After the Victorians 1901-1953 by A.N. Wilson

$25.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: very good

When this book begins, in the reign of Edward VII, Great Britain commands the mightiest empire the world has ever seen. By the time it ends, with the Coronation of Elizabeth II, Britain has emerged victorious from a world war, but ruined as a world power. How did Britain's power and influence decline? T his book seeks to answer this question. ...Show more

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

$14.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: very good

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped pe ople-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders- 1888. Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, and gives these women back their stories. __________________ 'At last, the Ripper's victims get a voice... An eloquent, stirring challenge to reject the prevailing Ripper myth.' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears, of pity and of rage.' LUCY WORSLEY 'Dignity is finally returned to these unfortunate women.' PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK 'Haunting' SUNDAY TIMES 'What a brilliant and necessary book' JO BAKER, author of Longbourn 'Beautifully written and with the grip of a thriller, it will open your eyes and break your heart.' ERIN KELLY, 'An outstanding work of history-from-below ... magnificent' THE SPECTATOR ...Show more

Henry VIII - The King and His Court by Alison Weir

$18.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: very good

Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power and celebrated for his intellect, presided over one of the most magnificent-and dangerous-courts in Renaissance Europe. Never before has a detailed, personal biography of this charismatic monarch been set against the cultural, social, and political backgrou nd of his glittering court. Now Alison Weir brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of the King. Packed with colourful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards. 'Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history...her latest offering is a very fine book' - Frank McLynn, Independent ...Show more

Medieval Britain by Boris Ford (Editor)

$15.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Series: The Cambridge Cultural History | Reading Level: very good

Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Series: Women in History Ser. | Reading Level: very good

'Ground-breaking ... One of the greatest international bestsellers of the post-war period' Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph 'Reads like an engrossing novel' Sunday Times An infant queen. A teenage widow. Beautiful, flamboyant Mary Queen of Scots had a formidable intellect but her political sense - forme d at the absolute court of France - plunged her country into a maelstrom of intrigue, marriage and murder. Upon fleeing to England she was held captive by her cousin Elizabeth I. In this classic biography, reissued for the fiftieth anniversary of its publication, acclaimed historian Antonia Fraser relates the enthralling story of Mary's life and untimely end. ...Show more

News and the British World - The Emergence of an Imperial Press System 1876-1922 by Simon J. Potter

$20.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Series: Oxford Historical Monographs | Reading Level: good-very good

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa were increasingly drawn together by an imperial press system. This is the first scholarly study of the development of that system. Revealed to contemporaries by the South African War, the basis on which the system would develop soon became the focus for debate. Commercial organizations, including newspaper combinations and news agencies such asReuters, fought to protect their interests, while 'ccnstructive imperialists' attempted to enlist the power of the state to strrengthen the system. Debate culminated in fierce controversies over state censorship and propaganda during and after the First World War.Based on extensive archival research, this study addresses crucial themes, including the impact of empire on the press, Britain's imperial experience, and the idea of a 'British world.' Challenging earlier nationalist accounts, Dr Potter draws out the ambiguous impact of the imperial press system on local, national, and imperial identities. ...Show more

Prophets Without Honour - A Background to Freud, Kafka, Einstein and Their World by Frederic V. Grunfeld

$16.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: good-very good

Damn His Blood: Being a True and Detailed History of the Most Barbarous and Inhumane Murder at Oddingley and the Quick and Awful Retribution by Peter Moore

$14.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: very good

'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!' The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 - shot and beaten to death, his body set on fire and left smouldering in his own glebe field - gripped everyone from the Home Secretary in London to newspapermen across the country. It was a strange and stubborn case. The investigation lasted twenty-four years and involved inquests, judges and coroners, each more determined than the last to solve Oddingley's most gruesome crime - or crimes, as it turned out. "Damn His Blood" is a fascinating glimpse into English rural life at the beginning of the nineteenth century, so often epitomised by the civilised drawing rooms of Jane Austen or the rural idylls of Constable. England was exhausted and nervous: dogged by Pitt's war taxes, mounting inflation and the lingering threat of a French invasion, violence was rife, particularly in rural communities where outsiders were regarded with deep suspicion. With a cast of characters straight out of Hardy, "Damn His Blood" is a nail-biting true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness which brings an elusive society vividly back to life. ...Show more

