Books published by Stanford University Press

Desire and Distance constitutes an important new departure in contemporary phenomenological thought - a rethinking and critique of basic philosophical positions concerning the concept of perception presented by Husserl and Merleau-Ponty - though it departs in significant and original ways from their work.

This dialogue, proposed to Derrida by the historian Elisabeth Roudinesco, brings together two longtime friends who share a common history and an intellectual heritage. While their perspectives are often different, they have many common reference points: psychoanalysis, above all, but also the authors and works that have come to be known outside France as "post-structuralist."

This vanguard collection of original and in-depth essays seeks to explore the intricate interplay of the aesthetic and psychological domains during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and to consider the reasons why a common Modernist project took shape when and in the circumstances it did.

Using immigrants' own words, Bashi shows how immigrants organize social networks that offer mutual financial and emotional support and help an entire ethnic group navigate systems of socioeconomic stratification.

The most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of corruption and change in the Chinese Communist Party, Cadres and Corruption reveals the long history of the party's inability to maintain a corps of committed and disciplined cadres.

This work studies the nature of Venetian rule over the Slavs of Dalmatia during the 18th century, focusing on the cultural elaboration of an ideology of empire that was based on a civilizing mission toward the Slavs.

This is the definitive analysis of art as a social and perceptual system by Germany's leading social theorist of the late 20th century. It combines three decades of research in the social sciences, phenomenology, evolutionary biology, cybernetics, and information theory with an intimate knowledge of art history, literature, aesthetics, and contemporary literary theory.

This work offers a mapping of the cultural landscape of China in the late 20th century. By focusing on Chinese cultural formations and critical discourses of the last decade of the century, the book dissects the intellectual, economic, and political contradictions of a turbulent era.

This book provides a detailed analytic history of direct legislation-the initiative and referendum-in California from the late 19th century to the present day. It studies this important political device in terms of voter interest and behavior, its role in public issues, how it has affected the state's politics and government, and its influence on the politics of other states.

Language and culture are often seen as unique characteristics of human beings. This work examines the neurological evolution of our emotional repertoire and implications for current social behaviour and argues that our ability to use a wide array of emotions evolved long before spoken language.

This book consists of transcripts from two lecture courses on ethical relation Levinas delivered at the Sorbonne. In seeking to explain his thought to students, he utilizes a clarity and an intensity altogether different from his other writings.

The 13 essays in this volume-touching on ethics and philosophical questions concerning politics, language, and religion-investigate the possibility that the word "God" can be understood now, at the end of the 20th century, in a meaningful way. Nine of the essays appear in English for the first time.

This ambitious and pioneering work rewrites German cinematic history queerly. It shows how, since the Weimar era, German cinema has played a leading role in the innovation of gay and lesbian cinema, with the tantalizing sexual illegibility and gender instability of German films of the 1920s anticipating the queer sensibilities of the 1990s.

Anxious Wealth analyzes practices of network building and deal-making among wealthy businessmen and government officials in urban China, documenting the changing values, lifestyles, gender relations, and consumption habits of China's new rich and new middle classes.

An up-to-date, clear, and comprehensive introduction to the complexities and depth of Ronald Dworkin's entire philosophical work, including a discussion of Dworkin's monumental work Justice for Hedgehogs.

Captives and Corsairs uncovers the forgotten story of Muslim corsair raids on French ships and shores and the resulting captivity of tens of thousands of French subjects and citizens in North Africa from around 1550 to 1830.

This book examines under what conditions peacebuilding can bring not only peace but also democracy to war-torn countries.

This book, itself by a major Italian philosopher, explores the distinctive traits of Italian theory and philosophy, reflecting on why it has been growing in popularity and why people have turned to it for answers to real-world issues and problems.

Making Multiracials explains how a social movement emerged around mixed race identity in the 1990s and how it made "multiracial" a recognizable racial category in the United States.

In the Self's Place is a phenomenological reading of Augustine that engages with modern and postmodern analyses of Augustinian philosophy.

Time in the Shadows examines the counterinsurgencies of our time, tracing their ancestry, to offer a critical reading of the mechanisms by which today's counterinsurgents-foremost the United States and Israel-reproduce illiberal regimes of domination while noisily declaring their liberal intent to liberate and improve.

Great Minds revisits key social thinkers that have made significant, distinctive, and controversial contributions to the development of modern social theory.

This book examines the impact of the internet on pornography's social and political effects and provides a new theory of sex, speech, and power in light of today's drive toward self-exposure.

This single book brings together for the first time all nine volumes that make up Giorgio Agamben's groundbreaking magnum opus.

This brief, accessible biography sheds new light on one of India's most controversial and misunderstood figures, arguing that the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was not a Hindu-hating fanatic but rather a premodern Indian king driven by a thirst for power, piety, and justice.

The book is the English edition of a collection of essays by Jacob Taubes, one of the most creative and idiosyncratic philosophers of religion in Germany of the second half of the twentieth century.