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Can "être sur" be used as "to be about"? Examples:

  • Ce livre est sur la naissance du capitalisme.
  • C'est sur le vol de la plus grande banque du pays.
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être sur for be about is fine. It's a bit informal, though. As LPH rightly suggests, c'est un livre sur is more common than ce livre est sur. Another way, more formal, that works well and that could be used in, say, a paper is :

  • Ce livre a pour objet la naissance du capitalisme.

But there are many other ways to express the same idea.

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  • 2
    et « avoir pour sujet », « parler de », « traiter de »...
    – None
    Aug 12, 2019 at 5:49
  • 1
    et "porter sur"
    – Alan Evangelista
    Aug 12, 2019 at 7:59
  • It seems to me that "C'est un livre sur" / "C'est sur" is much more usual than "Ce livre est sur" ? If that is true, it'd be nice to include it in the answer.
    – Alan Evangelista
    Aug 12, 2019 at 8:00
  • @AlanEvangelista Detto, fatto!
    – user21018
    Aug 12, 2019 at 8:08
  • @petitrien Ecco, aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait !
    – livresque
    Aug 13, 2019 at 5:10
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"Ce livre est sur X" is little used; much prefered is "C'est un livre sur X" (voir ngram).

"C'est sur X" is comonly used (ngram1,ngram2, ngram3).

  • c'est sur la guerre
  • c'est sur l'amour
  • c'est sur la liberté
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