latin America, and in some European nations, has grabbed the public's attention. In Dangerous Liaisons noted scholars describe and analyze the role of organized crime in the financing of politics in selected democracies in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico) and in Europe (Bulgaria and Italy). The book seeks to unravel the myths that have developed around crime in these locales, while providing facts and informing the debate on how organized crime corrupts democratic institutions, especially in relation to the funding of political parties and their activities. Among the subjects studied in detail are the role of organized crime in political finance through the lens of Argentina's presidential campaigns of 1999 and 2007; Brazil's elected officeholders and their role in corruption; the weakness of Colombia's democracy; the growing role of money in Costa Rica's politics; the destructive effects of drug money on Mexican institutions; the link between organized crime—narrowly and broadly understood—and political financing in Bulgaria; and crime and political finance in Italy. The work of the scholars corrects what volume editor Kevin Casas-Zamora calls "a glaring gap in the literature on the role of organized crime in the corruption of democratic institutions." That is, the funding of political parties and their activities—which in these cases are mostly election campaigns. The chapters not only present the evidence but also can be regarded as a call to action. Contributors include Leonardo Curzio (CISAN/UNAM), Donatella della Porta (European University Institute), Delia Ferreira Rubio (a member of the international boa

In Europe, love has been given a prominent place in European self-representations from the Enlightenment onwards. The category of love, stemming from private and personal spheres, was given a public function and used to distinguish European civilisation from others. Contributors to this volume trace historical links and analyse specific connections between the two discourses on love and Europe over the course of the twentieth century, exploring the distinctions made between the public and private, the political and personal. In doing so, this volume develops an innovative historiography that includes such resources as autobiographies, love letters, and cinematic representations, and takes issue with the exclusivity of Eurocentrism. Its contributors put forth hypotheses about the historical pre-eminence of emotions and consider this history as a basis for a non-Eurocentric understanding of new possible European identities.