Reader's Feast - History

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The Popes: A History
Price: AUD 59.95 Author: John Julius Norwich

John Julius Norwich, with more than 20 books to his name, turns his attention to the oldest continuing institution in the world - the Papacy. Office-bearers have been the best and worst of humanity, a fact Norwich presents without fear or favour. It covers all Popes including the incumbent.

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London Under
Price: AUD 29.95 Author: Peter Ackroyd

"...tread carefully over the pavements, for you are treading on skin, a skein of stone that covers rivers and labyrinths, tunnels and chambers, streams and caverns, pipes and cables, springs and passages, crypts and sewers, creeping things that will never see the light of day..." London as you've never thought of it!

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The Dead Hand
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: David E. Hoffman

David E. Hoffman's investigative account of the Cold War arms race and his profiles of Reagan and Gorbachev are vivid and fulsome. Eminently qualified to undertake this subject, the author is a career journalist who covered the White House during two administrations and spent time as Moscow Bureau Chief for the Washington Post.

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The Pursuit of Italy
Price: AUD 49.95 Author: David Gilmour

Italy, as we think of it, is actually a young country. Of course it was a stronghold in the ancient world through Rome, but the modern Italy was only unified in 1861. Journalist and historian David Gilmour goes in pursuit of this Italy.

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The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Denis Avey & Ron Broomby

Denis Avey enlisted in the British army as a 21 year-old in 1939. Captured and held as a POW in a labour camp in Poland, he learned of the terrible brutality occurring at the nearby Auschwitz concentration camp and incredibly, swapped places with a Jewish inmate in order to witness the atrocities first-hand. Having survived this ordeal, Avey was too traumatised to talk about his experiences until recently. Now aged 93, he has broken his silence.

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Afgansty
Price: AUD 59.99 Author: Rodric Braithwaite

Told largely through the eyewitness accounts of soldiers, this depicts both the intent and reality of the Soviet troop landing in Afghanistan in December 1979; an undertaking that was meant to be shortlived but would take over nine years to finish.

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Blood & Mistletoe
Price: AUD 39.95 Author: Ronald Hutton

"...these particular priests and seers (Druids) had indeed been unusual and distinctive....elevated above their own peoples and unlike priests of other societies." This is a detailed history of Druids.

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Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Giles Milton

The Wolfram of the title is the author's father-in-law. He grew up in Pforzheim under the Third Reich but was largely left untouched by the regime until the war started and his idyllic life was upended by his entry into the army. This is an untaxing read about an unconventional German family and the precocious Wolfram.

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Rome: A Cultural History
Price: AUD 50.00 Author: Robert Hughes

Robert Hughes brings his distinctive, eminently articulate writing style to a study of Rome, from its beginnings to the 1960s. Visiting for the first time in 1958, one can but imagine the enthralment with which this now famous art critic surveyed the cultural landscape before him. Hughes lays out seven discrete culturally significant periods in the life of this most enchanting and richly celebrated city.

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Mr Briggs' Hat
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Kate Colquhoun

As with Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, this account of a murder on the Leyton Orient Express in 1864 combines history and mystery writing to produce an account of an event that captivated the community at the time and enthralls the reader today.

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To Calm My Dreams
Price: AUD 24.95 Author: Kazimierz Tyminski

Kazimierz Tyminski was an inmate of Auschwitz. This is the diary he kept during his imprisonment, translated into English by his children as per their father's wishes. His musical talent kept him alive and allowed him to write his observations of the horrors of camp life.

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In the Garden of Beasts
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Erik Larson

Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, set in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair, has been an extraordinary bestseller and he once again has a connection to the 'Windy City' in his most recent release. Chicago Professor William E. Dodd became America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany. He lived in Berlin with his daughter Martha, who would earn notoriety as an author and suspected spy (Martha Dodd Stern). Larson tells their story with unflinching candour against the backdrop of the ever-darkening environment and without shying away from questioning their behaviour.

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Marathon
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Richard A. Billows

Most people associate the name 'Marathon' with the gruelling athletic event and forget that its most important connotation is with possibly the most significant battle in history. Western civilisation would have been very different had the Persians been victorious. It also goes to prove that East and West haven't been getting on for a very long time.

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History of Britian & Ireland
Price: AUD 49.95 Author: Pip Morgan et al

In classic Dorling Kindersley style, this encyclopaedia is rich with illustrations, timelines and photographs. It covers the historical facts of both islands independently whilst also presenting their intersecting history at critical points in time.

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When in Rome
Price: AUD 49.95 Author: Matthew Sturgis

"Rome....is unique in that it has been a tourist destination for over two thousand years. Since the second century BC people have travelled to Rome deliberately to look at its monuments and its treasures" writes author Matthew Sturgis. He came to understand that the appreciation of Rome and its monuments changed with each century and in this book he expands on this thought and describes the different perspectives. It is an original and captivating study.

