Very Short Introductions (Очень короткие введения, VSI) — серия книг, опубликованная издательством Oxford University Press (OUP). Книги представляют собой краткие введения в определенные предметы, предназначенные для широкой аудитории, но написанные экспертами. Большинство из них имеют длину менее 200 страниц. Хотя авторы могут представлять личные точки зрения, книги должны быть «сбалансированными и законченными», а также предоставлять пищу для размышлений.Первая книга серии выпущена в 1995 году, к апрелю 2018 года было опубликовано или анонсировано 607 наименований. Книги имели коммерческий успех и были опубликованы более чем на 25 языках.Большинство книг было написано специально для этой серии, но около 60 были переработаны из более ранних публикаций OUP: некоторые из них входили в серию «Past Masters» OUP, а номера 17–24 использовали главы из «Оксфордской иллюстрированной истории Великобритании» (1984).
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 177 p. Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. They are visceral reactions but also beliefs about the world. They are spontaneous outbursts but also culturally learned performances. They are intimate and private and yet gain their substance and significance only from interpersonal and social frameworks. And just as our emotions...
Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0192853465; ISBN13: 978-0192853462. "If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do," write the authors of Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. This engaging overview of the field combines an accessible account of some of the...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 209 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
From subtle discrimination in everyday life, to horrors like lynching in the Old South, cultural imperialism, and "ethnic cleansing", racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. Despite civil rights movements and other attempts at progress, racial prejudices and stereotypes remain...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p.
Astrobiology is an exciting new subject, and one, arguably, more interdisciplinary than any other. Astrobiologists seek to understand the origin and evolution of life on Earth in order to illuminate and guide the search for life on other planets. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the subject through our...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–885006–9. Биогеография - это исследование географических вариаций всех характеристик жизни - от генетических, морфологических и поведенческих вариаций среди региональных популяций вида до географических тенденций в разнообразии целых сообществ на всей нашей планете. От древних охотников и собирателей до...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 192 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–882498–5. Ферменты: очень краткое введение Enzymes are the astonishing, tiny molecular machines that make life possible. Each one of these small proteins speeds up a single chemical reaction inside a living organism many millionfold. Working together, teams of enzymes carry out all the processes that collectively we...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–883387–1. From the simplest bacteria to humans, all living things are composed of cells of one type or another, all of which have fundamentally the same chemistry. This chemistry must provide mechanisms that allow cells to interact with the external world, a means to power the cell, machinery...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 152 p. In this exploration of the concept of the gene, Jonathan Slack looks at the discovery, nature, and role of genes in both evolution and development. Explaining the nature of genetic variation in the human population, how hereditary factors were identified as molecules of DNA, and how certain specific mutations can lead to disease, Slack...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. In this exploration of the concept of the gene, Jonathan Slack looks at the discovery, nature, and role of genes in both evolution and development. By explaining the nature of genetic variation in the human population, how hereditary factors were identified as molecules of DNA, and how certain specific mutations can lead to...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. Embryonic stem cells have been hot-button topics in recent years, generating intense public interest as well as much confusion and misinformation. In this Very Short Introduction, leading authority Jonathan Slack offers a clear and informative overview of stem cells--what they are, what scientists do with them, what stem cell therapies are...
Oxford University Press, 2011. - 144 p. From a single cell--a fertilized egg--comes an elephant, a fly, or a human. How does this astonishing feat happen? How does the egg "know" what to become? How does it divide into the different cells, the separate tissues, the brain, the fingernail--every tiniest detail of the growing fetus? In this Very Short Introduction, renowned scientist...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 246 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The animal world is immensely diverse, and our understanding of it has been greatly enhanced by molecular biology and the study of evolution and development ("evo-devo"). Moreover, groundbreaking research on genes, and especially key families of genes such as the Homeobox genes which control the development of...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. From frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders, to the lesser-known caecilians, there are over 8,000 species of amphibians alive today. Characterised by their moist, naked skin and the tadpole phase of their lives, they are uniquely adapted to occupy the interphase habitat between freshwater and land. This Very Short Introduction explores...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. From frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders, to the lesser-known caecilians, there are over 8,000 species of amphibians alive today. Characterised by their moist, naked skin and the tadpole phase of their lives, they are uniquely adapted to occupy the interphase habitat between freshwater and land. This Very Short Introduction explores...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — ISBN 13 9780192586322. To date, more than a million insect species have been described, with probably at least another 5-8 million species waiting in the wings for a name. Insects are a fascinatingly diverse and beautiful spectrum of animals. They range in size from the tiny parasitic wasp, measuring a mere 139μm, to the aptly named Titan...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 150 pp. In 1883, Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the word "eugenics" to express his dream of perfecting the human race by applying the laws of genetic heredity. Adapting Darwin's theory of evolution to human society, eugenics soon became a powerful, international movement, committed to using the principles of heredity and...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198809-10-7. We live in a society which is increasingly interconnected, in which communication between individuals is mostly mediated via some electronic platform, and transactions are often carried out remotely. In such a world, traditional notions of trust and confidence in the identity of...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 184 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–968878–4. The variety of the mycological world is far greater than most people imagine. Tens of thousands of fungal species have been described and many more are known only from the abundance of their genes in soil and water. Fungi are hugely important as agents of wood decay in forests, and, as parasites, they have caused...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 270 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–100259–5. The variety of the mycological world is far greater than most people imagine. Tens of thousands of fungal species have been described and many more are known only from the abundance of their genes in soil and water. Fungi are hugely important as agents of wood decay in forests, and, as parasites, they have caused...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 264 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Bacteria form a fundamental branch of life. They are the oldest forms of life and the most prolific of all living organisms, inhabiting every part of the Earth's surface, its ocean depths, and even such inhospitable places as boiling hot springs. In this Very Short Introduction, bacteriologist Sebastian Amyes...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2023. — 168 p. Bacteria form a fundamental branch of life. They are the oldest forms of life as we know it, and they are still the most prolific living organisms. They inhabit every part of the Earth's surface, its ocean depths, and even terrains such as boiling hot springs. They are most familiar as agents of disease, but benign bacteria...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Viruses are big news. From pandemics such as HIV, swine flu, and SARS, we are constantly being bombarded with information about new lethal infections. In this Very Short Introduction Dorothy Crawford demonstrates how clever these entities really are. From their discovery and the unravelling of their intricate...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In recent decades we have come to realize that the microbial world is hugely diverse, and can be found in the most extreme environments. Fungi, single-celled protists, bacteria, archaea, and the vast array of viruses and sub-viral particles far outnumber plants and animals. Microbes, we now know, play a...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–878620–7. Genomics has transformed the biological sciences. From epidemiology and medicine to evolution and forensics, the ability to determine an organism's complete genetic makeup has changed the way science is done and the questions that can be asked of it. Its most celebrated achievement...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Molecular Biology is the story of the molecules of life, their relationships, and how these interactions are controlled. It is an expanding field in life sciences, and its applications are wide and growing. We can now harness the power of molecular biology to treat diseases, solve crimes, map human history,...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978-0-19-878622-1, 978-0-19-108954-1. Up to the 1960s, psychology was deeply under the influence of behaviourism, which focused on stimuli and responses, and regarded consideration of what may happen in the mind as unapproachable scientifically. This began to change with the devising of methods to try...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. — 197 p. Synthetic biology is one of the 21st century's fastest growing fields of research, as important for technology as for basic science. Building on traditional genetic engineering, which was restricted to changing one or two genes, synthetic biology uses multi-gene modules and pathways to make very significant changes to what cells...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-13 9780198828372. Systems biology came about as growing numbers of engineers and scientists from other fields created algorithms which supported the analysis of biological data in incredible quantities. Whereas biologists of the past had been forced to study one item or aspect at a time, due to...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations The origin of life The origin of sex The origin of skeletons The origin of life on land Forests and flight The biggest mass extinction The origin of modern ecosystems The origin of humans
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2017. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–880436–9. Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the center of a Universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this center. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but extinction has occurred throughout the history of life, with the result that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Today, species are disappearing at an ever increasing rate, whilst past losses have occurred during several great crises. Issues such as...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 132 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The recent discovery of the diminutive Homo floresiensis (nicknamed "the Hobbit") in Indonesia has sparked new interest in the study of human evolution. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned evolutionary scholar Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth...
2nd Ed. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198831-74-9. This Very Short Introduction traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the latest fossil finds. Although concentrating on the fossil evidence for human evolution, it also covers the latest genetic evidence about regional...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 p. — ISBN: 9780198806998, 019880699X. Over the last forty years the philosophy of biology has emerged as an important sub-discipline of the philosophy of science. Covering some of science's most divisive topics, such as philosophical issues in genetics, it also encompasses areas where modern biology has increasingly impinged on traditional...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 p. — ISBN: 9780198806998, 019880699X. Over the last forty years the philosophy of biology has emerged as an important sub-discipline of the philosophy of science. Covering some of science's most divisive topics, such as philosophical issues in genetics, it also encompasses areas where modern biology has increasingly impinged on traditional...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. — ISBN10: 0199607893; ISBN13: 978-0199607891. Warfare is the most dangerous threat faced by modern humanity. It is also one of the key influences that has shaped the politics, economics, and society of modern times. But what do we mean by modern war? What causes modern wars to begin? Why do people fight in them, why do they end,...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 152 p. Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Is religion a force for war, or a force for peace? Some of the most terrible wars in history have been caused and motivated by religion. Much of the violence that fills our screens today springs from the same source. Yet some of the bravest pacifists have also been deeply religious...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 166 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Greek and Roman warfare was unlike that of any other culture before or since. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practiced a "Western Way of War," in which the aim is an open, decisive battle - won by courage instilled, in part, by discipline. Here, Harry Sidebottom looks at how...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. Aerial warfare has dominated war-making for over 100 years, and despite regular announcements of its demise, it shows no sign of becoming obsolete. In this Very Short Introduction Frank Ledwidge offers a sweeping look at the history of aerial warfare, introducing the major battles, crises, and controversies where air power has taken...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 143 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–922954–3. Despite not having been used in anger since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons are still the biggest threat that faces us in the 21st century. Indeed, for all the effort to reduce nuclear stockpiles to zero and to keep other nations (such as Iran) from developing nuclear...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. This fast-paced narrative charts the history of the US Navy from its birth during the American Revolution through to its current superpower status. The story highlights iconic moments of great drama pivotal to the nation's fortunes: John Paul Jones' attacks on the British during the Revolution, the Barbary Wars, and the arduous conquest of...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. Distilling the ideas of the greatest military theoreticians of history, including Sun Tzu, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Carl von Clausewitz, Antulio J. Echevarria II presents a fascinating account of the "art of the general". Drawing on historical examples, from Hannibal's war against Rome to Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, from the Allies'...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 96 p.
Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) is considered by many to have been one of the greatest writers on war. His study On War was described by the American strategic thinker Bernard Brodie as "not simply the greatest, but the only great book about war." It is hard to disagree. Even though he wrote his only major work at a time when the range of...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978–0–19–870872–8. Water dominates the surface of Earth and is vital to life on our planet. It is a remarkable liquid which shows anomalous behaviour. In this Very Short Introduction John Finney introduces the science of water, and explores how the structure of water molecules gives rise to its...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Landscapes are all around us, but most of us know very little about how they have developed, what goes on in them, and how they react to changing climates, tectonics, and human activities. Examining what landscape is, and how we use a range of ideas and techniques to study it, Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The popularity of dinosaurs seems never ending, as evidenced by the popularity of films such Jurassic Park and documentaries like Walking with Dinosaurs. But how much do these types of entertainment really tell us about recent scientific discoveries and the latest research into the world of the dinosaur?This...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Around 30 years ago, two things happened that were to revolutionize the understanding of our home planet. First, geologists realized that the continents themselves were drifting across the surface of the globe and that oceans were being created and destroyed. Secondly, pictures of the entire planet were returned...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Fossils have been vital to our understanding of the formation of the earth and the origins of life. However, their impact has not been limited to debates about geology and evolution: attempts to explain their existence has shaken religion at its very roots, and they have remained a subject of ceaseless...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 184 p. The study of the Quaternary ice age has revolutionized ideas about Earth system change and the pace of landscape and ecosystem dynamics. The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction looks at evidence from the continents, the oceans, and the ice core records, and the human stories behind it all. It examines the remarkable environmental shifts that...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN13: 978-0198804451. Ranging across the 4.6 billion year history of the planet, geology is the subject that encompasses almost all that we see around us, in one way or another, and also much that we cannot see, beneath our feet, and on other planets. The fruits of geology provide most of the materials...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978–0–19–879295–6. Geophysics is the physics of the Earth. Central to the Earth Sciences today, it encompasses areas such as seismology, volcanism, plate tectonics, gravitational anomalies, and the Earth's magnetic field (present and past, as captured in rocks), all of which give clues to both the...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 144 p. In a modern democratic nation, everyday life is shaped by the decisions of those who manage and administer public policies. This Very Short Introduction provides a practical insight into the development and delivery of the decisions that shape how individuals, and society as a whole, live and interact.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. — 160 p. — ISBN10: 0198708440; ISBN13: 978-0198708445 — (Very Short Introductions) Sound is integral to how we experience the world, in the form of noise as well as music. But what is sound? What is the physical basis of pitch and harmony? And how are sound waves exploited in musical instruments? In this Very Short Introduction Mike...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
John Heskett wants to transform the way we think about design by showing how integral it is to our daily lives, from the spoon we use to eat our breakfast cereal, and the car we drive to work in, to the medical equipment used to save lives. Design combines "need" and "desire" in the form of a practical object...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
In Journalism, Ian Hargreaves uses his unique position within the media to examine how we get this information and the many practical, political, and professional decisions that the journalist has to make, as part of the process of delivering that information to us. Hargreaves argues that the core principles...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 145 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Lady Chatterley's Lover. The Blue Lagoon. Portnoy's Complaint. The Da Vinci Code. For the last century, the tastes and preferences of the common reader have been reflected in the American and British bestseller lists, and this Very Short Introduction takes an engaging look through the lists to reveal what we...
Oxford University Press, 2016 — 170 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The ‘stuff’ of computing
Computational artefacts
Algorithmic thinking
The art, science, and engineering of programming
The discipline of computer architecture
Heuristic computing
Computational thinking
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). What is the basic nature of the modern computer? How does it work? How has it been possible to squeeze so much power into increasingly smaller machines? What will the next generations of computers look like? In this Very Short Introduction, Darrel Ince looks at the basic concepts behind all computers, the...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 142 p. — (A Very Short Introduction 68). — ISBN: 0-19-280315-8. This book is a clear and informative introduction to cryptography and data protection - subjects of considerable social and political importance. It explains what algorithms do, how they are used, the risks associated with using them, and why governments should be concerned....
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 142 p. — (A Very Short Introduction 68). — ISBN: 0-19-280315-8. This book is a clear and informative introduction to cryptography and data protection - subjects of considerable social and political importance. It explains what algorithms do, how they are used, the risks associated with using them, and why governments should be concerned....
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 142 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-13: 978-0192803153. This book is a clear and informative introduction to cryptography and data protection - subjects of considerable social and political importance. It explains what algorithms do, how they are used, the risks associated with using them, and why governments should be concerned....
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 106 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0-199-55137-5. We live in a society that is awash with information, but few of us really understand what information is. In this Very Short Introduction, one of the world's leading authorities on the philosophy of information and on information ethics, Luciano Floridi, offers an illuminating...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199602913. The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and – not least – on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping to...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199602913. The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and – not least – on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping to...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0198779577 Since long before computers were even thought of, data has been collected and organized by diverse cultures across the world. Once access to the Internet became a reality for large swathes of the world's population, the amount of data generated each day became huge, and continues to grow...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. — ISBN 0197599249, 978-0197599242. We live in the suburban era. Well over half of all Americans and two-thirds of Canadians live in suburbs. Tracts of suburban bungalows ring Sydney and Melbourne. Suburban apartments rise on the outskirts of Paris, Prague, Singapore, and Beijing. Nearly everyone has a strong opinion about suburbs. Folks...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 266 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This highly original and sophisticated look at architecture helps us to understand the cultural significance of the buildings that surround us. It avoids the traditional style-spotting approach and instead gives us an idea of what it is about buildings that moves us, and what it is that makes them important...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Documentary film can encompass anything from Robert Flaherty's pioneering ethnography Nanook of the North to Michael Moore's anti-Iraq War polemic Fahrenheit 9/11, from Dziga Vertov's artful Soviet propaganda piece Man with a Movie Camera to Luc Jacquet's heart-tugging wildlife epic March of the Penguins. In...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 143 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-13 9780199688333. — ISBN-10 0199688338. Cinema has had a hugely influential role on global culture in the 20th century at multiple levels: social, political, and educational. The part of British cinema in this has been controversial - often derided as a whole, but also vigorously celebrated, especially...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 152 p. In this engaging and readable book, Peter Decherney tells the story of Hollywood, from its nineteenth-century origins to the emergence of internet media empires. He recounts how the studio system rose out of the ashes of Thomas Edison's trust to create the handful of companies that have dominated global screens and imaginations for more...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 160 p. — ISBN: 0195370872.
Film music is as old as cinema itself. Years before synchronized sound became the norm, projected moving images were shown to musical accompaniment, whether performed by a lone piano player or a hundred-piece orchestra. Today film music has become its own industry, indispensable to the marketability of movies around...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Cinema was the first, and is arguably still the greatest, of the industrialized art forms that came to dominate the cultural life of the twentieth century. Today, it continues to adapt and grow as new technologies and viewing platforms become available, and remains an integral cultural and aesthetic...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. Film is arguably the dominant art form of the twentieth century. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Wood offers a wealth of insight into the nature of film, considering its role and impact on society as well as its future in the digital age. As Wood notes, film is many things, but it has become above all a means of telling stories...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2020. — 168 p. Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture and the other visual arts. In this Very Short Introduction , Dana Arnold presents an introduction to the issues, debates, and artefacts that make up art history. Beginning with a consideration of what art history is, she explains what makes...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). To consider comedy in its many incarnations is to raise diverse but related questions: what, for instance, is humour, and how may it be used (or abused)? When do we laugh, and why? What is it that writers and speakers enjoy - and risk - when they tell a joke, indulge in bathos, talk nonsense, or encourage...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 137 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — 978-0-19-177596-3, 978-0-19-280441-9. Modernism ushered in some of the most exciting innovations in art and literature, from Fauvism, Cubism, and Dada, to the novels of James Joyce and Franz Kafka, to such provocative works as Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain." But Modernism also left many people puzzled in its...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 137 p. — (Very Short Introductions, 236). — ISBN: 978–0–19–280441–9, 978-0-19-177596-3. Modernism ushered in some of the most exciting innovations in art and literature, from Fauvism, Cubism, and Dada, to the novels of James Joyce and Franz Kafka, to such provocative works as Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain." But Modernism also left many people...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Учебник в сжатой форме освещает основные тенденции и течения современного искусства, вехи становления и возможные перспективы. Данная работа может представлять интерес как для студентов гуманитарных ВУЗов, так и для всех интересующихся искусством.
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 282 p. — (Very Short Introductions). For over a hundred years, the idea of the "avant-garde" has been perhaps the most important and influential force in modern culture, ruling the critical assessment of the significance of an artist or a work of art. If they have been judged to be "avant-garde," then they are worthy of consideration. But very...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films, and a distinctive style of rock music. It has influenced political theorists and social reformers, as well as Victorian home décor and contemporary fashion. This Very Short Introduction captures...
Oxford University Press, 2004. - 208 pages. The avant-garde movements of Dada and Surrealism continue to have a huge influence on cultural practice, especially in contemporary art, with its obsession with sexuality, fetishism, and shock tactics. In this new treatment of the subject, Hopkins focuses on the many debates surrounding these movements: the Marquis de Sade's...
Oxford University Press, 2005. - 158 pages. Artists like Botticelli, Holbein, Leonardo, Dürer, and Michelangelo and works such as the Last Supper fresco and the monumental marble statue of David, are familiar symbols of the Renaissance. But who were these artists, why did they produce such memorable images, and how would their original beholders have viewed these objects? Was...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 154 p. In this Very Short Introduction, Christina Riggs explores the visual arts produced in Egypt over a span of some 4,000 years. The stories behind these objects and buildings have much to tell us about how people in ancient Egypt lived their lives in relation to each other, the natural environment, and the world of the gods. Demonstrating...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 120 p. — ISBN10: 019968278X. — ISBN13: 978-0199682782 From Berlin to Boston, and St Petersburg to Sydney, ancient Egyptian art fills the galleries of some of the world's greatest museums, while the architecture of Egyptian temples and pyramids has attracted tourists to Egypt for centuries. But what did Egyptian art and architecture mean to the...
