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Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 088

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Essays & Short Works, Non-fiction
Chapter: 20 | Listen: 6

“With opinions, possession is more than nine points of the law. It is next to impossible to dislodge them.” Woodrow Wilson’s Study of Administration examines public opinion’s role in politics. It is one of 20 nonfiction readings chosen by the readers. Other faceted topics in volume 088 include culinary taste (Stewed Eels) the existence of the supernatural (Mayo v. Satan; Previsionary Dream); slavery (The Constitution and the Slave; A Scrap of Curious History); peace and war (Bumping into the Bolshevists; Russians as I Knew Them; Bogdan Chmielnicki; Armistice; International Peace) and culture (Who Thinks Abstractly; Apollo or Dionysus; Landscape Painting; the College Glee Club; Tagore’s Reminiscences; and Frances Burnett). Rounding out the volume are a survey of Martinique, and a medical treatise on the Organs of the Human Voice. (Summary by Sue Anderson) [chương_files]

Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice

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Political Science
Chapter: 7 | Listen: 1

This lengthy political essay by noted Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock was written while he was professor of political economy at McGill University. He argues for a middle ground between capitalism and pure socialism. Listeners in the early 21st century may find this 90-year old essay oddly topical. (Summary by Sean Michael Hogan) [chương_files]

From Dictatorship to Democracy (version 2)

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Political Science
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 3

From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framework for Liberation is a book-length essay on the generic problem of how to destroy a dictatorship and to prevent the rise of a new one. The book was written in 1993 by Gene Sharp (b. 1928), a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. The book has been published in many countries worldwide and translated into more than 30 languages. Editions in many languages are also published by the Albert Einstein Institution of Boston, Massachusetts. This is the Fourth United States Edition, published in May 2010. The book has been circulated worldwide and cited repeatedly as influencing movements such as the Arab Spring of 2010–2012. – Summary by Wikipedia This second version is newly recorded, with a faster reading pace than the first version. [chương_files]

On War (Volume 1)

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Early Modern, Political Science
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 5

A classic work on military strategy by a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. The author’s style is dialectical: he makes two strong but opposing statements and then draws them together to describe many facets of war. Free of technical jargon, and suitable for modern readers. This audiobook is based on a 1909 English translation. In section 2, the reader Timothy Ferguson was assisted by Linda Ferguson. [chương_files]

Dictionnaire des idées reçues

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Essays & Short Works
Chapter: 19 | Listen: 12

Le « Dictionnaire des idées reçues » : recueil d’exemples de l’intelligence humaine qui se dépasse elle-même. Les temps changent ; ce genre d’intelligence, non. Flaubert nous fait des clins d’œil depuis sa tombe – et ceci durera certainement jusqu’à la fin des temps… (Par Didier) [chương_files]

New Freedom

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Political Science
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 6

The book is not a discussion of measures or of programs. It is an attempt to express the new spirit of our politics and to set forth, in large terms which may stick in the imagination, what it is that must be done if we are to restore our politics to their full spiritual vigor again, and our national life, whether in trade, in industry, or in what concerns us only as families and individuals, to its purity, its self-respect, and its pristine strength and freedom. (From the Preface) – Summary by Woodrow Wilson [chương_files]

08/07/2024

Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein

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Psychology, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)
Chapter: 16 | Listen:

“In the following Letters I have endeavoured to exhibit in their true light the singular natural phenomena of which old superstition and modern charlatanism in turn availed themselves—to indicate their laws, and to develop their theory.” (from the Preface of the book) In 14 letters, British physiologist Herbert Mayo (1796-1852) is giving the reader an overview of popular superstitions of previous times, like vampirism, somnambulism or even ghost sightings, and exposing how in previous times they were treated with fear, ignorance and intolerance, often leading to crime, while he endeavours to give rational explanations for the phenomena with the goal to find treatments and cures for the afflicted. – Summary by Sonia [chương_files]

