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Goody JackRenaissances : the one or the many ?Cambridge : Cambridge unviersity press, 2010,1 vol. (IX-322 p.).ISBN 978-0-521-7680-6Résumé : One of most distinguished social scientists in the world addresses one of the central historical questions of the past millennium : does the european renaissance deserve its unique status at the very heart of our notions of modernity ? Jack Goody scrutinizes the european model in relation to parallel renaissances that have taken place in other culture areas, primarily Islam and China, and emphasizes what Europe owed to non-european influences. Renaissances continues that strand of historical analysis critical of eurocentrism that Goody has developed in recent works like The east in the west (1996) or The theft of history (2007). This book is wide-ranging, powerful, deftly argued and draws upon the author's long experience of working in Africa and elsewhere. Not since toynbee in The study of histoy has anybody attempted quite what Jack Goody is undertaking in Renaissances, and the result is as accessible as it is ambitious. This book will be of interest to students of the renaissance and of the history of western civilization more generally, to anthropologists, sociologists and all those with an interest in the construction of modernity.Sir Jack Goody is emeritus professor of social anthropology in the University of Cabridge and a fellow of St John' College.Axe de recherches :Équipe 3 : Du local aux empires : appartenances, institutions, conflits 