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Ian Taylor explores contemporary African politics in all its diversity, revealing how state and society actually functions beyond the formal institutional facade. He examines why questions of underdevelopment, outside exploitation, misrule, and weak state structures are characteristic of so many Sub-Saharan states in particular.

Bence Nanay introduces aesthetics, a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste. Looking beyond traditional artistic experiences, he defends the topic from accusations of elitism, and shows how more everyday experiences such as the pleasure in a soft fabric or falling leaves can become the subject of aesthetics.

Kathleen Taylor offers a clear guide to dementia, covering its history and its definition, different types and their symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, and the underlying science. She also explains why we still have no cure for dementia, and looks at current research which could soon change that.

Country Music: A Very Short Introduction presents a compelling overview of the music and its impact on American culture through its key artists and styles from the minstrel era to today. Truly the "voice of the people," country music illuminates our cultural story, from our nation's birth to today.

Emile Zola occupies a distinctive place in the great tradition of French realist fiction. Brian Nelson introduces this quintessential novelist of modernity, and explores his fascination with change, and the way he opened the novel up to new areas of representation: the realities of working-class life, class relations, and sexuality and the body.

Throughout our planet's history volcanoes have played a large role in shaping landscapes, the climate, and biological evolution. This book explains the fundamental mechanisms of volcanism, considering why volcanoes are essential for life on Earth, and how they interact with the Earth's other physical processes, and with human society.

Combines an account of some of the disciplines guiding principles and methodology with examples and illustrations of anthropologists. This book discusses about the anthropology's contributions to modern thought, and examines specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) revolutionized the way in which we think about ourselves. From its beginnings as a theory of neurosis, Freud developed psycho-analysis into a general psychology which became widely accepted as the predominant mode of discussing personality and interpersonal relationships.

In the wake of the Eurozone crisis and Brexit the European Union faces difficult questions about its future. In this debate, the law has a central role to play. But what exactly is EU law about? And why do its Member States respect the commitments they made when they signed the treaties so much more effectively than other treaty-based regimes?

Between 1760 and 1800, the people of the United States created a new nation, based on the idea that all people have the right to govern themselves. This Very Short Introduction recreates the experiences that led to the Revolution; the experience of war; and the post-war creation of a new political society.

North American Indigenous literature reaches back thousands of years to when the continent's original inhabitants first circled fires and shared tales. Sean Teuton tells its story, from when oral narrative first inspired Indigenous writers in English, through their later adaptations of the novel to serve creative and political needs.

A lively and informative short volume that shows that France is not a faded glory but rather a place that has defined and shaped the key issues of our contemporary world.

This Very Short Introduction deals with the social life of language, presenting a succinct account of the most important aspects - both "micro" and "macro" - of sociolinguistics, such as language variation, language attitudes, and the relationship between language and identity.

In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Taylor presents the current scholarly understanding of colonial America to a broader audience. He focuses on the transatlantic and a transcontinental perspective, examining the interplay of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the flows of goods, people, plants, animals, capital, and ideas.

For over a hundred years 'the avant-garde' has been the most influential concept in modern art; its impact on the history of modern culture has been profound. In this Very Short Introduction, David Cottington explores why the avant-garde carries so much authority, and places it within the context of western modernity and capitalist culture.

This book introduces the life and work of one of the most creative physicists of the 20th century. Niels Bohr, the pioneer of quantum theory, ranking with Einstein in importance for the development of modern physics, also had deep interests in philosophy, literature, and humanism. John Heilbron explores how these influenced his groundbreaking work.

What does Tibetan Buddhism teach? Just what is the position of the Dalai Lama, and how will his succession be assured? This Very Short Introduction offers a brief account responding to these questions and more, in terms that are easily accessible to those who are curious to learn the most essential features of Tibetan Buddhist history, teachings, and practice.

Landscape architecture, which includes the planning of parks and gardens and the design and siting of buildings and roads, plays an important role in shaping the world around us. In this Very Short Introduction, Ian Thompson uses real-life examples from around the world to examine its impact throughout history and in contemporary society.

This clear, succinct, and elegant contribution to the Very Short Introduction series surveys the history of global exploration and assesses the motives, for good and ill, of those who undertook it. Stewart Weaver traces the history of exploration from the first explorers (including Polynesian and Micronesian peoples, the ancient Greeks, Marco Polo, and Ibn Battuta), to the European discover of America, the Enlightenment and exploration (focusing on James Cook),and the race to the north and south poles.

What does U.S. history look like with women at the center of the story? From Pocahantas to military women serving in the Iraqi war, this Very Short Introduction chronicles the contributions that women have made to the American experience from a multicultural perspective that emphasizes how gender shapes women's-and men's-lives.

In this Very Short Introduction Ian Walmsley introduces the physics of light. Beginning with the earliest conceptions of the nature of light he traces the growth of our understanding, through competing particle and wave theories to wave-particle duality and quantum theory, and the latest exciting applications such as optoelectronics.

Combinatorics is a large branch of mathematics involving the counting, selecting, and arranging of objects. Robin Wilson explores the field, looking at problems such as the shortest routes from A to B, to the number of Sudoku puzzles possible.

Adolescence can be a turbulent period. Encompassing both classic and modern research, Smith explores its cultural and historical context, the biological changes to the adolescent brain, and the difficulties - the search for identity, relationship changes, risk-taking and anti-social behaviours - that adolescence brings.

This succinct and insightful account of decolonization analyses the tumultuous events that caused the shift from a world of colonial empires to a world of nation-states in the years after World War II.

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.

This Very Short Introduction looks at the nature of learning and how it takes place. From the early experiments of Pavlov, Thorndike, and others to the most recent studies in social learning, Haselgrove discusses learning in both humans and other animals.

In this Very Short Introduction Geoffrey Nowell-Smith defines the field of cinema, and explores its fascinating history within the cultural and aesthetic sphere. Considering the influences of the other art forms from which it arose, he looks at how technological advances have opened up new horizons for the cinema industry.

This Very Short Introduction provides a narrative interpretation of key themes that emerge in the history of Asian migrations to North America, highlighting how Asian immigration has shaped the evolution of ideological and legal interpretations of America as a 'nation of immigrants'.

Ageing entails lifelong dynamic changes in biological, psychological, and social functioning. While such changes in later adulthood were somewhat neglected by scientists in the past, recent decades have seen a marked increase in research in this area. Nancy A. Pachana examines the impact of rising numbers of older people worldwide.

This Very Short Introduction considers who Leibniz was and introduces his overarching intellectual vision. It follows his pursuit of the systematic reform and advancement of all the sciences, to be undertaken as a collaborative enterprise supported by an enlightened ruler, and his ultimate goal of the improvement of the human condition.