PLON Non Fiction
Foreign Rights Manager Florence Maletrez florence.maletrez@ editions-plon.com
Rights Catalogue
Editions Plon In 1852, Henri Plon and his two brothers founded Editions Plon, and were awarded the title of Imprimeur de l’Empereur (Emperor’s publisher). They published the correspondence of Louis XIII, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon I. Today, Plon still publishes numerous international stars, among whom the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Jane Fonda, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and works from personalities such as Sir Winston Churchill or George W. Bush. In literature, Salman Rushdie, Norman Mailer, Nadine Gordimer, Anne Rice or Donna Tartt. PLON is a leader in France in the field of the political, economy and societal documents. Its prestigious collections count authors such as Claude Lévi-Strauss or Simone Weil, and the works of several French Presidents such as the General de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing or François Mitterrand, as well as titles from women around them, Claude Pompidou, Bernadette Chirac and more recently, Geneviève De Gaulle-Anthonioz. PLON belongs to Editis— the 2nd publishing company in France—and to the Spanish group Planeta. Both by its history and by the prestige of its publications, Plon is one of the flagship brands of the company.
Foreign Rights Manager Florence Maletrez florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com +33 (0) 1 44 16 09 30
Foreign Rights Assistant Agathe Bourachot agathe.bourachot-ext@edi8.fr +33 (0) 1 44 16 09 66
Contents ESSAYS
LOVER’S DICTIONARY
4 Programmed yet free
16 A Shakespeare Lover’s Dictionary
arnold munnich
françois laroque
5 Friendship
17 A Pope Lover’s Dictionary
michel erman
bernard lecomte
6 Smoke and Mirrors
18 A Mountain Lover’s Dictionary
michel onfray
frédéric thiriez
7 The Islamic State
19 An Orient Lover’s Dictionary
wassim nasr
rené guitton
8 The Transhumanism Revolution luc ferry
9 L’homme nu marc dugain and christophe labbé
10 Modesty adèle van reeth and eric fiat
11 Dictionary of Infidelities amanda sthers
12 The Erasmus Generation sandro gozi
13 Travels in Autistan josef schovanec
14 France for Life nicolas sarkozy
Programmed yet free The fallacies of genetic science
arnold munnich 160 pages | January 2016
Today, Google is offering to draw up your genetic map and doctors claim they can heal you long-distance. Arnold Munnich, worldrenowned geneticist, has decided to speak out against this new and particularly dangerous kind of medicine.
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DNA has become an obsession. A simple decoding of your genome and you can find out exactly what you will die of and when. Soon, gene therapy will have eliminated all disabilities and incurable diseases! This all sounds wonderful, yet it is entirely bogus.
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In his practice as well as in his book, Arnold Munnich delivers a diagnosis, not a prognosis. Refusing to kneel at the altar of the omnipotent goddess Science, he prefers to sit at his patients’ bedside. If beneficial to speculators, the false promises of genetic science can be misleading for the patients. His 30,000 young patients, the ones he likes to call « my children », are at the heart of Arnold Munnich’s plea for an honest and efficient research, and his protest against the advent of multi-tiered medicine. He denounces the great « genetic therapies hoax », to better present the genuine progress and promises that genetic science hold. He sounds the alarm on imminent health scandals, so we can avert them. Because he is himself a researcher, he can tell about his experience of all what sometimes brakes his work. From laboratory machines to historical anecdotes, Arnold Munnich has written a book in his own image, filled with impassioned testimony and engaged reflection. Arnold Munnich is one of the greatest geneticists in the world and his public pronouncements are rare, giving this testimony an invaluable worth at a time when medicine is perceived as all-powerful. Funny and touching encounters, pet peeves and salutary anger, but no blame or bitterness in this iconoclastic and invigorating text.
ARNOLD MUNNICH is a worldfamous French pediatrician and geneticist. He is the founder and head of the Department of Medical Genetics at the renowned Necker children’s hospital in Paris. He is also one of the creators of the Imagine Institute, a European Care and Research center for Genetic Science.
