Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was a war hero whose exploits in Crete are legendary, and above all he is widely acclaimed as the greatest travel writer of our times, notably for his books about his walk across pre-war Europe, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water; he was a self-educated polymath, a lover of Greece and the best company in the world. Artemis Cooper has drawn on years of interviews and conversations with Paddy and his cloest friends as well as having complete access to his archives. Her beautifully crafted biography portrays a man of extraordinary gifts - no one wore their learning so playfully, nor inspired such passionate friendship. ...Show more

Vikings by Neil Oliver

$12.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: very good

The Vikings famously took no prisoners, relished cruel retribution, and prided themselves on their blood-thirsty skills as warriors. But their prowess in battle is only a small part of their story, which stretches from their Scandinavian origins to America in the west and as far as Baghdad in the east. As the Vikings did not write their history, we have to discover it for ourselves, and that discovery, as Neil Oliver reveals, tells an extraordinary story of a people who, from the brink of destruction, reached a quarter of the way around the globe and built an empire that lasted nearly 200 years. Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light, Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? And just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1000 years ago? VIKINGS will explore many of these questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest. ...Show more

Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present by Christopher I. Beckwith

$30.00 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: very good

The first complete history of Central Eurasia from ancient times to the present day, "Empires of the Silk Road" represents a fundamental rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of this major world region. Christopher Beckwith describes the rise and fall of the great Central Eurasian empires , including those of the Scythians, Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the Mongols. In addition, he explains why the heartland of Central Eurasia led the world economically, scientifically, and artistically for many centuries despite invasions by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and others. In retelling the story of the Old World from the perspective of Central Eurasia, Beckwith provides a new understanding of the internal and external dynamics of the Central Eurasian states and shows how their people repeatedly revolutionized Eurasian civilization. Beckwith recounts the Indo-Europeans' migration out of Central Eurasia, their mixture with local peoples, and the resulting development of the Graeco-Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations; he details the basis for the thriving economy of premodern Central Eurasia, the economy's disintegration following the region's partition by the Chinese and Russians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the damaging of Central Eurasian culture by Modernism; and he discusses the significance for world history of the partial reemergence of Central Eurasian nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Empires of the Silk Road" places Central Eurasia within a world historical framework and demonstrates why the region is central to understanding the history of civilization. ...Show more

In the Footsteps of King David - Revelations from an Ancient Biblical City by Yosef Garfinkel; Saar Ganor; Michael G. Hasel

$30.00 NZD

Category: Middle East | Reading Level: near fine

King David is a pivotal figure in the Bible, which tells his life story in detail and gives stirring accounts of his deeds, including the slaying of the Philistine giant Goliath and the founding of his capital in Jerusalem. But no certain archaeological finds from the period of his reign or of the kingd om he ruled over have ever been uncovered--until now.In this groundbreaking account, the excavators of Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Valley of Elah, where the Bible says David fought Goliath, reveal how seven years of exhaustive investigation have uncovered a city dating to the time of David-- the late eleventh and early tenth century BCE--surrounded by massive fortifications with impressive gates and a clear urban plan, as well as an abundance of finds that tell us much about the inhabitants. Discussing the link between the Bible, archaeology, and history In the Footsteps of King David explains the significance of these discoveries and how they shed new light on David's kingdom. The topic is at the center of a controversy that has raged for decades, but these findings successfully challenge scholars disputing the historicity of the Bible and the chronology of the events recounted in it. ...Show more

Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul by Harry Freedman

$20.00 NZD

Category: Spirituality | Reading Level: near fine

Harry Freedman, author of The Talmud: A Biography and The Murderous History of Bible Translations, explores the mysterious Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. Kabbalah is popularly known as a fashionable system for personal and spiritual insight, a Jewish mystical tradition popularized by devoted c elebrities like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Britney Spears. But behind the hype and simplicity of "pop-Kabbalah" lies an ancient, complex and very profound system that can take a lifetime to master. Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul is a short introduction that untangles the complex history and spiritual tradition behind the phenomenon. Kabbalah is difficult to define. The very phrase "story of Kabbalah" is as opaque and mysterious as the topic itself. This of course is its appeal. The word itself means "received." For over half a millennium, individuals and movements with no attachment to Judaism have incorporated Kabbalah into their own spiritual traditions. Kabbalah flourished in the Renaissance and its method was adopted in varying measures by Hermeticists, Rosicrucians, Freemasons and tarot card readers. Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibnitz, Carl Jung and Harold Bloom have all admitted to the influence of Kabbalah. But it all goes back to the Hebrew Bible where the prophet Ezekiel described in detail his vision of the heavenly throne, perceived as a chariot. Kabbalah became fashionable in the late 1960s in the wake of the hippy counter-culture and with the approach of the new age, and enjoyed its share of fame, scandal, and disrepute as the twenty first century approached. This concise, readable, and thoughtful history of Kabbalah tells its story as it has never been told before. It demands no knowledge of Kabbalah, just an interest in asking the questions "why?" and "how?" ...Show more

Katherine Swynford: Story Of John Of Gaunt,his Scandalous Mistress by Alison Weir

$20.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Georgian London: Into the Streets by Lucy Inglis

$25.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: near fine

In Georgian London: Into the Streets, Lucy Inglis takes readers on a tour of London's most formative age - the age of love, sex, intellect, art, great ambition and fantastic ruin. Travel back to the Georgian years, a time that changed expectations of what life could be. Peek into the gilded drawing room s of the aristocracy, walk down the quiet avenues of the new middle class, and crouch in the damp doorways of the poor. But watch your wallet - tourists make perfect prey for the thriving community of hawkers, prostitutes and scavengers. Visit the madhouses of Hackney, the workshops of Soho and the mean streets of Cheapside. Have a coffee in the city, check the stock exchange, and pop into St Paul's to see progress on the new dome. This book is about the Georgians who called London their home, from dukes and artists to rent boys and hot air balloonists meeting dog-nappers and life-models along the way. It investigates the legacies they left us in architecture and art, science and society, and shows the making of the capital millions know and love today. "Read and be amazed by a city you thought you knew". (Jonathan Foyle, World Monuments Fund). In 2009 Lucy Inglis began blogging on the lesser-known aspects of London during the Eighteenth Century - including food, immigration and sex. She lives in London with her husband. Georgian London is her first book. ...Show more

Hungary - A Short History by Norman Stone

$20.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: near fine

The victors of the First World War created Hungary from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but, in the centuries before, many called for its creation. Norman Stone traces the country's roots from the traditional representative councils of land-owning nobles to the Magyar nationalists of the ninet eenth century and the first wars of independence. Hungary's history since 1918 has not been a happy one. Economic collapse and hyperinflation in the post-war years led to fascist dictatorships and then Nazi occupation. Optimism at the end of the Second World War ended when the Iron Curtain descended, and Soviet tanks crushed the last hopes for independence in 1956 along with the peaceful protests in Budapest. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, consistent economic growth has remained elusive.This is an extraordinary history - unique yet also representative of both the post-Soviet bloc and of nations forged from the fall of empires. ...Show more

Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick by David Frye

$20.00 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: near fine

For thousands of years, humans have built walls and assaulted them, admired walls and reviled them. Great Walls have appeared on nearly every continent, the handiwork of people from Persia, Rome, China, Central America, and beyond. They have accompanied the rise of cities, nations, and empires. And yet they rarely appear in our history books. Spanning centuries and millennia, drawing on archaeological digs to evidence from Berlin and Hollywood, David Frye uncovers the story of walls and asks questions that are both intriguing and profound. Did walls make civilization possible? Can we live without them? This is more than a tale of bricks and stone: Frye reveals the startling link between what we build and how we live, who we are and how we came to be. It is nothing less than the story of civilization. ...Show more

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe by Deborah Cadbury

$20.00 NZD

Category: Europe | Reading Level: near fine

A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted most international power and influence: her role as matchmaking grandmother

A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor

$35.00 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: very good

Takes an original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which previous civilisations have left behind them, often accidentally, as prisms through which we can explore past worlds and the lives of the men and women who lived in them.

The Psycho-Analytical Treatment of Children, Technical Lectures and Essays by Anna Freud

$10.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: good