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Book
Reviews historical reporting of the number of NZ ANZAC troops present at Gallipoli.
eAudiobook
All the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in ...
A frank and witty memoir of life at the Bar and on the Bench, from former High Court Judge The Hon. Sir Harry Ognall. For many years, Harry Ognall enjoyed a formidable reputation as an advocate at the criminal Bar. As counsel, and later as judge, he ...
eBook
It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. In 1985, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux--one of a cache unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson--sold at auction for $156,000. The discoverer of the...
"The Battle for Britain is a provocative reinterpretation of both British air and naval power from 1909 to 1940. Anthony Cumming challenges the view that the Battle of Britain was a decisive victory won solely by the Royal Air Force through independe...
"From the acclaimed scientist and writer, essays collected for the first time in book form, on ravens and other birds, insects, trees, elephants, and more: once again 'passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science.'(New York Times)"-...
The New Zealand Wars is a powerful revisionist history. Revealing the enormous tactical and military skill of Maori, and the inability of the 'Victorian interpretation of racial conflict' to acknowledge those qualities, this account of the New Zealand...
"An important, resonant, and memorable portrait" (Jon Meacham) of world-changing economist John Maynard Keynes and the transformative ideas that outlived him "A brilliantly wrought, beautifully written life of one of the most captivating intellects of...
One of Buzzfeed's 24 New Books We Couldn't Put Down "One of the smartest young writers of her generation."?Book Riot From the acclaimed cultural critic and New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing?a writer whom Roxane Gay has hailed...
A prize-winning journalist upends our centuries-long assumptions about migration through science, history, and reporting--predicting its lifesaving power in the face of climate change.The news today is full of stories of dislocated people on the move....
The hidden story of the wanton slaughter - in Indonesia, Latin America, and around the world - backed by the United States. In 1965, the U.S. government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of...
'May the army of millions of dead of all nations bear witness to humanity for the hope that future generations may learn to discard war as the best way to resolve their differences.' - Helmut Schneider. This is the little-known story of Heavy Panzer ...
A collection of stories about the most dangerous aspect of the Australian prisoner of war experience - escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men who tunnelled to freedom, crawled by...
The epic, harrowing and world-changing story – in words and colourized images – of global conflict from the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the obliteration of Hiroshima by the dropping of the first atom bomb. The World Aflame will embrace...
Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Egypt and you had to start a new life there. How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? Where would you go to have your hair done? Who would you go to if you got ill, or if you...
The book is an investigation of the evidence for King Arthur based on the earliest written sources rather than later myths and legends. The evidence is laid out in a chronological order starting from Roman Britain and shows how the legend evolved and...
The phenomenal International Number One BestsellerWith exclusive interviews with Richie McCaw, Steve Hansen, Beauden Barrett and Dan Carter, The Jersey is the first definitive story behind the greatest sports team on the planet. 'Extremely well writt...
The Korean peninsula has had a troubled history but nothing quite compares with the tragedy of its American-inspired division in the 20th century; the war that inexorably followed; or the permanent conflict that has ensued. Michael Pembroke's timely book...
Asteroids, killer sharks, nuclear bombs, viruses, deadly robots, climate change, the apocalypse - why is Hollywood so obsessed with death and the end of the world? And how seriously should we take the dystopian visions of our favourite films? With wi...
In this work of daring and immersive contemporary anthropology, Carl Hoffman, who has written about the most dangerous and remote corners of the world, journeys deep inside Donald Trump’s rallies seeking to understand the strange and powerful tribe that...
There is no world for whistle-blower in Italian, though you can absolutely chiudere un'occhio (turn a blind eye). In all areas of public life – community, education, employment – your connections are everything. From the bestselling author of Italian...
In the days following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the US had begun a secret propaganda campaign to celebrate these weapons as the ultimate peacekeepers — hiding...
A narrative history, cinematic in scope, of a process that was taking shape in the winter of 1933 as domestic passions around the world colluded to drive governments towards a war few of them wanted and none of them could control. All Against All is the...
