Very Short Introductions
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Very Short Introductions series (or VSI series) is a book series published by the Oxford University Press publishing house since 1995. Each book in the series offers a concise yet cogent introduction to a particular subject. Written by acknowledged experts, most books are between 100–150 pages and contain suggestions for further reading. Authors often present personal viewpoints, but each introduction is intended to be balanced and complete.
As of April 2009, there are more than 200 titles in the series, including History, Theology, Literary Theory, Philosophy of Science, Postmodernism, Emotion, Animal Rights, Ethics, Shakespeare, Hume, Terrorism, The Spanish Civil War and Evolution. The publisher states that "the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all readers an accessible and abundant reference library."
The VSI series has been extremely commercially successful, and many of the books have been used as textbooks in introductory university courses.
Many of the books were commissioned explicitly for the series, but a number had previously been published by OUP.
List of books in the series
# | Topic | Author(s) | Publication date |
---|---|---|---|
001 | Classics | Mary Beard, John Henderson | 24 February 2000 |
002 | Music | Nicholas Cook | 24 February 2000 |
003 | Buddhism | Damien Keown | 24 February 2000 |
004 | Literary Theory | Jonathan Culler | 24 February 2000 |
005 | Hinduism | Kim Knott | 24 February 2000 |
006 | Psychology | Gillian Butler, Freda McManus | 24 February 2000 |
007 | Islam | Malise Ruthven | 24 February 2000 |
008 | Politics | Kenneth Minogue | 24 February 2000 |
009 | Theology | David F. Ford | 24 February 2000 |
010 | Archaeology | Paul Bahn (illustrator: Bill Tidy) | 24 February 2000 |
011 | Judaism | Norman Solomon | 24 February 2000 |
012 | Sociology | Steve Bruce | 24 February 2000 |
013 | The Koran | Michael Cook | 24 February 2000 |
014 | The Bible | John Riches | 24 February 2000 |
015 | Social and Cultural Anthropology | John Monaghan, Peter Just | 24 February 2000 |
016 | History | John H. Arnold | 24 February 2000 |
017 | Roman Britain | Peter Salway | 10 August 2000 |
018 | The Anglo-Saxon Age | John Blair | 10 August 2000 |
019 | Medieval Britain | John Gillingham, Ralph A. Griffiths | 10 August 2000 |
020 | The Tudors | John Guy | 10 August 2000 |
021 | Stuart Britain | John Morrill | 10 August 2000 |
022 | Eighteenth-Century Britain | Paul Langford | 10 August 2000 |
023 | Nineteenth-Century Britain' | Christopher Harvie, H. C. G. Matthew | 10 August 2000 |
024 | Twentieth-Century Britain | Kenneth O. Morgan | 10 August 2000 |
025 | Heidegger | Michael Inwood | 12 October 2000 |
026 | Ancient Philosophy | Julia Annas | 12 October 2000 |
027 | Socrates | C. C. W. Taylor | 12 October 2000 |
028 | Marx | Peter Singer | 12 October 2000 |
029 | Logic | Graham Priest | 12 October 2000 |
030 | Descartes | Tom Sorell | 12 October 2000 |
031 | Machiavelli | Quentin Skinner | 12 October 2000 |
032 | Aristotle | Jonathan Barnes | 12 October 2000 |
033 | Hume | A. J. Ayer | 12 October 2000 |
034 | Nietzsche | Michael Tanner | 19 October 2000 |
035 | Darwin | Jonathan Howard | 22 February 2001 |
036 | The European Union 2nd Edition | John Pinder, Simon Usherwood | 22 February 2001 13 December 2007 |
037 | Gandhi | Bhikhu Parekh | 22 February 2001 |
038 | Augustine | Henry Chadwick | 22 February 2001 |
039 | Intelligence | Ian J. Deary | 22 February 2001 |
040 | Jung | Anthony Stevens | 22 February 2001 |
041 | Buddha | Michael Carrithers | 22 February 2001 |
042 | Paul | E. P. Sanders | 22 February 2001 |
