Auckland Council Libraries: History books that should be movies

History books that should be movies

Ngā Pukapuka kōrero tuku iho me whakapikitia

​These factual accounts would be gracing the silver screen sooner rather than later, if our librarian Niki had her way.

Ask that mountain

Dick Scott

Book

Draws on official papers, settler manuscripts and oral history to give the first complete account of what took place at Parihaka.

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In the darkroom

Susan Faludi

Book

Faludi's struggle to come to grips with her father's reinvented self takes her across borders--historical, political, religious, sexual--to face the question: Is identity something you "choose," or is it the very thing you can't escape?

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American heiress

Jeffrey Toobin

Book

Patty Hearst, a senior in college and heiress, was kidnapped by a group of self-styled revolutionaries calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. The already sensational story took the first of many incredible twists when Patty joined the SLA.

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The Aleppo Codex

Matti Friedman

Book

This true-life detective story unveils the journey of a sacred text--the tenth-century annotated bible known as the Aleppo Codex--from its hiding place in a Syrian synagogue to the newly founded state of Israel.

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Killers of the Flower Moon

David Grann

Book

A true account of the murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

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A life discarded

Alexander Masters

Book

Part thriller, part love story, part social history, A Life Discarded is an account of two writers' obsessions: of 'I's need to record every second of life and of Masters' pursuit of this mysterious yet universal diarist.

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Village of secrets

Caroline Moorehead

Book

During the Nazi occupation, the inhabitants of remote villages in France saved several thousand people from the concentration camps. A story of a small number of heroic individuals who risked their lives to save others.

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The book of Iris

Derek Challis

Book

Brilliant, beautiful, difficult and doomed, Iris Wilkinson (known as the writer Robin Hyde) led a short, tumultuous and incredibly productive life. Here her story is told for the first time in a dramatic and deeply moving narrative.

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Blitzed

Norman Ohler

Book

The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as this book reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs used by everyone and was crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940.

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Auckland Council Libraries:Book list Recommended reading lists about different topics and genres to help you find new books to read.