Very Short Introductions

Very Short Introductions
AuthorVarious
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
PublisherOxford University Press
Published1995–present
Media typePrint (paperback), e-book
No. of books700+ (List of books)
OCLC911799103
Websitewww.veryshortintroductions.com

Very Short Introductions (VSI) is a book series published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The books are concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts. Most are under 200 pages long. While authors may present personal viewpoints, the books are meant to be "balanced and complete" as well as thought provoking.[1]

The series began in 1995, and by March 2023 there were 730 titles, published or announced.[2][3] The books have been commercially successful,[4] and have been published in more than 25 languages.[5] Institutions can subscribe to an online service to allow their users to read the books.[6]

Most of the books have been written specifically for the series, but around 60 were recycled from earlier OUP publications: several had been in OUP's Past Masters series,[7] and numbers 17–24 used chapters from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (1984).

Each book of the series is numbered on its spine. These numbers broadly, but not exactly, correspond with the publication dates. Two books have been removed from the series: #60, "Shakespeare" by Germaine Greer was replaced by "William Shakespeare" by Stanley Wells; and #116, "Anarchism" by Colin Ward was replaced by "Anarchism" by Alex Prichard.

  1. ^ "Very Short Introductions". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Very Short Introductions – General Series". Oxford University Press (UK). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Very Short Introductions". Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ "Languages: A Very Short Introduction". Oxford University Press (UK). Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  5. ^ Glendinning, Simon (2011). Derrida: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. ii. ISBN 978-0-19-280345-0.
  6. ^ "Very Short Introductions". Oxford University Press (UK). Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  7. ^ Schulz, Kathryn (9 October 2017). "How to Be a Know-It-All". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Retrieved 24 January 2023.