Oxford University Press, 2006. - 168 pages. Contemporary art has never been so popular, but what is its role today and who is controlling its future? Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality....
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 177 p. Contemporary art has never been so popular, but what is its role today and who is controlling its future? Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. But...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 177 p. Contemporary art has never been so popular, but what is its role today and who is controlling its future? Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. But...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 144 pages. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction decodes the key themes, signs, and symbols found in Christian art: the Eucharist, the image of the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, the Saints, Old and New Testament narrative imagery, and iconography. It also explores the theological and historical background of Christian...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 244 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This clear and concise new introduction examines all the major debates and issues in the field of art history, using a wide range of well-known examples. Dana Arnold also examines the many different ways of writing about art, and the changing boundaries of the subject of art history. Other topics covered include...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 359 p. — (Very Short Introductions). 'World music' emerged as an invention of the West from encounters with other cultures. This book draws readers into a remarkable range of these historical encounters, in which music had the power to evoke the exotic and to give voice to the voiceless. In the course of the volume's eight chapters the reader...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
What is music? How is it constructed? How is it consumed? Why do you enjoy it at all? In Music: A Very Short plays Introduction, Nicholas Cook invites us to really think about music and the role it plays in our lives and our ears. Drawing on a number of accessible examples, the author prompts us to call on...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, D. Kern Holoman considers the structure, roots, and day-to-day functioning of the modern philharmonic society. He explores topics ranging from the life of a musician in a modern orchestra, the recent wave of new hall construction from Berlin to Birmingham, threats of bankruptcies...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. From Gregorian chant to Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods is both beautiful and intriguing, expanding our horizons as it nourishes our souls. In this Very Short Introduction , Thomas Forrest Kelly provides not only a compact overview of the music itself, but also a lively look at the...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 168 p. Ethnomusicologists believe that all humans, not just those we call musicians, are musical, and that musicality is one of the essential touchstones of the human experience. This insight raises big questions about the nature of music and the nature of humankind, and ethnomusicologists argue that to properly address these questions, we must...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits) and "a meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed contrarian" (New York Times Book Review), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture. It is...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). From before history was recorded to the present day, theatre has been a major artistic form around the world. From puppetry to mimes and street theatre, this complex art has utilized all other art forms such as dance, literature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Every aspect of human activity and...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Photographs are an integral part of our daily lives, from sensationalist images in tabloid papers, to personal family snapshots, to the art photography displayed in galleries and sold through international art markets. In this thought-provoking exploration of the subject, Steve Edwards provides a clear,...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This entertaining Very Short Introduction reflects the enduring popularity of archaeology - a subject which appeals as a pastime, career, and academic discipline, encompasses the whole globe, and surveys 2.5 million years. From deserts to jungles, from deep caves to mountain tops, from pebble tools to satellite...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 169 p.
One of the most appealing things about the Bible is its detailed, sometimes even over scrupulous, concern with the details of locations, buildings, and genealogies. Judaism and Christianity are religions that are squarely grounded in history and geography of ancient Near East. However, for the better part of the past two millennia there was...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 152 p. Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 165 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Greek and Roman warfare was unlike that of any other culture before or since. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practiced a "Western Way of War," in which the aim is an open, decisive battle - won by courage instilled, in part, by discipline. Here, Harry Sidebottom looks at how...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 165 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Greek and Roman warfare was unlike that of any other culture before or since. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practiced a "Western Way of War," in which the aim is an open, decisive battle - won by courage instilled, in part, by discipline. Here, Harry Sidebottom looks at how...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 176 p. The myths surrounding Sparta are as old as the city itself. Even in antiquity, Sparta was a unique society, and considered an enigma. The Spartans who fought for freedom against the Persians called themselves 'equals' or peers, but their equality was reliant on the ruthless exploitation of the indigenous population known as helots. The...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 176 p. The myths surrounding Sparta are as old as the city itself. Even in antiquity, Sparta was a unique society, and considered an enigma. The Spartans who fought for freedom against the Persians called themselves 'equals' or peers, but their equality was reliant on the ruthless exploitation of the indigenous population known as helots. The...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 176 p. The myths surrounding Sparta are as old as the city itself. Even in antiquity, Sparta was a unique society, and considered an enigma. The Spartans who fought for freedom against the Persians called themselves 'equals' or peers, but their equality was reliant on the ruthless exploitation of the indigenous population known as helots. The...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 132 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Antisemitism is a hatred of Jews that has stretched across millennia and across continents; or it is a relatively modern political movement and ideology that arose in Central Europe in the late 19th century and achieved its evil apogee in the Holocaust; or it is the irrational, psychologically pathological...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 138 p. — (Very Short Introductions). An easy-readable and entertaining introduction to aztec culture by leading aztec scholar. List of illustrations The city of Tenochtitlan: center of the Aztec world Aztec foundations: Aztlan, cities, peoples Aztec expansion through conquest and trade Cosmovision and human sacrifice Women and children: weavers...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 184 p. This highly original introduction to ancient Greece uses the history of eleven major Greek cities to illuminate the most important and informative aspects of Greek culture. Cartledge highlights the role of such renowned cities as Athens (birthplace of democracy) and Sparta, but he also examines Argos, Thebes, Syracuse in Sicily, and...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 216 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This highly original introduction to ancient Greece uses the history of eleven major Greek cities to illuminate the most important and informative aspects of Greek culture. Cartledge highlights the role of such renowned cities as Athens (birthplace of democracy) and Sparta, but he also examines Argos, Thebes,...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 160 p. Late antiquity saw the barbarian invasions overrun the western Roman empire and Persian and Arab armies end Roman rule over the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean. Was late antiquity therefore merely a time of decline? In this vibrant and compact introduction, Gillian Clark sheds light on the concept of late antiquity and...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 160 p. Late antiquity saw the barbarian invasions overrun the western Roman empire and Persian and Arab armies end Roman rule over the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean. Was late antiquity therefore merely a time of decline? In this vibrant and compact introduction, Gillian Clark sheds light on the concept of late antiquity and...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 242 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Homer's tale of the abduction of Helen to Troy and the ten-year war to bring her back to Greece has fascinated mankind for centuries since he related it in The Iliad and The Odyssey. More recently, it has given rise to countless scholarly articles and books, extensive archaeological excavations, epic movies,...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 160 p. The Druids have been known and discussed for at least 2400 years, first by Greek writers and later by the Romans, who came in contact with them in Gaul and Britain. According to these sources, they were a learned caste who officiated in religious ceremonies, taught the ancient wisdoms, and were revered as philosophers. But few figures flit...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions; 94). — ISBN: 9780192804181. Savage and bloodthirsty, or civilized and peaceable? The Celts have long been a subject of enormous fascination, speculation, and misunderstanding. From the ancient Romans to the present day, their real nature has been obscured by a tangled web of preconceived ideas and stereotypes....
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 176 p. Savage and bloodthirsty, or civilized and peaceable? The Celts have long been a subject of enormous fascination, speculation, and misunderstanding. From the ancient Romans to the present day, their real nature has been obscured by a tangled web of preconceived ideas and stereotypes. Barry Cunliffe seeks to reveal this fascinating people...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. Aristocracies or nobilities dominated the social, economic, and institutional history of all European counties until only a few generations ago. The relics of their power, in traditions and behavior, in architecture and the arts, are still all around us. This engaging Very Short Introduction shows how ideas of aristocracy originated in...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. For thousands of years bloodlines have been held as virtually unassailable credentials for leadership, with supreme political power perceived as a family affair across the globe and throughout history. At the heart of royal dynasties, kings were inflated to superhuman proportions, yet their status came at a price: whilst they may have...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 152 p. Many of the familiar aspects of modern life are no more than a century or two old, yet our deep social structures and skills were in large measure developed by small bands of our prehistoric ancestors many millennia ago. In this book, readers are invited to think seriously about who we are by considering who we have been. Chris Gosden is...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Prehistory covers the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history, when our earliest ancestors, the Australopithecines, existed in Africa. But this is relatively recent compared to whole history of the earth of some 4.5 billion years. A key aspect of prehistory is that it...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The rise and fall of the Roman Republic occupies a special place in the history of Western civilization. From humble beginnings on the seven hills beside the Tiber, the city of Rome grew to dominate the ancient Mediterranean. Led by her senatorial aristocracy, Republican armies defeated Carthage and the...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 138 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known. This Very Short Introduction provides a concise and insightful history of the Great War-from the state of Europe in 1914, to the role of the US, the collapse...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 255 p. — (Very Short Introductions). A great deal of the world's history is the history of empires. Indeed it could be said that all history is colonial history, if one takes a broad enough definition and goes far enough back. And although the great historic imperial systems--the land-based Russian one as well as the seaborne empires of western...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 164 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. While children are a relatively unchanging fact of life, childhood is a constantly shifting concept. Throughout the millennia, the age at which a child becomes a youth and a youth becomes an adult has varied by gender, class, religion, ethnicity, place, and economic need. As author James Marten explores in this Very Short Introduction , so...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images, this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, UK, USA, 2017. — 92 p. – (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0199730989. How have the Jews survived? For millennia, they have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. Many have attempted to explain this singular success as a result of divine intervention. In this engaging book, David N....
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. Signed on June 28, 1919 between Germany and the principal Allied powers, the Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I. Problematic from the very beginning, even its contemporaries saw the treaty as a mediocre compromise, creating a precarious order in Europe and abroad and destined to fall short of ensuring lasting peace. At the time,...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 278 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The ancient Near East is known as the "cradle of civilization"--and for good reason. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia were home to an extraordinarily rich and successful culture. Indeed, it was a time and place of earth-shaking changes for humankind: the beginnings of writing and law, kingship and bureaucracy,...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. Assyria was one of the most influential kingdoms of the Ancient Near East. In this Very Short Introduction , Karen Radner sketches the history of Assyria from city state to empire, from the early 2nd millennium BC to the end of the 7th century BC. Since the archaeological rediscovery of Assyria in the mid-19th century, its cities have been...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 105 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199590966. The Napoleonic Wars have an all-important place in the history of Europe, leaving their mark on European and world societies in a variety of ways. In many European countries, they provided the stimulus for radical social and political change–particularly in Spain, Germany, and Italy–and...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. The Maya forged one of the greatest societies in the history of the ancient Americas and in all of human history. Long before contact with Europeans, Maya communities built spectacular cities with large, well-fed large populations. They mastered the visual arts, and developed a sophisticated writing system that recorded extraordinary...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations Vikings then and now Early Scandinavian kingdoms Pagans and Christians Changes in the countryside Towns and trade Across the ocean: seafaring and overseas expansion Settlers in England Raiders and traders around the Irish Sea Vikings and Picts: genocide or assimilation? Landnám in the...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 283 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Middle Ages is a term coined around 1450 to describe a thousand years of European History. In this Very Short Introduction, Miri Rubin provides an exploration of the variety, change, dynamism, and sheer complexity that the period covers. From the provinces of the Roman Empire, which became Barbarian...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 302 p. — (Very Short Introductions). After surviving the fifth century fall of the Western European Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire flourished as one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe for a thousand years. In this Very Short Introduction Peter Sarris introduces the reader to the unique fusion of Roman...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2014. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). From around 900 to 400 BC, the Etruscans were the most innovative, powerful, wealthy, and creative people in Italy. Their archaeological record is both substantial and fascinating, including tomb paintings, sculpture, jewellery, and art. In this Very Short Introduction, Christopher...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2016. — 152 p. Zionism is the nationalist movement affirming Jewish people's right to self-determination through the establishment of a Jewish national state in its ancient homeland. It is one of the most controversial ideologies in the world. Its supporters laud its success at liberating the Jewish people after millennia of persecution and...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2016. — 150 p. — ISBN 9780199908554 ( Zionism is the nationalist movement affirming Jewish people's right to self-determination through the establishment of a Jewish national state in its ancient homeland. It is one of the most controversial ideologies in the world. Its supporters laud its success at liberating the Jewish people after...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In the traditional narrative of American colonial history, early European settlements, as well as native peoples and African slaves, were treated in passing as unfortunate aberrations in a fundamentally upbeat story of Englishmen becoming freer and more prosperous by colonizing an abundant continent of "free...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198746-04-0. The three centuries which followed the conquests of Alexander are perhaps the most thrilling of all periods of ancient history. This was an age of cultural globalization: in the third century BC, a single language carried you from the Rhône to the Indus. A Celt from the lower Danube...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 167 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
With flair and originality, Christopher Tyerman presents a clear and lively discussion of the Crusades, bringing together issues of colonialism, cultural exchange, economic exploitation, and the relationship between past and present. He considers the effects of the Crusades on ordinary life in Western Europe,...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The enormous loss of life and physical destruction caused by the First World War led people to hope that there would never be another such catastrophe. How then did it come to be that there was a Second World War causing twiceas much loss of life and more destruction than any other previous conflict? In this...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar?
The organization of time into hours, days, months, and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. In this Very Short Introduction, Prof Lord John Krebs provides a brief history of human food, from our remote ancestors 3 million years ago to the present day. By looking at the four great transitions in human food - cooking, agriculture, processing, and preservation - he considers a variety of questions, including why people like some...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). There are many stories we can tell about the past, and we are not, perhaps, as free as we might imagine in our choice of which stories to tell, or where those stories end. John Arnold's addition to Oxford's popular Very Short Introductions series is a stimulating essay about how people study and understand...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 305 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Kenneth Morgan provides a wide-ranging thematic introduction to modern Australia, examining the main features of its history, geography and culture since the beginning of European settlement in New South Wales in 1788. It highlights the distinctive features of Australian life by...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed such fervent investigations of the natural world that the period has been called the "Scientific Revolution." New ideas and discoveries not only redefined what human beings believed, knew, and could do, but also forced them to redefine themselves with respect to...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. Ancient Greece is often considered to be the birthplace of science and medicine, and the explanation of natural phenomena without recourse to supernatural causes. The early natural philosophers - lovers of wisdom concerning nature - sought to explain the order and composition of the world, and how we come to know it. They were...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. Ancient Greece is often considered to be the birthplace of science and medicine, and the explanation of natural phenomena without recourse to supernatural causes. The early natural philosophers - lovers of wisdom concerning nature - sought to explain the order and composition of the world, and how we come to know it. They were...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-958098-9. Russia’s sheer size has made it difficult to mobilize resources and to govern effectively, especially given its harsh climate, vast and vulnerable borders, and the diversity of its people. In this Very Short Introduction, Geoffrey Hosking discusses all aspects of Russian history,...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Russia’s sheer size has made it difficult to mobilize resources and to govern effectively, especially given its harsh climate, vast and vulnerable borders, and the diversity of its people. In this Very Short Introduction, Geoffrey Hosking discusses all aspects of Russian history, from the struggle by the...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Acknowledgements List of illustrations List of maps Introduction: questions and approaches Future and past Coercion and participation Poverty and wealth Elite and masses Patriotism and multinationalism West and East Further reading
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 180 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events and developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole - on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men and women, youth. Its central concern is to understand...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 180 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events and developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole - on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men and women, youth. Its central concern is to understand how...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 253 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Iran has rarely been out of the headlines. Yet media interest and extensive coverage has tended to hinder rather than help our understanding of Iran as an idea, an identity, and a people, leading to a superficial understanding of what is a complex and nuanced political culture and civilization. This Very...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the most highly publicized and bitter struggles of modern times, a dangerous tinderbox always poised to set the Middle East aflame--and to draw the United States into the fire. In this accessible and stimulating Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton...
Oxford University Press, 2009. - 144 pages. Japan is arguably today's most successful industrial economy, combining almost unprecedented affluence with social stability and apparent harmony. Japanese goods and cultural products-from animated movies and computer games to cars, semiconductors, and management techniques-are consumed around the world. In many ways, Japan is an icon...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 182 p. India is widely recognised as a new global powerhouse. It has become one of the world's emerging powers, rivalling China in terms of global influence. Yet people still know relatively little about the economic, social, political, and cultural changes unfolding in India today. To what extent are people benefiting from the economic boom?...
USA: Oxford University Press, 2012 - 152 p.
China's decade-long Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution shook the politics of China and the world. Even as we approach its fiftieth anniversary, the movement remains so contentious that the Chinese Communist Party still forbids fully open investigation of its origins, development, and conclusion. Drawing upon a vital trove of...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 168 p. The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images, this Very Short Introduction illuminates the...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the few men in history to fight simultaneously on moral, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural fronts. During his time as a lawyer in South Africa he developed his strategy of non-violence: the idea of opposing unjust laws by non-violent...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented, both in Africa and beyond. The author illustrates important aspects of Africa's history with a range of fascinating historical examples, drawn from over 5 millennia across this vast...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongols carved out the largest land-based empire in world history, stretching from Korea to Russia in the north and from China to Syria in the south, and unleashing an unprecedented level of violence. But as Morris Rossabi reveals in this Very Short Introduction,...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongols carved out the largest land-based empire in world history, stretching from Korea to Russia in the north and from China to Syria in the south, and unleashing an unprecedented level of violence. But as Morris Rossabi reveals in this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbours China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons– the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most repressive regimes, at once...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978-0-19-883077-1. Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbours China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons– the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 192 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0-19-285419-4.
The ancient Egyptians are an enduring source of fascination — mummies and pyramids, curses and rituals have captured our imaginations for generations. We all have a mental picture of ancient Egypt, but is it the right one? How much do we really know about this once great civilization?In...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2004. — 216 p. The ancient Egyptians are an enduring source of fascination – mummies and pyramids, curses and rituals have captured the imagination of generations. We all have a mental picture of ancient Egypt, but is it the right one? How much do we really know about this great civilization? This fully updated second edition of Ancient...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. Africa is a continent of 54 countries and over a billion people. However, despite the rich diversity of the African experience, it is striking that continuations and themes seem to be reflected across the continent, particularly south of the Sahara. Questions of under development, outside exploitation, and misrule are characteristic of...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. What is Pakistan? The name refers to a seventy-year-old post-colonial product of the bloodiest partition of territory and population that accompanied the end of British empire in South Asia. But the region of the Indus Valley has a four-thousand-year-old history, and was the site of one of the earliest and greatest riverine civilisations...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. What is Pakistan? The name refers to a seventy-year-old post-colonial product of the bloodiest partition of territory and population that accompanied the end of British empire in South Asia. But the region of the Indus Valley has a four-thousand-year-old history, and was the site of one of the earliest and greatest riverine civilisations...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 144 p. The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late seventeenth century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy, from the Tale of the Heike to the kabuki retellings of the 47 Ronin....
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198706-78-6. The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal point in British history that occurred between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries and led to far reaching transformations of society. With the advent of revolutionary manufacturing technology productivity boomed. Machines...
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978-0-198706-78-6. The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal point in British history that occurred between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries and led to far reaching transformations of society. With the advent of revolutionary manufacturing technology productivity boomed. Machines...
Oxford University Press, UK, USA, 2015. — 100 p. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0190225068. Here is a brisk, accessible, and vivid introduction to arguably the most important event in the history of the United States Cthe American Revolution. Between 1760 and 1800, the American people cast off British rule to create a new nation and a radically new form of government...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 288 p. Part geographical location, part time period, and part state of mind, the American West is a concept often invoked but rarely defined. Though popular culture has carved out a short and specific time and place for the region, author and longtime Californian Stephen Aron tracks "the West" from the building of the Cahokia Mounds around 900...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 184 p. The Founding Fathers is a concise, accessible overview of the brilliant, flawed, and quarrelsome group of lawyers, politicians, merchants, military men, and clergy known as "the Founding Fathers" - who got as close to the ideal of the Platonic "philosopher-kings" as American or world history has ever seen. R. B. Bernstein reveals...
Oxford University Press, 1984. — 163 p. — (Very Short Introductions). John Blair's Very Short Introduction to the Anglo-Saxon Age covers the emergence of the earliest English settlements to the Norman victory in 1066. This book is a brief introduction to the political, social, religious, and cultural history of Anglo-Saxon England and it is the most comprehensive and authoritative...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 163 p. — (Very Short Introductions). John Blair's Very Short Introduction to the Anglo-Saxon Age covers the emergence of the earliest English settlements to the Norman victory in 1066. This book is a brief introduction to the political, social, religious, and cultural history of Anglo-Saxon England and it is the most comprehensive and...
