The Age of Empires by ALDRICH

$75.00 NZD

Category: History

The story of thirteen modern Empires, a story full of suspense, cruelty, conflict, heroism, great explorations and extraordinary feats of endurance, is here told with a rich profusion of illustrations drawn from a wide range of vivid, colourful, authentic sources.Now that the age of empires is fully ove r, it is possible for the first time to draw up a balance sheet of praise and blame. ...Show more

1914: Riding into War (Kiwis at War #1) by Susan Brocker

$18.99 NZD

Category: History | Series: Kiwis at War | Reading Level: very good

Young Billy Bowman and his mate Jack get caught up in the excitement when war is declared in August 1914 and leave their jobs on the farm to rush off and enlist in the Mounted Rifles - because the war would 'probably be over by Christmas'. We follow their journey from the Awapuni training camp, to more training in the sands of Egypt before they finally get shipped out - without their horses - to fight at Gallipoli. And there they discover that war isn't the big adventure they thought it would be. ...Show more

1918: Broken Poppies (Kiwis at War #5) by Des Hunt

$18.99 NZD

Category: History | Series: Kiwis at War | Reading Level: very good

Four Christmases have passed since the world went to war in 1914. Struggling to survive in the trenches, close to enemy lines, amid the terror of gunfire and the whine of warplanes, Kiwi soldier Henry Hunt rescues a shaken little dog. He has no idea he'll soon be facing a disciplinary hearing. To Henry' s relief, the Major allows the little foxie to live this time. Henry finds the dog is not only a comfort to his fellow soldiers on the battlefields of France, but a great ratter, too. Together, can they survive the Great War? ...Show more

1915: Wounds of War (Kiwis at War #2) by Diana Menefy

$18.99 NZD

Category: History | Series: Kiwis at War

Mel and her cousin Harriet are keen to nurse brave Kiwi boys fighting in the Great War, half a world away. But when they join the NZ Army Nursing Service and board a hospital ship headed for Egypt, Anzac Cove and beyond, they have little idea of the horrors they will face, the wounds they will tend, and the hearts they will help to heal. ...Show more

1917: Machines of War (Kiwis at War #4) by Brian Falkner

$18.99 NZD

Category: History | Series: Kiwis at War

Seventeen year old Bob Sunday has stolen his brothers identity to enlist in WW1. Keith was killed at Gallipoli, so doesnt need it any more, anyway. But Bob is keen to join the Royal Flying Corps, and soon finds himself flying patrols over the front line in France, up against the likes of the Red Baron M anfred von Richthofen. A boys dreams of adventure are soon shattered amid the horrors of war; culminating in his witnessing the destruction at Passchendaele. The fourth episode in a gripping series that tracks each year in World War One, from 1914 to 1918, each focussing on different aspects of war. Each book in the series is written by a top New Zealand author and features threads that link the stories together. ...Show more

1916: Dig for Victory (Kiwis at War #3) by David Hair

$18.99 NZD

Category: History | Series: Kiwis at War

As we Otago lads have only enough men for two squadrons, the General has decided that we are to be merged with the incoming Maori contingents to form a new battalion. Our new battalion will be Pioneers, doing behind-the-lines work: building barracks, railroads, roads and trenches. As you can imagine, Fa ther, were not happy we want to fight, not dig holes. When Leith McArran signed up to fight in a war half a world away, little did he know that he and his fellow Dunedin Scots would end up shovelling dirt with Maori lads from home. Nor did he know that hed become best mates with a young orphan named Tamati Baines, who is haunted by nightmares of steel serpents and blood-red butterflies visions that might save them from a secret enemy or get them both killed. ...Show more

Bigger Than History - Why Archaeology Matters by Brian Fagan; Nadia Durrani

$29.99 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: near fine

Why does archaeology matter? How does studying prehistory help us understand climate change? How can archaeological discoveries challenge contemporary assumptions about gender? How has archaeology been used and misused to support political and nationalist agendas - and how can it help build a more diver se and inclusive picture of our world by examining the people left out of written history? Brian Fagan and Nadia Durrani address these and other questions, exploring how archaeology?s long-term perspective offers unique views into the most challenging issues facing the world today. With examples from around the globe - including a female Viking burial in Sweden, controversies over the discovery of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in Southern Africa, and newly discovered ancient farming techniques in South America - Bigger Than History explores how the search for the past continues to inform our understanding of the present. ...Show more