Friendship michel erman 160 pages | January 2016
From lifelong friendships to « friending » someone on a social network, via giving someone a hand, the word « friendship » can refer to different kinds of affinities. Michel Erman defines the nature of friendship – which is often wrongly taken for granted.
In modern society, where individualism seems to have reached an extreme, many people are trying to rebuild social ties. They are rediscovering the value of friendship, which has long been seen as lukewarm compared to love. A few years ago, a SOFRES poll showed that 54% of people under 25 said that friendship was more important to them than love. Everyone can conjure up an image of what a friend is. Yet elucidating the emotion of friendship is not an easy thing to do; the bonds of friendship are both obvious and enigmatic. As Montaigne’s famous line about La Boétie put it, “Because he was he and I was I.” As though friendship had no reason. Yet that does not mean it has no cause or is unknowable: the idea is to identify the emotions that compose it. This book is an attempt to define the nature of friendship – which is wrongly taken for granted – and its concrete manifestations in everyday life, and then to extricate its ethical impact.
Writer, philosopher and professor at the University of Bourgogne, MICHEL ERMAN’s specialty is Marcel Proust, about whom he was written several books.
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So it will explore the process of building friendship, from the birth of the emotion to its fulfilment in one’s existence. The alchemy of friendship illuminates individuals’ relations and their attitude towards otherness from within. In so doing, the book allows us to revisit such debased notions as generosity – the virtue that pushes us outside ourselves and frees us from our egocentricity; respect and faithfulness.
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Smoke and Mirrors Principles of Social Atheism
michel onfray 360 pages | March 2016 More than ever, after the tragic events of 2015, we must refuse to be intimidated and made to feel guilty. It is obvious that we can side with the people without being a populist, be democratic without being a demagogue, and be a partisan of sovereignty without being a Pétainiste – a collaborationist traitor. We must resist everything, or almost everything, to avoid the many potential pitfalls. A book that goes beyond polemic to consider politics in the long term.
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« I live in Caen, on the Place de la Résistance, Resistance Square. Often when I give my address people tell me, ‘That suits you perfectly.’ A shocking photo that goes viral, or a one-liner, a sound bite, social networks. Cheap indignation. Stigmatization, denunciation, slogans. Democracy for the gullible. The media, the internet, they trick us every day. It’s going fast. But I’m resisting. And I live what I think, I walk the talk, I’m true to my ideas. Why a book, then, to talk about politics, the long term, to make things perfectly clear and not pound our fists on the table? A tribute to a work, to reflection, to explanation, a contrario to polemic. Going back to history and to memory, while the history programs truncate their subjects to try and keep up with the trends, the Enlightenment narrative is discarded, and Islam is an obligatory presence.
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Is it still possible to have an intellectual life when the only question boils down to whether having some idea or other plays into the hands of the National Front? This tells us a lot about the meltdown of politics in our country, in Europe in general. What do we still expect of them, these politicians whose promises, never kept, don’t even convey the visions to which citizens are entitled? Such bad leaders! Because they are neither audible nor credible, those who govern us are shaken up by those who reflect and ask questions. The intellectuals, who cannot be asked to come up with ready-made solutions, nor even to explain how they would govern since that is not their ambition, but who question social reality, without taboo. »
MICHEL ONFRAY, philosopher, is the author of more than 80 books, many of them bestsellers, translated into numerous languages. He is also the founder of the Université populaire (People’s university) in Caen and the Université du goût (University of taste) in Argentan.
The Islamic State wassim nasr 234 pages | April 2016
Beyond clichés and misconceptions, Wassim Nasr offers a different approach to the Islamic State, giving voice to emirs, converts, and apostates. The author – who is in daily contact with Jihadists – answers all the questions one might have on the subject.