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2012. — 182 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 019538914X. This brief history of America will span the earliest migrations to the present, reflecting Paul S. Boyer's interests in social, intellectual, and cultural history, including popular culture and religion. It will reflect his personal view of American history, in which a sense of...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 200 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Any consideration of the 20th century would be incomplete without a discussion of Nazi Germany, an extraordinary regime which dominated European history for 12 years, and left a legacy that still echoes with us today. The incredible force of the destructive vision at the heart of Nazi Germany led to a second...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 200 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Any consideration of the 20th century would be incomplete without a discussion of Nazi Germany, an extraordinary regime which dominated European history for 12 years, and left a legacy that still echoes with us today. The incredible force of the destructive vision at the heart of Nazi Germany led to a second...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 319 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Founding Fathers who drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 distrusted political parties, popular democracy, centralized government, and a strong executive office. Yet the country's national politics have historically included all those features. In American Political History: A Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2001. - 152 c.
Beginning with a discussion of familiar images of the French Revolution, garnered from Dickens, Baroness Orczy, and Tolstoy, as well as the legends of let them eat cake, and tricolours, Doyle leads the reader to the realization that we are still living with developments and consequences of the French Revolution such as decimalization, and...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 c. — ISBN 978–0–19–884007–7. Beginning with a discussion of familiar images of the French Revolution, garnered from Dickens, Baroness Orczy, and Tolstoy, as well as the legends of let them eat cake, and tricolours, Doyle leads the reader to the realization that we are still living with developments and consequences of the...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Norman Conquest in 1066 was one of the most profound turning points in English history, dramatically transforming a disparate collection of small nations into a powerful European state. But what actually happened? How was the invasion viewed by those who witnessed it? And how has its legacy been seen by...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Norman Conquest in 1066 was one of the most profound turning points in English history, dramatically transforming a disparate collection of small nations into a powerful European state. But what actually happened? How was the invasion viewed by those who witnessed it? And how has its legacy been seen by...
Oxford Paperbacks, 2000. — 192 p.
First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths' Very Short Introduction to Medieval Britain covers the establishment of the Anglo-Norman monarchy in the early Middle Ages, through to England's failure to dominate the British Isles and France in the later Middle Ages....
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Amid the many catastrophes of the twentieth century, the Spanish Civil War continues to exert a particular fascination among history buffs and the lay-reader alike. This Very Short Introduction integrates the political, social and cultural history of the Spanish Civil War. It sets out the domestic and...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 192 p. The era known as Reconstruction is one of the unhappiest times in American history. It succeeded in reuniting the nation politically after the Civil War but in little else. Among its chief failures was the inability to chart a progressive course for race relations after the abolition of slavery and rise of Jim Crow. Reconstruction also...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 129 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The monarchs of the Tudor period are among some of the most well-known figures in British history. John Guy presents a compelling and fascinating exploration of the Tudors in the new edition of this Very Short Introduction. Looking at all aspects of the period, from beginning to end, he considers Tudor...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 172 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The nineteenth century was a time of massive growth for Britain. In 1800 it was overwhelmingly rural, agrarian, multilingual, and almost half-Celtic. A century later it was largely urban and English. The effects of the Industrial Revolution caused cities to swell enormously. London, for example, grew from...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. The Victorian period may have come to an end over 120 years ago, but the Victorians continue to be a vital presence in the modern world. Contemporary Britain is still in large part Victorian in its transport networks, sewage systems, streets, and houses. Victorian cultural legacies, especially in art, science, and literature, are still...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 193 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations. Politics and government. Religion. Education. Society. Economy and environment. Scotland and the wider world. Culture. Conclusion: The lessons of history. References and further reading. Chronology. Monarchs of Scotland, 843–1714.
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2016. — 184 p. A 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that Asian Americans are the best-educated, highest-income, and best-assimilated racial group in the United States. Before reaching this level of economic success and social assimilation, however, Asian immigrants' path was full of difficult, even demeaning, moments. This book...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. From the eighteenth century until the 1950s, the British Empire was the largest and most far-flung political entity in the world, holding sway at one time over one fifth of the world's population. The territories forming this colossus ranged from tiny islands to vast segments of the world's major continental land masses, and included...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. From the eighteenth century until the 1950s, the British Empire was the largest and most far-flung political entity in the world, holding sway at one time over one fifth of the world's population. The territories forming this colossus ranged from tiny islands to vast segments of the world's major continental land masses, and included...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 349 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The American founding fathers were dedicated to the project of creating a government both functional and incapable of devolving into tyranny. To do this, they intentionally decentralized decision making among the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches. They believed this separation of powers would force...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Mexican Revolution defined the sociopolitical experience of those living in Mexico in the twentieth century. Its subsequent legacy has provoked debate between those who interpret the ongoing myth of the Revolution and those who adopt the more middle-of-the-road reality of the...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Mexican Revolution defined the sociopolitical experience of those living in Mexico in the twentieth century. Its subsequent legacy has provoked debate between those who interpret the ongoing myth of the Revolution and those who adopt the more middle-of-the-road reality of the...
Oxford University Press 2020. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — 978–0–19–751366–8. More than one hundred and fifty years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War still captures the American imagination, and its reverberations can still be felt throughout America's social and political landscape. Louis P. Masur's The U.S. Civil War: A Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 142 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The last century has been a tumultuous one for the culture and politics of Britain. Kenneth Morgan's Twentieth-Century Britain is a crisp analysis of the forces of consensus and conflict that have existed in Britain since the First World War. Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 100 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The Great Fire, the Black Death, flip-flopping religious persecution, the overthrow and reinstatement of the monarchy. The Stuart Britain era, a notch on the timeline spanning roughly 1603-1714, is one of the most interesting times in the history of Britain. John Morrill's Stuart Britain: A Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This highly readable exploration of the central issues and debates about Northern Ireland sets these in the historical context of hundreds of years of conflict. It tackles many questions, such as: What accounts for the perpetuation of ethnic and religious conflict in Ireland? Why has armed violence proven so...
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018. — 176 p. ; illus. — (Very Short Introductions). From early slave rebels to radical reformers of the Civil War era and beyond, the struggle to end slavery was a diverse, dynamic, and ramifying social movement. In this succinct narrative, Richard S. Newman examines the key people, themes, and ideas that animated abolitionism in the...
Oxford University Press, 2010. - 161p. List of illustrations. The predicament: the discontents of the Gilded Age. The crisis of the nineties, 1889–1901. Progressivism takes shape, 1901–1908. The high tide of Progressivism, 1908–1917. Calamities: World War I and the fl u epidemic, 1917–1919. Ebb tide, 1919–1921. Further reading.
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This is a book about the Irish Question, or more specifically about Irish Questions. The term has become something of a catch-all, a convenient way to encompass numerous issues and developments which pertain to the political, social, and economic history of modern Ireland.The Irish Question has of course...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). When Europeans first arrived in North America, between five and eight million indigenous people were already living there. But how did they come to be here? What were their agricultural, spiritual, and hunting practices? How did their societies evolve and what challenges do they face today? Eminent historians...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). When Europeans first arrived in North America, between five and eight million indigenous people were already living there. But how did they come to be here? What were their agricultural, spiritual, and hunting practices? How did their societies evolve and what challenges do they face today? Eminent historians...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Habsburgs are the most famous dynasty in continental Europe. From the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries, they ruled much of Central Europe, and for two centuries were also rulers of Spain. Through the Spanish connection, they acquired lands around the Mediterranean and a chunk of the New World,...
Oxfordr: Oxford University Press — 2008 — 160 p. — ISBN10: 0195326342; ISBN13: 978-0195326345. The New Deal shaped our nation's politics for decades, and was seen by many as tantamount to the "American Way" itself. Now, in this superb compact history, Eric Rauchway offers an informed account of the New Deal and the Great Depression, illuminating its successes and failures....
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. With startling speed, Spanish conquistadors invaded hundreds of Native American kingdoms, took over the mighty empires of the Aztecs and Incas, and initiated an unprecedented redistribution of the world's resources and balance of power. They changed the course of history, but the myth they established was even stranger than their real...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. With startling speed, Spanish conquistadors invaded hundreds of Native American kingdoms, took over the mighty empires of the Aztecs and Incas, and initiated an unprecedented redistribution of the world's resources and balance of power. They changed the course of history, but the myth they established was even stranger than their real...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 166 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In the second edition of The U.S. Congress, Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional historian for more than thirty years, takes readers on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of Capitol Hill, pointing out the key players, explaining their behavior, and translating parliamentary language into plain English. No...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. Americans have always been a hard-drinking people, but from 1920 to 1933 the country went dry. After decades of pressure from rural Protestants such as the hatchet-wielding Carry A. Nation and organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and Anti-Saloon League, the states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution....
Oxford University Press, 1984. — 78 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285404-9. Britain was within the orbit of Graeco-Roman civilization for at least half a millennium, and for over 350 years part of the political union created by the Roman Empire that encompassed most of Europe and all the countries of the Mediterranean. First published as part of the...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 283 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Vanessa Schwartz argues that modern France, as both a world stage and a global crossroads, is an essential actor in the development of contemporary culture. Indeed, French is the only language other than English spoken on five continents, and more people still visit France than...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 282 p. In 1607, Powhatan teenager Pocahontas first encountered English settlers when John Smith was brought to her village as a captive. In 1920, the ratification of the 19th Amendment gave women the constitutional right to vote. And in 2012, the U.S. Marine Corps lifted its ban on women in active combat, allowing female marines to join the...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 176 p. Voltaire's description of the Holy Roman Empire as "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" is often cited to underline its worthlessness. German historians traditionally despised it because it had allegedly impeded German unification. Since 1945 scholars have been more positive but the empire's history and significance is still largely...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 296 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Europeans, Africans, and American Indians practiced slavery long before the first purchase of a captive African by a white land-owner in the American colonies; that, however, is the image of slavery most prevalent in the minds of Americans today. This Very Short Introduction begins with the Portuguese capture...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions.) The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the most highly publicized and bitter struggles of modern times, a dangerous tinderbox always poised to set the Middle East aflame--and to draw the United States into the fire. In this accessible and stimulating Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 151 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0-19-280239-9. Postmodernism has become the buzzword of contemporary society over the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this highly readable introduction the mysteries of this most elusive of concepts are unraveled, casting a critical light upon the way we live now, from the politicizing of...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — x, 141 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0-19-280239-9. Postmodernism has become the buzzword of contemporary society over the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this highly readable introduction the mysteries of this most elusive of concepts are unraveled, casting a critical light upon the way we live now, from the politicizing...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. The iconic images of Uncle Sam and Marilyn Monroe, or the "fireside chats" of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the oratory of Martin Luther King, Jr.: these are the words, images, and sounds that populate American cultural history. From the Boston Tea Party to the Dodgers, from the blues to Andy Warhol, dime novels to Disneyland, the history of...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
We are all classicists — we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their original reality?...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 137 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Written by a leading expert on the Puritans, this brief, informative volume offers a wealth of background on this key religious movement. This book traces the shaping, triumph, and decline of the Puritan world, while also examining the role of religion in the shaping of American society and the role of the...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0192801635; ISBN13: 978-0192801630. More than ever before, the Renaissance stands out as one of the defining moments in world history. Between 1400 and 1600, European perceptions of society, culture, politics and even humanity itself emerged in ways that continue to affect not only Europe...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978-0-19-872647-0, 978-0-19-103994-2. The history of Ancient Babylonia in ancient Mesopotamia is epic. After playing host to three great empires, the Hammurabic and Kassite empires, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, it was conquered by the Persians. Entered triumphantly by...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Ferber explores Romanticism during the period of its incubation, birth, and growth, covering the years roughly from 1760 to 1860. This is the only introduction to Romanticism that incorporates not only the English but the Continental movements, and not only literature but...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. The Romantic myth of Bohemia originated in the early nineteenth century as a way of describing the new conditions faced by artists and writers when the previous system of aristocratic patronage collapsed in the wake of the Age of Revolution. Without the patron system, the artist was free to move around, to seek an audience wherever...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. The Romantic myth of Bohemia originated in the early nineteenth century as a way of describing the new conditions faced by artists and writers when the previous system of aristocratic patronage collapsed in the wake of the Age of Revolution. Without the patron system, the artist was free to move around, to seek an audience wherever...
Oxford University Press, 2012. - 144 p. The Devil has fascinated Christians since the time of the New Testament, and inspired many haunting works of art. This Very Short Introduction looks at the Devil in the history of ideas and in the lives of real people. Darren Oldridge shows us that the Devil is an important figure in western history--a richly complex and contradictory one....
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions. Vol. 681). — ISBN 978-0-19-879757-9, 978-0-19-251819-4. In a world where not everyone believes in God, 'blasphemy' is surely a concept that has passed its use-by-date. And yet blasphemy (like God and religion) seems to be on the rise. In this Very Short Introduction Yvonne Sherwood asks why this should...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 168 p. Marriage has not always meant just one man and one woman. For much of human history, over much of the globe, the most common alternative was polygamy: marriage involving more than one spouse. Polygamy, or plural marriage, has long been an accepted form of union in human societies, involving people living on every continent. However,...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 157 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978-0-19-954790-6. Fashion is an inevitable part of our daily lives, whether we recognize it as such or not. This book, however, deals with a very specific form of fashion, and that is the wardrobe fashion. In particular, with the wardrobe fashion in the West over the last few centuries. Fashion is...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-199560-24-2. Children's literature takes many forms - works adapted for children in antiquity, picture books and pop-ups - and now includes the latest online games and eBooks. This vast and amorphous subject is both intimately related to other areas of literary and cultural investigation but...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 179 p. — (Very short introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-177757-8, 978-0-19-956926-7 This title discusses why literature matters, how narrative works, and what is distinctly English about English literature. Jonathan Bate considers how we determine the content of the field, and looks at the three major kinds of imaginative literature - English...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199206597.
German literature in all genres and from all historical periods has exerted an enormous influence on the history of western thought. From Martin Luther, Frederick Schiller, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Gunter Grass, Germany...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Crime fiction has been one of the most popular genres since the 19th century, but has roots in works as varied as Sophocles, Herodotus, and Shakespeare. In this Very Short Introduction Richard Bradford explores the history of the genre, by considering the various definitions of "crime fiction" and looking at...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. Beloved by children and adults worldwide, the writings of C.S. Lewis have a broad and enduring appeal. Although he is best known for the iconic Chronicles of Narnia series, C. S. Lewis was actually a man of many literary parts. Already well-known as a scholar in the thirties, he became a famous broadcaster during World War Two and wrote...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
In the 1960s, Latin American literature became known worldwide as never before. Writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Mario Vargas Llosa all became part of the general culture of educated readers of English, French,...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 160 p. In 1816, when eighteen-year old Mary Godwin began writing Frankenstein, the idea that a woman could dream up such a tale was as far-fetched as raising a being from the dead. But Mary wasn't just any woman. The daughter of two notorious radicals, Mary had become an outcast from English society when she was only sixteen. A lifelong advocate...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Homer's mythological tales of war and homecoming, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are widely considered to be two of the most influential works in the history of western literature. Yet their author, 'the greatest poet that ever lived' is something of a mystery. By the 6th century BCE, Homer had already become a...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 268 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-923179-9. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Hainsworth and David Robey consider Italian literature from the Middle Ages to the present day, looking at themes and issues which have recurred throughout its history and continue to be of importance today. Examining themes such as regional...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978–0–19–871499–6. Charles Dickens is credited with creating some of the world's best-known fictional characters, and is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age. Even before reading the works of Dickens many people have met him already in some form or another. His characters...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 136 p. The words, phrases, and stories of the New Testament permeate the English language. Indeed, this relatively small group of twenty-seven works, written during the height of the Roman Empire, not only helped create and sustain a vast world religion, but also have been integral to the larger cultural dynamics of the West, above and beyond...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 168 p. Jane Austen wrote six of the best-loved novels in the English language, as well as a smaller corpus of works unpublished in her day, including three volumes of witty, non-realist juvenilia and the innovative, unfinished Sanditon. She pioneered new techniques for representing voices, minds, and hearts in narrative prose, and was a...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 168 p. Jane Austen wrote six of the best-loved novels in the English language, as well as a smaller corpus of works unpublished in her day, including three volumes of witty, non-realist juvenilia and the innovative, unfinished Sanditon. She pioneered new techniques for representing voices, minds, and hearts in narrative prose, and was a...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 279 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Perhaps nowhere else has literature been as conscious a collective endeavor as in China, and China's survival over three thousand years may owe more to its literary traditions than to its political history. This Very Short Introduction tells the story of Chinese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing...
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2010. — 137 p. List of illustrations. Introduction: meeting French literature. Saints, werewolves, knights, and a poète maudit: allegiance and character in the Middle Ages. The last Roman, ‘cannibals’, giants, and heroines of modern life: antiquity and renewal. Society and its demands. Nature and its possibilities. Around the Revolution. The...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 144 p. "Vivam" is the very last word of Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses : "I shall live". If we're still reading it two millennia after Ovid's death, this is by definition a remarkably accurate prophecy. Ovid was not the only ancient author with aspirations to be read for eternity, but no poet of the Greco-Roman world has had a deeper or...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 149 p. — (Very short introductions, 115). — ISBN: 0–19–280455–3. Franz Kafka is among the most intriguing and influential writers of the last century. During his lifetime he worked as a civil servant and published only a handful of short stories, the best known being The Transformation. His other three novels, published after his death, helped...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — x, 139 p. — (Very Short Introductions, 115). — ISBN: 0–19–280455–3. Franz Kafka is among the most intriguing and influential writers of the last century. During his lifetime he worked as a civil servant and published only a handful of short stories, the best known being The Transformation. His other three novels, published after his death,...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. With a history stretching back nearly 1500 years, Japan's literature encompasses a vast range of forms and genres. Since the eighth century, poetry and the non-philosophical lyric voice have occupied a central position in Japanese literary expression. The art of narrative blossomed in the eleventh century with one of the world's great...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 176 p. North American indigenous literature began over thirty thousand years ago when indigenous people began telling stories of emergence and creation, journey and quest, and heroism and trickery. By setting indigenous literature in historical moments, Sean Teuton skillfully traces its evolution from the ancient role of bringing rain and healing...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 p. Originally writing over 600 years ago, Geoffrey Chaucer is today enjoying a global renaissance. Why do poets, translators, and audiences from so many cultures, from the mountains of Iran to the islands of Japan, find Chaucer so inspiring? In part this is down to the character and sheer inventiveness of Chaucer's work. At the time...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 0-19-280144-9. Introductions to Russian literature, like introductions to national literatures more generally, traditionally take three forms. One type is an outine of what is known as the ‘canon’, the lives and works of famous writers – Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, with a...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 0-19-280144-9. Introductions to Russian literature, like introductions to national literatures more generally, traditionally take three forms. One type is an outine of what is known as the ‘canon’, the lives and works of famous writers – Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, with a supporting...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. This Very Short Introduction provides a compelling account of the emergence of the earliest literature in Britain and Ireland, including English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Norman. Introducing the reader to some of the greatest poetry, prose and drama ever written, Elaine Treharne discusses the historical and intellectual...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 323 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Hermione Lee is one of the leading literary biographers in the English-speaking world, the author of widely acclaimed lives of Edith Wharton and Virginia Woolf. Now, in this Very Short Introduction, Lee provides a magnificent look at the genre in which she is an undisputed master--the art of biography. Here Lee...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 149 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0-19-285383-X. What is Theory? What is Literature and Does it Matter? Literature and Cultural Studies Language, Meaning, and Interpretation Rhetoric, Poetics, and Poetry Narrative Performative Language dentity, Identification, and the Subject Appendix: Theoretical Schools and Movements
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 168 p. — ISBN: 978-0-199229-11-2. Poetry, arguably, has a greater range of conceptual meaning than perhaps any other term in English. At the most basic level everyone can recognise it—it is a kind of literature that uses special linguistic devices of organization and expression for aesthetic effect. However, far grander claims have been made for...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
To your local anchorperson, the word "tragedy" brings to mind an accidental fire at a low-income apartment block, the horrors of a natural disaster, or atrocities occurring in distant lands. To a classicist however, the word brings to mind the masterpieces of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Racine; beautiful...