The Home Front by James Watson

$59.99 NZD

Category: History

The Great War is now typically regarded as senseless and futile, but most New Zealanders at the time considered it to be a war to preserve security and freedoms, to punish an aggressive enemy and to win a better world. Yet the war years proved a tumultuous time, and bitterness and animosities ran alongs ide idealism and sacrifice. Families were broken up as soldiers departed. Civil liberties were curtailed as the government wielded unprecedented powers. Divisive issues, economic volatility and a rising death toll all threatened resolve. Finally, in the last weeks of the war, a devastating influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand and extracted a deadly toll. ...Show more

Le Quesnoy 1918 by Christopher Pugsley

$39.99 NZD

Category: History

The New Zealand Division's capture of the French town of Le Quesnoy was its last and most successful action in the First World War. Breaking through defensive lines and scaling the town walls by ladder, the New Zealanders overwhelmed the defenders, freeing the town after years of German occupation. It w as a victory that resounded around the world, and helped convince German high command they could no longer hold the front. Based on his intimate knowledge of the landscape and those involved, Christopher Pugsley puts together the story with his mastery of drama and detail - producing a book that is thrilling at the same time as a tribute to the New Zealanders who died (and whose details are fully recorded here for the first time). Strikingly illustrated with maps, photographs and the stunning paintings of the battle by George Butler, Le Quesnoy 1918 will be an inspiring read for this summer and many seasons beyond. ...Show more

1983 - The World at the Brink by Taylor Downing

$27.99 NZD

Category: History

'A carefully researched and hugely readable account of the build-up to war, the momentum inexorably growing as he assembles each part of the jigsaw. Indeed, his narrative is so persuasive that by the time you are about two- thirds through, it takes some effort to remind yourself that the Third World War never happened' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 1983 was a supremely dangerous year - even more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the US, President Reagan massively increased defence spending, described the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' and announced his 'Star Wars' programme, calling for a shield in space to defend the US from incoming missiles. Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, saw all this as signs of American aggression and convinced himself that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union. He put the KGB on alert to look for signs of an imminent nuclear attack. When a Soviet fighter jet shot down Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007 after straying off course over a sensitive Soviet military area, President Reagan described it as a 'terrorist act' and 'a crime against humanity'. The temperature was rising fast. Then at the height of the tension, NATO began a war game called Able Archer 83. In this exercise, NATO requested permission to use the codes to launch nuclear weapons. The nervous Soviets convinced themselves this was no exercise but the real thing. This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of extraordinary new documents just released in the US, Taylor Downing is able to tell for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983. 1983: The World at the Brink is a real-life thriller. ...Show more

Nazi Women: The Attraction of Evil

$24.09 NZD

Category: History

Not Forgotten - The Great War and Our Modern Memory by Neil Oliver

$24.99 NZD

Category: History

There are 37,780 First World War memorials in Britain, listing names from all walks of life - estates, villages, places of work. They stand as landmarks to a defining period in British history - and yet one which is in danger of slipping away from popular memory. NOT FORGOTTEN is a revealing look at the untold stories that lie behind these lists of names - stories of the impact of World War One on British society, the echoes of which can still be felt today. More than a conflict overseas, it was the catalyst for an extraordinary period of rapid and radical change to the social, cultural and political fabric of the nation. Social restrictions on women were revolutionised, from jobs and the vote to new freedoms in dress, behaviour and sexuality. The class system was thrown into disarray, both at home and on the front lines; roles were reversed in family life for a large part of the population, through bereavement, evacuation and children put to work in munitions factories. And as the state took drastic measures to cope with this turmoil, so the foundations were laid for the society in which we live today. ...Show more