"World War I began disastrously for the English when the Germans routed them at Mons, Belgium, on August 23 and 24, 1914. This history of The Angels of Mons controversy for the first time collects and annotates Arthur Machen's work and responses it i...
First published in two-volumes in 1814, this is the enthralling account of the circumnavigation of Australia, by the man who gave our country its name. Edited and introduced by Tim Flannery, Terra Australis is a vital step toward a new understanding of...
Scotland's landscape was, and is, unquestionably distinct, as are the renowned writers it has produced. Tobias Smollett was the first Scottish writer to rhapsodise about the beauties of his native land in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, when his n...
In this book, writer Cody Cassidy digs deep into the latest research to uncover the untold stories of some of these incredible innovators (or participants in lucky accidents). With a sharp sense of humor and boundless enthusiasm for the wonders of our...
So did not the atomic weapons bring about a great peace? Since the initial grateful acknowledgement of the success of the A-bomb attacks in ending World War II, there has been a steady reversal of opinion and sentiment: from a first hearty appreciation...
A beautifully illustrated look at New Zealand rowing. the first comprehensive historical look at New Zealand rowing, this beautiful book will be a significant record of one of our most popular and successful Olympic sports. From the unprecedented success...
For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph over Hitlers fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of auto racing. They were the unlikeliest of heroes. René Dreyfus, a former top driver on the int...
Since Trump's inauguration in 2016, a new mantra has taken hold: 'this isn't normal'. And in Trump's response to COVID-19, we have witnessed the extreme consequences of his presidency, and of a government at war with itself. In this searing analysis of...
Ireland is known worldwide as a country that produce emigrants. The existence of the Irish diaspora' is the subject of this fifth instalment of the 'Irish perspectives' collaboration between Pen and Sword and History Ireland. From the early Christian...
A lost history revealing that, for centuries, Christianity's center was actually in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with significant communities extending as far as China.
An insight into Britain's built heritage and the diverse housing styles of the twentieth and twenty-first century. This book showcases 100 houses - one from each year from 1914 - that represent the range of architectural styles throughout the years and...
Set in Aba, a town perched at 12,000 feet on the Tibetan plateau in the far western reaches of China that has been the engine of Tibetan resistance for decades, Eat the Buddha tells the story of a nation through the lives of ordinary people living in...
With the intimacy and wit of a Second World War Bridget Jones, Eileen Alexander offers a portal into life during the Blitz: - The sex, joys and cruelties of young love - for Eileen with a man who had just inadvertently involved her in a car crash, for...
This persuasive study attacks the key myths surrounding the Battle of Britain to revise the relative status of maritime and aviation factors in the defense of Britain. Without denigrating the heroism of the fighter pilots, Anthony Cumming challenges ...
"The Britain of the Roman Occupation is, in a way, an age that is dark to us. While the main events from 55 BC to AD 410 are little disputed, and the archaeological remains of villas, forts, walls, and cities explain a great deal, we lack a clear sense...
This text presents the story of the 1918 flu pandemic and discusses current scientific efforts to isolate the particular strain that was so virulent, in order to prevent the same tragedy from striking again.
Masters of the Air is the definitive history of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Historian and World War II expert Donald Miller tells the story of the bomber boys who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. An elite group of warriors who, unlike ...
"Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham is the only combat soldier ever to win the Victoria Cross twice. His acts of bravery in World War II meant he probably deserved six more.The mystery of how a reserved, modest, slightly built farm valuer from New Zealand,...
A truly global view of history covering over 350 of the world's most important milestones and key turning points. An essential gift for every history buff, this boldly illustrated book maps out the events that have shaped our world - from the dawn of...
June 1, 1943, Eastern Poland. Within just a few hours, the village of Sochy had ceased to exist. Buildings were burned. Residents shot. Among the survivors was nine-year-old Teresa Ferenc, who saw her family murdered by German soldiers, and would never...
Between 1970 and 1975 Jon Swain, the English journalist portrayed in David Puttnam's film, The Killing Fields, lived in the lands of the Mekong river. This is his account of those years, and the way in which the tumultuous events affected his perceptions...