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198749910; ISBN13: 978-0198749912. The triumph of branding What is 'branding'? The history of branding How branding works The branding business Branding projects The ethics of branding A future for branding? References Further reading
Oxford University Press, UK, 2018. — 112 p. — ISBN: 0198754043. Mathematics is playing an increasing important role in society and the sciences, enhancing our ability to use models and handle data. While pure mathematics is mostly interested in abstract structures, applied mathematics sits at the interface between this abstract world and the world in which we live. This area of...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2016. — 144 p. — ISBN: 0198723490. How many possible sudoku puzzles are there? In the lottery, what is the chance that two winning balls have consecutive numbers? Who invented Pascal's triangle? (it was not Pascal) Combinatorics, the branch of mathematics concerned with selecting, arranging, and listing or counting collections of objects, works to...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 144 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–103525–8. How many possible sudoku puzzles are there? In the lottery, what is the chance that two winning balls have consecutive numbers? Who invented Pascal's triangle? (it was not Pascal). Combinatorics, the branch of mathematics concerned with selecting, arranging, and listing or counting collections of objects,...
Oxford University Press, 2012. - 144 p. This Very Short Introduction explores the rich historical and cultural diversity of mathematical practice, ranging from the distant past to the present. Historian Jacqueline Stedall shows that mathematical ideas are far from being fixed, but are adapted and changed by their passage across periods and cultures. The book illuminates some of...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 137 p. Preface Note on the Appendix List of illustrations What is Gödel’s theorem? Arithmetic Axiomatization Proof Arithmetical truths and falsehoods Misconceptions of Gödel’s theorem Gödel’s two theorems Axiomatizationits appeal and demands The general appeal of axiomatization The mathematical appeal of axiomatization Euclid’s Elements: a...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 224 p. The 17th-century calculus of Newton and Leibniz was built on shaky foundations, and it wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries that mathematicians - especially Bolzano, Cauchy, and Weierstrass - began to establish a rigorous basis for the subject. The resulting discipline is now known to mathematicians as analysis. This book, aimed at...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 112 p. — ISBN 0199662541, 9780199662548. The importance of complexity is well-captured by Hawking's comment: "Complexity is the science of the 21st century". From the movement of flocks of birds to the Internet, environmental sustainability, and market regulation, the study and understanding of complex non-linear systems has become highly...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 112 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The importance of complexity is well-captured by Hawking's comment: "Complexity is the science of the 21st century". From the movement of flocks of birds to the Internet, environmental sustainability, and market regulation, the study and understanding of complex non-linear systems has become highly influential...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 180 pages. — (Very Short Introductions).
Chaos exists in systems all around us. Even the simplest system can be subject to chaos, denying us accurate predictions of its behavior, and sometimes giving rise to astonishing structures of large-scale order. Here, Leonard Smith shows that we all have an intuitive understanding of chaotic systems. He...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2015. — 144 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978-0-19-873282-2, 978-0-19-104746-6. Algebra marked the beginning of modern mathematics, moving it beyond arithmetic, which involves calculations featuring given numbers, to problems where some quantities are unknown. Now, it stands as a pillar of mathematics, underpinning the quantitative...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2015. — 144 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 0198732821, 978-0-19-873282-2, 978-0-19-104746-6. Algebra marked the beginning of modern mathematics, moving it beyond arithmetic, which involves calculations featuring given numbers, to problems where some quantities are unknown. Now, it stands as a pillar of mathematics, underpinning the...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2015. — 174 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–873282–2. Algebra marked the beginning of modern mathematics, moving it beyond arithmetic, which involves calculations featuring given numbers, to problems where some quantities are unknown. Now, it stands as a pillar of mathematics, underpinning the quantitative sciences, both social and...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions)ю — ISBN 978–0–19–968368–0. The study of geometry is at least 2500 years old, and it is within this field that the concept of mathematical proof - deductive reasoning from a set of axioms - first arose. To this day geometry remains a very active area of research in mathematics. This book provides a fresh modern...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The aim of this book is to show, in basic terms, how fractals may be constructed, described, and analysed as geometrical objects and how these ‘mathematical’ fractals relate to the ‘real’ fractals of nature or science. Geometry, particularly fractal geometry, is very much a visual subject, and...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 107 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199675988 From the contours of coastlines to the outlines of clouds, and the branching of trees, fractal shapes can be found everywhere in nature. In this Very Short Introduction, Kenneth Falconer explains the basic concepts of fractal geometry, which produced a revolution in our mathematical...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0192853619; ISBN13: 978-0192853615. The aim of this book is to explain, carefully but not technically, the differences between advanced, research-level mathematics, and the sort of mathematics we learn at school. The most fundamental differences are philosophical, and readers of this book will...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — ISBN10: 0199584052; ISBN13: 978-0199584055. Numbers are integral to our everyday lives and factor into almost everything we do. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter M. Higgins, a renowned popular-science writer, unravels the world of numbers, demonstrating its richness and providing an overview of all the number types that...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. Infinity is an intriguing topic, with connections to religion, philosophy, metaphysics, logic, and physics as well as mathematics. Its history goes back to ancient times, with especially important contributions from Euclid, Aristotle, Eudoxus, and Archimedes. The infinitely large (infinite) is intimately related to the infinitely...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. Infinity is an intriguing topic, with connections to religion, philosophy, metaphysics, logic, and physics as well as mathematics. Its history goes back to ancient times, with especially important contributions from Euclid, Aristotle, Eudoxus, and Archimedes. The infinitely large (infinite) is intimately related to the infinitely small...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Symmetry is an immensely important concept in mathematics and throughout the sciences. In this Very Short Introduction, Ian Stewart demonstrates symmetry's deep implications, showing how it even plays a major role in the current search to unify relativity and quantum theory. Stewart, a respected mathematician as...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 128 p. — (Very short introductions, 310). — ISBN: 978-0-19-958848-0. Making good decisions under conditions of uncertainty requires a sound appreciation of the way random chance works. It requires, in short, an understanding of probability. In this Very Short Introduction, John Haigh introduces the ideas of probability - and the different...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 186 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Games are everywhere: Drivers maneuvering in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game. This Very Short Introduction offers a succinct tour of the fascinating world of...
Oxford, New York, UK, USA: Oxford University Press, 2002. — 88 p. — ISBN: 0192803034. We make choices all the time - about trivial matters, about how to spend our money, about how to spend our time, about what to do with our lives. And we are also constantly judging the decisions other people make as rational or irrational. But what kind of criteria are we applying when we say...
Oxford University Press. — 2020. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN13: 9780192519078. Number theory is the branch of mathematics that is primarily concerned with the counting numbers. Of particular importance are the prime numbers, the 'building blocks' of our number system. The subject is an old one, dating back over two millennia to the ancient Greeks, and for many...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–883268–3. How is a subway map different from other maps? What makes a knot knotted? What makes the Möbius strip one-sided? These are questions of topology, the mathematical study of properties preserved by twisting or stretching objects. In the 20th century topology became as broad and...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 142 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–967267–7, ebook ISBN: 978–0–19–165310–0. The study of materials and their properties forms an important area of research. Christopher Hall introduces the field of material science using gold, sand, and string - familiar things that represent the big families of metals, ceramics, and polymers....
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, David Bender explains the basic elements of food, the balance between energy intake and exercise, the problems of over- and under-nutrition, and raises questions on the safety of nutritional supplements. Looking broadly at what constitutes nutrition, Bender provides insight...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The immune system is central to human health and the focus of much medical research. Growing understanding of the immune system, and especially the creation of immune memory (long lasting protection), which can be harnessed in the design of vaccines, have been major breakthroughs in medicine. In this Very...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 272 p. — (Very Short Introductions). What do anaesthetists do? How does anaesthesia work? What are the risks? And how does the anaesthetist know if you are really asleep? Anaesthesia is a mysterious and sometimes threatening process. In this Very Short Introduction, Aidan O'Donnell takes the reader on a tour through the whole of the modern...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 256 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–958454–3. Anaesthesia is a mysterious and sometimes threatening process. In this Very Short Introduction, Aidan O'Donnell takes the reader on a tour through the whole of the modern anaesthetic practice. He begins by explaining general anaesthesia: what it is, how it is produced, and how it...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction explores the historical impact of plague over the centuries, the ways in which it has been interpreted, and the powerful images it has left behind in art and literature. Paul Slack assesses its causes, which have often been disputed and are now being illuminated by microbiologists...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). As doctors and biologists have learned, to their dismay, infectious disease is a moving target: new diseases emerge every year, old diseases evolve into new forms, and ecological and socioeconomic upheavals change the transmission pathways by which disease spread. By taking an approach focused on the general...
2nd Edition. — Oxford, New York, UK, USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 118 p. — ISBN: 0198727496. In 2008 it was believed that HIV/AIDS was without doubt the worst epidemic to hit humankind since the Black Death. The first case was identified in 1981; by 2004 it was estimated that about 40 million people were living with the disease, and about 20 million had died. Yet the...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
HIV/AIDS is without doubt the worst epidemic to hit humankind since the Black Death. As of 2004 an estimated 40 million people were living with the disease, and about 20 million had died. Despite rapid scientific advances there is still no cure and the drugs are expensive and toxic. In the developing world,...
New York, "Oxford University Press", 2008. — 168 p.
Against the backdrop of unprecedented concern for the future of health care, this Very Short Introduction surveys the history of medicine from classical times, through the scholastic medieval tradition and the Enlightenment to the present day. Taking a thematic rather than strictly chronological approach, W.F. Bynum, explores...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 172 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The 2014 Ebola epidemic demonstrated the power of pandemics and their ability not only to destroy lives locally but also to capture the imagination and terrify the world. Christian W. McMillen provides a concise yet comprehensive account of pandemics throughout human history, illustrating how pandemic disease...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 172 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The 2014 Ebola epidemic demonstrated the power of pandemics and their ability not only to destroy lives locally but also to capture the imagination and terrify the world. Christian W. McMillen provides a concise yet comprehensive account of pandemics throughout human history, illustrating how pandemic disease...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 170 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Medical ethics is an area that has particular interest for the general public as well as for the medical practitioner, and issues concerning medical ethics seem to be constantly in the headlines. This short and accessible introduction provides an invaluable tool with which to think about the ethical values...
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2020. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions 640). — ISBN13: 9780192559807. As more of us live longer, the fear of an old age devastated by brain diseases like dementia is growing. Many people are already facing the challenges posed by these progressive and terminal conditions, whether in person or because they are caring for loved ones....
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 168 p. Physiology is the science of life, and sets out to understand how living things work and what makes them distinct from the non-living. It considers how our bodies are supplied with energy, how they maintain their internal parameters, the ways in which we gather and process information, the ways we take action, and the creation of new...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 168 p. This Very Short Introduction explains how organisms can 'know' the time and reveals what we now understand of the nature and operation of chronobiological processes. Covering variables such as light, the metabolism, human health, and the seasons, Foster and Kreitzman illustrate how jet lag and shift work can impact on human well-being.
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Why do we need sleep? What is sleep? What happens when we don't get enough? This Very Short Introduction addresses the biological and psychological aspects of sleep, providing a basic understanding of what sleep is and how it is measured, a look at sleep through the human lifespan, and the causes and...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Psychiatry is increasingly a part of everyday life. The growing number of patients being diagnosed with depression, ADD, alcoholism, and other illnesses mean that few people are not touched by it. This book provides a valuable and comprehensible introduction to the subject. It starts with the history of its...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 216 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The schizophrenic patient presented to the public in sensational press reports and lurid films bears little resemblance to reality of the illness. This book describes what schizophrenia is really like, how the illness progresses, and the treatments that have been applied. It also summarizes the most up-to-date...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 144 p. Addiction is a subject which straddles public and personal interests; societal and criminal justice concerns; and family, social, and medical responses. It is a continuing area of uncertainty and concern for society and professionals trained in the field. This Very Short Introduction presents the basic facts about addiction: what it is,...
Oxford University Press, 2017. - 144 p. What is depression? What is bipolar disorder? How are they diagnosed and how are they treated? Can a small child be diagnosed with depression and treated with antidepressants - and should they be? Covering depression, manic depression, and bipolar disorder, this Very Short Introduction gives a brief account of the history of these concepts,...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–880226–6. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has long captured the public imagination. Newspaper column inches have been devoted to murderers with psychopathic features, and we also encounter psychopaths in films and books. Individuals with psychopathy are characterised in particular...
Oxford University Press Inc. New York. 2010. — 144 pages ISBN: 019954333X Epidemiology plays an all-important role in many areas of medicine, from discovering the relationship between tobacco smoking and lung cancer, to documenting the impact of diet, the environment, and exercise on general health, to tracking the origin and spread of new epidemics such as Swine Flu. It is...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. Engineering is part of almost everything we do--from the buildings we live in and the roads and railways we travel on, to the telephones and computers we use to communicate and the X-ray machines that help doctors diagnose diseases. In this Very Short Introduction, David Blockley explores the nature and practice of engineering--its...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–880231–0. Beginning as a renewal movement within Anglicanism in the eighteenth century, Methodism had become the largest Protestant denomination in the USA in the nineteenth century, and is today one of the most vibrant forms of Christianity. Representing a complex spiritual and evangelistic...
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2017. — 216 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-191054-25-9. From the beginning of time, humans have been driven by both a fear of the unknown and a curiosity to know. We have always yearned to know what lies ahead, whether threat or safety, scarcity or abundance. Throughout human history, our forebears tried to create certainty in the...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 231 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
In places such as Iraq or Lebanon, moving a few feet on either side of a territorial boundary can be a matter of life or death, dramatically highlighting the connections between geography and politics. This Very Short Introduction illuminates the concept of geopolitics, revealing how a country's location and...
6th Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2023. — 192 p. — (Very Short Introductions). We live today in an interconnected world in which ordinary people can became instant online celebrities to millions of fans thousands of miles away, in which religious leaders can influence billions globally, in which humans are altering the climate and environment, in which new infectious...
3rd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2013. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Globalization has become one of the defining buzzwords of our time - a term that describes a variety of complex economic, political, cultural, ideological, and environmental forces that are rapidly altering our experience of the world. In clear, accessible language, Manfred B. Steger goes beyond a...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Diplomacy means different things to different people, the definitions ranging from the elegant ("the management of relations between independent states by the process of negotiations") to the jocular ("the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock"). Written by Joseph M. Siracusa, an internationally...
Oxford University Press, 2002. - 169 p. Is one person's terrorist another's freedom fighter? Is terrorism crime or war? Can there be a "War on Terror"? For many, the terrorist attacks of September 2001 changed the face of the world, pushing terrorism to the top of political agendas, and leading to a series of world events including the war in Iraq and the invasion of...
3rd Ed. — Oxford University Press, 2018. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198809-09-3. Is one person's terrorist another's freedom fighter? Is terrorism crime or war? Can there be a "War on Terror"? For many, the terrorist attacks of September 2001 changed the face of the world, pushing terrorism to the top of political agendas, and leading to a series of...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 293 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In the wake of the post-Cold War era, the aftermath of 9/11, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the emergence of the G20 at the leaders level, few commentators expected a reshaping of the global system towards multipolarity, and away from the United States. And yet, the BRICS - encompassing Brazil, Russia,...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 200 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The massive disorder and economic ruin following the Second World War inevitably predetermined the scope and intensity of the Cold War. But why did it last so long? And what impact did it have on the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and the Third World? Finally, how did it affect the broader history...
4th Updated Edition — Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. The European Union (EU) stands out as a fascinatingly unique political organisation. On the one hand, it has shown the potential for developing deep and wide-ranging cooperation between member states, going far beyond that found anywhere else in the world. On the other, it is currently in the throes of a phase of...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 p. For better or worse—be it militarily, politically, economically, technologically, or culturally—Americans have had a profound role in shaping the wider world beyond them. The United States has been a savior to some, a curse to others, but either way such views are often based on a caricature of American actions and intentions. American...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 177 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The concept of peace has always attracted radical thought, action, and practices. It has been taken to mean merely an absence of overt violence or war, but in the contemporary era it is often used interchangeably with 'peacemaking', 'peacebuilding', 'conflict resolution', and 'statebuilding'. The modern...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 176 p. Diplomatic history explores the management of relations between nation-states by the process of negotiations. From the diplomacy of the American Revolution, the diplomatic origins of the Great War and its aftermath, Versailles, and the personal summitry behind the night Stalin and Churchill Divided Europe, to George W. Bush and the Iraq...
Книга, написанная австралийsким ученым, в которой содержательно и кратко описано такое явления как глобализация. В книге представлены главы, раскрываюшие понятие самого феномена, политическое, экономическое, культурное и идеологическое измерения глобализации. Книга на английском языке.
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 159 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Of undoubtable relevance today, in a post-9-11 world of growing political tension and unease, this Very Short Introduction covers the topics essential to an understanding of modern international relations. Paul Wilkinson explains the theories and the practice that underlie the subject, and investigates issues...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese "economic miracle." It is a country of contradictions and transitions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 152 p. John Hendry, a leading management scholar, looks at the nature and practice of Management in this Very Short Introduction. Tracing the development of management over the last century, he looks not only at what managers do, but also provides an insight to modern management theory. He considers the influences of national and organizational...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). We find risk everywhere--from genetically modified crops, medical malpractice, and stem-cell therapy to heartbreak, online predators, identity theft, inflation, and robbery. They arise from our own acts and they are imposed on us. In this Very Short Introduction, Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany draw on both...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 152 p. The way in which organizations manage their people has always been pivotal to their performance, long before formal human resource management coalesced into a definable and somewhat fashionable discipline in the mid-1980s. Earlier campaigns for worker welfare in the 18th and 19th century were driven by a mix of humanitarian, religious,...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 146 p. — ISBN 978-0-19-883100-6. Fluid mechanics is an important branch of physics concerned with the way liquids and gases behave when in motion and at rest. A quintessential interdisciplinary field of science, it interacts with areas ranging from mathematics and engineering to chemistry and biology. This Very Short Introduction introduces...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN-13 9780198831006. Fluid mechanics is an important branch of physics concerned with the way in which fluids, such as liquids and gases, behave when in motion and at rest. A quintessential interdisciplinary field of science, it interacts with many other scientific disciplines, from chemistry and...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Have you ever wondered how it's possible to build a skyscraper, a big bridge, a jumbo jet, or a cruise liner? Everything has structure. Structure is the difference between a random pile of components and a fully functional object. Through structure the parts connect to make the whole. Natural structures vary...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. What is Nanotechnology and how will it affect us? Nanobots, nanoprobes, nanoswarms, nanogenes the list goes on. Nanotechnology is a staple of science fiction and has a rather chequered history when it comes to public perception: will swarms of sentient nanomachines ultimately take over the world or will nanotech give us nothing more than...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 269 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Antarctic is one the most hostile natural environments in the world, an extraordinary physical space which changes significantly in shape and size with the passing of the seasons. In this Very Short Introduction, Klaus Dodds provides an up-to-date account of Antarctica, highlighting the main issues facing...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. — 200 p. — ISBN: 978-0-19-921128-9. The aim of Geography: A Very Short Introduction is to provide a succinct and lively, yet authoritative, account of the nature of geography as a field of study. For most people, the term ‘geography’ has an instant, if over-simplified, meaning. Different countries in the world, rivers, mountains, and...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions 444). — ISBN-13 9780191003387. Горы: Очень Краткое введение Mountains cover a quarter of the Earth's land surface and are home to about 12 percent of the global population. They are the sources of all the world's major rivers, affect regional weather patterns, provide centres of biological and cultural...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 9780198766735. Озера: очень краткое введение From the mysterious depths of Lake Vostok, Antarctica, to tropical floodplain lakes, inland seas, hydro-reservoirs, and the variety of waterbodies in our local environment, lakes encompass a huge diversity of shapes, sizes, depths, colors, and even...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 192 p. -— (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–881928–8. The Arctic is demanding global attention. It is warming, melting, and thawing in a manner that threatens fundamental state-change. For communities that call the Arctic 'home' this is unwelcome. A warming Arctic brings with it the spectre of costly disruption and interference in...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 177 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–957131–4. From deciding the best day for a picnic, to the devastating effects of hurricanes and typhoons, the weather impacts our lives on a daily basis. Although new techniques allow us to forecast the weather with increasing accuracy, most people do not realise the vast global movements and...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978-0-19-882663-7. Потоки: Очень Краткое введение The tide is the greatest synchronised movement of matter on our planet. Every drop of seawater takes part in tidal motion, driven by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. At the coast, we see the tide as a twice-daily rise and fall of sea level...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978-0-19-882663-7. Потоки: Очень Краткое введение The tide is the greatest synchronised movement of matter on our planet. Every drop of seawater takes part in tidal motion, driven by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. At the coast, we see the tide as a twice-daily rise and fall of sea level...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The marine environment is the largest, most important, and yet most mysterious habitat on our planet. It contains more than 99% of the world's living space, produces half of its oxygen, plays a critical role in regulating its climate, and supports a remarkably diverse and exquisitely adapted array of life forms,...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 152 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–965507–6. The importance of the oceans to life on Earth cannot be overstated. Liquid water covers more than 70% of our planet's surface and, in past geological time, has spread over 85%. Life on Earth began in the oceans over 3.5 billion years ago and remained there for the great majority of...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 132 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
What causes autism? Is it a genetic disorder, or due to some unknown environmental hazard? Are we facing an autism epidemic? What are the main symptoms, and how does it relate to Asperger syndrome? Everyone has heard of autism, but the disorder itself is little understood. It has captured the public...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations. What is citizenship, and why does it matter? Theories of citizenship and their history. Membership and belonging. Rights and the ‘right to have rights’. Participation and democracy. Further reading.
