Shakespeare's Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature by Stuart Kells

$34.99 AUD

Category: History

From acclaimed author and ardent bibliophile Stuart Kells comes an exploration of the quest to find the personal library of the world's greatest writer Millions of words of scholarship have been expended on the world's most famous author and his work. And yet a critical part of the puzzle, Shakespeare' s library, is a mystery. For four centuries people have searched for it: in mansions, palaces and libraries; in riverbeds, sheep pens and partridge coops; and in the corridors of the mind. Yet no trace of the bard's manuscripts, books or letters has ever been found. The search for Shakespeare's library is much more than a treasure hunt. Knowing what the Bard read informs our reading of his work, and it offers insight into the mythos of Shakespeare and the debate around authorship. The library's fate has profound implications for literature, for national and cultural identity, and for the global Shakespeare industry. It bears on fundamental principles of art, identity, history, meaning and truth. Unfolding the search like the mystery story that it is, acclaimed author Stuart Kells follows the trail of the hunters, taking us through different conceptions of the library and of the man himself. Entertaining and enlightening,Shakespeare's Library is a captivating exploration of one of literature's most enduring enigmas. ...Show more

Primitive Technology: the Complete Guide to Making Things in the Wild from Scratch by John Plant

$35.00 AUD

Category: History

Disconnect from digital and reconnect with your inner caveman If there were ever a book to make you switch off the TV, unplug the gaming console and reconnect with nature, Primitive Technology is it. It will teach you the everyday skills that both the expert and the novice will need to craft resources f rom scratch from your natural surroundings and truly experience the wilderness. For the first time, John Plant imparts his much sought-after knowledge to show us the fundamental skills needed to build a shelter, from lighting a fire and creating an axe head to crafting a spear and making a kiln. Using step-by-step instructions and practical illustrations, this is a must-have book for anyone who wants to learn a new skill, get outdoors and reconnect with nature like never before. ...Show more

The Aeronauts: Travels in the Air by James Glaisher

$24.99 AUD

Category: History

In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before. A pioneer of weather forecasting and of photography, he wanted to take ground-breaking research measurements from different altitudes. Before aeroplanes, the only unpredictable availa ble method of air transportation was the hot air balloon. This is his memoir, detailing death-defying air ballon journeys in his own words. Soon to be a movie starring Eddie Redmayne as Glaisher. ...Show more

The Two Popes by Anthony McCarten

$22.99 AUD

Category: History

On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered- Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign.This story begins with the death of John Paul, through Benedict's election and reign - taking in the controversies that blighted the world's largest church - to his subsequent an d shocking resignation. We see white smoke from the Sistine Chapel and a reluctant successor who breaks with tradition at once, declaring, I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.Francis returns inside, invites the cardinals to join him, and serves them ice-cream.From the prize-winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everythingand Darkest Hour, The Popeis a poignant and often funny tale of an odd couple, of two very different men whose destinies converge and profoundly influence each other. What issues occupy the two men as they walk and talk in the Vatican gardens together, or later, when they share a light dinner, accompanied by Benedict's favorite drink, Fanta? This is both a biography of two popes and a story of the grace and extra wisdom that comes if a sinner can put their sins behind them. ...Show more

1956: The Year Australia Welcomed the World by Nick Richardson

$35.00 AUD

Category: History

An engrossing account of a pivotal year in Australia's history. This book debunks one of the hardiest cliches in Australian history- that the 1950s was a dull decade, when the nation seemed only interested in a quiet life, a cup of tea, and a weekend drive. The truth is that, by the time the '60s came around, Australia was already expanding its outlook - politically, economically, and culturally - and central to this were the events of 1956. This was the year when Melbourne hosted the Summer Olympics, the first edition of the Games to be held outside Europe and North America. It also heralded the arrival of television in Australia. In this year, Prime Minister Robert Menzies grappled with world politics, when he opened the country's doors to refugees from the Hungarian uprising, allowed British nuclear tests at Maralinga, and tried to resolve the greatest diplomatic episode of the decade- the Suez Crisis. In these ways and more, the world came to Australia's doorstep in 1956, challenging rusted-on habits and indelibly shifting the nation's perception of itself. Nick Richardson peels back the layers to reveal Australia at a critical moment in time. He brilliantly recreates the broader events surrounding the Melbourne Olympics at the end of 1956, as well as the dramas of the Games themselves. Throughout, he also follows a range of men and women who were touched by this transformation, to illuminate the personal consequences of being part of Australia's pivotal year. ...Show more

Lost Letters from Vienna: Revelations of Exile by Sue Course

$32.95 AUD

Category: History

The Invention of Melbourne: a Baroque Archbishop and a Gothic Architect by Jaynie Anderson; Max Vodola; Shane Carmody

$54.99 AUD

Category: History

The Invention of Melbourne defines the relationship between an architect of genius, William Wardell, and the first Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, James Goold, an Irishman educated in Risorgimento, Italy. Their partnership produced St Patrick's, the largest cathedral of the 19th century anywhere in th e world, and some thirteen churches, decorated with hundreds of Baroque paintings. These ambitious policies coincided with the Gold Rush, which contributed financially to their success. The contribution made by Wardell and Goold to the built environment of Melbourne remains significant. Together, they actively and creatively shaped the city that became a major international metropolis. ...Show more

The Europeans: Three Cosmopolitan Lives and the Making of a European Culture in the 19th Century by Orlando Figes

