"Very Sharp
Very Inspiring
Very Intelligent
Very Successful.
Ever wanted to know what happened during the Spanish Civil War? What the Koran really says? Or why Plato's ideas still matter today?
Ideal for train journeys, holidays, and as a quick catch-up for busy people who want something intellectually stimulating, Very Short Introductions combine authoritative analysis, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make often challenging topics highly readable.
These books can change the way you think about the things that interest you, and are the perfect introduction to subjects you previously knew nothing about. Because of this, they have proven to be extremely popular with general readers, as well as undergraduate students and their lecturers.
So, where's the gap in your knowledge? ..."
(~ Oxford University Press)
Related category: Education
Related booklists: 'Introducing...' Guides,
'For Beginners...' Guides,
Teach Yourself... Guides,
Books are listed in order of year of publication - newest titles are at the top. There are 38 books in this booklist
£8.99 paperback (2019) - ISBN 13: 9780198830788 | ISBN 10: 0198830785
Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Born in 1926 in France, 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, knowl ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780198821076 | ISBN 10: 0198821077
Karl Marx is one of the most influential philosophers of all time, whose theories have shaped and directed political, economic, and social thought for 150 years. Considering Marx's life and impact, renowned philosopher Peter Singer identifies the cen ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780199532155 | ISBN 10: 019953215x
From wicked queens, beautiful princesses, elves, monsters, and goblins, to giants, glass slippers, poisoned apples, magic keys, and mirrors, the characters and images of fairy tales have cast a spell over readers and audiences, both adults and childr ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2017) - ISBN 13: 9780199730988 | ISBN 10: 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. ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780198706168 | ISBN 10: 0198706162
Today it is usually not long before a problem gets expressed as a human rights issue. An appeal to human rights in the face of injustice can be a heartfelt and morally justified demand for some, while for others it remains merely an empty slogan. &nb ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780198724834 | ISBN 10: 0198724837
This Very Short Introduction examines and untangles the various strands of antisemitism seen throughout history, from medieval religious conflict to 'new' antisemitism in the 21st century. Steven Beller reveals how the phenomenon grew as a political ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2014) - ISBN 13: 9780199922680 | ISBN 10: 0199922683
* A concise history of slavery in America beginning with the Portuguese capture of Africans in the 1400s * Draws from both historical analyses and a reading of primary documents to explore the history of slavery * Examines legislation that differ ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2013) - ISBN 13: 9780199603930 | ISBN 10: 0199603936
The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the most highly publicized and bitter struggles in history. In this accessible and stimulating Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton clearly explains the history of the problem, reducing it to its ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2012) - ISBN 13: 9780195379389 | ISBN 10: 0195379381
This Very Short Introduction employs the disciplines of history, religious studies, and anthropology as it illuminates the complexities of Aztec life. Readers meet a people highly skilled in sculpture, astronomy, city planning, poetry, and ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199546039 | ISBN 10: 0199546037
Multiculturalism appears to be in terminal crisis. It has been blamed for undermining national identity, diluting social cohesion, creating ethnic ghettos and cultural fragmentation, providing fertile ground for Islamic radicalism, encouraging perver ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199584536 | ISBN 10: 0199584532
Most of us recognize that organizations are everywhere. You 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 have you given much thought to where they came from, w ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199608034 | ISBN 10: 0199608032
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. Through the centuries, in poetry and in prose, in drama and in the visual arts, its dep ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199559282 | ISBN 10: 0199559287
As the founder of Islam Muhammad is one of the most influential figures in history. The furor surrounding the Satanic Verses and the Danish cartoon crisis reminded the world of the tremendous importance of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Learning abo ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199569694 | ISBN 10: 019956969x
Where does our conscience come from? How reliable is it? In the West conscience has been relied upon for two thousand years as a judgement that distinguishes right from wrong. It has effortlessly moved through every period division and ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780192803450 | ISBN 10: 019280345x
Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher, developed his critical technique known as 'deconstruction'. His work is associated with ideas surrounding both post-structuralism and post-modern philosophy, and he was known to have challenged some of the unq ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199206780 | ISBN 10: 0199206783
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 behaviour, in architecture and the arts, are still all aroun ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199560516 | ISBN 10: 019956051x