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 217 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The process by which nations escape poverty and achieve economic and social progress has been the subject of extensive examination for hundreds of years. The notion of development itself has evolved from an original preoccupation with incomes and economic growth to a much broader understanding of development....
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. Thinking about politics has tended to be historical in nature because of the comparisons and contrasts that can be drawn between past and present. Different periods in politics have used the past differently. At times political thought can be said to have been drawn directly from the study of history; at others, perhaps including our own...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 160 p. Thinking about politics has tended to be historical in nature because of the comparisons and contrasts that can be drawn between past and present. Different periods in politics have used the past differently. At times political thought can be said to have been drawn directly from the study of history; at others, perhaps including our own...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
In A Very Short Introduction to Politics , Kenneth Minogue begins with a discussion of issues arising from a historical account of politics, and goes on to offer chapters dealing with the Ancient Greeks and the idea of citizenship; Roman law; medieval Christianity and individualism; freedom since Machiavelli...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
No political concept is more used, and misused, than that of democracy. Nearly every regime today claims to be democratic, but not all "democracies" allow free politics, and free politics existed long before democratic franchises.
This book is a short account of the history of the doctrine and practice of...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both as a...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 164 p. Liberalism is one of the most central and pervasive political theories and ideologies, yet it is subject to different interpretations as well as misappropriations. Its history carries a crucial heritage of civilized thinking, of political practice, and of philosophical-ethical creativity. This Very Short Introduction unpacks the concept...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Throughout history, humanity has borne witness to the political and moral challenges that arise when people place national identity above allegiance to geo-political states or international communities. This book discusses the concept of nations and nationalism from social, philosophical, geological,...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 173 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations. List of tables. The theory of communism. A brief history of communism in power. The political system of communism. The economic system of communism. Social policies and structures of communism. Communism’s international allegiances. The collapse of communism – and the future. Further...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2017. — 136 p. Populism is a central concept in the current media debates about politics and elections. However, like most political buzzwords, the term often floats from one meaning to another, and both social scientists and journalists use it to denote diverse phenomena. What is populism really? Who are the populist leaders? And what is the...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 187 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Today, most people think of socialism as an outdated ideology. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Newman seeks to place the idea of socialism in a modern context for today's readers. He explains socialist ideas in the framework of its historical evolution, from the French Revolution to the present day,...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 160 p. What is socialism? Does it have a future, or has it become an outdated ideology in the 21st century? This Very Short Introduction considers the major theories in socialism, and explores its historical evolution from the French Revolution to the present day. Michael Newman argues that socialism has always been a diverse doctrine, while...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
What is fascism? Is it revolutionary? Or is it reactionary? This book argues that it is both: fascism unleashes violence against the left and ethnic minorities, but also condemns the bourgeoisie for its "softness". Kevin Passmore opens his book with a series of "scenes from fascist life"-a secret meeting of...
Third Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2022. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional historian for forty years , takes readers on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of Capitol Hill, pointing out the key players, explaining their behavior, and translating parliamentary language into plain English. He also explores the essential necessity...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–090007–6. Early Americans were suspicious of centralized authority and executive power. Casting away the yoke of England and its king, the founding fathers shared in this distrust as they set out to pen the Constitution. Weighing a need for consolidated leadership with a demand for states'...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Fundamentalism is seen as the major threat to world peace today, a conclusion impossible to ignore since the events in New York on September 11, 2001. But what does "fundamentalism" really mean? Since it was coined by American Protestant evangelicals in the 1920s, the use of the term "fundamentalist" has...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 169 p. The 21st-century world is a fundamentally interdependent place. Globalization has expanded, intensified, and accelerated social relations across world-time and world-space. The digital revolution has served as a catalyst for the creation of sprawling information and communication networks that enmesh individuals, states, and businesses...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. Civil engineering has made an inestimable contribution to modern life, providing the crucial expertise behind our vast transportation systems and the wide array of built structures where we work, study, and play. In this Very Short Introduction, engineer David Muir Wood turns a spotlight on a field that we often take for granted. He sheds...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 108 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0192853600, 13 978-0192853608. Do animals have moral rights? If so, what does this mean? What sorts of mental lives do animals have, and how should we understand welfare? By presenting models for understanding animals' moral status and rights, and examining their mental lives and welfare, David...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 271 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–106845–4. Clinical psychology makes a significant contribution to mental health care across the world. The essence of the discipline is the creative application of the knowledge base of psychology to the unique, personal experiences of individuals who are facing difficulties or changes in their lives. Rather than...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 163 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–875389–6. Clinical psychology makes a significant contribution to mental health care across the world. The essence of the discipline is the creative application of the knowledge base of psychology to the unique, personal experiences of individuals who are facing difficulties or changes in their lives. Rather than...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN13: 978-0192804617. Was love invented by European poets in the Middle Ages or is it part of human nature? Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Is it possible to build robots that have feelings? These are just some of the intriguing questions explored in this guide to the latest thinking about...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-280675-8. Memories are an integral part of being human. They haunt us, we cherish them, and in our lives we collect more of them with each new experience. Without memory, you would not be able to maintain a relationship, drive your car, talk to your children, read a poem, watch television, or...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-280675-8. Memories are an integral part of being human. They haunt us, we cherish them, and in our lives we collect more of them with each new experience. Without memory, you would not be able to maintain a relationship, drive your car, talk to your children, read a poem, watch television, or...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 293 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Are we born with our fears or do we learn them? Why do our fears persist? What purpose does anxiety serve? How common are anxiety disorders, and which treatments are most effective? What's happening in our brain when we feel fear? This Very Short Introduction draws on the best scientific research to offer a...
Oxford University Press, 2011. - 152 p. Madness is something that frightens and fascinates us all. It is a word with which we are universally familiar, and a condition that haunts the human imagination. In this Very Short Introduction, Andrew Scull provides a provocative and entertaining examination of the social, cultural, medical, and artistic responses to mental disturbance...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2016. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introduction) — ISBN: 0198747233 Thoughts and feelings about home traditionally provided people of all cultures with a firm sense of where they belonged, and why. But with the world rapidly changing, many of our basic notions are becoming problematic. Both internationally and within countries, populations are constantly...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 145 p. — (A very short introduction). — ISBN13: 9780192893215. The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and -- not least -- on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping...
2nd Edition. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–879620–6, 978–0–19–251598–8. Some people are cleverer than others. This everyday observation is the subject of an academic field that is often portrayed as confused and controversial, when in fact, the field of intelligence holds some of psychology's best-replicated...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 164 p. — (A very short introduction). — ISBN13: 9780192893215. The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and -- not least -- on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and -- not least -- on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping to understand the processes of...
Oxford University Press, 2011. - 152 p. Genius is the name we give to a quality of work that transcends fashion, celebrity, fame, and reputation. Somehow, genius abolishes both the time and the place of its origin. Shakespeare's plays and Mozart's melodies and harmonies continue to move people in languages and cultures far removed from their native England and Austria. Similarly,...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Psychotherapy and counselling are now widely available to help people overcome emotional and psychological difficulties in their lives. They involve spending time with a professional in an emotionally safe and structured relationship to explore and express the issues that cause distress and difficulty, such...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). What is dreaming, and what causes it? Why are dreams so strange and why are they so hard to remember? Replacing dream mystique with modern dream science, J. Allan Hobson provides a new and increasingly complete picture of how dreaming is created by the brain. Focusing on dreaming to explain the mechanisms of...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-13 9780198755272ю Когнитивно-поведенческая терапия Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological therapy. It is not a unitary approach, but instead has evolved through a range of approaches that share a common underpinning model of cognition (thought) and behaviour being important in...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 146 p. — (Very Short Introductions). "The last great mystery for science," consciousness has become a controversial topic. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction challenges readers to reconsider key concepts such as personality, free will, and the soul. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2017. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-13 9780198794738. Consciousness, "the last great mystery for science," remains a hot topic. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 149 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The Brain: A Very Short Introduction provides a non-technical introduction to the main issues and findings in current brain research and gives a sense of how neuroscience addresses questions about the relationship between the brain and the mind. Short, clear discussions on the mechanical workings of the brain...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Is our sexuality determined primarily by our genes? Or is it shaped by the social norms and expectations we happen to be born into. This Very Short Introduction provides an accessible, thoughtful and thought-provoking introduction to major debates around sexuality in the modern world, highlighting the social...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198828-54-3. Identity has become one of the most widely used terms today, appearing in many different contexts. Anything and everything has an identity, and identity crises have become almost equally pervasive. Yet "identity" is extremely versatile, meaning different things to different people...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Napoleon. Bill Gates. George W. Bush. Osama bin Laden. Leaders and leadership are perennial topics of debate. What is leadership? How does one become a leader? Do we actually need leaders? In this Very Short Introduction, Keith Grint offers provocative answers to these questions, prompting readers to rethink...
Oxford University Press, 2010. - 131 p. Christian ethics, writes theologian D. Stephen Long, is the pursuit of God's goodness by people "on the way" to a city not built by human hands. The cultivation of practical wisdom that comes from diverse sources, it draws on all that is good in God's creation and among the nations. In this Very Short Introduction, Long examines these...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Although there are many kinds of love, erotic love has been celebrated in art and poetry as life's most rewarding and exalting experience, worth living and dying for and bringing out the best in ourselves. And yet it has excused, and even been thought to justify, the most reprehensible crimes. Why should this...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 260 p. — ISBN 9780191576416. Lie detection, offender profiling, jury selection, insanity in the law, predicting the risk of re-offending , the minds of serial killers and many other topics that fill news and fiction are all aspects of the rapidly developing area of scientific psychology broadly known as Forensic Psychology. Forensic Psychology:...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199568928 John Wanamaker famously observed that "half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half." Indeed, though advertising is pervasive in our society, how it works (if and when it works) is not a question most of us can answer. In this Very Short...
New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2003. — 125 р. — (Very Short Introductions). It has been a pleasure and a privilege to write this book for the (until now at least) excellent Very Short Introductions series. In keeping with the ethos of this series I have aimed to keep the book readable and enjoyable, avoiding academic dryness, whilst at the same time endeavouring to...
New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2003. — 125 р. — (Very Short Introductions). It has been a pleasure and a privilege to write this book for the (until now at least) excellent Very Short Introductions series. In keeping with the ethos of this series I have aimed to keep the book readable and enjoyable, avoiding academic dryness, whilst at the same time endeavouring to...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2021. — 136 p. Atheism is often considered to be a negative or pessimistic belief which is characterized by a rejection of values and purpose and a fierce opposition to religion. This Very Short Introduction sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism, arguing that most western atheism is so-named only because it exists in a...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Everyone has heard of of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but amidst the conspiracies, the politics, and the sensational claims, it can be difficult to separate myth from reality. Here, Timothy Lim explores the cultural and historical background of the scrolls, and examines their significance for our understanding of...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. It's hard to think of a single aspect of American culture, past or present, in which religion has not played a major role. The roles religion plays, moreover, become more bewilderingly complex and diverse every day. For all those who want - whether out of curiosity, necessity, or civic duty - a vivid picture and fuller understanding of...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. It's hard to think of a single aspect of American culture, past or present, in which religion has not played a major role. The roles religion plays, moreover, become more bewilderingly complex and diverse every day. For all those who want - whether out of curiosity, necessity, or civic duty - a vivid picture and fuller understanding of...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 272 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Who or what is God? How do different religions interpret God's existence? How can we know God? Many people believe in God; not just throughout history but also in the present day. But who or what is it they believe in? Many different and sometimes conflicting answers have been suggested to this question. This...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 176 p. In the book of Genesis, God bestows a new name upon Abram - Abraham, a father of many nations. With this name and his Covenant, Abraham would become the patriarch of three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Connected by their mutual - if differentiated - veneration of the One God proclaimed by Abraham, these...
2nd edition — Oxford University Press, 2014. — 208 p. This Very Short Introduction provides both the believer and non-believer with a balanced survey of the central questions of theology. David Ford's approach draws us in to considering the principles underlying religious belief, including the centrality of salvation to most major religions, the concept of God in ancient,...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 152 p. What is agnosticism? Is it a belief, or merely the absence of belief? Is it the result of too little thought about an issue--or too much? Who were the first to call themselves "agnostics"? Does agnosticism deserve serious consideration today? Can an agnostic live a religious life? What place should agnosticism have in education? These are...
Oxford University Press, 2012. - 152 p. It is a striking aspect of contemporary western culture that, alongside a decline in traditional religious affiliations, there has been a growing interest in spirituality and the use of the word in a variety of contexts. Indeed, spirituality is sometimes contrasted favorably with religion, which many people see (for good or ill) as an...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 145 p.
Beginning with a handful of members in 1830, the church that Joseph Smith founded has grown into a world-wide organization with over 12 million adherents, playing prominent roles in politics, sports, entertainment, and business. Yet they are an oddity. They are considered wholesome, conservative, and friendly on one hand, and clannish,...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 282 p. — (Very Short Introductions). 'Paganism' is an evocative word that, even today, conjures up deep-seated emotions and prejudices. Until recently, it was primarily a derogatory term used by Christians to describe the non-Christian cultures confronted and vanquished by their Churches. For some it evokes images of sacrifice and barbaric...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). From its obscure beginnings in Jamaica in the early 1930s, Rastafari has grown into an international socio-religious movement. It is estimated that 700,000 to 1 million people worldwide have embraced Rastafari, and adherents of the movement can be found in most of the major population...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). From its obscure beginnings in Jamaica in the early 1930s, Rastafari has grown into an international socio-religious movement. It is estimated that 700,000 to 1 million people worldwide have embraced Rastafari, and adherents of the movement can be found in most of the major population...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 310 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Since the first African American denomination was established in Philadelphia in 1818, churches have gone beyond their role as spiritual guides in African American communities and have served as civic institutions, spaces for education, and sites for the cultivation of individuality and identities in the face...
Oxford University Press, 2014. - 327 p. Africa is home to hundreds of ethnic groups, who together speak more than a thousand languages. It is not surprising, then, that Africa's enormous range of peoples, cultures, and ways of life has engendered a wide diversity of religious practices. This Very Short Introduction offers a wide-ranging look at the myriad indigenous religious...
Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1983. — 102 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this valuable introduction, Michael Carrithers guides us through the complex and sometimes conflicting information that Buddhist texts give us about the life and teaching of the Buddha. He discusses the social and political background of India in the Buddha's time and traces the development of...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 151 p. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition has known over thirteen centuries of continuous development. During that time, it has spread among the neighboring peoples - the Mongol, Himalayan, and Siberian peoples, Manchus and Chinese. At its height is has been practiced in regions as far west as the Volga river and to the east in Beijing. Its capacity...
2nd edition. — Oxford University Press, 2013. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction offers readers a superb overview of the teachings of the Buddha, as well as a succinct guide to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? Words such as "karma" and...
2nd edition. — Oxford University Press, 2013. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction offers readers a superb overview of the teachings of the Buddha, as well as a succinct guide to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? Words such as "karma" and...
2nd edition. — Oxford University Press, 2013. — 184 p. — ISBN10: 9780199663835; ISBN13: 978-0199663835. This Very Short Introduction offers readers a superb overview of the teachings of the Buddha, as well as a succinct guide to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? Words such...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs. Numerous introductory books have appeared in recent years to cater to this...
Oxford University Press, 1998. — 160 p. Hinduism is practiced by about 80 percent of India's population, and by about 30 million people outside India. But how is Hinduism defined, and what basis does the religion have? In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott provides clear insight into the beliefs and authority of Hindus and Hinduism, and considers the ways in which it has...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2016. — 168 p. Hinduism is practised by nearly eighty per cent of India's population, and by some seventy million people outside India. In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott offers a succinct and authoritative overview of this major religion, and analyses the challenges facing it in the twenty-first century. She discusses key...
Oxford University Press Inc., 1998. — 142 pages. List of illustrations List of maps The Scolar and the Devotee Revelation and the Transmission of Knowledge Understanding the Self Divine Heroes: The Epic Tradition Hinduism, Colonialism, and Modernity Challenges to Hinduism: Women and Dalits Crossing the Black Waters: Hinduism beyond India Hindu Dharma, Hinduism, and Hinduisms...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 159 p. As the founder of Islam, a religion with over one billion followers, Muhammad is beyond all doubt one of the most influential figures in world history. But learning about his life and understanding his importance has always proven difficult, as our only source of knowledge comes from the biography of him written by his followers, the...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 288 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Koran has constituted a remarkably resilient core of identity and continuity for a religious tradition that is now in its fifteenth century. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Cook provides a lucid and direct account of the significance of the Koran both in the modern world and in that of traditional...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 171 p. — (Very short introductions, 220). — ISBN 978–0–19–954572–8. Opening with a lucid overview of the rise and spread of Islam, from the seventh to the twenty-first century, this Very Short Introduction introduces the story of Islamic history, charting the evolution of what was originally a small, localized community of believers into an...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
In Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction , Joseph Dan, one of the world's leading authorities on Jewish mysticism, offers a concise and highly accurate look at the history and character of the various systems developed by the adherents of the Kabbalah. Dan sheds light on the many misconceptions about what...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2014. — 168 p. Normon Solomon's succinct book is an ideal introduction to Judaism as a religion and way of life. Demonstrating the diverse nature and ethnic origin of those with the Jewish faith, Solomon explores how the Jewish religion has developed in the 2,000 years since the days of the Bible. This Very Short Introduction starts by...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The Sikh religion has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is ranked as the world's fifth largest religion. However, events such as the verbal and physical attacks on Sikhs just after September 11 indicated that they were being mistaken for Muslims, and suggests that the raising of sufficient...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Jon Balserak explores major ideas associated with the Calvinist system of thought. Beginning during the Protestant Reformation in cities like Zurich, Geneva, and Basel, Calvinism - also known as Reformed Theology - spread rapidly throughout Europe and...
New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1986. — 144 p. Augustine was arguably the greatest early Christian philosopher. His teachings had a profound effect on Medieval scholarship, Renaissance humanism, and the religious controversies of both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Here, Henry Chadwick places Augustine in his philosophical and religious context and traces...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
What is Anglicanism? How is it different from other forms of Christianity, and how did it come to have so many different versions throughout the world? Although originally united by location and a common belief, Anglicanism has gradually lost its pre-eminence as the English state church due to increasing...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 161 p. List of Illustrations What is the Old Testament? Interpretive strategies The Old Testament and history The Old Testament and myth The Exodus from Egypt: a deep probe ‘‘Keep my commandments’’: biblical law ‘‘Festivals of the Lord’’: ritual in ancient Israel Prophets and prophecies Hezekiah and Sennacherib: another deep probe Poetry and...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198717-64-4. Monasticism is a social and religious phenomenon which originated in antiquity and which still remains relevant in the twenty-first century. But what, exactly, is it, and how is it distinguished from other kinds of religious and non-religious practice? In this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 161 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction offers a clear, accessible, and concise account of the apocryphal gospels--exploring their origins, their discovery, and discussing how the various texts have been interpreted both within and outside the Church. Looking at texts ranging from the Gospels from Nag Hammadi to the...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 165 p. The Reformation was a seismic event in European history, one which left an indelible mark on the modern world. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Marshall illuminates the causes and consequences of this pivotal movement in western Christianity. The Reformation began as an argument about what Christians needed to do to be saved, but...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 303 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Mark A. Noll, named one of America's most influential evangelicals by Time Magazine, provides a fresh and accessible history of Protestantism from the era of Martin Luther to the present day. Noll begins with the founding of Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist churches in the sixteenth-century...
2nd edition. — Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2017. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Despite a long history of external threats and internal strife, the Roman Catholic Church remains a vast and influential presence in our modern world. But what were its origins, and how has it changed and adapted over the centuries? After Pope Benedict XVI...