Compilation de Pensées, Textes et Poésies

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Essays & Short Works, Philosophy, Poetry
Chapter: 27 | Listen: 3

Comme l’indique le titre, ce sont différents pensées de l’auteur, sur la vie, l’être humain, aussi la vie politique, avec deux textes, “De la Monarchie selon la Charte”, et “Réflexions politiques”. Chateaubriand, homme de lettres si talentueux et homme politique, Pair de France, fut un très ardent défenseur de la liberté d’expression, de la monarchie représentative et de la Charte constitutionnelle du 4 juin 1814. Louis XVIII souhaitait rassembler les Français, bonapartistes, républicains et nostalgiques de l’Ancien régime. Puis il y eut les “Cent-jours”, en 1815. > Louis XVIII est réfugié à Gand, puis rentre et la Seconde Restauration est établie. Son neveu, le Duc de Berry, est assassiné en 1820. Voir, à ce sujet, le livre audio : “Mémoires, lettres et pièces authentiques touchant la vie et la mort du Duc de Berry”, de François-René de Chateaubriand, très intéressant, documenté, sur le plan de l’Histoire de France. Ces deux Livres audio se complètent. La nature a aussi sa place, ici, avec le joli recueil de dix poésies: “Tableaux de la nature”. – “Nous verrons” est un poème ironique, sur le temps, l’humain, et la politique, les gazettes… – “Les Tombeaux champêtres” sont une élégie imitée de Gray, 1796, Londres. L’auteur y fut en exil. Suivent des textes poétiques: – sur la Révolution, la profanation des tombes royales de la basilique Saint-Denis, Napoléon, Condé et son descendant, le jeune Duc d’Enghien mort en 1804 exécuté dans les fossés de Vincennes, choc absolument intense pour les Monarchistes, écrit en 1812; – […]

Captures

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Published 1900 onward, Short Stories
Chapter: 19 | Listen: 6

Brief plot lines of these 16 stories by Nobel Prize winning author John Galsworthy: 01, 02, 03 “A Feud” The breaking of an engagement ignites a feud. 04 “The Man Who Kept His Form” Ruding’s financial prospects disappoint. He adjusts. 05 “A Hedonist” Still single at 55, Vaness declares his love to a woman, 26. 06 “Timber” Hirries takes a celebratory afternoon walk in his forest. 07 “Santa Lucia” Old Trevillian recalls a past attraction begun at a casino. 08 “Blackmail” Money given to a needy woman leads to a blackmail threat. 09 “The Broken Boot” An impoverished actor chances upon an old acquaintance. 10 “Stroke of Lightning” Besotted by an extramarital relationship, Frank goes to extremes. 11 “Virtue” Mellesh pays a “working girl’s” fine and tells his wife. 12 “Conscience” A staff writer refuses to continue to ghostwrite. 13 “Salta Pro Nobis” Terrified as her execution for treason nears, she dances. 14 “Philanthropy” A writer tries to cope with an insufferable alcoholic. 15 “A Long-ago Affair” When 16 he was infatuated with an attractive widow. 16 “Acme” A destitute author writes a movie script for his own amusement. 17 “Late–299” Released from prison, the doctor goes about with a “peculiar smile”. 18, 19 “Had a Horse” Jimmy, a bookie, accepts a racehorse in payment of gambling debts. (Summary by Lee Smalley) [chương_files]

Sésame et les lys

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Essays & Short Works
Chapter: 9 | Listen: 3

La préface est écrite en 1906, par Marcel Proust, il s’agit de ce texte très célèbre et passionnant : “Sur la lecture”. Puis suivent deux conférences de 1865 de John Ruskin avec en 01: Sésame, et, en 02 : Les lys., traduites en français par Marcel Proust en 1906. Lecture, littérature, l’importance de lire, et aussi des propos sur l’éducation. De jolies références à La Bible, Shakespeare, W. Scott, La Chevalerie … etc… Notes de bas de pages non lues. ( Christiane Jehanne) [chương_files]