Why did French diplomats start using the term « Daech »? What is the origin of the Islamic State? Born in Iraq in the aftermath of the American intervention, Daech came to the fore only after it invaded Mosul in the summer of 2014. But who created it? Was it the Western world, the Syrian Regime, Iran? Or is it the result of a worldwide conspiracy? What are its goals and why are young people joining it en masse, including from developed countries? Who are its converts? Are they all underdogs with no skills? What are its resources and the source of its funds? Is it funded by the Gulf monarchies, Qatar and Saudi Arabia at their lead? Beyond clichés and misconceptions, Wassim Nasr offers a different approach to the Islamic State, giving voice to emirs, converts, and apostates. The author – who is in daily contact with Jihadists – discloses exclusive anecdotes. For example the jihadist who contacted Toyota through social media, to complain that his vehicle was not spacious enough for him to pivot his machine gun 360° degrees.
WASSIM NASR is a journalist, specialist of Jihadism for the TV channel France 24.
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After five years of thorough investigation on the different branches of Jihadi movements, in the four corners of the worlds, Wassim Nasr met a few of his formerly virtual contacts, both from the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The first in the new collection “Tribune du monde”, directed by Olivier Ravanello, this comprehensive book untangles one of the most challenging topic for Westerners nowadays.
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The Transhumanism Revolution
How biotechnology, collaborative economy and the uberisation of the world will revolutionize our lives
luc ferry 216 pages | April 2016
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Enabling the reader to understand and become aware of the exact nature of the economic, scientific and medical revolutions currently underway, as well as the ethical, spiritual and metaphysical changes that these new technologies entail: this is the book’s purpose.
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The transhumanist revolution is not science fiction: biotechnology is already able to modify our species in a potentially irreversible way, as it has done for many years to “GMO” corn , rice and wheat. In this context, a new ideology has developed in the United States, with its prophets and experts, named “transhumanism”. It is a powerful movement supported by companies such as Google, and it has its own research centers, as prestigious as they are financially successful. The same is true of the new technologies – nanotechnology, processing of “big data” circulating on the internet, biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence. Regarding this revolution, our watchword must be “regulation”, in order to set limits that are intelligent and judicious, if we can. These technologies have two characteristics that allow them to easily evade ordinary democratic processes: they develop at breakneck speed and understanding them is extremely difficult, mastering them even more so. Not only is the scientific and theoretical knowledge required to grasp them far beyond the limited reach of political and public opinion, but the economic power behind them is huge, not to say excessive.
His essay L’innovation destructrice sold more than 20.000 copies! and was sold to: J’ai lu | french paperback Munhakdongne | korea Editorial Objetiva | brazil
Philosopher, former Minister of Education, LUC FERRY is the author of numerous bestsellers, including (published by Plon) Apprendre à vivre( Learning to Live), 2006; La sagesse des mythes (The wisdom of myths), 2008; La révolution de l’amour (The revolution of love), 2010; and L’innovation destructrice (Destructive innovation), 2014.
L’homme nu
Le livre noir de la révolution numérique
marc dugain 320 pages | April 2016
& christophe labbé
Orwell’s 1984 depicted a violent dictatorship. If not as brutal, the advent of a world ruled by Big Data in the next few decades will be no less ominous. The demise of Greek philosophy is coming, and with it the end of an era for humanity. Marc Dugain’s novel, Une exécution ordinaire sold 80.000 copies!
The digital revolution, triggered by the Internet, led to the advent of monstrous entities, the Big Data (Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, etc.). These data empires gather zillions of data reports daily and share them with the American intelligence services. Soon, the association between the Big Data and intelligence services will be more powerful than all countries of the world collectively. This supremacy of data will sound the death knell for each individual’s privacy. Yet, there is no escaping this downward spiral.
CHRISTOPHE LABBÉ is Director of investigation reporting at the weekly magazine Le Point. He is an expert on intelligence services, police and security issues. He is the author of Place Beauvau and L’espion du Président.