Oxford University Press, 2008. - 161 p. Despite a long history of external threats and internal strife, the Roman Catholic Church remains a vast and influential presence in our modern world. But what were its origins, and how has it changed and adapted over the centuries? After Pope Benedict XVI dramatically resigned in early 2013 (the first Pope to resign since the fifteenth...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern Hempisphere but declining in much of the West, Linda Woodhead offers a bold new overview of the world's largest religion, exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity over two millennia. Christianity addresses topics that other...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. The idea of saints and sainthood are familiar to all, irrelevant of religious faith. In this Very Short Introduction , Simon Yarrow looks at the origins, ideas, and definitions of sainthood, sanctity, and saints in the early Church, tracing their development in history and explaining the social roles saints played in the ancient, medieval,...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The debate between science and religion is never out of the news: emotions run high, fuelled by polemical bestsellers like The God Delusion and, at the other end of the spectrum, high-profile campaigns to teach "Intelligent Design" in schools. Yet there is much more to the debate than the clash of these...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2022. — 176 p. Debates about science and religion are rarely out of the news. Whether it concerns what's being taught in schools, clashes between religious values and medical recommendations, or questions about how to address our changing global environment, emotions often run high and answers seem intractable. Yet there is much more to...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. — (Very short introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-874722-2, 978-0-19-106431-9. Until the modern period the integration of church (or other religion) and state (or political life) had been taken for granted. The political order was always tied to an official religion in Christian Europe, pre-Christian Europe, and in the Arabic world. But from...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. — (Very short introductions, 299). - ISBN: 978-0-19-958802-2. Magic is a much-used term with a complex and controversial history. As a concept and a practice, it has attracted the attention of theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, artists, and historians over the centuries. This Very Short Introduction explains why....
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. — (Very short introductions, 299). — ISBN: 978-0-19-958802-2. Magic is a much-used term with a complex and controversial history. As a concept and a practice, it has attracted the attention of theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, artists, and historians over the centuries. This Very Short Introduction explains why....
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 144 p. Witchcraft is a subject that fascinates us all. Indeed, from childhood most of us develop some mental image of a witch–usually an old woman, mysterious and malignant. But why do witches still feature so heavily in our cultures and consciousness? From Halloween superstitions to literary references such as Faust and, of course, Harry Potter,...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. Trust is indispensable to our everyday lives, yet it can be dangerous. Without trusting others, we cannot function in society, or even stay alive for very long, but being overly trustful can leave us open to exploitation and abuse. And not only is trust pragmatic, but it also has a moral dimension: trustworthiness is a virtue, and...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This is a historical account of feminism that looks at the roots of feminism, voting rights, and the liberation of the sixties, and analyzes the current situation of women across Europe, in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, particularly the Third World countries. Walters examines the difficulties...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. The generation into which each person is born, the demographic composition of that cohort, and its relation to those born at the same time in other places influences not only a person's life chances, but also the economic and political structures within which that life is lived; the person's access to social and natural resources (food,...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-199669-24-4. Autobiography is one of the most popular of written forms. From Casanova to Benjamin Franklin to the Kardashians, individuals throughout history have recorded their own lives and experiences. These personal writings are central to the work of literary critics, philosophers,...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 330 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Corruption is one of the biggest global issues, ahead of extreme poverty, unemployment, the rising cost of food and energy, climate change, and terrorism. It is thought to be one of the principal causes of poverty around the globe. Its significance in the contemporary world cannot be undervalued. In this Very...
Revised edition. — Oxford University Press, 2000. — 120 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Steve Bruce conveys the essence of the field of sociology in this fascinating volume. A well-known populizer of the discipline, Bruce presents here an introduction to a way of thinking that will appeal to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of modern society. Bruce reasserts the...
Revised edition. — Oxford University Press, 2000. — 120 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Steve Bruce conveys the essence of the field of sociology in this fascinating volume. A well-known populizer of the discipline, Bruce presents here an introduction to a way of thinking that will appeal to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of modern society. Bruce reasserts the...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Ali Rattansi provides a balanced assessment of what's true and what's false about multiculturalism. Rattansi provides a useful definition of the word "multiculturalism" and he looks at how the term is used--and misused--in political debate, public policy, and within the...
Oxford University Press, 2013. - 144 p. What does diaspora mean? Until quite recently, the word had a specific and restricted meaning, referring principally to the dispersal and exile of the Jews. But since the 1960s, the term diaspora has proliferated to a remarkable extent, to the point where it is now applied to migrants of almost every kind. This Very Short Introduction...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 138 p. — (Very Short Introductions). International migration is an issue of intense public and political concern. How closely linked are migrants with terrorist organizations? What factors lie behind the dramatic increase in the number of woman migrating? This Very Short Introduction looks at the global phenomenon of human migration-both legal...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2016. — 92 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0198753772. In recent years, global migration has transformed in terms of its numbers and reach, its political significance, and its impact. The rising rates of international migration have been matched by growing public and media interest around the world. Today, the political and media...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Organizations are everywhere. We meet them on every street corner in the form of families and shops, study in them, work for them, buy from them, pay taxes to them. But we rarely give much thought to where they came from, what they are today, and what they might become in the future. How and why do they have so...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This Introduction explores the origins of capitalism and questions whether it did indeed originate in Europe. It examines a distinctive stage in the development of capitalism that began in the 1980s, in order to understand where we are now and how capitalism has evolved since. The book discusses the crisis...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. With the world desperate to find energy sources that do not emit carbon gases--a desire compounded by the sky-rocketing cost of fossil fuels--nuclear power is back on the agenda and in the news. Yet nuclear power sparks anxiety in many people who are unclear about the nature and extent of the associated risks. In this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. From the Bronze Age mariners of the Mediterranean to contemporary sailors using satellite-based technologies, the history of navigation at sea, the art of finding a position and setting a course, is fascinating. The scientific and technological developments that have enabled accurate measurements of position were central to exploration,...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. — 101 p. — (Very Short Introductions). My aim in this book is to help you the reader gain insight into this big subject. I hope to show you enough physics, and enough about physics and its history, for you to appreciate what physics covers; to grasp how physicists carry out research and why that research is important; to understand how and...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. — 101 p. — (Very Short Introductions). My aim in this book is to help you the reader gain insight into this big subject. I hope to show you enough physics, and enough about physics and its history, for you to appreciate what physics covers; to grasp how physicists carry out research and why that research is important; to understand how and...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. — 101 p. — (Very Short Introductions). My aim in this book is to help you the reader gain insight into this big subject. I hope to show you enough physics, and enough about physics and its history, for you to appreciate what physics covers; to grasp how physicists carry out research and why that research is important; to understand how and...
Oxford Universiti Press, UK, USA, 2016. — 108 p. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0198752857. Astrophysics is the physics of the stars, and more widely the physics of the Universe. It enables us to understand the structure and evolution of planetary systems, stars, galaxies, interstellar gas, and the cosmos as a whole. In this Very Short Introduction, the leading...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. Black holes are a constant source of fascination to many due to their mysterious nature. This Very Short Introduction, addresses a variety of questions, including what a black hole actually is, how they are characterized and discovered, and what would happen if you came too close to one. Professor Katherine Blundell looks at the seemingly...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–165395–7. Black holes are a constant source of fascination to many due to their mysterious nature. This Very Short Introduction, addresses a variety of questions, including what a black hole actually is, how they are characterized and discovered, and what would happen if you came too close to one. Professor Katherine...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–165395–7. Black holes are a constant source of fascination to many due to their mysterious nature. This Very Short Introduction, addresses a variety of questions, including what a black hole actually is, how they are characterized and discovered, and what would happen if you came too close to one. Professor Katherine...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 250 p. — (Very Short Introductions 51). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285416-2. Written in simple and accessible language, this non-technical introduction to cosmology, or the creation and development of the universe, explains the discipline, covers its history, details the latest developments, and explains what is known, what is believed, and what is purely...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. — 177 p. Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Almost everything we know about the Universe has come from studying the messages carried by light from outer space. Until only a handful of decades ago, this meant observing optical photons in the narrow visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, recent...
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 0198745869. From the first, telescopes have made dramatic revelations about the Universe and our place in it. Galileo's observations of the Moon's cratered surface and discovery of Jupiter's four big satellites profoundly altered the perception of the heavens. Over the past century, the rapid...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 85 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978-0-19-923434-9. In this fascinating Very Short Introduction, popular science writer John Gribben tells the story of our growing understanding of galaxies, from the days before Galileo to our present-day observations of our many hundreds of millions of galactic neighbors. Not only are galaxies...
Oxford University Press, 2003. "The History of Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction" traces the history of Western astronomy, from prehistoric times to the origins of astrophysics in the mid-nineteenth century and the technical developments since the Second World War. Astronomy, perhaps the first of the sciences, was already well developed by the time of Christ — the...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions) ISBN: 978-0-19-883269-0. The Sun, as our nearest star, is of enormous importance for life on Earth - providing the warm radiation and light which allowed complex life to evolve. The Sun plays a key role in influencing our climate, whilst solar storms and high-energy events can threaten our communication...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Every atom of our bodies has been part of a star. In this lively and compact introduction, astrophysicist Andrew King reveals how the laws of physics force stars to evolve, driving them through successive stages of maturity before their inevitable and sometimes spectacular deaths, to end as remnants such as...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–884112–8. Not long ago, the Solar System was the only example of a planetary system - a star and the bodies orbiting it - that we knew. Now, we know thousands of planetary systems, and have even been able to observe planetary systems at the moment of their birth. For many decades, we were only...
Oxford University Press, 2010. - 144 p. From the rings of Saturn to the "canals" of Mars and the Great Red Dot of Jupiter, the planets of our Solar System have long fascinated humanity. Featuring many striking photos, this Very Short Introduction offers a fascinating portrait of the unique world of each planet as well as an illuminating discussion of moons, asteroids, and...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2018. — 126 p. — ISBN: 019968412X. How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalized enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of nature and its concern with humankind's place in the universe to modern...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions 109). — ISBN 13 9780192804341. Физика элементарных частиц: очень краткое введение In Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, best-selling author Frank Close provides a compelling and lively introduction to the fundamental particles that make up the universe. The book begins with a guide to what matter is...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 148 pages. — (Very Short Introductions). In Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, best-selling author Frank Close provides a compelling and lively introduction to the fundamental particles that make up the universe. The book begins with a guide to what matter is made up of and how it evolved, and goes on to describe the fascinating and...
Oxford, New York, UK, USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 108 p. — ISBN: 0198723628. An isotope is a variant form of a chemical element, containing a different number of neutrons in its nucleus. Most elements exist as several isotopes. Many are stable while others are radioactive, and some may only exist fleetingly before decaying into other elements. In this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions, 69). — ISBN 0-19-280252-6. Quantum Theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid, exciting, and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world. It does not disguise the problems of interpretation...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In this Very Short Introduction, Stephen J. Blundell illuminates the mysterious force of magnetism. For centuries, magnetism has been used for various purposes-through compasses it gave us the ability to navigate, and through motors, generators, and turbines, it has given us power. Blundell explores...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 172 p. What is matter? Matter is the stuff from which we and all the things in the world are made. Everything around us -- from desks, to books, to our own bodies -- are made of atoms, which are small enough that a million of them can fit across the breadth of a human hair. Inside every atom is a tiny nucleus and orbiting the nucleus is a cloud...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 392 p. We live in a world of waves. The Earth shakes to its foundations, the seas and oceans tremble incessantly, sounds reverberate through land, sea, and air. Beneath the skin, our brains and bodies are awash with waves of their own, and the Universe is filled by a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, of which visible light is the...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–880654–7. What is matter? Matter is the stuff from which we and all the things in the world are made. Everything around us - from desks, to books, to our own bodies - are made of atoms, which are small enough that a million of them can fit across the breadth of a human hair. Inside every atom...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198729-14-6. Gravity is one of the four fundamental interactions that exist in nature. It also has the distinction of being the oldest, weakest, and most difficult force to quantize. Understanding gravity is not only essential for understanding the motion of objects on Earth, but also the motion...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 128 p. — (Very short introductions, 190). — ISBN: 978-0-19-923622-0. Einstein's theory of relativity shattered the world of physics - replacing Newtonian ideas of space and time with bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions, a world of slowing clocks and stretched space, black holes and curved space-time. This introduction explores and explains...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 129 p. — (Very short introductions, 190). — ISBN: 978-0-19-923622-0. Einstein's theory of relativity shattered the world of physics - replacing Newtonian ideas of space and time with bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions, a world of slowing clocks and stretched space, black holes and curved space-time. This introduction explores and explains...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 103 pages. — (Very Short Introductions).
From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas or the cooling of a hot metal, to the unfolding of a thought in our minds and even the course of life itself, everything is governed by the four Laws of Thermodynamics. These laws specify the nature of 'energy' and 'temperature', and are soon revealed to reach...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 85 pages. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0199572194 The laws of thermodynamics drive everything that happens in the universe. From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas to the cooling of hot metal–everything is moved or restrained by four simple laws. Written by Peter Atkins, one of the world's leading authorities on thermodynamics, this...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 151 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 019954090X.
Superconductivity - the flow of electric current without resistance in certain materials as temperatures near absolute zero - is one of the greatest discoveries of 20th century physics, but it can seem impenetrable to those who lack a solid scientific background. Outlining the fascinating...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. There are many more states of matter than just solid, liquid, and gas. Examples include liquid crystal, magnet, glass, and superconductor. New states are continually, and unexpectedly, being discovered. Some states, such as superconductor, can act like Schrödinger's cat and exhibit the weirdness normally associated with the quantum theory...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. There are many more states of matter than just solid, liquid, and gas. Examples include liquid crystal, magnet, glass, and superconductor. New states are continually, and unexpectedly, being discovered. Some states, such as superconductor, can act like Schrödinger's cat and exhibit the weirdness normally associated with the quantum theory...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978–0–19–880713–1. Soft Matter science is concerned with soft materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, and foams, and has emerged as a rich interdisciplinary field over the last 30 years. Drawing on physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering, soft matter links fundamental scientific...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 0198814321. Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics–notably quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics–and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications. A deeper understanding of these theories helps both physics,...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 287 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Sport is big business; international in nature and the focus of much media and cultural attention. In this Very Short Introduction, Mike Cronin charts the history of sport, from its traditional origins in folk football and cock fighting to its position as a global phenomenon today. Looking at a variety of...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 128 p. This book provides an introduction to the most important philosopher of the Islamic world, Ibn Sīnā, often known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna. After introducing the man and his works, with an overview of the historical context in which he lived, the book devotes chapters to the different areas of Ibn Sīnā's thought. Among the...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 128 p. This book provides an introduction to the most important philosopher of the Islamic world, Ibn Sīnā, often known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna. After introducing the man and his works, with an overview of the historical context in which he lived, the book devotes chapters to the different areas of Ibn Sīnā's thought. Among the...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 145 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of Illustrations Humans and beasts: understanding ourselves Why do we read Plato’s Republic? The happy life, ancient and modern Reason, knowledge and scepticism Logic and reality When did it all begin? (and what is it anyway?) Timeline Further Reading Notes
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 120 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This lively and accessible book focuses on the philosophy and argument of Plato's writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy and the general themes of his thinking. It discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2016. — 111 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 0198718640. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a man of extraordinary intellectual creativity who lived an exceptionally rich and varied intellectual life in troubled times. More than anything else, he was a man who wanted to improve the life of his fellow human beings through the...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0192854062. Hume is one of the greatest of all British philosophers, and even in his own lifetime was celebrated as one of the pivotal figures of the Enlightenment. A central theme of his philosophy is the conviction that questions traditionally thought of as completely independent of the scientific...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 142 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0192854062. Hume is one of the greatest of all British philosophers, and even in his own lifetime was celebrated as one of the pivotal figures of the Enlightenment. A central theme of his philosophy is the conviction that questions traditionally thought of as completely independent of the scientific...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 177 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of Illustrations List of Maps The Man and His Work A Public Figure Zoological Researches Collecting Facts The Philosophical Background The Structure of the Sciences Logic Knowledge Ideal and Achievement Reality Change Causes Empiricism Aristotle’s World-Picture Psychology Evidence and Theory Teleology...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). There is no denying that thinking comes naturally to human beings and that thinking is indeed central to what it means to be human. But what are thoughts? How does the brain--billions of tiny neurons and synapses--accomplish thought? In this compelling Very Short Introduction, Tim Bayne offers a compact but...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 132 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations Creatures of difference Difference and culture Difference and desire Difference or truth? Dissent Further reading Ill
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). German philosophy stands at the center of modern thought. Without Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Husserl there would be no Anglo-American "analytical" style of philosophy. And without Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, the "Continental Philosophy" of Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Badiou, and Zizek is...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2017. — (Very Short Introduction). — 160 p. — ISBN-13 9780190692704. Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose – and, if at all possible, cure – the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner...
Oxford University Press, 2011. - 160 p. Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose -- and, if at all possible, cure -- the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 120 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
It is by no means absurd to say that Engels invented Marxism. His work did more than Marx's to attract and make converts to the most influential political movement of modern times. He was not only the father of dialectical and historical materialism-the official philosophies of history and science in many...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 164 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 0-19-285359-7. In this enlightening new Very Short Introduction, Simon Critchley shows us that Continental philosophy encompasses a distinct set of philosophical traditions and practices, with a compelling range of problems all too often ignored by the analytic tradition. He discusses the ideas and...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 160 p. — ISBN: 0198806981, 978-0198806981. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was one of the major intellectual figures of the twentieth century. Born in Konigsberg to secular Jewish parents, she was a student of the two major exponents of Existenz philosophy in Germany, Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger. Arendt escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, traveling...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 184 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Jürgen Habermas is the most renowned living German philosopher. This book aims to give a clear and readable overview of his philosophical work. It analyzes both the theoretical underpinnings of Habermas's social theory, and its more concrete applications in the fields of ethics, politics, and law. Finally, it...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions), 153). — ISBN: 978-0-19-280428-0. Thomas Flynn's Existentialism is part of Oxford University Press' "very short introduction" series. "Weighing in" at less than 150 pages, Flynn's volume is both short and incisive, providing an introduction to most of the key existentialist philosophers and an overview of most...
Oxford University Press, 2006. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions 153). — ISBN: 978-0-19-280428-0. Thomas Flynn's Existentialism is part of Oxford University Press' "very short introduction" series. "Weighing in" at less than 150 pages, Flynn's volume is both short and incisive, providing an introduction to most of the key existentialist philosophers and an overview of most...
Oxford University Press, UK, USA, 2014. — 86 p. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0195398912. To understand China, it is essential to understand Confucianism. First formulated in the sixth century BCE, the teachings of Confucius would come to dominate Chinese society, politics, economics, and ethics. In this Very Short Introduction, Daniel K. Gardner explores the major...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). French culture is unique in that philosophy has played a significant role from the early-modern period onwards, intimately associated with political, religious, and literary debates, as well as with epistemological and scientific ones. While Latin was the language of learning there was a universal...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). French culture is unique in that philosophy has played a significant role from the early-modern period onwards, intimately associated with political, religious, and literary debates, as well as with epistemological and scientific ones. While Latin was the language of learning there was a universal...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). French culture is unique in that philosophy has played a significant role from the early-modern period onwards, intimately associated with political, religious, and literary debates, as well as with epistemological and scientific ones. While Latin was the language of learning there was a universal...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very short introductions 278). — ISBN: 978-0-19-280345-0. Simon Glendinning explores Jacque Derrida's work, from his engagement with the history of metaphysics to his views on law and justice and ethics and politics. Confronting and refuting claims that Derrida was an irresponsible 'postmodernist' or 'nihilist' he instead reveals...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) is one of the most famous and important philosophers of the twentieth century. In this account of his life and work A. C. Grayling introduces both his technical contributions to logic and philosophy, and his wide-ranging views on education, politics, war, and sexual morality....
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions 46). — ISBN978-0-19-285411-7, 0-19-285411-9. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original thinker, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking far outside the bounds of philosophy alone. In this engaging Introduction, A.C. Grayling makes Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions 46). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285411-7, 0-19-285411-9. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original thinker, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking far outside the bounds of philosophy alone. In this engaging Introduction, A.C. Grayling makes Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
From aesthetics to the penal system, and from madness and civilization to avant-garde literature, Foucault was happy to reject old models of thinking and replace them with fresh versions that are still being debated today. A major influence on Queer Theory and gender studies (he was openly gay and died of an...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 153 р. — (Very Short Introductions). India has a long, rich, and diverse tradition of philosophical thought, spanning some two and a half millennia and encompassing several major religious traditions. In this intriguing introduction to Indian philosophy, the diversity of Indian thought is emphasized. It is structured around six schools of...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-882866-2, 978-0-19-256380-4. Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction provides an invaluable guide to the complex and voluminous thought of one of the 20th century’s greatest yet most enigmatic and divisive philosophers. It focuses on Martin Heidegger’s most important work, Being...
