* A pathbreaking new book by one of the world s leading sociologists * The book is a study of the rise of detective novels and spy novels in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Boltanski shows that these genres tell us something important about the nature of modern societies and the modern state.

* A pathbreaking new book by one of the world s leading sociologists * The book is a study of the rise of detective novels and spy novels in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Boltanski shows that these genres tell us something important about the nature of modern societies and the modern state.