Editions François Maspero, founded in 1959 by François Maspero, changed its name to Editions la Découverte in the early 1980s. The firm publishes essays and non-fiction works in the human and social sciences, such as economics, history, sociology, geopolitics, philosophy and psychology.
Many of its authors today, such as Frantz Fanon, Jean-Pierre Vernant, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Bruno Latour, Etienne Balibar, José Bové, Armand Mattelart, Philippe Breton and François Dosse, have international reputations.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its founding, Editions la Découverte has launched two new foreign literature series, "Culte Fictions" in March 2003 and "Pulp Fictions" in March 2004, both created and managed by Jean-Claude Zylberstein.
Ever since it was founded, Editions la Découverte has pursued the same objective: to view the transformation of today’s world with a critical eye and to disseminate the work and thought of academics, journalists and people on the ground.
With this in mind, the editorial policy of the firm is now based on six pillars:
- essays and non-fiction; - the series "L’état du monde" ("State of the World"), launched in 1981; - the series "Repères" ("Landmarks"), consisting of previously unpublished academic works in mass-market paperback format (400 titles published since 1983); - human and social sciences; - the "Social" department, which publishes specialized works intended for professional social workers, but also for the general public;
In 2007, Editions La Découverte launched a label, ZONES, an editorial laboratory centred on the counterculture and the new forms of contesting. ZONES aims to experiment new modes of editorial production in accordance with Internet.
The recent successes of Editions la Découverte include: Storytelling by Christian Salmon, Le Monde selon Monsanto (The World according to Monsanto) by Marie-Monique Robin, or Over by Alex MacLean.