043 | Continental Philosophy | Simon Critchley | 22 February 2001 |
044 | Galileo | Stillman Drake | 22 February 2001 |
045 | Freud | Anthony Storr | 22 February 2001 |
046 | Wittgenstein | A. C. Grayling | 22 February 2001 |
047 | Indian Philosophy | Sue Hamilton | 22 February 2001 |
048 | Rousseau | Robert Wokler | 23 August 2001 |
049 | Hegel | Peter Singer | 23 August 2001 |
050 | Kant | Roger Scruton | 23 August 2001 |
051 | Cosmology | Peter Coles | 23 August 2001 |
052 | Drugs | Leslie Iversen | 23 August 2001 |
053 | Russian literature | Catriona Kelly | 23 August 2001 |
054 | The French Revolution | William Doyle | 23 August 2001 |
055 | Philosophy | Edward Craig | 21 February 2002 |
056 | Barthes | Jonathan Culler | 21 February 2002 |
057 | Animal Rights | David DeGrazia | 21 February 2002 |
058 | Kierkegaard | Patrick Gardiner | 21 February 2002 |
059 | Russell | A. C. Grayling | 21 February 2002 |
060 | Shakespeare | Germaine Greer | 21 February 2002 |
061 | Clausewitz | Michael Howard | 21 February 2002 |
062 | Schopenhauer | Christopher Janaway | 21 February 2002 |
063 | The Russian Revolution | S. A. Smith | 21 February 2002 |
064 | Hobbes | Richard Tuck | 30 May 2002 |
065 | World Music | Philip V. Bohlman | 30 May 2002 |
066 | Mathematics | Timothy Gowers | 22 August 2002 |
067 | Philosophy of Science | Samir Okasha | 30 May 2002 |
068 | Cryptography | Fred Piper, Sean Murphy | 30 May 2002 |
069 | Quantum Theory | John Polkinghorne | 30 May 2002 |
070 | Spinoza | Roger Scruton | 30 May 2002 |
071 | Choice Theory | Michael Allingham | 22 August 2002 |
072 | Architecture | Andrew Ballantyne | 22 August 2002 |
073 | Poststructuralism | Catherine Belsey | 22 August 2002 |
074 | Postmodernism | Christopher Butler | 10 October 2002 |
075 | Democracy | Bernard Crick | 10 October 2002 |
076 | Empire | Stephen Howe | 22 August 2002 |
077 | Fascism | Kevin Passmore | 22 August 2002 |
078 | Terrorism | Charles Townshend | 10 October 2002 |
079 | Plato | Julia Annas | 13 February 2003 |
080 | Ethics | Simon Blackburn | 8 May 2003 |
081 | Emotion | Dylan Evans | 13 February 2003 |
082 | Northern Ireland | Marc Mulholland | 23 January 2003 |
083 | Art Theory | Cynthia Freeland | 13 February 2003 |
084 | Locke | John Dunn | 8 May 2003 |
085 | Modern Ireland | Senia Paseta | 27 March 2003 |
086 | Globalization 2nd Edition | Manfred B. Steger | 27 March 2003 22 January 2009 |
087 | Cold War | Robert J. McMahon | 27 March 2003 |
088 | The History of Astronomy | Michael Hoskin | 8 May 2003 |
089 | Schizophrenia | Chris Frith, Eve C. Johnstone | 22 May 2003 |
090 | The Earth | Martin Redfern | 26 June 2003 |
091 | Engels | Terrel Carver | 22 May 2003 |
092 | British Politics | Tony Wright | 22 May 2003 |
093 | Linguistics | P.H. Matthews | 24 April 2003 |
094 | The Celts | Barry Cunliffe | 26 June 2003 |
095 | Ideology | Michael Freeden | 26 June 2003 |
096 | Prehistory | Chris Gosden | 26 June 2003 |
097 | Political Philosophy | David Miller | 26 June 2003 |
098 | Postcolonialism | Robert J.C. Young | 26 June 2003 |
099 | Atheism | Julian Baggini | 26 June 2003 |
100 | Evolution | Brian Charlesworth, Deborah Charlesworth | 26 June 2003 |
101 | Molecules | Phillip Ball | 27 November 2003 |
102 | Art History | Dana Arnold | 22 January 2004 |
103 | Presocratic Philosophy | Catherine Osborne | 22 April 2004 |
104 | The Elements | Phillip Ball | 8 April 2004 |
105 | Dada and Surrealism | David Hopkins | 8 April 2004 |
106 | Egyptian Myth | Geraldine Pinch | 22 April 2004 |
107 | Christian Art | Beth Williamson | 24 June 2004 |
108 | Capitalism | James Fulcher | 13 May 2004 |
109 | Particle Physics | Frank Close | 13 May 2004 |
