Churchill: Visionary, Statesman, Historian by John Lukacs

$12.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

In previous books, Lukacs has told the story of Churchill's titanic struggle with Hitler in the early years of WWII. Now he turns his attention to Churchill the man and visionary statesman, and deals with his relationships with Stalin, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower, as well as his complex, far-sighted polit ical vision. ...Show more

The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn by Retha M. Warnicke

$12.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Series: Canto Ser. | Reading Level: very good

The events which led to the execution of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII?'s second queen, in 1536 have traditionally been explained by historians in terms of a factional conspiracy masterminded by Henry?'s minister Thomas Cromwell. Retha Warnicke?'s fascinating and controversial reinterpretation focuses instead on the sexual intrigues and family politics pervading the court, offering a new explanation of Anne?'s fall. The picture which emerges - placing Anne?'s life in the context of social and religious values, and superstitions about witches and the birth of deformed children - changes our perception of her role within the court, and suggests that her execution (occurring only four months after a miscarriage) was the tragic consequence of Henry?'s profound concern about the continuation of the Tudor dynasty. ...Show more

The Dreamer - An Autobiography by Cliff Richard

$16.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: near fine

Published to coincide with his 80th birthday, a tour and another new album, national treasure Sir Cliff Richard has emerged stronger than ever after devastating false accusations threatened to ruin his life. As he celebrates 60 years in music, he tells his incredible story in his first, full autobiograp hy. A living history of pop.'Before Cliff Richard and The Shadows there was nothing worth listening to in British music.' John LennonCelebrating sixty years in music, with a hit in every decade since the 1950s, Sir Cliff Richard surely has a story to tell: coming of age in 1950s London, playing at the 2is Cafe where it all began, and now approaching is 80th birthday with record sales of 250m and counting.Cliff Richard was a pioneer - an original, with a new sound style, exploding out of London's post-war skiffle scene. His debut single 'Move It' is widely credited as the record that kick started British rock 'n' roll. Pre-Beatles, Cliff was the teen idol. His story takes us in front of screaming fans across the UK and beyond, onto TV's first pop show Oh Boy!, then through 40 years of Top of the Pops, first with the Kinks and latterly the likes of McFly. He's seen era-defining pop groups and iconic TV shows come and go. He's still making new music, and this summer he's playing to sell-out arenas.His recent struggles have only intensified the devotion of his fans, and spurred him on to a new phase of creativity. He feels the time is right to tell his own story and cement his legacy in the history of pop culture. ...Show more

Touched by the Sun - My Friendship with Jackie by Carly Simon

$15.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: near fine

A New York Times Bestselling AuthorA chance encounter at Martha's Vineyard party blossomed into an enduring friendship. Carly Simon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis made an unlikely pair -- Carly, a free and artistic spirit; and Jackie, one of the most celebrated and unknowable women in American history. Nonetheless, over the next decade they forged a connection deeper than either could have foreseen. Their shared time brought a welcome lightness and comfort to their days, but their conversations often veered into more profound territory as they helped each other navigate the shifting waters of a life lived, publicly, in the wake of great love and great loss. ...Show more

Nobody Will Tell You This but Me: A True (as told to me) Story by Bess Kalb

$12.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

"When I stop crying, I'm calling my mother immediately and making her read it." --Jodi Picoult "Comic lines as good as in any movie, and pathos as deep as in any novel" --Mike Birbiglia Bess Kalb, Emmy-nominated TV writer and New Yorker contributor, saved every voicemail her grandmother Bobby Bell eve r left her. Bobby was a force--irrepressible, glamorous, unapologetically opinionated. Bobby doted on Bess; Bess adored Bobby. Then, at ninety, Bobby died. But in this debut memoir, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as passionate as it ever was in life. Recounting both family lore and family secrets, Bobby brings us four generations of indomitable women and the men who loved them. There's Bobby's mother, who traveled solo from Belarus to America in the 1880s to escape the pogroms, and Bess's mother, a 1970s rebel who always fought against convention. Then there's Bess, who grew up in New York and entered the rough-and-tumble world of L.A. television. Her grandma Bobby was with her all the way--she was the light of Bess's childhood and her fiercest supporter, giving Bess unequivocal love, even if sometimes of the toughest kind. In Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, Bobby reminds Bess of the experiences they shared, and she delivers--in phone calls, texts, and unforgettable heart-to-hearts brought vividly to the page--her signature wisdom: If the earth is cracking behind you, you put one foot in front of the other. Never. Buy. Fake. Anything. I swear on your life every word of this is true. With humor and poignancy, Bess Kalb gives us proof of the special bond that can skip a generation and endure beyond death. This book is a feat of extraordinary ventriloquism and imagination by a remarkably talented writer. ...Show more

