War - How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan

$45.00 NZD

Category: History

How the human history of conflict has transformed the world we live in - for good and evil. The time since the Second World War has been seen by some as the longest uninterrupted period of harmony in human history: the 'long peace', as Stephen Pinker called it. But despite this, there has been a milita ry conflict ongoing every year since 1945. The same can be said for every century of recorded history. Is war, therefore, an essential part of being human?  In War, Professor Margaret MacMillan explores the deep links between society and war and the questions they raise. We learn when war began - whether among early homo sapiens or later, as we began to organise ourselves into tribes and settle in communities. We see the ways in which war reflects changing societies and how war has brought change - for better and worse.  Economies, science, technology, medicine, culture: all are instrumental in war and have been shaped by it - without conflict it we might not have had penicillin, female emancipation, radar or rockets. Throughout history, writers, artists, film-makers, playwrights, and composers have been inspired by war - whether to condemn, exalt or simply puzzle about it. If we are never to be rid of war, how should we think about it and what does that mean for peace? ...Show more

Girl with a Sniper Rifle - An Eastern Front Memoir by Yulia Zhukova

$35.00 NZD

Category: History

In this vivid first-hand account we gain unique access to the inner workings of Stalin's Central Women's Sniper School, near Podolsk in Western Russia. Luliia was a dedicated member of the Komsomol (the Soviet communist youth organisation) and her parents worked for the NKVD. She started at the sniper school and eventually became a valued member of her battalion during operations against Prussia. She persevered through eight months of training before leaving for the Front on 24th November 1944 just days after qualifying. Joining the third Belorussian Front her battalion endured rounds of German mortar as well as loudspeaker announcements beckoning them to come over to the German side. Luliia recounts how they would be in the field for days, regularly facing the enemy in terrifying one-on-one encounters. She sets down the euphoria of her first hit and starting her "battle count" but her reflection on how it was also the ending of a life. These feelings fade as she recounts the barbarous actions of Hitler's Nazi Germany. She recall how the women were once nearly overrun by Germans at their house when other Red Army formations had moved off and failed to tell them. She also details a nine-day stand-off they endured encircled by Germans in Landsberg.   ...Show more

Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World 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

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

Berlin - Biography of a City by Barney White-Spunner

$38.00 NZD

Category: History

There is a particular frisson about Berlin, a combination of excitement, anticipation, nervousness and the unexpected. Through all its life it has been a city of tensions. Its position, on the frontier of Europe, on the 'Mark', where Christianity met paganism, where the Huns met the Slavs, where Europe met Russia and where fertile land met the sands, swamp and forests of Pomerania and Prussia, gave Berlin a geographical tension. It was also long a city of religious tension, between a largely Lutheran people and a Calvinist government. In the nineteenth-century political tension became acute between a city that was increasingly democratic, home to Marx and Hegel, and one of the most autocratic regimes in Europe. Artistic tension, between free thinking and liberal movements, once championed by monarchs like Frederick the Great, started to find themselves in direct contention with the formal, some would say stultifying, official culture. Underlying all this was the ethnic tension, between multi-racial Berliners and the Prussians; Berlin may have been the capital of Prussia but it was never a Prussian city.   Then there is war. Few European cities have suffered from war as Berlin has. It has been sacked by the Hapsburg armies and the Swedes in the 30 Years War; by the Austrians and the Russians in the eighteenth century; by the French, with great violence, for nearly eight years in the early nineteenth century; by the Russians again in 1945 and subsequently occupied, more benignly, by the Allied Powers from 1945 until 1994. Nor can many cities boast such a diverse and controversial number of international figures. Apart from the Electors, Kings and Kaisers, several of whom like The Great Elector and Frederick the Great are deservedly international figures in their own right, with accompanying statesmen like Bismarck, a cast that boasts Schinkel and Gropius; Hegel and Marx; Mahler and Hoffman; Dietrich and Bowie; Lieberman and Köllwitz; Isherwood, Brecht, Wolf and Mann gives Berlin a cultural history that is as varied as it was ground-breaking.   In the story of Berlin also lies at least part of the answer to one of the greatest enigmas of the twentieth century. How could a people as civilised, ordered and religious as the Germans support first a Kaiser and then the Nazis in inflicting such misery on Europe? Berlin was never as supportive of the Kaiser in 1914 as the rest of Germany; it was the revolution in Berlin in 1918 that lead to his abdication and Germany suing for peace. Nor was it as supportive of Hitler, being home to much of the opposition to the Nazis, although paradoxically Berlin suffered more than any other German city from Hitler's war. In unwrapping the story of Berlin it is possible to find at least a partial answer to this puzzling question which lies partially in the unique, curiously un-Germanic tradition of its capital city.   ...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

Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of a Common Fate by Mark Kurlansky