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MARC DUGAIN is a novelist, who has built, since 1999, an acclaimed body of work and won numerous literary awards. His works are tremendously successful, both in France and abroad. His novel Une exécution ordinaire sold more than 80.000 copies, while Avenue des géants and L’Emprise both sold more than 60.000 copies. He is also a director and screenwriter, and produced documentaries: on the wreck of the submarine Koursk and on the crash of the MH 370.
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Modesty adèle van reeth
& eric fiat
192 pages | April 2016
The fifth title in the series « Questions de caractère », in co-edition with France Culture radio To respect the intimacy and the modesty of others is a moral duty. Yet, what is modesty in the first place? What role do others play in the way we look at our own bodies?
Since every man has his secrets, the idea of being fully transparent to others can be a dreadful one. To respect reserve and modesty in others is therefore a moral duty. But what is modesty in the first place? This book attempts to distinguish between frequently mixed up notions (shame, decency); and defines modesty as the uneasiness of the angel within us at the thought that he is also a beast. It reveals the ambiguities of reserve, as well as its charms, and draws up a philosophy of the body, unveiling the fundamental role played by others in the way we see ourselves.
SALES
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Fordham University Press | USA Pasos Perdidos | spain Passagen Verlag | austria
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PLEASURE
A philosopher who specializes in the ordinary and in films, ADÈLE VAN REETH produces and hosts Nouveaux chemins de la connaissance (New Paths of Knowledge), the daily philosophy program broadcast by France Culture radio. ÉRIC FIAT is a philosopher and University professor. He has authored many essays on ethical issues and moral philosophy.
SALES
Edizioni Clichy | italy Baroque books | romania
SNOBBERY
WICKEDNESS
OBSTINATION
Dictionary of Infidelities amanda sthers 208 pages | April 2016
Ubiquitous in novels, paintings, plays, movies and operas, adultery has inspired the greatest authors and artists. From star-crossed lovers to secret love affairs, Amanda Sthers writes her very own personal dictionary of infidelities.
If Casanova, The Liaisons dangereuses, Madame Bovary, The Red and the Black, Anna Karenina, and The Devil in the Flesh are archetypes of adultery, Amanda Sthers examines its psychoanalytical aspects also, and portrays her friends and acquaintances in personal situations, fully circumscribing the concept of adultery. A successful author, Amanda Sthers writes a highly original book about a timeless yet ever evolving theme, revolutionized by the advent of new technologies,
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The Erasmus Generation sandro gozi 140 pages | November 2015
« A new generation of leaders, former Erasmus students, are offering new perspectives for the future of the European Union» Sandro Gozi
Sandro Gozi’s career has always been linked to Europe, from the halls of the Sorbonne, where he was a student, to a pivotal role in Italy’s presidency of the Union European while he was Italy’s State Secretary of European Affairs. And it was Erasmus, the European Union’s student-exchange programme begun in 1987, which offered Gozi the opportunity to go to the Sorbonne.
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Known as one of the top experts in the workings of the Union, Gozi leads us through the arcana of European power by describing the six months he spent as the head of the 28, from July to December 2014, while Mateo Renzi’s Italy was presiding the European Union. More than just a political chronicle, Génération Erasmus focuses on the radical change washing over the current European political scene: a new generation of leaders who have studied abroad alongside students from other European nations, who know each other better and have a more global vision of Europe, has arrived in the halls of European power.
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Through his own personal experience, Sandro Gozi not only warns us about the divisions that threaten us; he also affords us a glimpse of Europe’s future.
Member of Italy’s Democratic Party, SANDRO GOZI, 47, is State Secretary of European Affairs in Italy’s Cabinet of Ministers. After obtaining a doctorate in law, he went on to get post-graduate degrees in international relations from Paris’s School of Political Science and from the Free University of Brussels, as well as studying macro-economics at the London School of Economics.