Oxford University Press, 1997. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is probably the most divisive philosopher of the twentieth century: viewed by some as a charlatan and by others as a leader and central figure of modern philosophy. Michael Inwood's lucid introduction to Heidegger's thought focuses on his most important work, "Being and Time," and...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 140 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most readable of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 141 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Reference system List of illustrations Life and times Works Summa Theologiae: First Part Summa Theologiae: Second Part Summa Theologiae: Third Part Aftermath: Thomism Further reading
Oxford University Press, 2014. - 152 p. What is knowledge? How does it differ from mere belief? Do you need to be able to justify a claim in order to count as knowing it? How can we know that the outer world is real and not a dream? Questions like these are ancient ones, and the branch of philosophy dedicated to answering them - epistemology - has been active for thousands of...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 168 p. — (Very Shot Introductions). Generations of philosophers, both ancient and modern, have traced their inspiration back to the Presocratics. Part of the fascination stems from the fact that little of what they wrote survives. Here Osborne invites her readers to dip their toes into the fragmentary remains of thinkers from Thales to...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 319 p. — (Very Short Introductions). A foundational moment in the history of modern European thought, the Enlightenment continues to be a reference point for philosophers, scholars and opinion-formers. To many it remains the inspiration of our commitments to the betterment of the human condition. To others, it represents the elevation of one set of...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 152 p.
Hegel is regarded as one of the most influential figures on modern political and intellectual development. After painting Hegel's life and times in broad strokes, Peter Singer goes on to tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Hegel's philosophy. Offering a broad discussion of Hegel's ideas and an account of his major works, Singer...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 152 p. Hegel is regarded as one of the most influential figures on modern political and intellectual development. After painting Hegel's life and times in broad strokes, Peter Singer goes on to tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Hegel's philosophy. Offering a broad discussion of Hegel's ideas and an account of his major works, Singer...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 120 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx's thought, enabling us to grasp Marx's views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. In plain English, he explains alienation, historical materialism, the...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 128 p. — (A Very Short Introduction 30). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285409-4. René Descartes (1596-1650) had a remarkably short working life, and his output was small, yet his contributions to philosophy and science have endured to the present day. In this book, Tom Sorell shows Descartes as an advocate and practitioner of a new mathematical approach to...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 193 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
One of the most profound thinkers of modern history, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) was a central figure of the European Enlightenment. He was also its most formidable critic, condemning the political, economic, theological, and sexual trappings of civilization along lines that would excite the enthusiasm of...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 146 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, UK, 2017. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198811705. Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining...
2nd Ed. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198830-78-5. Born in 1926 in France, Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Over the course of his life he dabbled in drugs, politics, and the Paris SM scene, all whilst striving to understand the deep concepts of identity, knowledge, and power. From...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 169 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198728-79-4. Utilitarianism may well be the most influential secular ethical theory in the world today. It is also one of the most controversial. It clashes, or is widely thought to clash, with many conventional moral views, and with human rights when they are seen as inviolable. Would it, for...
Oxford University Press, 1984. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). John Locke (1632-1704) one of the greatest English philosophers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, argued in his masterpiece, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, that our knowledge is founded in experience and reaches us principally through our senses; but its message has been curiously...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This Very Short Introduction introduces readers to the key concepts of political philosophy: authority, democracy, freedom and its limits, justice, feminism, multiculturalism, and nationality. Accessibly written and assuming no previous knowledge of the subject, it encourages the reader to think clearly and...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). There are many debates about what constitutes a utopia. Are utopias benign or dangerous? Is the idea of utopianism essential to Christianity or heretical? What is the relationship between utopia and ideology? In this Very Short Introduction, Lyman Sargent, one of the leading scholars in the field of utopian...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198837-57-7. Niccolo Machiavelli taught that political leaders must be prepared to do evil so that good may come of it, and his name has been a byword ever since for duplicity and immorality. Is his sinister reputation deserved? In answering this question Quentin Skinner traces the course of...
Oxford University Press, 1981. — 69 p. — (Very Short Introductions.) Machiavelli taught that political leaders must be prepared to do evil that good may come of it. Offering the first brief introduction to Machiavelli's thought to appear in twenty-five years, Skinner focuses on his three major works, The Prince, Discourses, and The History of Florence. He discusses the influence...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. Niccolo Machiavelli taught that political leaders must be prepared to do evil so that good may come of it, and his name has been a byword ever since for duplicity and immorality. Is his sinister reputation deserved? In answering this question Quentin Skinner traces the course of Machiavelli's adult life, from his time as...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 94 p. — ISBN: 0199340498
Millions of Africans, Asians, and other peoples were the subjects of colonial rule by overseas empires through the mid-twentieth century. By the end of the century, however, nearly all of these peoples had become citizens of independent nation-states. The United Nations grew from 51 member states at its founding in 1945...
Oxford University Press, 2011. - 144 p. From Cicero and Augustine through the middle ages and into the Reformation, this Very Short Introduction considers conscience as a matter of human rights and obligations, as well as an important issue in contemporary politics. Written by Paul Strohm, an eminent authority in the field and an engaging writer, this compact book provides a...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003 — 200 p. — ISBN10: 0192801821; ISBN13: 978-0192801821. Postcolonialism explores the political, social, and cultural effects of decolonization, continuing the anti-colonial challenge to western dominance. This lively and innovative account of both the history and key debates of postcolonialism discusses its importance as an historical...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know? This book introduces important themes in ethics, knowledge, and the self, via readings from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the point of studying philosophy, explains how different areas of...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The phrase "the meaning of life" for many seems a quaint notion fit for satirical mauling by Monty Python or Douglas Adams. But in this spirited Very Short Introduction, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a serious if often amusing look at the question and offers his own surprising answer. Eagleton first...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. — 128 p. — ISBN10: 9780199606696; ISBN13: 978-0199606696. Is objectivity possible? Can there be objectivity in matters of morals? What would a truly objective account of the world be like? Is everything subjective, or relative? Are moral judgments objective or culturally relative? This Very Short Introduction demonstrates that there are a...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-878666-5, ISBN: 978-0-19-109031-8. Stoicism is two things: a long past philosophical school of ancient Greece and Rome, and an enduring philosophical movement that still inspires people in the twenty-first century to re-think and re-organize their lives in order to achieve personal...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 144 p. What is time? What does it mean for time to pass? Is it possible to travel in time? What is the difference between the past and future? Until the work of Newton, these questions were purely topics of philosophical speculation. Since then we've learned a great deal about time, and its study has moved from a subject of philosophical...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). People of faith often argue that without God, there can be no morality. Indeed, without religion, our lives are left without meaning and are likely to degenerate into moral chaos. In this Very Short Introduction, philosopher Stephen Law explains why these claims are false and why humanism--though a rejection of...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. — 161 p. Philosophy of Mind: A Very Short Introduction probes some of the great philosophical questions about the mind: What is the relationship between mind and matter? Can science unravel the mystery of consciousness? How can our thoughts represent things in the world? Are computers genuinely intelligent? In the book, Barbara Gail...
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. — 145 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978-0-19-968443-4. Causation is the most fundamental connection in the universe. Without it, there would be no science or technology. There would be no moral responsibility either, as none of our thoughts would be connected with our actions and none of our actions with any consequences. Nor...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 145 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978-0-19-968443-4. Causation is the most fundamental connection in the universe. Without it, there would be no science or technology. There would be no moral responsibility either, as none of our thoughts would be connected with our actions and none of our actions with any consequences. Nor would we...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Metaphysics is traditionally one of the four main branches of philosophy, alongside ethics, logic and epistemology. It is an area that continues to attract and fascinate many people, even though it is generally thought to be highly complex and abstract. For some it is associated with the mystical or religious....
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Every day we seem to make and act upon all kinds of choices: some trivial, others so consequential that they change the course of one's life, or even the course of history. But are these choices really free, or are we compelled to act the way we do by factors beyond our control? Is the feeling that we could...
Oxford University Press, 2017 — 144 p. — ISBN: 0198791003 Perception is one of the oldest and most deeply investigated topics in the field of psychology, and it also raises some profound philosophical questions. It is concerned with how we use the information reaching our senses to guide and control our behavior as well as to create our particular, subjective experiences of the...
Oxford University Press, 2001. ― 142 p. ― (Very short introductions, 50). ― ISBN: 0-19-280199-6. Immanuel Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but is also one of the most difficult. In this illuminating Very Short Introduction, Roger Scruton ― a well-known and controversial philosopher in his own right ― tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a...
Oxford University Press, 2002. ― 144 p. ― (Very short introductions, 70). ― ISBN: 0-19-280316-6, 978-0192803160. Father of the Enlightenment and the last guardian of the medieval world, Spinoza made a brilliant attempt to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch and to present a vision of man as simultaneously bound by necessity and eternally free....
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 123 p. — (Very short introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-959441-2. Is matter real? Are persons real? Is time real? This Very Short Introduction discusses what, if anything, is "real" by looking at a variety of arguments from philosophy, physics, and cognitive science. Jan Westerhoff shows that the question "what is real?" is not some esoteric...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-191508-54-7. Hermeneutics is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, a behaviour that is intrinsic to our daily lives. As humans, we decipher the meaning of newspaper articles, books, legal matters, religious texts, political speeches, emails, and even dinner conversations every...
Oxford: Oxford University Press — 2002 — 152 p — ISBN10: 0192801597; ISBN13: 978-0192801593. Roland Barthes was the leading figure of French Structuralism, the theoretical movement of the 1960s which revolutionized the study of literature and culture, as well as history and psychoanalysis. But Barthes was a man who disliked orthodoxies. His shifting positions and theoretical...
Oxford University Press, 2001. - 91p. List of illustrations Blood and beauty Paradigms and purposes Cultural crossings Money, markets, museums Gender, genius, and Guerrilla Girls Cognition, creation, comprehension Digitizing and disseminating Further reading
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 182 p. — (Very short introductions). — ISBN-13 9780199225866. This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about "nothing." What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space–"nothing"–exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient...
Oxford, New York, UK, USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 82 p. — ISBN: 9780199688362. What is learning? How does it take place? What happens when it goes wrong? The topic of learning has been central to the development of the science of psychology since its inception. Without learning there can be no memory, no language and no intelligence. Indeed it is rather difficult to...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
What is science? Is there a real difference between science and myth? Is science objective? Can science explain everything? This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of the main themes of contemporary philosophy of science. Beginning with a short history of science to set the scene, Samir...
2nd Edition. — USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 161 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN-13 9780198745587. What is science? Is science objective? Can science explain everything? Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction explores the main themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science. Beginning with a concise history of science, it examines the nature...
2nd Edition. — USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 161 p. — (A Very Short Introduction 67). — ISBN-13 9780198745587. What is science? Is science objective? Can science explain everything? Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction explores the main themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science. Beginning with a concise history of science, it examines the...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introduction 552). — ISBN 978–0–19–107116–4. What is the philosophy of religion? How can we distinguish it from theology on the one hand and the psychology/sociology of religious belief on the other? What does it mean to describe God as "eternal"? And should religious people want there to be good arguments for the existence...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 9780190064693. Religion plays a central role in human experience. Billions of people around the world practice a faith and act in accordance with it. Religion shapes how they enter the world and how they leave it - how they eat, dress, marry, and raise their children. It shapes their assumptions about...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 141 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures is dogged by scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism, by the fear that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and aggressive. In this clear introduction to ethics Simon...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 186 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–955952–7; 978–0–19–922975–8. Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can beexhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — ISBN10: 0199688923, ISBN13: 978-0199688920. Banks are of central importance for economic growth, the allocation of capital, competitiveness, and financial stability. Propelled by technological advances in financial analysis and financial deregulation, the banking industry's investment played a key role in enhancing national economic...
Oxford University Press, 2014. - 213 p. If you read the business pages of a newspaper or if you listen to the financial news on the television or radio, you will often hear terms such as ‘liability’, ‘balance sheet’, or ‘earnings’. These terms turn up in non-financial contexts as well: ‘he was more of a liability than an asset’. If you invest in shares, have a building society...
2nd Ed. — Oxford University Press, 2018. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198825-04-8. What is innovation? How is innovation used in business? How can we use it to succeed? Innovation, the ways ideas are made valuable, plays an essential role in economic and social development, and is an increasingly topical issue. Over the last 150 years our world has hit...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — xv, 151 p. — ISBN 978-0-19-258855-5. Russia today is as prominent in international affairs as it was at the height of the Cold War. Yet the role that the economy plays in supporting Russia's position as a 'great power' on the international stage is poorly understood. For many, Russia's political influence far exceeds its weight in the global...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 170 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Why are some countries rich and others poor? In 1500, the income differences were small, but they have grown dramatically since Columbus reached America. Since then, the interplay between geography, globalization, technological change, and economic policy has determined the wealth and poverty of nations. The...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but it has already generated a mountain of debate, controversy, and outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide explicit examples of how the organization regulates into areas of individual consumer choice, ethical preferences,...
Oxford University Press, UK, 2015. — 96 p. — ISBN: 0199683697. Taxation is crucial to the functioning of the modern state. Tax revenues pay for public services - roads, the courts, defence, welfare assistance to the poor and elderly, and in many countries much of health care and education too. More than one third of national income in the industrialized (OECD) countries is on...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 168 p. — ISBN 019875499X, 9780198754992. Traditionally, economists have based their economic predictions on the assumption that humans are super-rational creatures, using the information we are given efficiently and generally making selfish decisions. Economists also assume that we're doing the very best we can possibly do--not only for today,...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-967054-3. There has been an explosion of interest in entrepreneurs in the popular media, as well as in business, policy, and education. But what do entrepreneurs do and why is what they do important? Paul Westhead and Mike Wright weave a pathway through the debates about entrepreneurship,...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Statistical ideas and methods underlie just about every aspect of modern life. From randomized clinical trials in medical research, to statistical models of risk in banking and hedge fund industries, to the statistical tools used to probe vast astronomical databases, the field of statistics has become...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 300 p. — ISBN: 9780198787945, 0198787944. Offers an overview of mathematical finance today Discusses developments to mathematical finance in the wake of the 2008 financial crash Introduces arbitrage theory, and how it is key to pricing financial contracts, to credit trading, fund management, and the setting of interest rates Accessible to...
Oxford University Press 2007. — 165 pages. — (Very Short Introductions).
Here Partha Dasgupta, an internationally recognized authority in economics, presents readers with a solid introduction to its basic concepts, including efficiency, equity, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods. Throughout, he highlights the relevance of economics...
Oxford University Press 2007. — 165 pages. — (Very Short Introductions) – ISBN-13 – 9780192853455. Here Partha Dasgupta, an internationally recognized authority in economics, presents readers with a solid introduction to its basic concepts, including efficiency, equity, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods. Throughout, he highlights...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 266 p. — (Very Short Introductions). If environmental protection is costly, how much should we spend on pollution control? Is it worth reducing pollution to zero, or should we accept some level of pollution because of the economic benefits associated with it? How can we assess the benefits that people get from a less-polluted atmosphere? In...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198784-45-7. In 1776 Adam Smith (1723-90) wrote The Wealth of Nations, a book so foundational that it has led to him being called the "father of economics." Today he is associated with the promotion of self-interest, a defense of greed and a criticism of any governmental 'interference' in market...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 152 p. — ISBN: 0199689377, 9780199689378 Microeconomics - individuals' choices of where to live and work, how much to save, what to buy, and firms' decisions about location, hiring, firing, and investment - involves issues that concern us on a daily basis. But when people think about economics, they tend to place importance on the bigger picture...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 160 p. The mythologies of the world are collective cultural dreams, and as such should be analyzed first from cultural perspectives. How do myths of the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, for instance, reflect the realities of the Egyptian and Greek cultures? When compared, however, mythologies reveal certain universal themes or motifs that point to...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 160 p. The mythologies of the world are collective cultural dreams, and as such should be analyzed first from cultural perspectives. How do myths of the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, for instance, reflect the realities of the Egyptian and Greek cultures? When compared, however, mythologies reveal certain universal themes or motifs that point to...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 144 pages. — (Very Short Introductions). From Zeus and Europa, to Diana, Pan, and Prometheus, the myths of ancient Greece and Rome seem to exert a timeless power over us. But what do those myths represent, and why are they so enduringly fascinating? Why do they seem to be such a potent way of talking about our selves, our origins, and our...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 143 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0–19–280346–8; ISBN13: 978 0–19–280346–7. Egyptian myths articulated the core values of one of the longest lasting civilizations in history, and myths of deities such as Isis and Osiris influenced contemporary cultures and became part of the Western cultural heritage. Egyptian Mythology: A Very...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 176 p. — (Very short introductions). — ISBN: 0-19-280347-6. Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? In this Very Short Introduction Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary...
Oxford University Press, 2004. — 177 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0–19–280347–6. A survey of the past 300 years of theorizing on myth, this book takes into account the work of such prominent thinkers as Albert Camus, Claude Lévi-Strauss, C. G. Jung, and Sigmund Freud. It focuses on different approaches to myth, from all of the major disciplines--including science,...
2nd Edition — Oxford University Press, 2015. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-872470-4, 978-0-19-103769-6. Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? In this Very Short Introduction Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 201 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–871648–8. Chemistry has always been the science of matter and a technology for creating new things through metamorphosis and transmutation. According to recent statistics there are now more than three million people in the world who call themselves chemists and they publish over three quarters of a million research papers...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 201 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–871648–8. Chemistry has always been the science of matter and a technology for creating new things through metamorphosis and transmutation. According to recent statistics there are now more than three million people in the world who call themselves chemists and they publish over three quarters of a million research papers...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199683972. Most people remember chemistry from their schooldays as largely incomprehensible, a subject that was fact-rich but understanding-poor, smelly, and so far removed from the real world of events and pleasures that there seemed little point, except for the most introverted, in coming to terms...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 193 p. — (Very Short Introductions). This Very Short Introduction is an exciting and non-traditional approach to understanding the terminology, properties, and classification of chemical elements. It traces the history and cultural impact of the elements on humankind, and examines why people have long sought to identify the substances around...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 224 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The processes in a single living cell are akin to that of a city teeming with molecular inhabitants that move, communicate, cooperate, and compete. In this Very Short Introduction, Philip Ball explores the role of the molecule in and around us--how, for example, a single fertilized egg can grow into a...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 184 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 978–0–19–884232–3. The periodic table of elements, first encountered by many of us at school, provides an arrangement of the chemical elements, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties, and divided into periodic trends. In this Very...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 255 p. — (Very Short Introductions). With the development of a variety of exciting new areas of research involving computational chemistry, nano- and smart materials, and applications of the recently discovered graphene, there can be no doubt that physical chemistry is a vitally important field. It is also perceived as the most daunting branch...
4th Updated Edition — Oxford University Press, 2021. — 200 p. In the last few years global awareness of climate change has grown very rapidly - through the school strikes led by Greta Thunberg, groups like Extinction Rebellion, the IPCC's recent high impact reports, TV documentaries, and declarations from governments around the world that we are in a climate emergency. This...
Oxford University Press, 2014. - 200 p. Climate change is still, arguably, the most critical and controversial issue facing the world in the twenty-first century. Previously published as Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction, the new edition has been renamed Climate Change: A Very Short introduction, to reflect the important change in the terminology of the last decade. In...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 180 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction is an informative, up to date discussion about the predicted impacts of global warming. It draws on material from the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a huge collaborative study drawing together current thinking on the subject from...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. — ISBN: 978-0-198797-16-8. Environmental ethics is a relatively new branch of philosophy, which studies the values and principles involved in combatting environmental problems such as pollution, loss of species and habitats, and climate change. As our environment faces evermore threats from human activities these core issues are becoming...
Oxford University Press, 2002. — 153 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0–19–280493–6 Life on earth will come to an end. It's just a matter of when. Global Catastrophes: A Very Short Introduction focuses on the many potential catastrophes facing our planet and our species in the future, and looks at both the probability of these events happening and our chances of...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0195372779. We all create intellectual property. We all use intellectual property. Intellectual property is the most pervasive yet least understood way we regulate expression. Despite its importance to so many aspects of the global economy and daily life, intellectual property policy remains a...
