Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

$40.00 NZD

Category: History

An epoch-defining history of African America, the first to appear in a generation, Four Hundred Souls is a chronological account of four hundred years of Black America as told by ninety of America's leading Black writers. Curated by Ibram X. Kendi, author of the number one bestseller How To Be an Antira cist, and fellow historian Keisha N. Blain, Four Hundred Souls begins with the arrival of twenty enslaved Ndongo people on the shores of the British colony in mainland America in 1619, the year before the arrival of the Mayflower. In eighty chronological chapters, the book charts the tragic and triumphant four-hundred-year history of Black American experience in a choral work of exceptional power and beauty. Contributors include some of the best-known scholars, writers, historians, journalists, lawyers, poets and activists of contemporary America who together bring to vivid life countless new facets to the drama of slavery and resistance, segregation and survival, migration and self-discovery, cultural oppression and world-changing artistic, literary and musical creativity. In these pages are dozens of extraordinary lives and personalities, rescued from the archives and restored to their rightful place in America's narrative, as well as the ghosts of millions more. Four Hundred Souls is an essential work of story-telling and reclamation that redefines America and changes our notion of how history is written. ...Show more

Spooked - The Secret Rise of Private Spies by Barry Meier

$38.00 NZD

Category: History

A spy story like no other. Private spies are the invisible force that shapes our modern world: they influence our elections, effect government policies and shape the fortunes of companies. More deviously, they are also peering into our personal lives as never before, using off-the shelf technology to l isten to our phone calls, monitor our emails and decide what we see on social media. Spooked takes us on a journey into a secret billion-dollar industry in which information is currency and loyalties are for sale. An industry so tentacular it reaches from Saddam Hussein to an 80s-era Trump, from the Steele dossier written by a British ex-spy to Russian oligarchs sitting pretty in Mayfair mansions, from the devious tactics of Harvey Weinstein to the growing role of corporate spies in politics and the threat to future elections. Spooked reads like the best kind of spy story: a gripping tale packed with twists and turns, uncovering a secret side of our modern world. ...Show more

Auschwitz Photographer: Based on the True Story of Prisoner 3444 Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa; Maurizio Onnis

$40.00 NZD

Category: History

'I looked death in the eyes. I did it fifty thousand times...' Wilhelm Brasse When Germany invaded Wilhelm Brasse's native Poland in 1939, he was asked to swear allegiance to Hitler and join the Wehrmacht. He refused. He was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp as political prisoner number 3444. A trained portrait photographer, he was ordered by the SS to record the inner workings of the camp. He began by taking identification photographs of the prisoners as they entered the camp, went on to capture the criminal medical experiments of Josef Mengele, and also recorded executions. Between 1940 and 1945, Brasse took around 50,000 photographs of the horror around him. He took them because he had no choice. Eventually, Brasse's conscience wouldn't allow him to hide behind his camera. First he risked his life by joining the camp's Resistance movement, faking documents for prisoners, trying to smuggle images to the outside world to reveal what was happening. Then, when Soviet troops finally advanced on the camp to liberate it, Brasse refused SS orders to destroy his photographs. 'Because the world must know,' he said. For readers of The Librarian of Auschwitz and The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz, this extraordinary true story of horror, hope and courage lies at the very heart of the Holocaust. 'Brasse has left us with a powerful legacy in images. Because of them we can see the victims of the Holocaust as human and not statistics.' Fergal Keane   ...Show more

Daughters of Yalta by Catherine Katz

$40.00 NZD

Category: History

The brilliant untold story of three daughters of diplomacy: Anna Roosevelt, Sarah Churchill, and Kathleen Harriman, glamorous, fascinating young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference with Stalin in the waning days of World War II. In Daughters of Yalta, Catherine Katz uncov ers the dramatic story of the three young women who travelled with their fathers to the Yalta conference, each bound by fierce ambition and intertwined romances that powerfully coloured these crucial days. Kathleen Harriman, twenty-seven, was a champion skier, war correspondent, and daughter to US Ambassador to Russia Averell Harriman. She acted as his translator and arranged much of the conference's fine detail. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who in turn depended on her astute political mind. FDR's only daughter, Anna, chosen over Eleanor Roosevelt to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as holder of her father's most damaging secret.   ...Show more

Queens of Jerusalem - The Women Who Dared to Rule by Katherine Pangonis

$38.00 NZD

Category: History

Debut by an exciting young narrative historian - a revisionist history of Medieval Palestine In 1187 Saladin's armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously annihilated Jerusalem's army at the battle of Hattin, and behind the city's high walls a last-ditch defence was being led by an un likely trio - including Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. They could not resist Saladin, but, if they were lucky, they could negotiate terms that would save the lives of the city's inhabitants. Queen Sibylla was the last of a line of formidable female rulers in the Crusader States of Outremer. Yet for all the many books written about the Crusades, one aspect is conspicuously absent: the stories of women. Queens and princesses tend to be presented as passive transmitters of land and royal blood. In reality, women ruled, conducted diplomatic negotiations, made military decisions, forged alliances, rebelled, and undertook architectural projects. Sibylla's grandmother Queen Melisende was the first queen to seize real political agency in Jerusalem and rule in her own right. She outmanoeuvred both her husband and son to seize real power in her kingdom, and was a force to be reckoned with in the politics of the medieval Middle East. The lives of her Armenian mother, her three sisters, and their daughters and granddaughters were no less intriguing. The lives of this trailblazing dynasty of royal women, and the crusading Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, are the focus of Katherine Pangonis's debut book. In QUEENS OF JERUSALEM she explores the role women played in the governing of the Middle East during periods of intense instability, and how they persevered to rule and seize greater power for themselves when the opportunity presented itself. ...Show more