Travels in Autistan josef schovanec 288 pages | April 2016
A selection of the best radio broadcasts by Josef Schovanec, aired in the program “Carnets du monde” (World Diaries) on Europe 1 radio, is finally available! All aboard for a trip to Autistan full of humor and erudition! His memoirs, Je suis à l’Est sold more than 50.000 copies in France and was sold in 8 languages, meanwhile Love in Autistan already sold 12.000 since it came out last November!
Every Sunday on the Europe 1 radio station, on the program “Carnets du Monde” (World Diaries), Josef Schovanec, the philosopher-showman of autism and diversity, presents his journey to Autistan in which he takes a light-hearted and scholarly look at a country, a culture, a language, a ceremony or a national dish. Combining serious history and anecdotes collected during his extensive travels on all continents – he is a social scientist specializing in philosophy, religion and customs – this tireless and multilingual globetrotter proves that travel and autism are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary! Travel is particularly important for people with autism: In another place, they finally feel like everyone else. After reading this collection of Josef’s best subjects, you’ll look at the world in a new way.
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SALES of je suis à l’est Pocket | french paperback Titan publishing co. | taiwan Spheres verlag | switzerland RCS Libri | italy Paseka publishing | czech republic Oficina Do Livro | Portugual Guanghzhou Shengya | china Ediciones Palabra | spain
A person with autism who has a Ph.D in philosophy, Josef Schovanec is the author of three books published by Plon, the bestseller Je suis à l’Est ! (I am in the East!) (2012), Éloge du voyage à l’usage des autistes et de ceux qui ne le sont pas assez (In Praise of Travel for the Autistic and those are not Autistic Enough) (2014), and De l’amour en Autistan (Love in Autistan) (2015). He has also published Comprendre l’autisme pour les nuls (Understanding Autism for Dummies) (2015) with First.
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France for Life nicolas sarkozy 264 pages | January 2016
The unprecedented testimony of former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
For rights inquiries, contact Florence Maletrez florence.maletrez @editions-plon.fr
« If this book has meaning, or if it can be of some utility, it is because the time has come to reevaluate. I wanted to make this effort, to search within myself, my own truth concerning the mistakes I have made, as well on my successes. Without affectation or false pretenses, I wish to give an account of what I have really done, and what I believe should be done in the future. The only opinion that matters to me will be yours, readers from all political standpoints, whom I am trying less to please than to help understand the complexity of the political situation and the chronology of events. I am aware of the terrible crisis of confidence that politics and politicians are facing. In no instance am I trying to deny my share of personal responsibility in this situation. Yet, some may see in this exercise the proof of my concern for authenticity, so the trust can be restored. An impossible mission? Maybe. But at least, I will have put myself on the wire and I will have tried. I have wanted to do so for quite some time now. Each time, finding a “bad reason” to duck out: not enough time, not the right time, not feeling it. Today, I am taking the plunge. This is a face to face. You are the one I want to speak to. » - Nicolas Sarkozy
Lover’s Dictionary Series What is a « Lover’s Dictionary »? It is the passionate encounter of a writer with his most delectable subject. When you first consider them, the words dictionary and lover seem contradictory – if not incompatible. Yet each of the writers published in this collection has been pleasantly surprised by the personal inventory he has undertaken as much as by the recreational aspect of the task – collecting curiosities and giving free rein to the wanderings of his mind to create an inherently subjective table of contents. Each dictionary is a world of its own. It can consist of anything and everything – places, themes, personal objects both real and legendary, history or mythology. Whether the author chooses to tell us about a country, a city, an area, an activity or a sport, he is the chief architect of a privileged meeting place. For the reader, a « Lover’s Dictionary » is perhaps also a quest for metamorphosis, as we look into the mirror the author holds up to us. Moving at random from page to page, from entry to entry, we are free to saunter, relish, marvel and be surprised. Skipping from one letter to another in the wrong order, we can indulge our curiosity to our heart’s content. A « Lover’s Dictionary »is the necessary - and sometimes astonishing – encounter between an author and a subject. Cocteau used to say: “a literary masterpiece is nothing more than a dictionary in disorder.” Read all these authors and you will realize that they have each succeeded in making the word masterpiece rhyme with alphabetical order.