Pulitzer-winning American historian Joseph Ellis tells an old story in a new way, with a freshness at once colorful and compelling. The summer months of 1776 witnessed the most consequential events in the story of our country's founding. While the th...
The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of...
In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions-clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips-and reveals how they shaped...
In Crossing the Lines, Brent Coutts brings to light the previously untold history of New Zealand homosexual soldiers in World War II, drawing on the experiences of ordinary men who lived through extraordinary times. At the centre of the story are New...
James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, now brings his unique and inquisitive eye to the country that has fascinated him and drawn him across the Atlantic for half a century. In looking at America, from Presidents Nixon through to Trump,...
On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider,...
"The book is a celebration of southern landscapes, from the fantastic fiords in the west and across the green plains to a fossil forest in the east. It introduces readers to unique flora and fauna, from one of the world's rarest plants to some of its...
Histories of the Light Division have tended to be incomplete, being based on memoirs of a few well known diarists, principally from the 95th Rifles. The authors of this book, the first volume of two, have sought memoirs from across the division, including...
Patrick Norton was 20 years old when he appeared before the judge at County Galway on a charge of theft. Convicted and sentenced, he was transported to New South Wales in 1810 and never returned to his native Ireland. This detailed and meticulously-r...
The gripping account of how Australia's greatest warship was lost and found. 'We just found Sydney. We've got it. It's absolutely crystalclear. She's sitting upright in a small debris field. There's no doubt aboutit.'For sixty-six years it was Austra...
On June 28, 2013, a single bolt of lightning sparked an inferno that devoured more than eight thousand acres in northern Arizona. Twenty elite firefighters--the Granite Mountain Hotshots--walked together into the blaze, tools in their hands and fire ...
Few New Zealand biographies are so rich in social and personal detail. Written with the vivid touches of a novelist, The Father and his Gift completes the story of Sir John Logan Campbell, venerated in old age as the Father of Auckland, and presents ...
New Zealand and the Vietnam War was published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of New Zealand combat troops leaving for Vietnam. The Vietnam War provoked a major crisis in New Zealand attitudes to foreign policy, breaking for the first time the ...
The kibbutz is one of the greatest stories in Israeli history. These collective settlements have been written about extensively over the years: The kibbutz has been the subject of many sociological studies, and has been praised as the only example in...
Fintan O'Toole, literary editor of the Irish Times, has chosen 100 objects to narrate a history of the island of Ireland.
A gripping portrait of contemporary Tibet, from the bestselling author of Nothing to Envy. In the 1930s Mao's Red Army fled to the Tibetan plateau to escape their adversaries in the Chinese Civil War. By the time the soldiers reached remote Ngaba, they...
While armies have seized enemy records and rare texts as booty throughout history, it was only during World War II that an unlikely band of librarians, archivists, and scholars traveled abroad to collect books and documents to aid the military cause....
On February 29, 1948, Richard Wurmbrand was arrested by the secret police. His crimes? Leading Christian worship and witnessing--both of which were illegal under the atheistic Communist regime of Romania. Richard spent fourteen years in prison. He wa...
As it turned out, the first in line to take power was a tall, stern-featured ideologue by the name of Patrice Lumumba. Though he was still just 35, his life story was already one full of ideology, politics, and chaos, and things would only get more t...
Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization.
"Evolution is one of the most powerful and important ideas ever developed in the history of science. Every question it raises leads to new answers, new discoveries, and new smarter questions. The science of evolution is as expansive as nature itself....
"A brilliant young scholar's history of 175 years of teaching in America shows that teachers have always borne the brunt of shifting, often impossible expectations. In other nations, public schools are one thread in a quilt that includes free universal...
"A personal account of WWI from the diaries of a Gisborne farm boy, shaped into a ... narrative by the diarist's grandson 100 years later. Follow Alick as he moves from his last night on the farm in early 1916, through enshipment and training, then off...
How do you stop a rogue president? How do you protect our country from a man who lies, who obstructs justice, and who seeks to cheat with foreign powers to get reelected? Our constitution offers one remedy: impeachment. Thanks to the courageous actions...