Glossy: The Inside Story of Vogue by Nina-Sophia Miralles

$38.00 NZD

Category: History

Glossy is a story of more than a magazine. It is a story of passion and power, dizzying fortune and out-of-this-world fashion, of ingenuity and opportunism, frivolity and malice. This is the definitive story of Vogue. Vogue magazine started, like so many great things do, in the spare room of someone's house. But unlike other such makeshift projects that flare up then fizzle away, Vogue burnt itself onto our cultural consciousness. Today, 125 years later, Vogue spans 22 countries, has an international print readership upwards of 12 million and nets over 67 million monthly online users. Uncontested market leader for a century, it is one of the most recognisable brands in the world and a multi-million dollar money-making machine. It is not just a fashion magazine, it is the establishment. But what - and more importantly who - made Vogue such an enduring success? Glossy will answer this question and more by tracing the previously untold history of the magazine, from its inception as a New York gossip rag, to the sleek, corporate behemoth we know now. This will be a biography of Vogue in every sense of the word, taking the reader through three centuries, two world wars, plunging failures and blinding successes, as it charts the story of the magazine and those who ran it. ...Show more

Our First Foreign War - The Impact of the South African War 1899-1902 on New Zealand by Nigel Robson

$55.00 NZD

Category: History

When war broke out between the British Empire and the Boer republics in 1899, New Zealand was among Britain's most enthusiastic supporters. The South African War was a chance for New Zealand to prove its military capabilities and loyalty to the Empire. There was a huge surge in nationalist feeling and i ntense interest in the fortunes of the imperial forces. Mafeking, Kimberley and Ladysmith became household names. Fundraising events were packed, and as men enlisted in contingents and Volunteer corps, women and children joined patriotic groups and cadet corps. This is the first book to examine in detail the enduring impact of the country's first overseas war. ...Show more

Nation Dates (Fourth Edition)

$35.00 NZD

Category: History

The Bravest Voices by Ida Cook

$33.00 NZD

Category: History

This timeless memoir documents two sisters' bravery leading up to WWII - a singular historical account that shines a light on one of humanity's darkest hours. Ida and Louise Cook are two ordinary Englishwomen, seemingly destined never to stray from their quiet London suburb and comfortable jobs - Ida as a budding romance novelist and Louise as a civil service typist. But in 1923, a chance hearing of an aria from Madame Butterfly sparked a passion for opera in the sisters that led to the formation of friendships with some of Europe's leading singers and their network, many of them Jewish. As the Nazis rose to power, Ida and Louise began working with the opera world's insiders to save members of the community from persecution and death. Through ingenuity, thrift and bottomless goodwill, the sisters eluded the suspicion of the Nazis and helped secure safe passage for dozens of refugees. No one would have predicted such daring lives for Ida and Louise Cook - but that underestimation is exactly how they were able to save lives.First published in 1950, Ida's memoir of the adventures she and Louise shared remains as fresh, vital and entertaining as the woman who wrote it, and is a moving testament to the extraordinary acts of courage by two everyday heroes. ...Show more

Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World (PB) by Simon Winchester

$40.00 NZD

Category: History

From the bestselling author Simon Winchester, a human history of land around the world: who mapped it, owned it, stole it, cared for it, fought for it and gave it back. The ownership of land has always been complicated, opaque, and more than a little anarchic when viewed from the outside. In this book, Simon Winchester explores the the stewardship of land, the ways it is delineated and changes hands, the great disputes, and the questions of restoration – particularly in the light of climate change and colonialist reparation. A global study, this is an exquisite exploration of what the ownership of land might really mean – not in dry-as-dust legal terms, but for the people who live on it. ...Show more

Hitler's Horses: The Incredible True Story of the Detective Who Infiltrated the Nazi Underworld by Arthur Brand

$35.00 NZD

Category: History

The true story of a detective, two bronze horses and the dictator who set the world on fire. When detective Arthur Brand is summoned to a meeting with one of the most dangerous men in the art world, he learns that a clue has emerged that could solve one of the Second World War's unexplained mysteries- w hat really happened to the Striding Horses, Hitler's favourite statue, which disappeared during the bombing of Berlin. As Brand goes undercover to find the horses, he discovers a terrifying world ruled by neo-Nazis and former KGB agents, where Third Reich memorabilia sells for millions of dollars. The stakes get ever higher as Brand carefully lays his trap to catch the criminal masterminds trying to sell the statue on the black market. But who are they? And will he manage to bring them to justice before they discover his real identity? With a plot worthy of John Le Carre, Hitler's Horses is a thrilling retelling of one of history's most extraordinary heists. ...Show more

Poisoner in Chief - Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer

$38.00 NZD

Category: History

The bestselling author of All the Shah's Men and The Brothers tells the astonishing story of the man who oversaw the CIA's secret drug and mind-control experiments of the 1950s and '60s.The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA's master magician and gentlehearted torturer--the agency's "poisoner in chief." As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents. He made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace--including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders. He paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States, making him a hidden godfather of the 1960s counterculture. For years he was the chief supplier of spy tools used by CIA officers around the world. Stephen Kinzer, author of groundbreaking books about U.S. clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the twentieth century. Gottlieb's reckless experiments on "expendable" human subjects destroyed many lives, yet he considered himself deeply spiritual. He lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated, and rose before dawn to milk his goats. During his twenty-two years at the CIA, Gottlieb worked in the deepest secrecy. Only since his death has it become possible to piece together his astonishing career at the intersection of extreme science and covert action. Poisoner in Chief reveals him as a clandestine conjurer on an epic scale. ...Show more