Note to Self by Connor Franta

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: good

In his New York Times bestselling memoir, A Work in Progress, Connor Franta shared his journey from small-town Midwestern boy to full-fledged Internet sensation. Exploring his past with humor and astounding insight, Connor reminded his fans of why they first fell in love with him on YouTube--and reveale d to newcomers how he relates to his millions of dedicated followers.   Now, two years later, Connor is ready to bring to light a side of himself he's rarely shown on or off camera. In this diary-like look at his life since A Work In Progress, Connor talks about his battles with clinical depression, social anxiety, self-love, and acceptance; his desire to maintain an authentic self in a world that values shares and likes over true connections; his struggles with love and loss; and his renewed efforts to be in the moment--with others and himself.   Told through short essays, letters to his past and future selves, poetry, and original photography, Note to Self is a raw, in-the-moment look at the fascinating interior life of a young creator turning inward in order to move forward. ...Show more

Emma's War by Deborah Scroggins

$10.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Love, corruption, violence and the dangerous politics of aid in the Sudan, by an exciting new writer. Glamorous aid worker Emma McCune conformed to none of the stereotypes: although driven and committed to her work she was at least partially attracted to Africa because it enabled her to live in a s tyle she could not achieve in Britain, and she was famous in East Africa for wearing mini-skirts and for her affairs with African men. Initially much admired, if also suspect for her social flair, she appalled the aid community with her marriage to a local warlord, who was deeply involved in both rebellion and murder. She had fallen in love and, a rebel to the end, she insisted on following her feelings, even if it left her rejected by her fellow workers and in an ambiguous position – was she on the side of the refugees or the warmongersE Even after her death in a road accident, the fascination with her life continues: it is a mixture of Romeo and Juliet and Heart of Darkness with a large helping of Graham Greene. This is also an immensely powerful evocation of the complexities and horrors of the Sudan, where Gordon of Khartoum lost his life and possibly his sanity campaigning against the slave trade; where today life is so harsh that desperate families sell their children into slavery, hoping for a better life for the child; where hopeless children volunteer to be sold, grabbing at any opportunity for change, however slight; and where boys grow up aspiring to be child soldiers and men dedicate their babies to war. ...Show more

Where Light and Shadow Meet: A Memoir by Emilie Schindler

$10.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

It soon became clear that her marriage would have both its passions and its betrayals. Yet Emilie stayed with Oskar through his growing involvement with the Nazis, working for counterintelligence with him. She first, then he later, came to realize the costs of the Nazi takeover and became witnesses to i ts terrors. Their inward allegiance changed even as they needed to maintain patriotic appearances and close affiliations with the Nazis in power. Through their work together at their two factories, saving the Jews became paramount for the Schindlers. Emilie nursed the Jewish factory workers when they fell ill, often saving their lives. She risked imprisonment or worse for her activities in the black market to feed them. Her stubbornness kept her fighting for food, even daring to ask a wealthy mill owner to give them grain to feed her starving workers. Where Light and Shadow Meet chronicles the Schindlers' flight after the war, the loss of almost all their possessions, and their eventual emigration to Argentina. There they settled on a farm, but barely scraped together an existence. Oskar returned to Germany, leaving Emilie to manage on her own. This is the story of one woman's daily acts of bravery during Hitler's reign and why it mattered. It is also the story of a marriage and of survival. Finally, it is the story of Emilie's strength in continuing on one day at a time. ...Show more

Zamyatin: A Soviet Heretic by D J Richards

$10.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Series: Studies in Modern Literature and Thought | Reading Level: very good

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

$12.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Series: The Pheonix Library | Reading Level: good

Nat's Nat and That's That: A Surfing Legend by Nat Young

$16.00 NZD

Category: Nautical | Reading Level: good-very good

Nat Young's incomparable autobiography now in paperback.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

$12.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamist who threatened that she would be next. She made headlines again when she was stripped of her citizenship and resigned from the Dutch Pa rliament.   Infidel shows the coming of age of this distinguished political superstar and champion of free speech as well as the development of her beliefs, iron will, and extraordinary determination to fight injustice. Raised in a strict Muslim family, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries ruled largely by despots. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Under constant threat, demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from family and clan, she refuses to be silenced.   Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolves out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely or more significant. ...Show more