$43.00 NZD

Category: History

Most of what we do on land ends up impacting the ocean, but never is that clearer than when we look at salmon. Centuries of our greatest assaults on nature, from overfishing to dams, from hatcheries to fish farms, from industrial pollution to the ravages of climate change, can be seen in their harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, through Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Japan and Siberia, Mark Kurlansky traces the history of the world through his fish-eye lens, laying bare our misdirected attempts to manipulate salmon for our own benefit. Attempts that have had a devastating impact on both fish and earth. Now, the only way to save salmon is to save the planet, and the only way to save the planet may be to save the salmon. ...Show more

The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and Its People by Michael Wood

$60.00 NZD

Category: History

China's story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic. Now Michael Wood, one of the UK's pre-eminent historians, brings it all together in a major new one-volume history of China that is essential for reading for anyone who wants to understand its burgeoning role in our world today. China is the oldest li ving civilisation on earth, but its history is still surprisingly little known in the wider world. Michael Wood's sparkling narrative, which mingles the grand sweep with local and personal stories, woven together with the author's own travel journals, is an enthralling account of China's 4000-year-old tradition, taking in life stationed on the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City. The story is enriched with the latest archaeological and documentary discoveries; correspondence and court cases going back to the Qin and Han dynasties; family letters from soldiers in the real-life Terracotta Army; stories from Silk Road merchants and Buddhist travellers, along with memoirs and diaries of  emperors, poets and peasants.    In the modern era, the book is full of new insights, with the electrifying manifestos of the feminist revolutionaries Qiu Jin and He Zhen, extraordinary eye-witness accounts of the Japanese invasion, the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao, and fascinating newly published sources for the great turning points in China's modern history, including the Tiananmen Square crisis of 1989, and the new order of  President Xi Jinping.   A compelling portrait of a single civilisation over an immense period of time, the book is full of intimate detail and colourful voices, taking us from the desolate Mongolian steppes to the ultra-modern world of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It also asks what were the forces that have kept China together for so long? Why was China overtaken by the west after the 18th century? What lies behind China's extraordinary rise today? The Story of China tells a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity and deep humanity; a portrait of a country that will be of the greatest importance to the world in the twenty-first century. ...Show more

Nation Dates (Fourth Edition)

$35.00 NZD

Category: History

Conspiracy Theories - A Compendium of History's Greatest Mysteries and More Recent Cover-Ups by Jamie King

$25.00 NZD

Category: History

Where did the Coronavirus outbreak originate and was the pandemic predicted? Did aliens help to build the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza, and what were they trying to tell us? Did aliens help to build the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza, and what were they trying to tell us? Is the food in dustry colluding to make us addicted to sugar? Prepare yourself for some startling revelations on these topics and many more in this updated and expanded compendium of the world's scariest and strangest conspiracy theories. Leaving no stone unturned, it delves into such conundrums as: the growing number of people who believe the Earth is flat the unsolved disappearance of Flight MH370 the uncertainties surrounding the assassination of Osama Bin Laden the mysterious circumstances of Bruce Lee's death Whether you're a doubter or a self-confessed conspiracy junkie, you'll find a cover-up for every occasion. And remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you... ...Show more

Shakespearean: Life According to Shakespeare by Robert McCrum

$40.00 NZD

Category: History

Why do we return to Shakespeare time and again?When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke, described in My Year Off, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. Unable to travel or move as he used to, McCrum found the First Folio became h is 'book of life', an endless source of inspiration through which he could embark on 'journeys of the mind', and see a reflection of our own disrupted times.An acclaimed writer and journalist, McCrum has spent the last twenty-five years immersed in Shakespeare's work, on stage and on the page. During this prolonged exploration, Shakespeare's poetry and plays, so vivid and contemporary, have become his guide and consolation. In Shakespearean he asks: why is it that we always return to Shakespeare, particularly in times of acute crisis and dislocation? What is the key to his hold on our imagination? And why do the collected works of an Elizabethan writer continue to speak to us as if they were written yesterday?Shakespearean is a rich, brilliant and superbly drawn portrait of an extraordinary artist, one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Through an enthralling narrative, ranging widely in time and space, McCrum seeks to understand Shakespeare within his historical context while also exploring the secrets of literary inspiration, and examining the nature of creativity itself. Witty and insightful, he makes a passionate and deeply personal case that Shakespeare's words and ideas are not just enduring in their relevance - they are nothing less than the eternal key to our shared humanity. ...Show more

Past Mistakes: How We Misinterpret History and Why It Matters by David Mountain

$37.00 NZD

Category: History

Museums are full of pure white Classical sculptures. Over the years, we've ignored evidence that they were originally painted bright colors, 'restoring' sculptures to a gleaming white and becoming heated about the very idea of a lick of paint. Why? Because the stories we tell about our past affect how w e see ourselves today. Just one wrong turn in our understanding of history can infect whole areas of thought - as well as how we look at society and relate to others in the 21st century. Exploring some of the biggest myths, mysteries and misconceptions about the past (Columbus didn't discover the United States, the Vandals weren't vandals, Boudicca wasn't English), David Mountain reveals how ongoing revolutions in history and archaeology are finally shedding light on the truth. ...Show more