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Tibet
Price: AUD 45.00 Author: Sam Van Schaik

Whether through the prominence of the Dalai Lama or the visibility of Buddhism in the west, we are aware of Tibet but probably do not grasp the full richness of this land. The author outlines the history of Tibet and in so doing sheds light on the complexity and uniqueness of this country.

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Samurai
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: John Man

This is the story of Saigo Takamori, the 'last Samurai' of Japan. With the coming of American traders and the need for modern armies, the world of the Samurai was at an end. Saigo led a rebellion against the forces of modernity and though he was defeated, won enduring fame for his bravery and became one of Japan's greatest heroes.

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Sticklers, Sideburns & Bikinis
Price: AUD 14.99 Author: Graeme Donald

One of the most interesting branches of language-based study is etymology; the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. Many of the words of our language have unusual and wacky beginnings, and few words retain the original and intended meaning. Sticklers, Sideburns and Bikinis looks at everyday words and phrases which began their foray into the English vocabulary from the military. Words such as 'curfew', 'sinister' and 'vandal' can all be traced back to battlefields.

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Windmills
Price: AUD 39.95 Author: Colin Moore

Colin Moore's hope is that some if not all of us will become dedicated molinologists. Reading his book might help or hinder that goal! It is quite remarkable to think of the first windmill coming into existence over 1,000 years ago and that it is estimated there will be over 50,000 turbines around the world by 2020 - in other words, harnessing the power of the wind is fundamental to our existence.

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Washington
Price: AUD 59.95 Author: Ron Chernow

This is a detailed but never dry biography of George Washington which not only covers his spectacular military career and performance as first U.S. President but also his closely guarded emotional inner life. A grand new book about one of America's most respected historical figures.

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Turkey
Price: AUD 45.00 Author: Norman Stone

Since retiring from Oxford University in 1997, Norman Stone has lived and taught in Turkey. He combines his academic brilliance with intimate knowledge of the country to present a comprehensive and intelligent account.

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Thucydides
Price: AUD 22.95 Author: Donald Kagan

Acclaimed historian Donald Kagan examines the man behind the masterpiece of classical literature The History of the Peloponnesian War, as well as the relationship between the type of history writing pioneered by Thucydides in his seminal work and that practised in the present day.

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The Scramble for China
Price: AUD 55.00 Author: Robert Bickers

Covering the period 1800 to 1914, Robert Bickers explains the forces at work that had Europe (largely in the form of the British) and China equally determined in their quest for control of the Qing empire. The 'scramble' of the title refers to the European belief that China should be theirs and the urgency with which they approached the task at hand. However, the tenacity and intractability of the Chinese leaders would prove to be as large a force as any the Europeans could muster.

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The Sagas of Icelanders
Price: AUD 24.95 Author: Ornolfur Thorsson (ed)

The modern world includes Iceland in the geographical area that is Scandinavia, a mythical country that tells of vikings and pagan gods. These sagas are timeless and rich in language and imagery. This is an occasional series of spotlights on the literature of specific countries. Books open the world to us and provide a lens through which we experience other cultures; selecting books themed by country gives us pause to simultaneously delve into the unfamiliar and recognisable.

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The Russian Court at Sea
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Frances Welch

HMS Marlborough set sail in April 1919 with an exceptionally rare cargo, namely the remaining members of the Russian Imperial Family. Frances Welch delves into the facts of who was on-board and what they had departed with, and paints a picture of their personalities.

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The Band Played On
Price: AUD 32.95 Author: Steve Turner

Eight musicians, strangers to each other, were invited to form the RMS Titanic String Band. Titanic survivors recalled how the band played on to serenade and soothe people in the face of inevitable death. The musicians would perish that night but the story of their remarkable last professional engagement is the subject of this book.

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Pitt the Elder
Price: AUD 35.00 Author: Edward Pearce

In this masterful work Edward Pearce presents a revisionist biography of William Pitt the Elder who is hailed as one of Britain's greatest Prime Ministers. He is revealed as a brilliant statesman and master strategist but he also had links to the slave trade and was an advocate of war and British supremacy in the world of the eighteenth century.

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Hagakure
Price: AUD 22.95 Author: Sean Wilson

This is the first English translation, Manga version, of the classic eighteenth century Samurai text. It represents an interesting combination of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture.

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God's Battalions
Price: AUD 24.99 Author: Rodney Stark

The subtitle of this book, "The Case for the Crusades" indicates its main thrust: the crusaders were not unprovoked nor were they simply after money, land, or converts. Perhaps controversially, this book also argues the crusaders were not barbarians who victimized Muslims.

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Fire and Song
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Anna Lanyon

Luis de Carvajal was a devout sixteenth century Jew who was persecuted by the Inquisition in Mexico. Drawing on the extensive legal notes from the Inquisition and Luis' own writings, Anna Lanyon has been able to provide a thorough and utterly fascinating account of the horror of this period in history for those who suffered so terribly at the hands of the authorities.

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