Oxford University Press, 2010. - 177p. List of illustrations The assault An enduring value A legal right Privacy and free speech Data protection The death of privacy? Annex Further reading
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 159 p. For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse chronicled the activities of the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices as a correspondent for the New York Times. In this Very Short Introduction, she draws on her deep knowledge of the court's history and of its written and unwritten rules to show readers how the Supreme...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Civil Rights Movement was among the most important historical developments of the twentieth century and one of the most remarkable mass movements in American history. Not only did it decisively change the legal and political status of African Americans, but it prefigured as well the moral premises and...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 267 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215, a number of documents--not one single document as in the United States--have constituted the British constitution. What are the main characteristics of Britain's peculiar constitutional arrangements? How has the British constitution altered in response to the changing...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The Magna Carta is arguably the greatest constitutional document in recorded history, yet few people today understand either its contents or its context. This Very Short Introduction, which includes a full English translation of the 1215 Magna Carta, introduces the document to a modern audience, explaining its...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introduction Series). — ISBN: 978-0-19-976600-0 Law has played a central role in American history. From colonial times to the present, law has not just reflected the changing society in which legal decisions have been made-it has played a powerful role in shaping that society, though not always in positive ways. Eminent...
Oxford University Press, 2004. - 125 p.
The word "anarchism" tends to conjure up images of aggressive protest against government, and-recently-of angry demonstrations against bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But is anarchism inevitably linked with violent disorder? Do anarchists adhere to a coherent ideology? What exactly is anarchism? In this...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 241 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Due to its connections to violent crime and ingenious detective work, forensic science is a subject of endless fascination to the general public. A criminal case can often hinge on a piece of evidence such as a hair, a blood trace, a bit of saliva on a cigarette butt, or the telltale mark of a tire tread. High...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. Crime is big news. From murder to theft to drug gangs, crime and criminal justice affect the lives of millions of people worldwide. Hardly surprisingly, crime has been pushed high up the public policy agenda across the world. But how can we measure crime, or evaluate the effectiveness of preventative measures? Does the threat of prison...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 185 p. — (Very Short Introductions). List of illustrations The best hope of mankind?: A brief history of the UN An impossible hybrid: the structure of the United Nations Facing wars, confronting threats: the UN Security Council in action Peacekeeping to peacebuilding Economic development to human development Rights and responsibilities: human...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 224 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Over the past few decades, the European Union has seen many great changes. Negotiations for the accession of six new states have begun, and membership, which already covers almost all of Western Europe, will soon extend to most of Central and Eastern Europe. The Union's institutions have been reformed, and...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 144 p. Arbitration is a legal dispute resolution mechanism, alternative to courts. It provides binding decisions, enforceable around the world. It is where parties take their disputes when they have agreed that courts, for one reason or another, do not suit them - which happens more often than one might think. Some of the most politically...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
From the controversial incarceration of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, to the brutal ethnic cleansing being practiced in Darfur, to the widespread denial of equal rights to women in many areas of the world, human rights violations are a constant presence in the news and in our lives. Taking an international...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 128 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Voltaire's comment--"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"--is frequently quoted by defenders of free speech. Yet it is rare to find someone prepared to defend all freedom of speech, especially if the views expressed are obnoxious or obviously false. So where do we...
First Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2017. — 177 p. The European Union is rarely out of the news and, as it deals with the consequences of the Brexit vote and struggles to emerge from the eurozone crisis, it faces difficult questions about its future. In this debate, the law has a central role to play, whether the issue be the governance of the eurozone, the internal...
Oxford University Press, 2021. — 176 p. Competition is responsible for much of the prosperity around us. Competitive markets deliver lower prices, better quality, abundance of choice, and increased innovation. But while competition benefits the consumers, it can prove challenging to producers and sellers, who need to constantly improve to stay in business. As a result, sellers...
Oxford University Press, 2014. — 225 p. — (Very Short Introductions). What is a family? What makes someone a parent? What rights should children have? Family Law: A Very Short Introduction gives the reader insight not only into what the law is, but why it is the way it is. It examines how laws have had to respond to social changes in family life, from rapidly rising divorce rates...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978–0–19–921496–9 Law underlies our society - it protects our rights, imposes duties on each of us, and establishes a framework for the conduct of almost every social, political, and economic activity. The punishment of crime, compensation of the injured, and the enforcement of contracts are merely...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2015. — 192 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–874562–4. Закон: очень краткое введение Law is at the heart of every society, protecting rights, imposing duties, and establishing a framework for the conduct of almost all social, political, and economic activity. Despite this, the law often seems a highly technical, perplexing...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 152 p. At some point, everyone living in the United States has some type of interaction with the American judicial system. For most, this contact is relatively minor: contesting a traffic ticket, suing or being sued in civil court, being a witness in a civil or criminal trial, or serving on a jury. Others are caught up in the criminal justice...
Oxford University Press, 2023. — 176 р. — (Very Short Introductions). Almost every society has professional judges, but from ancient Athens to modern Asia, cultures have wanted ordinary people involved in legal decisions. The use of juries comes with challenges; societies must determine how to select jurors, what cases jurors should decide and by what rules, and how to inform...
Third Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2023. — 209 p. — (Very Short Introduction). Law is at the heart of every society, protecting rights, imposing duties, and establishing a framework for the conduct of almost all social, political, and economic activity. Despite this, the law often seems a highly technical, perplexing mystery, with its antiquated and often impenetrable...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 159 p. — (Very Short Introductions). In today's society, work takes up a vast proportion of the time and energy of ordinary people. Although use of the phrase 'work-life balance' is now commonplace in the media and ordinary conversation, people work longer hours than ever before. However, rather than purely a means to an end in terms of...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2015. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The criminal justice system is wide ranging; from the crimes themselves and policing to the sentencing of offenders and prisons. In this Very Short Introduction Julian V. Roberts draws upon the latest research and current practices from a number of different countries around the...
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2015. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The criminal justice system is wide ranging; from the crimes themselves and policing to the sentencing of offenders and prisons. In this Very Short Introduction Julian V. Roberts draws upon the latest research and current practices from a number of different countries around the...
2nd Ed. — Oxford University Press, 2014. — 169 р. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-199687-00-5. The concept of law lies at the heart of our social and political life, shaping the character of our community and underlying issues from racism and abortion to human rights and international war. Legal philosophy, or jurisprudence, explores the notion of law and its role...
Oxford University Press, USA, 2006. 144 р.
ISBN:0192806912
This lively and accessible introduction to the social, moral, and cultural foundations of law takes a broad scope-- spanning philosophy, law, politics, and economics, and discussing a range of topics including women's rights, racism, the environment, and recent international issues such as the war in Iraq and the...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 152 p. Environmental law is the law concerned with environmental problems. It is a vast area of law that operates from the local to the global, involving a range of different legal and regulatory techniques. In theory, environmental protection is a no brainer. Few people would actively argue for pollution or environmental destruction. Ensuring a...
Oxford University Press, USA, UK, 2016. — 92 p. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN: 0198729537. Slang, however one judges it, shows us at our most human. It is used widely and often, typically associated with the writers of noir fiction, teenagers, and rappers, but also found in the works of Shakespeare and Dickens. It has been recorded since at least 1500 AD, and today's...
Oxford University Press, 2016. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions) — ISBN 978–0–19–872953–2. Slang, however one judges it, shows us at our most human. It is used widely and often, typically associated with the writers of noir fiction, teenagers, and rappers, but also found in the works of Shakespeare and Dickens. It has been recorded since at least 1500 AD, and today's...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 179 (conv) p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198709250, ISBN13: 978-0198709251. The English language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today? In this Very Short Introduction Simon Horobin investigates how we have arrived at the...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 171 (conv) p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198709250, ISBN13: 978-0198709251. The English language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today? In this Very Short Introduction Simon Horobin investigates how we have arrived at the...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 189 (conv) p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198709250, ISBN13: 978-0198709251. The English language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today? In this Very Short Introduction Simon Horobin investigates how we have arrived at the...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN10: 0198709250, ISBN13: 978-0198709251. The English language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today? In this Very Short Introduction Simon Horobin investigates how we have arrived at the English...
Oxford University Press, 2019. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Homer's mythological tales of war and homecoming, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are widely considered to be two of the most influential works in the history of western literature. Yet their author, 'the greatest poet that ever lived' is something of a mystery. By the 6th century BCE, Homer had already become a...
Oxford University Press, 2012. — 259 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199590591 How many languages are there? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? In this Very Short Introduction, eminent linguist Stephen Anderson addresses such questions as he illuminates the science behind languages. Considering a wide range of different...
Oxford University Press. 2012. — 94 pages. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199590591 How many languages are there? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? In this Very Short Introduction, eminent linguist Stephen Anderson addresses such questions as he illuminates the science behind languages. Considering a wide range of...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 270 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Sociolinguistics deals with the social life of language, language in its sociocultural context. It is a branch of linguistics that looks less at the shape or sound of words--morphology or phonology--and more at how our words and sentences are influenced by the society around us--for instance, how the accent...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 270 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Sociolinguistics deals with the social life of language, language in its sociocultural context. It is a branch of linguistics that looks less at the shape or sound of words--morphology or phonology--and more at how our words and sentences are influenced by the society around us--for instance, how the accent...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 270 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978-0-19-985861-3, 0199858616, 18-1980-581-6. Sociolinguistics deals with the social life of language, language in its sociocultural context. It is a branch of linguistics that looks less at the shape or sound of words--morphology or phonology--and more at how our words and sentences are influenced by...
Oxford University Press, Inc., 2017. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-198724-99-5. The languages of the world can be seen and heard in cities and towns, forests and isolated settlements, as well as on the internet and in international organizations like the UN or the EU. How did the world acquire so many languages? Why can't we all speak one language, like...
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 148 p. — (Very Short Introductions). The languages of the world can be seen and heard in cities and towns, forests and isolated settlements, as well as on the internet and in international organizations like the UN or the EU. How did the world acquire so many languages? Why can't we all speak one language, like English or Esperanto? And what...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 88 pages. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN13: 978–0–19–280148–7; ISBN10: 0–19–280148–1. ‘Matthews is refreshingly unpartisan, extremely insightful in detecting the strengths and weaknesses of different theoretical positions, respectful of intelligently argued positions which he happens to disagree with, and a doughty foe of fads and mumbo...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 177 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Writing is the defining marker of civilization, without which there could be no records, no history, no books, no accumulation of knowledge. But when did this essential part of our lives begin? Why do we all write differently and how did writing evolve into what we use today? All of these questions are...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 177 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN13: 978-0199567782. Writing is the defining marker of civilization, without which there could be no records, no history, no books, no accumulation of knowledge. But when did this essential part of our lives begin? Why do we all write differently and how did writing evolve into what we use today? All of...
Oxford University Press, 2003. — 130 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN-10 0192805029; ISBN-13 9780192805027. Hieroglyphs were far more than a language. They were an omnipresent and all-powerful force in communicating the messages of ancient Egyptian culture for over three thousand years. This ancient form of expression was used as art, as a means of identifying...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Rhetoric was once an essential part of western education. Aristotle wrote an important treatise on it and Demosthenes remains famous to this day for his skills as a rhetorician. But skill with rhetoric today is no longer admired. Rhetoric is often seen as a synonym for shallow, deceptive language-empty words,...
Audible Studios, 2013. — ASIN: B00GQVPTPS. — MP3@32 kbps ~05:20:00
The aim of this audiobook is to explain, carefully but not technically, the differences between advanced, research-level mathematics, and the sort of mathematics we learn at school. The most fundamental differences are philosophical, and listeners of this audiobook will emerge with a clearer understanding of...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 164 p. List of illustrations Who are the Quakers? The history of Quakerism Worship Belief Theology and language Ecumenism The future of Quakerism Further reading Timeline
Oxford University Press, 2017. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-879627-5, 978-0-19-251610-7. Freemasonry is one of the oldest and most widespread voluntary organizations in the world. Over the course of three centuries men (and women) have organized themselves socially and voluntarily under its name. With a strong sense of liberation, moral enlightenment,...
Oxford University Press, 2018. — 160 p. This Very Short Introduction might prove disappointing to those expecting an introduction to a very short man. Dispelling the myth of Napoleon Bonaparte's short stature, as well as the other rumors and legends, David A. Bell provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him...
Oxford University Press, 2008. — 144 p. — ISBN 10 0192803018 ISBN13 9780192803016. Nelson Mandela-is it possible to say who or what he is? Yes, he was one of the world's longest-detained political prisoners. He is a universal symbol of social justice certainly an exemplary figure connoting non-racialism and democracy a moral giant. For years a man cut off from the world, Mandela...
Oxford University Press, 2014. - 298 p. Alexander the Great became king of Macedon in 336 BC, when he was only 20 years old, and died at the age of 32, twelve years later. During his reign he conquered the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest empire that had ever existed, leading his army from Greece to Pakistan, and from the Libyan desert to the steppes of Central Asia. His...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 266 p. — (Very Short Introductions). As a giant of 20th century history, Mao Zedong played many roles: peasant revolutionary, patriotic leader against the Japanese occupation, Marxist theoretician, modernizer, and visionary despot. This Very Short Introduction chronicles Mao's journey from peasant child to ruler of the most populous nation on...
Oxford University Press, 2009. — 161 p.
Beneath the surface of the apparently untutored and deceptively frank Abraham Lincoln ran private tunnels of self-taught study, a restless philosophical curiosity, and a profound grasp of the fundamentals of democracy. Now, in Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, the award-winning Lincoln authority Allen C. Guelzo offers a penetrating look...
Oxford University Press, 2010. — 137 p. — (Very Short Introductions). No one has ever described American democracy with more accurate insight or more profoundly than Alexis de Tocqueville. After meeting with Americans on extensive travels in the United States, and intense study of documents and authorities, he authored the landmark Democracy in America, publishing its two...
Oxford University Press, 2022. — 160 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Proposes a new way of listening to Beethoven by understanding his music as an expression of his entire self, not just the iconic scowl. Despite the ups and downs of his personal life and professional career - even in the face of deafness - Beethoven remained remarkably consistent in his most basic convictions...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978-0-19-879297-0, 978-0-19-251137-9. Few would question that Albert Camus (1913-1960), novelist, playwright, philosopher and journalist, is a major cultural icon. His widely quoted works have led to countless movie adaptions, graphic novels, pop songs, and even t-shirts. In this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). – ISBN: 978–0–19–881393–4. War and Peace and Anna Karenina are widely recognized as two of the greatest novels ever written. Their author Leo Tolstoy has been honored as the father of the modern war story, as an innovator in psychological prose, and as a genius at using fiction to reveal the mysteries of love...
Oxford University Press, 2005. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
This book introduces the Marquis de Sade as writer and philosopher to new readers, offering concise but comprehensive surveys of his most controversial works, based on contemporary theoretical approaches. The style is lively and accessible without sacrificing detail or depth.An introductory chapter discusses...
Oxford, New York, UK, USA: Oxford University Press, 2016. — 90 p. — ISBN: 9780199689255. In 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: 'Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man.' In this Very Short...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 144 p. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Hainsworth and David Robey take a different approach to Dante, by examining the main themes and issues that run through all of his work, ranging from autobiography, to understanding God and the order of the universe. In doing so, they highlight what has made Dante a vital point of reference for...
Oxford University Press, 2015. — 114 p. In this new offering from Stanley Wells, the pre-eminent Shakespearian scholar, comes a Very Short Introduction to the life and writings of the world's greatest and best-known dramatists: William Shakespeare. Looking at his early life and education, Wells explores Shakespeare's social and intellectual background and the literary...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-957527-5. Award-winning religious scholar Richard Bauckham here explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and showing that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. To place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in...
Oxford University Press, 1991. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Missionary, theologian, and religious genius, Paul is one of the most powerful human personalities in the history of the Church. E.P. Sanders, an influential Pauline scholar, analyzes the fundamental beliefs and vigorous contradictions in Paul's thought, discovering a philosophy that is less of a monolithic...
Oxford University Press, 1988. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Scholars have largely misunderstood Soren Kierkegaard, remembering him chiefly in connection with the development of existentialist philosophy in this century. In a short and unhappy life, he wrote many books and articles on literary, satirical, religious and psychological themes, but the diversity and...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 198 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 978–0–19–881926–4. Niels Bohr, who pioneered the quantum theory of the atom, had a broad conception of his obligations as a physicist. They included not only a responsibility for the consequences of his work for the wider society, but also a compulsion to apply the philosophy he deduced from his...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 9780199298037, 0199298033. Newton's reputation was the subject of intense debate long before his death in 1727. While alive, numerous opponents sought to topple his theories, and his views on religion were considered by many to be unorthodox. For the vast majority of scholars, however, his...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions).
Newton's reputation was the subject of intense debate long before his death in 1727. While alive, numerous opponents sought to topple his theories, and his views on religion were considered by many to be unorthodox. For the vast majority of scholars, however, his groundbreaking approach to science overrode...
Oxford University Press, 2007. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 9780199298037, 0199298033. Newton's reputation was the subject of intense debate long before his death in 1727. While alive, numerous opponents sought to topple his theories, and his views on religion were considered by many to be unorthodox. For the vast majority of scholars, however, his...
Oxford University Press 2010. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 0199574316. Michael Faraday is one of the best known scientific figures of all time. Known as the discoverer of electro-magnetic induction, the principle behind the electric generator and transformer, he has frequently been portrayed as the 'father' of electrical engineering from whence much of his...
Oxford University Press, 2011. — 144 p. — (Very Short Introductions). Hailed by Cicero as "the father of history," Herodotus was both a critical thinker and a lively storyteller, a traveler who was both tourist and anthropologist. Like Homer, he set out to memorialize great deeds in words, in particular, the wars between Greece and Persia. In his hands, the Greeks' unforeseeable...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 129 p. — (Very Short Introductions 30). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285409-4. René Descartes (1596-1650) had a remarkably short working life, and his output was small, yet his contributions to philosophy and science have endured to the present day. In this book Tom Sorell shows that Descartes was, above all, an advocate and practitioner of a new...
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 136 p. — (Very Short Introductions, 40). — ISBN 978-0192854582. This is the most lucid and timely introduction to the thought of Carl Gustav Jung available to date. Though he was a prolific writer and an original thinker of vast erudition, Jung lacked a gift for clear exposition, and his ideas are less widely appreciated than they deserve to be....
Oxford University Press, 2001. — 192 p. — (Very Short Introductions, 40). — ISBN: 978-0192854582. This is the most lucid and timely introduction to the thought of Carl Gustav Jung available to date. Though he was a prolific writer and an original thinker of vast erudition, Jung lacked a gift for clear exposition, and his ideas are less widely appreciated than they deserve to...
Oxford University Press, 1989. — 176 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN: 978-0-19-285455-1. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, developed a totally new way of looking at human nature. Only now, with the hindsight of the half-century since his death, can we assess his true legacy to current thought. As an experienced psychiatrist himself, Anthony Storr offers a...
Oxford University Press, 1994. — 120 p. With his well-known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred...
2nd Edition. — Oxford University Press, 2019. — 160 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN: 9780198835981. Categories Other Social Sciences\\Philosophy Volume:27 Socrates has a unique position in the history of philosophy; it is no exaggeration to say that had it not been for his influence on Plato, the whole development of Western philosophy might have been unimaginably...
Oxford University Press, 2000. — 198 p. — (A Very Short Introduction). — ISBN 9780192854124. Socrates has a unique position in the history of philosophy; it is no exaggeration to say that had it not been for his influence on Plato, the whole development of Western philosophy might have been unimaginably different. Yet Socrates wrote nothing himself, and our knowledge of him is...
Oxford University Press, 1998. — 244 p. In this book, Christopher Taylor explores the relationship between the historical Socrates and the engaging and infuriating figure who appears in Plato's dialogues, and examines the enduring image of Socrates as the ideal exemplar of the philosophic life-a thinker whose moral and intellectual integrity permeated every detail of his life,...
Oxford University Press, 2013. — 152 p. — (Very Short Introductions). With world population today edging over seven billion, and with projections for it to reach nine billion by mid-century, the ideas of eighteenth-century English cleric Thomas Malthus-and his grim prediction that war, plague, and famine are the inevitable response to overpopulation--loom ever larger on the...
Oxford University Press, 2020. — 168 p. — (Very Short Introductions). — ISBN 978–0–19–882525–8. Запах Our sense of smell - or olfaction as it is technically known - is our most enigmatic sense. It can conjure up memories, taking us back to very specific places and emotions, whilst powerful smells can induce strong feelings of hunger or nausea. In the animal kingdom smell can be...
Oxford University Press, Inc., UK, 2012. — 78 p. — (Very Short Introduction) — ISBN: 0199588074 | Networks are involved in many aspects of everyday life, from food webs in ecology and the spread of pandemics to social networking and public transportation. In fact, some of the most important and familiar natural systems and social phenomena are based on a networked structure. It...
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