The Goodman of Paris - A treatise on moral and domestic economy by a citizen of Paris c.1393 by Eileen Power (ed.)

$15.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: good-very good

The Great Swindle - The Story of the South Sea Bubble by Virginia Cowles

$10.00 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: good-very good

The Sikhs by Khuswant Singh

$12.00 NZD

Category: Religion | Reading Level: good-very good

The Evolution of Diplomatic Method being the Chicele Lectures delivered at The University of Oxford in November 1953 by Harold Nicolson

$20.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: very good

Lives of the Engineers - The Steam Engine - Boulton and Watt by Samuel Smiles

$30.00 NZD

Category: Science | Reading Level: good-very good

Ballots Bullets and Kabulshit - An Afghan Election by Toby Ralph

$7.00 NZD

Category: Middle East | Series: Penguin Specials | Reading Level: very good

Toby Ralph, described as one of the 'most powerful spinners and advisers in Australia', joined a UN team to assist with preparations for Afghanistan's 2009 presidential elections. Ballots, Bullets and Kabulshit offers a rare glimpse into the chaos and danger of attempting to deliver democracy in a war z one. With the wry humour of a seasoned politico (or someone trying to distract themselves from the very real dangers of their situation), Ralph provides snapshots of life in Kabul, a primer in the political shambles of a failing state, and the reflections of a non-combatant working in a war zone in a suit and tie. He is whisked between meetings in armoured cars, tries to avoid sitting on the AK-47 down the back of the couch at his lodgings, dines with colleagues in sandbagged candlelit restaurants, and attempts to convince the Electoral Commission chairman - and friend of President Hamid Karzai - that having an election is a good idea. That the poll ended in farce, with Karzai's reinstatement by default, means the UN will be sending another group of advisors when next an election is reluctantly called. ...Show more

Trimalchio's Feast by Petronius

$3.00 NZD

Category: Latin Literature | Series: Little Black Classics 21 | Reading Level: very good

'I blush to say what happened next.' A satirical portrait of a drunken, orgiastic Roman banquet, hosted by the grossly ostentatious Trimalchio. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, wit h books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Titus Petronius Arbiter (1st century BCE-c.66 CE). Petronius's The Satyricon is also available in Penguin Classics. ...Show more

The Villas of Pliny from Antiquity to Posterity by Pierre de la Ruffiniere du Prey

$45.00 NZD

Category: Architecture | Reading Level: very good

Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey traces the influence of Pliny the Younger as a continuous theme throughout the history of architecture. First he looks at what Pliny considered to be the essential qualities of a villa. He then discusses the many buildings Pliny inspired: from the Renaissance estates of t he Medici, to papal summer residences near Rome, to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and the home of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Equally important to du Prey's study are the many designs by architects past and present that remain on paper. These imaginary restitutions of Pliny's villas, each representative of its own epoch, trace in microcosm the evolution of the classical tradition in domestic architecture. In analyzing each project, du Prey illuminates the work of such great masters as Michelozzo, Raphael, Palladio, and Schinkel, as well as such well-known modern architects as Léon Krier, Jean-Pierre Adam, and Thomas Gordon Smith. ...Show more

The Indian Mutiny1857 by Saul David

$14.00 NZD

Category: Asia | Reading Level: very good

The bloody insurrection of 1857 that became known as the Indian Mutiny remains a dark stain on Britain's Imperial past. The British complacency that fuelled the rebellion; the ease with which it is spread; the horrific massacres of innocents and the merciless retribution that followed; and the bravery o f those who fought together made this a conflict that marked both countries. Now Saul David casts fresh light on this extraordinary episode, challenging many of the long-standing assumptions about both its causes and the inevitability of British victory. ...Show more

Inventing a Nation - Washington, Adams, Jefferson by Gore Vidal

$12.00 NZD

Category: America | Series: Icons of America Ser. | Reading Level: near fine

"Trust Gore Vidal to teach us things we never learned in school. In Inventing a Nation, his quick wit flickers over the canonical tale of our republic's founding, turning it into a dark and deliciously nuanced comedy of men, manners, and ideas."--Amanda Heller, Boston Globe (Sunday) "Entertaining and e nlightening. . . . A must for buffs of American civilization and its discontents."--Booklist Gore Vidal, one of the master stylists of American literature and one of the most acute observers of American life and history, turns his immense literary and historiographic talent to a portrait of the formidable trio of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. In Inventing a Nation, Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal's splendid and percipient prose, in ways we have not up to now--their opinions of each other, their worries about money, their concerns about creating a viable democracy. Vidal brings them to life at the key moments of decision in the birthing of our nation. He also illuminates the force and weight of the documents they wrote, the speeches they delivered, and the institutions of government by which we still live. More than two centuries later, America is still largely governed by the ideas championed by this triumvirate. ...Show more

The Trouser People - A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire by Andrew Marshall

$15.00 NZD

Category: Asia | Reading Level: very good

Sir George Scott was an unsung Victorian adventurer who hacked, bullied and charmed his way through uncharted jungle to help establish British colonial rule in Burma. Born in Scotland in 1851, Scott was a die-hard imperialist with a fondness for gargantuan pith-helmets and a bluffness of expression that bordered on the Pythonesque. Stepped on something soft and wobbly, he records in his bush diary one dark night. Struck a match, found it was a dead Chinaman. ...Show more

The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England together with an historical view of the affairs of Ireland by Edward Earl of Clarendon

$450.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: very good