James Cook Master Mariner Navigator and Cartographer - the Man Behind the Myth (HB) by Peter FitzSimons

$49.99 AUD

Category: Australian | Reading Level: 3 Biography

Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable names in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated. But who was the real James Cook? This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, navigator and cartographer of h is era, and to personally map a third of the globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation. Leading a crew of men into uncharted territories, Cook would face the best and worst of humanity as he took himself and his crew to the edge of the known world - and beyond. With his masterful storytelling talent, Peter FitzSimons brings James Cook to life. Focusing on his most iconic expedition, the voyage of the Endeavour, where Cook first set foot on Australian and New Zealand soil, FitzSimons contrasts Cook against another figure who looms large in Australasian history: Joseph Banks, the aristocratic botanist. As they left England, Banks, a rich, famous playboy, was everything that Cook was not. The voyage tested Cook's character and would help define his legacy. Now, 240 years after James Cook's death, FitzSimons reveals what kind of man James was at heart. His strengths, his weaknesses, his passions and pursuits, failures and successes. ...Show more

Weakness and Deceit by BONNER RAYMOND

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

Saga Land: the Island Stories at the Edge of the World by Richard Fidler; Kari Gislason

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

A new friendship. An unforgettable journey. A beautiful and bloody history.This is Iceland as you've never read it before ...Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kári Gíslason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking fam ilies who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages.These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown.Together, Richard and Kári travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery - a gift from Kari's Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors. ...Show more

Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

"A brilliant reconstruction of the saga of power, glory, and invasion that is the one-thousand year story of Constantinople. A truly marvelous book." --Simon Winchester Ghost Empire is a rare treasure--an utterly captivating blend of the historical and the contemporary, narrated by a master storyteller . The story is a revelation: a beautifully written ode to a lost civilization combined with a warmly observed father-son adventure far from home. In 2014, Richard Fidler and his son Joe made a journey to Istanbul. Fired by Richard's passion for the rich history of the dazzling Byzantine Empire--centered around the legendary Constantinople--we are swept into some of the most extraordinary tales in history. The clash of civilizations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder. Turbulent stories from the past are brought vividly to life at the same time as a father navigates the unfolding changes in his relationship with his son. ...Show more

Who Owns History? The Case of Elgin's Loot (HB) by Geoffrey Robertson

$39.99 AUD

Category: History | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

The controversy about the Elgin Marbles continues to rage. This book will be the first to propound a system for the return of cultural property, based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts to decide whether artworks, manuscripts and sculptures have cultural importance and have been acquired in circumstances that morally require their return to enable peoples to enjoy the 'keys to their history'. The book examines how the past can be experienced - by everyone. It will ask what is the difference between an original and a perfect copy, and in what circumstances that difference should require uplifting of the relic and bringing it back home. Geoffrey Robertson has been involved in a number of celebrated cases - he acted with Amal Clooney to provide the Greek Government with legal arguments for reuniting the Parthenon Marbles, and took successful action for Tasmanian Aboriginals to force London's Natural History Museum to return the remains of their ancestors. In this book he will discuss these cases, and will conclude by describing, in non-legal language, a rule that can be applied to decide in particular cases how museums and private collections should distinguish treasures that are not 'theirs'. ...Show more

Macquarie (HB) by Grantlee Kieza

$39.99 AUD

Category: Australian | Reading Level: 3 Biography

A lively and engaging portrait of a towering and complex figure of Australian colonial history. Lachlan Macquarie is credited with shaping Australia's destiny, transforming the harsh, foreboding penal colony of New Holland into an agricultural powerhouse and ultimately a prosperous society. He also help ed shape Australia's national character. An egalitarian at heart, Macquarie saw boundless potential in Britain's refuse, and under his rule many former convicts went on to become successful administrators, land owners and business people. However, the governor's ambitions for the colony (which he lobbied to have renamed 'Australia') brought him into conflict with the continent's original landowners, and he was responsible for the deaths of Aboriginal men, women and children, brutally killed in a military operation intended to create terror among local Indigenous people. So, was Macquarie the man who sowed the seeds of a great nation, or a tyrant who destroyed Aboriginal resistance? In this, the most comprehensive biography yet of this fascinating colonial governor, acclaimed biographer Grantlee Kieza draws on Macquarie's rich and detailed journals. He chronicles the life and times of a poor Scottish farm boy who joined the British army to make his fortune, saw wars on five continents and clawed his way to the top. Ultimately, Macquarie laid the foundations for a new nation, but, in the process, he played a part in the dispossession of the continent's original people. Lover, fighter, egalitarian, autocrat - Lachlan Macquarie is a complex and engaging character who first envisaged the nation we call Australia.   ...Show more

Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler

$39.99 AUD

Category: History

GHOST EMPIRE is a rare treasure - an utterly captivating blend of the historical and the contemporary, realised by a master storyteller. In 2014, Richard Fidler and his son Joe made a journey to Istanbul. Fired by Richard's passion for the rich history of the dazzling Byzantine Empire - centred ar ound the legendary Constantinople - we are swept into some of the most extraordinary tales in history. The clash of civilizations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder. Turbulent stories from the past are brought vividly to life at the same time as a father navigates the unfolding changes in his relationship with his son. GHOST EMPIRE is a revelation: a beautifully written ode to a lost civilization, and a warmly observed father-son adventure far from home. ...Show more

Saga Land by Richard Fidler; Kari Gislason

$39.99 AUD

Category: History

'I adored this book - a wondrous compendium of Iceland's best sagas' - Hannah Kent A new friendship. An unforgettable journey.A beautiful and bloody history. This is Iceland as you've never read it before ... Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author K ri G slason are good friends. They share a deep attac hment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages.These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown. Together, Richard and K ri travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery - a gift from Kari's Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors.   ...Show more

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War (PB) by Ben Macintyre

$22.99 AUD

Category: War History

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"The best true spy story I have ever read."--JOHN LE CARR   The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War .   If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.   Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievsky's nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre's latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carr , it brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one man's hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations. ...Show more

Buckley's Chance by Garry Linnell

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australian | Reading Level: 3 Biography

He fought Napoleon's army and survived. He was sent to the gallows and escaped the noose. Now he is in chains and on his way to the other side of the world. What happens next will become one of the most remarkable survival stories in history. The 19th century has just begun. The world is at war. England , ruled by a mad king, is exiling thousands of criminals to an old land that has become its newest dumping ground. One of those prisoners is William Buckley, barely 21, a former soldier sentenced to life for stealing two small pieces of cloth. He's a giant for his times. But it's not just his towering frame that sets him apart. It's his desire for freedom that will make his story so unique - even in an era famous for outrageous acts of bravery and heroism. On a moonlit night Buckley escapes and disappears into the Australian bush. Discovered and adopted by an aboriginal tribe who regard him as a ghost, he is initiated into their rich and complex culture. Given up for dead by his white captors, he will not be seen again for more than 30 years until he emerges one day...carrying a spear, dressed in animal skins and having forgotten the English language. Buckley's Chance is a profound journey into a turning point in history where cultures clash, bitter rivals go to war and the body count mounts. It's also the story of a man who refuses to be held down. A man prepared to defy all odds and take a chance. Buckley's chance.   ...Show more

Where Soldiers Lie: The Quest to Find Australia's Missing War Dead (HB) by Ian McPhedran

$39.99 AUD

Category: War History | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

What drives veterans, military experts and forensic investigators to dedicate years to search for and identify the remains of fallen warriors? What does it mean to the families of the dead to be able to lay them to rest? Over thirty five thousand Australian soldiers and airmen are still listed as Missi ng In Action from the wars of the 20th Century. Telling the moving story of the determination and skill of the searchers who apply old-fashioned detective work and cutting-edge science to solve the mysteries of the missing and bring peace of mind and solace to their families and to all those who serve, Where Soldiers Lie follows these investigators and scientists on their mission to locate and identify unrecovered war casualties and to unlock their secrets. From the jungles of Vietnam, where one man led a decade-long battle to recover and bring home the final six, to Korea, Papua New Guinea and the fields of the Somme, Flanders and Fromelles, Where Soldiers Lie is a deeply human story of perseverance, luck and resolution, a story of incredible determination against difficult odds, of exacting forensic analysis and painstaking detective work, to uncover and identify the remains of Australian soldiers, in battlefield over the decades, and to bring their remains home. Powerful, moving and compelling reading. ...Show more

Pictorial History of Pittwater by LAWRENCE JOAN

$24.95 AUD

Category: History | Series: Pictorial History Ser.

The unique area of Pittwater is captured in beautiful black and white photographs of the beaches, bays, inlets and inhabitants. This remote part of Sydney was first accessed by boat and later rough roads allowed access by coach from the Manly wharf. Newport was a new port for the area where people could arrive by water to stay in the area. Isolated farmers and fishermen lived here in the nineteenth century but by the age of the motor car visitors drove up to the golf clubs and beaches. Holiday homes and substantial stone houses appeared around Palm Beach by the 1920s and slowly the area became residential. With artists and writers living there it was where wealth met Bohemia. Today Pittwater is surrounded by the bushland of the national park and people still travel by water rather than road. Yacht clubs and marinas sit on the shoreline and the southern boundary is Narrabeen Lakes. ...Show more