110 | Free Will | Thomas Pink | 24 June 2004 |
111 | Myth | Robert A. Segal | 8 July 2004 |
112 | Hieroglyphs | Penelope Wilson | 12 August 2004 |
113 | Ancient Egypt | Ian Shaw | 22 July 2004 |
114 | Medical Ethics | Tony Hope | 23 September 2004 |
115 | Kafka | Ritchie Robertson | 28 October 2004 |
116 | Anarchism | Colin Ward | 21 October 2004 |
117 | Ancient Warfare | Harry Sidebottom | 25 November 2004 |
118 | Global Warming 2nd Edition | Mark Maslin | 25 November 2004 27 November 2008 |
119 | Christianity | Linda Woodhead | 25 November 2004 |
120 | Modern Art | David Cottington | 24 February 2005 |
121 | Consciousness | Susan Blackmore | 24 March 2005 |
122 | Foucault | Gary Gutting | 24 March 2005 |
123 | Spanish Civil War | Helen Graham | 24 March 2005 |
124 | Marquis de Sade | John Phillips | 28 July 2005 |
125 | Habermas | Gordon Finlayson | 26 May 2005 |
126 | Socialism | Michael Newman | 28 July 2005 |
127 | Dreaming | J. Allan Hobson | 21 April 2005 |
128 | Dinosaurs | David Norman | 28 July 2005 |
129 | Renaissance Art | Geraldine A. Johnson | 21 April 2005 |
130 | Buddhist Ethics | Damien Keown | 23 June 2005 |
131 | Tragedy | Adrian Poole | 11 August 2005 |
132 | Sikhism | Eleanor Nesbitt | 22 September 2005 |
133 | The History of Time | Leofranc Holford-Strevens | 11 August 2005 |
134 | Nationalism | Steven Grosby | 8 September 2005 |
135 | World Trade Organization | Amrita Narlikar | 8 September 2005 |
136 | Design | John Heskett | 23 June 2005 |
137 | Vikings | Julian D. Richards | 8 September 2005 |
138 | Fossils | Keith Thomson | 13 October 2005 |
139 | Journalism | Ian Hargreaves | 15 September 2005 |
140 | Crusades | Christopher Tyerman | 13 October 2005 |
141 | Feminism | Margaret Walters | 27 October 2005 |
142 | Human Evolution | Bernard Wood | 3 November 2005 |
143 | Dead Sea Scrolls | Timothy Lim | 24 November 2005 |
144 | Brain | Michael O'Shea | 8 December 2005 |
145 | Global Catastrophes | Bill McGuire | 26 January 2006 |
146 | Contemporary Art | Julian Stallabrass | 23 March 2006 |
147 | Philosophy of Law | Raymond Wacks | 18 May 2006 |
148 | The Renaissance | Jerry Brotton | 27 April 2006 |
149 | Anglicanism | Mark Chapman | 22 June 2006 |
150 | The Roman Empire | Christopher Kelly | 24 August 2006 |
151 | Photography | Steven Edwards | 24 August 2006 |
152 | Psychiatry | Tom Burns | 21 September 2006 |
153 | Existentialism | Thomas Flynn | 12 October 2006 |
154 | First World War | Michael Howard | 25 January 2007 |
155 | Fundamentalism | Malise Ruthven | 25 January 2007 |
156 | Economics | Partha Dasgupta | 22 February 2007 |
157 | International Migration | Khalid Koser | 22 February 2007 |
158 | Newton | Rob Iliffe | 25 January 2007 |
159 | Chaos | Lenny Smith | 22 February 2007 |
160 | African History | John Parker, Richard Pathbone | 22 March 2007 |
161 | Racism | Ali Rattansi | 22 March 2007 |
162 | Kabbalah | Joseph Dan | 30 August 2007 |
163 | Human Rights | Andrew Clapham | 28 June 2007 |
164 | International Relations | Paul Wilkinson | 26 July 2007 |
165 | The American Presidency | Charles O. Jones | 11 October 2007 |
166 | The Great Depression and New Deal | Eric Rauchway | 24 April 2008 |
167 | Classical Mythology | Helen Morales | 23 August 2007 |
168 | The New Testament as Literature | Kyle Keefer | 27 November 2008 |
169 | American Political Parties and Elections | L. Sandy Maisel | 27 September 2007 |
170 | Bestsellers | John Sutherland | 25 October 2007 |
171 | Geopolitics | Klaus Dodds | 25 October 2007 |
172 | Antisemitism | Steven Beller | 22 November 2007 |
173 | Game Theory | Ken Binmore | 25 October 2007 |
174 | HIV/AIDS | Alan Whiteside | 24 January 2008 |