The Tyrannicide Brief : The story of the man who sent Charles I to the scaffold by Geoffrey Robertson

$12.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: good

Radical barrister, John Cooke had the skill and daring to prosecute a King who was above the law. He was the son of a poor Leicestershire farmer whose puritan conscience, political vision and love of civil liberty gave him the courage to bring the trial of Charles I to its dramatic conclusion: the Engli sh republic. Cromwell appointed him as a reforming Chief Justice in Ireland, but in 1660 he was dragged back to the Old Bailey, tried and brutally executed. Geoffrey Robertson QC, the internationally renowned human rights lawyer, provides a vivid new reading of the tumultuous Civil War years, exposing long-hidden truths: that the King was guilty as charged; that his execution was necessary to establish the sovereignty of Parliament; that the regicide trials were rigged and their victims should be seen as national heroes. John Cooke was the bravest of barristers, who risked his own life to make tyranny a crime. He originated the right to silence, the'cab rank' rule of advocacy and the duty to act free-of-charge for the poor. First published 2005, now in softback and a fantastic read. ...Show more

A War Imagined - The First World War and English Culture by Samuel Hynes

$14.00 NZD

Category: Military | Reading Level: good

Between the opulent Edwardian years and the 1920s, World War I opens like a gap in history, separating one world of beliefs and values from another, and changing not only the map of Europe, but the ways in which men and women imagined reality itself. England after the war was a different place: the arts were different; history was different; sex, society and class were all different. ...Show more

The Last White Rose: Dynasty, Rebellion and Treason - The Secret Wars Against the Tudors by Desmond Seward

$12.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: good

This is a brilliant new interpretation of one of the most dramatic periods of British history. The Wars of the Roses didn't end at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Despite the death of Richard III and Henry VII's victory, it continued underground into the following century with plots, pretenders and subt erfuge by the ousted white rose faction. In a brand new interpretation of this turning point in history, well known historian Desmond Seward reviews the story of the Tudors' seizure of the throne and shows that for many years they were far from secure. He challenges the way we look at the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, explaining why there were so many Yorkist pretenders and conspiracies, and why the new dynasty had such difficulty establishing itself. King Richard's nephews, the Earl of Warwick and the little known de la Pole brothers, all had the support of dangerous enemies overseas, while England was split when the lowly Perkin Warbeck skilfully impersonated one of the princes in the tower in order to claim the right to the throne. Warwick's surviving sister Margaret also became the desperate focus of hopes that the White Rose would be reborn. The book also offers a new perspective on why Henry VIII, constantly threatened by treachery, real or imagined, and desperate to secure his power with a male heir, became a tyrant. Praise for Desmond Seward's "A Brief History of the War of the Roses": 'A brilliant study of the period. Rich in historical detail, yet passionately written, the smell of battle seems to linger on the page' - "Yorkshire Post". 'It is hard to imagine a historian more in command of his subject...The result is history as compelling as any novel' - "Independent". 'This is a splendidly and vividly written book' - "Evening Standard". 'A Brief History of the Hundred Years Wars: A well-written narrative, beautifully illustrated, and which takes into account most recent scholarship. It is also a good read' - Richard Cobb, "New Statesman" ...Show more

The Faber Book of Conservatism by Kenneth Baker (ed.)

$14.00 NZD

Category: United Kingdom | Reading Level: good

Containing the essence of conservative principles, ideas and attitudes, this book includes speeches and writings as well as poems by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Kipling, Yeats, Eliot and Auden, with passages from Dickens, Trollope, Galsworthy, Conrad and Evelyn Waugh. All of these illustrate the many streams of thought which flow into convservatism. ...Show more