Englishwoman Mary McAuley first arrived in Leningrad in the early 1960s, eager to study labor relations for her thesis. Staying at a hostel, she met a number of Soviet students, many born under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Over the half-century that fo...
In war, there is no easy victory. When troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, most people expected an easy victory. Instead, the gamble we took was a grave mistake, and its ramifications continue to reverberate through the lives...
'Invisible Romans' seeks out the ordinary men, housewives, prostitutes, slaves, soldiers, and gladiators, who formed the fabric of everyday life in the ancient Roman world. The author tracks down and pieces together various bits of evidence cast off by...
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: Your Quick and Simple Summary and Analysis Inside this SpeedReader Summary, you will find: An introduction to the main concepts of Sapiens by Yuval Noah HarariTime-saving chapter summariesAnalysis and CommentaryA guide t...
Nathaniel Philbrick, bestselling author of 'In the Heart of the Sea', reveals the darker side of the Pilgrim fathers' settlement in the New World, which ultimately erupted in bloody battle some fifty years after they first landed on American soil. Behind...
The riveting, untold story of the "Father of Christian Rock" and the conflicts that launched a billion-dollar industry at the dawn of America's culture wars. In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman...
Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed on 9 November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimagi...
The grandson of Virginia Woolf's poet paramour Vita Sackville-West traces his passionate efforts to restore his family's celebrated garden, an effort that included a reinstatement of a working farm to grow food for more than 200,000 annual visitors.
"During the summer of 1940, as Britain was fighting alone for its survival, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, instructed the newly formed and clandestine Special Operations Executive to set Europe ablaze. From that moment on the S.O.E. took...
1215 - the penultimate year of the reign of a king with the worst reputation of any in our history - saw England engulfed by crisis. Weakened by the loss of Normandy, King John faced insurrection by his disgruntled barons. With the assistance of the ...
"How did a single manhunt spark the modern era of multinational capitalism? Henry Avery was the seventeenth century's most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular--and wildly inaccurate--reports of his nefarious adventures. The British g...
"How could General Electric-perhaps America's most iconic corporation-suffer such a swift and sudden fall from grace?"--
What J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important book that illuminates the lives of America's forg...
The presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident. In When America Stopped Being Great, Nick Bryant argues that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. In this highly personal account, drawing on decades of cove...
Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, yet he once advocated the violent overthrow of South Africa's government and helped create a guerrilla army to fight apartheid. A child of privilege born into a royal family, he chose a life in the slums...
Travelling the circumference of the truly gigantic Pacific, Simon Winchester tells the story of the world's largest body of water, and - in matters economic, political and military - the ocean of the future. The Pacific is a world of tsunamis and Magellan,...
Most people think of snipers as shooters perched in urban hides, dealing out death unseen from a considerable distance. But this description barely scratches the surface. Special operations snipers are men with stacked skill sets who have the ability...
A bold and passionate re-examination of New Zealand political history by a leading social commentator. The way some histories tell it, Europeans came to New Zealand keen to establish a Little Britain in the South Seas. Not so, says Chris Trotter. Most...
"There is nothing on Earth quite like the Isle of Man TT Races. No other motorcycle race is held on such a challenging track as the 37-mile plus Mountain Course with its seemingly never-ending series of bends, bumps, jumps, stone walls, manhole covers...
The Fact Checker staff of the Washington Post presents a collection of selected statements made by President Donald Trump since January 2017 and their analysis, both graphical and textual.
It doesn't require a strong imagination to get a sense of the mayhem Trump will unleash if he loses a closely contested election. It is no less disturbing to imagine Trump still insisting that he is the rightful leader of the nation. With millions of...
The #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers a startlingly fresh portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz. On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had alr...
In this ambitious and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective. France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also in the Americas, West...
In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a de...
Peek beneath the bedsheets of Stuart Britain in this frank, informative, and captivating look at the sexual lives of the peoples of the British Isles between 1603 and 1714. Popular Stuart historian Andrea Zuvich, The Seventeenth Century Lady , explores...
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