$65.00 AUD

Category: History

The Europeans is both a highly original, panoramic account of how in the 19th century huge aesthetic, economic, technological and legal changes created, for the first time, a genuinely pan-European culture - and an intimate story of a great singer, Pauline Viardot, a great writer, Ivan Turgenev, and a g reat connoisseur, Pauline's husband Louis. Their passionate, ambitious lives caught up an astonishing array of writers, composers and painters all trying to navigate through an ever more prosperous, demanding and international culture. This culture - through trains, telegraphs and printing - allowed artists of all kinds to create a precarious but real living, shuttling back and forth, from the British Isles to Imperial Russia. The Europeans is Orlando Figes' masterpiece. Surprising, beautifully written, it describes huge events through intimate details, little-known stories and through the lens of Turgenev and the Viardots' touching, strange love triangle. Events which we now see as central to European high culture are made completely fresh, allowing the reader to revel in the sheer precariousness with which the great salons, premiers and bestsellers came into existence. ...Show more

Destined for War by Allison Graham

$24.99 AUD

Category: History

China and the United States are heading toward a war neither wants. The reason is Thucydides' Trap, a deadly pattern of structural stress that results when a rising power challenges a ruling one. This phenomenon is as old as history itself. About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, th e historian Thucydides explained- 'It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.' Over the past 500 years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times. War broke out in twelve of them. Today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America, and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promise to make their countries 'great again', the seventeenth case looks grim. Unless China is willing to scale back its ambitions or Washington can accept becoming number two in the Pacific, a trade conflict, cyberattack, or accident at sea could soon escalate into all-out war. In Destined for War, the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains why Thucydides' Trap is the best lens for understanding U.S.-China relations in the twenty-first century. Through uncanny historical parallels and war scenarios, he shows how close we are to the unthinkable. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past - and what painful steps the United States and China must take to avoid disaster today. ...Show more

Godless by Paul Ham

$34.99 AUD

Category: History

IN FEBRUARY 1534 a radical religious sect whose disciples were being persecuted throughout Europe seized the city of M nster, in the German-speaking land of Westphalia. They were convinced that they were God's Elect, specially chosen by the Almighty to be the first to ascend to Paradise on Judgement Da y, as told in the Book of Revelation. And it would all happen here, in 'New Jerusalem' (as they renamed the city), during Easter 1535, when God and Christ would descend and usher in the End Times. But the 'Melchiorites', as they were called after their founding prophet, would be well-prepared for Apocalypse, swiftly turning the city into a Christian theocracy- They threw out the Catholics and Lutherans, 'rebaptised' their followers, destroyed all old religious icons, adopted a communist system of shared property, and imposed a new law of polygamy that compelled all women and girls who'd reached puberty to marry. Because women outnumbered men about three times, many men had 3-5 wives. John of Leiden, who proclaimed himself 'king' of New Jerusalem, had 16 wives - all according to God's exhortation in Genesis to 'go forth and multiply'. The backlash against the sect would be long and brutal. The Catholic and Lutheran powers were determined to make a terrible example of what they saw as a dangerous mob of crazed heretics. And so began the siege of Munster. For 18 months, the city was shut off from the world, periodically attacked and then slowly starved. And yet, for most of this time, the sect clung to their faith with astonishing resilience, even as they descended into hellish suffering. 'New Jerusalem- Judgement Day 1535' is a story of religious obsession and persecution, of noble ideals trampled to dust, of slavish sexual surrender....all in the name of Christ. It tells of one of the first violent revolts of the Reformation, which, together with the Peasants' War of 1524-25, helped to ignite 110 years of religious conflict that ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The story holds a terrible fascination in our own time, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, scarred again by the return of religious wars, of hatred and slaughter, all in the name of a god or a faith. ...Show more

Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788 by Richard Broome

$39.99 AUD

Category: History

In the creation of any new society, there are winners and losers. So it was with Australia as it grew from a colonial outpost to an affluent society. Richard Broome tells the history of Australia from the standpoint of the original Australians: those who lost most in the early colonial struggle for powe r. Surveying over two centuries of Aboriginal-European encounters, he shows how white settlers steadily supplanted the original inhabitants, from the shining coasts to inland deserts, by sheer force of numbers, disease, technology, and violence. He also tells the story of Aboriginal survival through resistance and accommodation, and traces the continuing Aboriginal struggle to move from the margins of a settler society to a more central place in modern Australia. Broome's Aboriginal Australians has long been regarded as the most authoritative account of black-white relations in Australia. This fifth edition continues the story, covering the impact of the Northern Territory Intervention, the mining boom in remote Australia, the Uluru Statement, the resurgence of interest in traditional Aboriginal knowledge and culture, and the new generation of Aboriginal leaders. ...Show more

Mr Guilfoyle's South Sea Islands Adventure on HMS Challenger by Diana Hill

$49.99 AUD

Category: History

Discover the inspiration for the famed redesign of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. It was the young William Guilfoyle's botanical tour of the South Sea Islands in 1868 that provided his vision for the one of the world's great public parks. Share his excitement of discovering and collecting tropic al plants, giving the local cannibals a very wide berth and being an eyewitness to an uprising in Fiji. Here is an unprecedented armchair view of the riches of this region by an emerging botanist who would later transform our understanding of garden design. Mr Guilfoyle's South Sea Islands Adventure on HMS Challenger is Guilfoyle's detailed account of the four months he spent exploring Samoa, the Friendly Islands, Fiji, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. It is the final book of a glorious trilogy-Mr Guilfoyle's Shakespearian Botany and Mr Guilfoyle's Honeymoon, The Gardens of Europe & Great Britain-which illuminates the extraordinary genius of William Guilfoyle, botanist, landscape designer, artist and writer. ...Show more