Jean-Claude Simoën
A Shakespeare Lover’s Dictionary françois laroque 928 pages | February 2016
« To be or not to be, that is the question » Is there anyone who isn’t familiar with the first words of Hamlet’s famous speech? Three centuries after his death, William Shakespeare is still very present and very modern. With this dictionary written by an author who loves Shakespeare, readers can sample the writings of the most performed playwright in the world to their hearts’ content.
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Shakespeare, son of a humble glove maker, built himself a monument for eternity with his genius for poetry and theater. So, where do we find the reasons for his success, which, far from subsiding, has swelled to global proportions? In his passion, without any doubt: his passion of poetry and his passionate theatre. With Shakespeare we climb the grand staircase of history to dizzying heights. With Shakespeare, the sublime is always close at hand in scenes full of sound and fury where horror, pathos and laughter alternate and intermingle. Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth, Falstaff and Cleopatra have not ceased to fascinate us, nor the music of his language to enchant us...
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Some people firmly believe that Shakespeare was not Shakespeare at all but Sir Francis Bacon, the Earl of Oxford or Queen Elizabeth I. Let them continue trying to solve the mystery. But here we focus on the essential. Far from these futile debates, I have mainly sought through these jubilant wanderings, as the Shakespeare lover and passionate teacher of his theater and his poetry that I am, to share my pleasure by conveying the unique savor that can be derived from a work that shows no signs of age four centuries later.
A professor of English Literature, FRANÇOIS LAROQUE has taught at the Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier and the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Author of several books on Shakespeare, including Shakespeare et la fête (Shakespeare and festivities), for Presses Universitaires de France, et Shakespeare comme il vous plaira, (Shakespeare as you like it) for Gallimard, both translated into many languages, he has also published translations of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in Livre de Poche and Bibliothèque de la Pléiade editions.
A Pope Lover’s Dictionary bernard lecomte 640 pages | March 2016
Bernard Lecomte, an insider who knows all the secrets and arcane lore of the Vatican, gives readers an original and eye-opening tour behind the scenes of the Roman Curia. At a time when Pope Francis is immensely popular, a dictionary that fondly portrays all those who preceded him on the throne of Saint Peter.
The history of the papacy as it has never been told! After spending more than ten years exploring the secrets of the Vatican, the journalist Bernard Lecomte takes us on an incredible ride into the heart of the largest and oldest institution in the world, the Catholic Church. In two thousand years, it has been led by some 266 popes. From Saint Peter to Pope Francis, these diverse characters – saints, martyrs, heroes, warlords, geniuses, cowards, tyrants, hedonists – embodied the Gospel, transmitted divine revelation, battled heresies, conquered territories, launched the Crusades, crowned emperors, inspired artists, resisted progress, preserved peace, caused controversy, and more. From the Avignon popes to those of Rome, from the fight against heresies to the struggle for temporal power, an original and passionate ABC of the oldest institutions on Earth: the papacy.
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In his journalistic career BERNARD LECOMTE has worked at La Croix, L’Express and the Figaro Magazine, where he was editor in chief. Reporting on the Vatican down through the years, he developed a passion for the subject, on which he has written several reference books, including a biography of John Paul II (Gallimard), as well as Les Secrets du Vatican (The Secrets of the Vatican) and Les Derniers Secrets du Vatican (The Latest Secrets of the Vatican), both for Perrin.
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A Mountain Lover’s Dictionary frédéric thiriez 800 pages | April 2016
Passionate praise of mountains, combining experiences, sensations, readings and encounters with prominent characters who belong to the mountain community. A subject of interest to a wider audience, not just mountain enthusiasts, as shown by « L’ivresse des sommets » (High-altitude euphoria), which was a popular success. The exploits of mountain climbers are fascinating to everyone.