* Examines various leaders and regimes; and their related neoliberal ideas * Explores the major political, economic, and social dimensions of neoliberalism * Clearly and concisely explains the ideas and leaders at the heart of the subje ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780192804419 | ISBN 10: 0192804413
* Provides a coherent account of Modernism across various aesthetic and cultural fields * Considers several aspects of Modernism including some classic modernist works, movements and notions of the avant garde, and the idea of 'progress' in art ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2009) - ISBN 13: 9780199232352 | ISBN 10: 0199232350
'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' This slogan, attributed to Voltaire, is frequently quoted by defenders of free speech. Yet it is rare to find anyone prepared to defend all expression in every ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2009) - ISBN 13: 9780199225866 | ISBN 10: 0199225869
What is 'nothing'? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - a void - exist? This Very Short Introduction explores the science and the history of the elusive void: from Aristotle who insisted that the vacuum was impossible, vi ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199230792 | ISBN 10: 019923079x
Since Devolution in 1999 Scotland has become a focus of intense interest both within Britain and throughout the wider world. In this Very Short Introduction, Rab Houston explores how an independent Scottish nation emerged in the Middle Ages ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199532179 | ISBN 10: 0199532176
'Philosophers have an infuriating habit of analysing questions rather than answering them', writes Terry Eagleton, who, in these pages, asks the most important question any of us ever ask, and attempts to answer it. So what is the meaning of life? &n ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780199218462 | ISBN 10: 0199218463
Games are everywhere: Drivers manoeuvring in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. A firm negotiating next year's wage is playing a bargaining game. The opposing candidates in an ele ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192801579 | ISBN 10: 0192801570
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 theori ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192853783 | ISBN 10: 0192853783
Chaos exists in systems all around us. Even the simplest system of cause and effect can be subject to chaos, denying us accurate predictions of its behaviour, and sometimes giving rise to astonishing structures of large-scale order. Our growing under ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192802484 | ISBN 10: 0192802488
Essential reading for anyone interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. Key themes in c ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192853455 | ISBN 10: 0192853457
Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life, and offer solutions to them too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192805904 | ISBN 10: 0192805908
From subtle discrimination in everyday life and scandals in politics, to incidents like lynchings in the American South, cultural imperialism, and 'ethnic cleansing', racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. But what a ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780195327052 | ISBN 10: 0195327055
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. ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780199205592 | ISBN 10: 0199205590
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', focusin ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2005) - ISBN 13: 9780192804310 | ISBN 10: 0192804316
What is socialism? Does it have a future, or has it become an outdated ideology in the 21st century? Michael Newman examines and explains the successes and failures of modern socialism by taking an international perspective - ranging from communism i ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2003) - ISBN 13: 9780192804242 | ISBN 10: 0192804243
Julian Baggini sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism and to show how a life without religious belief can be positive, meaningful and moral. He also confronts the failure of officially atheist states in the twentieth century, such as the ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192854216 | ISBN 10: 0192854216
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, Hume, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the poin ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192802569 | ISBN 10: 0192802569
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55), one of the most original thinkers of the nineteenth century, wrote widely on religious, psychological, and literary themes. This book shows how Kierkegaard developed his views in emphatic opposition to prevailing opinions ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192853608 | ISBN 10: 0192853600
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 ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853820 | ISBN 10: 0192853821
This stimulating Very Short Introduction to music invites us to really think about music and the values and qualities we ascribe to it. The world teems with different kinds of music-traditional, folk, classical, jazz, rock, pop-and each type of ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853523 | ISBN 10: 019285352x
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 Very Short Introduction is a stimulating essay about h ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853448 | ISBN 10: 0192853449
The Koran has constituted a remarkably strong core of identity and continuity for a religious tradition that is now in its fifteenth century. This Very Short Introduction explores the significance of the Koran both in the modern world and in traditio ... more
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