175 | Documentary Film | Patricia Aufderheide | 24 January 2008 |
176 | Modern China | Rana Mitter | 28 February 2008 |
177 | The Quakers | Pink Dandelion | 28 February 2008 |
178 | German Literature | Nicholas Boyle | 28 February 2008 |
179 | Nuclear Weapons | Joseph M. Siracusa | 20 March 2008 |
180 | Law | Raymond Wacks | 27 March 2008 |
181 | The Old Testament | Michael Coogan | 22 May 2008 |
182 | Galaxies | John Gribbin | 27 March 2008 |
183 | Mormonism | Richard Bushman | 26 June 2008 |
184 | Religion in America | Timothy Beal | 25 September 2008 |
185 | Geography | John A. Matthews David T. Herbert | 22 May 2008 |
186 | The Meaning of Life | Terry Eagleton | 24 April 2008 |
187 | Sexuality | Veronique Mottier | 24 April 2008 |
188 | Nelson Mandela | Elleke Boehmer | 17 July 2008 |
189 | Science and Religion | Thomas Dixon | 24 July 2008 |
190 | Relativity | Russell Stannard | 24 July 2008 |
191 | The History of Medicine | William Bynum | 31 July 2008 |
192 | Citizenship | Richard Bellamy | 25 September 2008 |
193 | The History of Life | Michael J. Benton | 27 November 2008 |
194 | Memory | Jonathan K. Foster | 6 November 2008 |
195 | Autism | Uta Frith | 23 October 2008 |
196 | Statistics | David J. Hand | 23 October 2008 |
197 | Scotland | Rab Houston | 27 November 2008 |
198 | Catholicism | Gerald O'Collins | 27 November 2008 |
199 | The United Nations | Jussi M. Hanhimäki | 30 October 2008 |
200 | Free Speech | Nigel Warburton | 26 February 2009 |
201 | The Apocryphal Gospels | Paul Foster | 26 February 2009 |
202 | Modern Japan | Christopher Goto-Jones | 23 April 2009 |
203 | Lincoln | Allen C. Guelzo | 26 February 2009 |
204 | Superconductivity | Stephen J. Blundell | 28 May 2009 |
205 | Nothing | Frank Close | 25 June 2009 |
206 | Biography | Hermione Lee | 9 July 2009 |
207 | The Soviet Union | Stephen Lovell | 23 July 2009 |
208 | Writing and Script | Andrew Robinson | 27 August 2009 |
209 | Communism | Leslie Holmes | 27 August 2009 |
210 | Puritanism | Francis J Bremer | 24 September 2009 |
211 | The Reformation | Peter Marshall | 22 October 2009 |
212 | Fashion | Rebecca Arnold | 22 October 2009 |
213 | Thomas Aquinas | Fergus Kerr | 05 November 2009 |
214 | Biblical Archaeology | Eric H Cline | 26 November 2009 |
215 | Deserts | Nick Middleton | 26 November 2009 |
216 | The Norman Conquest | George Garnett | 26 November 2009 |
217 | The Reagan Revolution | Gil Troy | 3 December 2009 |
Future Publications
- The Book of Mormon
- Neoliberalism
- Islamic History
- Privacy
- Information
- Forensic Science
- Epidemiology
- Innovation
- The Laws of Thermodynamics
- Witchcraft
- French Literature
- The New Testament
- German Philosophy
- Druids
- Advertising
- Forensic Psychology
- Film
- Progressivism
Boxed Sets
Six boxed sets, each with a different theme, were released in 2006. Five best selling books of the series from the theme are included, and each set comes with a copy of Very Short Introduction to Everything.
- The Ballot Box
- Politics (008)
- Capitalism (108)
- Democracy (075)
- Socialism (126)
- Fascism (077)
- The Brain Box
- Evolution (100)
- Consciousness (121)
- Intelligence (039)
- Cosmology (051)
- Quantum Theory (069)
- The Thought Box
- Hegel (049)
- Marx (028)
- Nietzsche (034)
- Schopenhauer (062)
- Kierkegaard (058)
- The Basics Box
- Philosophy (055)
- Mathematics (066)
- History (016)
- Politics (008)
- Psychology (006)
- The Boom Box
- Ancient Warfare (117)
- Cold War (087)
- Crusades (140)
- French Revolution (054)
- Spanish Civil War (123)
- The Picture Box
- Art History (102)
- Renaissance Art (129)
- Modern Art (120)
- Architecture (072)
- Design (136)