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Fascination, wonder, fear, joy, pride, beauty, peace, sense of the sacred, jubilation, despair, triumph, pain, frustration, injustice, even horror…all these powerful feelings are associated with mountains. Place a three-year-old child in front of a pile of gravel or a big rock: his instinctive impulse will be to climb it. A wonderful space where we can play and feel, the mountains arouse our inner child. Why do we go there, at the price of so much effort, often suffering, and for some even their lives? «Because it’s there» said the quintessential mountain lover George Mallory about Everest,. An evasive witticism – he could have added « because I’m here! » Because it’s so true that we are only ever climbing our inner mountains, Frederic Thiriez takes the reader on an enthusiastic expedition through these magical places, introducing us to the legends, the heroes, the mysteries, the sensations, everything about mountains, including the tragedies, myths and feuds that swirl around them.
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A lawyer at the Conseil d’Etat (advisory body to the French government) and the Cour de Cassation, (highest appeals court), FRÉDÉRIC THIRIEZ has been a member of the Conseil d’Etat and has held posts in several ministerial cabinets. President of the French professional football (soccer) league, he recently published Le foot mérite mieux que ça (Football deserves better) (Le Cherche midi, September 2013). A mountain climber and skiing enthusiast since childhood, he has climbed in the Pyrenees and in the Alps, where he reached the summit of ten 4,000 m peaks. He participated in the Himalayan expedition “Hidden Peak 84” led by Pierre Mazeaud. In 2015 he and Himalaya expert Marc Batard led eleven suburban youth on a climb of Khala Patar (5,600 m), near Everest.
An Orient Lover’s Dictionary rené guitton 720 pages | April 2016
Everything you always wanted to know about the East. In these troubled times for this region of the world, an enthusiastic exploration that reconciles cultures and civilizations. A dictionary that reminds us of thousands of years of common history and portrays the East as generous and peaceful.
RENÉ GUITTON is a committed, award-winning writer and essayist. His book “Si nous nous taisons” (If we are silent) about the murder of the monks of Tibhirine won the French Academy’s Prix Montyon de littérature et philosophie, the Academy of Sciences’ Prix Lyautey and the Prix Liberté. “Ces Chrétiens qu’on assassine” (These Christians being murdered), his book about the plight of Christians in the East, won the French government’s human rights prize. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Expert Group of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, regarding the East and religious issues.
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« The East has nourished my dreams since childhood. My father, a senior navy officer, sailed the seas and held a post at the French admiralty in the Syrian port of Latakia until the end of the French mandate in the country. The exoticism of the postcards he would send during his travels inspired my desire for adventure. As a teenager I devoured the books in our family library by famous writers who wrote about their travels to the East: Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Flaubert, Nerval ... and Pierre Loti, a naval officer too. As I grew up, my aspirations were turned towards the Levant. As an adult, I devoted all my spare time to studying, here and there, the antiquity, history, development, revolutions, monotheistic religions, traditions and myths of these countries on which the West was focusing its attention. And I fell passionately in love with Sumer, the epics of Gilgamesh and the Creation, Upper Mesopotamia with its mythical Babylon that I discovered was very real and on the banks of the Euphrates, Pharaonic Egypt, Iran, Persia, the Turkey of Byzantium and the Ottomans, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates…with all the transformations and upheavals of recent centuries. In telling the story of my countless past and present travels to the East – for work, study, conferences, as a researcher, journalist, adventurer, writer and fervent admirer of this tangible and intangible heritage – I would like to play a certain music of humanity, and underline that this part of the world is the cradle of our civilization. With the world’s attention riveted on this region, I would like this dictionary by someone who loves the East to make a modest contribution to a sort of Enlightenment discourse. »
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CONTACT Foreign Rights Manager Florence Maletrez florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com +33 (0) 1 44 16 09 30 Foreign Rights Assistant Agathe Bourachot agathe.bourachot-ext@edi8.fr +33 (0) 1 44 16 09 66