I Was No Soldier by Ted Lewis

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

A Kiwi medics' impressions of WWII through a fine literary, photographic, and artistic effort.

An Account of My Life: Aart Kool 1787-1862 by Aart Kool (Editor)

$25.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

In 1812 Aart Kool was a young Dutch engineering officer in Napoleon's army on the march to Moscow. Of the 600,000 troops in that infamous campaign, only 15,000 made it home. Aart was one. Twenty-five years later he wrote a vivid and engrossing account of his involvement in this setback for the French e mpire. A century later, on the anniversary of Napoleon's defeat, his story was published in a Rotterdam newspaper. Now, two hundred years after 1812, it has been translated into English and is published here for the first time. “These notes about my life were to be expanded at the end of my military career, with the many memories I still have. Unfortunately, a nerve-related illness makes this task so difficult for me that I have failed to do much. In rereading this material, and the many official documents I still have, I can imagine that my son, or one of my grandchildren, might find a pen to write up my history one day. I give my blessing from my resting place for this, as I assume this will not happen until after my death.” ...Show more

'May You Never be Weary': Life on the North West Frontier of the Raj and Tamer Places by John Auret

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

John Auret was born on the North West Frontier of India, the son of a British Army officer stationed there. He expected to follow in his father's footsteps - but history would decree otherwise. After many adventures and skirmishes John rose to the rank of Major in the British Indian Army and also worked in the Indian Political Department, but while on leave back in Britain his career disappeared overnight. India became independent and the nation of Pakistan was born. Next came a decade as a farmer and coffee grower in Kenya, where the tumultuous political situation would ultimately uproot John and his young family again. Finally they settled in New Zealand and began life anew. Now in his 90s, John Auret's entertaining and eventful memoir captures the atmosphere, escapades and perils of the North West Frontier and Kenya in the dramatic twilight of the British Empire. ...Show more

From Timaru to Stalag VIII B by Jack Hardie

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

This story captures the joy of flying, the excitement of training as a bomber pilot âÂÃ&A circ;ƒÃ‚‚€Ã‚” and the horror of being shot down and captured in World War II. Worse was to come: airmen were handcuffed every day in their prison camp as punishment for the damage they inflicted on Germany. Jack’s survival in the camp, and on the gruelling march to freedom, are an inspiring read, told with typical Kiwi humour and modesty. JACK HARDIE, now in his 90s, joined up in the Second World War and trained as a pilot in the South Island and England. After the war he was a successful farmer. Now living in Motueka, he still goes whitebaiting on the West Coast for a few weeks each year. Until recently he made a parachute jump each January in memory of his crew who died when their plane crashed over German-occupied Holland and he became a prisoner of war. ...Show more

Unposted Letters: from a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp 1942 - 1945 by Jack Maddever

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

Jack Maddever would never talk about his war experiences, but he kept a record in his letters which were never posted. He carried them home on his return in 1945 and they provide a glimpse into his day-to-day existence while in a POW camp in Palembang, Indonesia. In three years Jack's weight dropped fro m nearly 13 stone (82.5kg) to under 7 stone (44.5kg). Jack died in 1982. His letters, compiled by his widow Lorna Manson, show us his struggle to survive those long years of incarceration while turbulent events were taking place at home and overseas. ...Show more

Elusive Peace: A Kiwi Peacekeeper in Angola by John McLeod

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

In 1986 John McLeod published Myth and Reality : The New Zealand Soldier in World War II. It was controversial but widely praised; one reviewer said it was one of the most important New Zealand books ever. One criticism that challenged John was that to fully understand war you have to actually face fire . In 1998 he served as a United Nations Military Observer, monitoring the fraught Angolan peace process. Achieving peace in that war-wracked country proved elusive, and the violence and bloodshed he experienced affected him deeply. It has taken a long time for John to be able to tell his story, which graphically reveals the disturbing realities of modern peacekeeping -- and its far-reaching impact on those at the front line. ...Show more

All at Sea: An Autobiography by Jack Harker

$10.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

All at Sea is the fascinating life-story of naval sailor Jack Harker. In his best-selling previous works, including Well Done Leander and HMNZS Achilles, he told of specific times in his naval career, and he was later awarded the QSM for his service in recording New Zealand naval history. Now, in All at Sea, he tells his whole life story. Born in 1916 in Governors Bay, his mother died in the 1918 influenza epidemic, and he survived an alcoholic stepmother and a lively childhood of getting into and out of trouble in Christchurch, to sign on as a trainee radio operator with the NZ navy. He served on a number of ships, including both Leander and Achilles, which both saw active service in WWII. After leaving the navy, he worked in a variety of occupations, including farming in Northland, and for the NZBC, before settling on civil engineering. In 1972, he was part of the Greenpeace protest fleet sailing to Mururoa on the yacht Tamure, with Maurice Shadbolt. Now 86, Jack lives on the North Shore. ...Show more

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT by Tim Collins

$20.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

From the moment Tim Collins's speech to his men in Iraq was made public, this soldier/thinker became a hero and an inspiration to world leaders and infantrymen alike. To a public confused and suspicious about the motives for war, he at last offered some explanation for it and inspired a mood of optimism and humanity that has since been sadly lost. And yet, only two months later Collins was pilloried by two national newspapers and accused of war crimes. But these tumultuous events are only part of his story. Rules of Engagement begins when he takes command of the First Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment in the immediate aftermath of its devastating experience during the hostage crisis in Sierra Leone. 1 R Irish go on to combat the Loyalist murder gangs in East Tyrone, hold the line between two communities during the Holy Cross dispute in Belfast and survive ambush in the deserts of Iraq. Rules of Engagement is a powerful memoir that provides a series of resonant and timeless close-ups of history in the making. ...Show more

Beckoning Skies: A Pilot's Story by Bryan Elliot Young

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biographies | Reading Level: very good

Beckoning Skies is the story of Flight Lieutenant Bryan Young, who served in both the RNZAF and the RAF during World War II. Taken from his logbook and his diary, the author recounts his experiences in a style that is compelling and poignant. His travels covered much of the globe, from his flight traini ng experiences in New Zealand and England, to his duties in Italy, Egypt, and India. His descriptions of his aircraft and the many foibles of the types he flew, which included the Spitfire, the Hurricane, and the Mustang; the comradeship between men in his squadron, the illnesses he faced during his service and the cultures he was exposed to are a mixture of joy and excitement, wonderment and sadness. Beckoning Skies is a written and visual record of what the author describes as 'the most significant period of my life.' Accompanying his vivid textual descriptions are many personal photographs and drawings. This moving account of hard times, good times and bad times draws the reader into a time many will never experience, a time that was hard won and definitive for future generations of New Zealanders. ...Show more

Roger Keyes

$25.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

The Road to Nab End by William Woodruff

$10.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

"A best-seller in England and celebrated as one of the great memoirs in many years, The Road to Nab End is a marvelously evocative account of growing up poor in a British mill town. From William Woodruff's birth in 1916 (in the carding room of a cotton mill) until he ran away to London at the age of six teen, he lived in the heart of Blackburn's weaving community in the north of England. But after Lancashire's supremacy in cotton textiles ended with the crash of 1920, his father was thrown out of work. From then on, Billy and his family faced a life blighted by extreme poverty. For the ordinary families of Lancashire, unemployment was an ever-present fear: "If you worked, you ate. If there was no work, you went hungry." Billy's boyhood was not all misery. Working-class pride and culture made for tight family and neighborhood bonds and added savor to the smallest pleasures in life. Mr. Woodruff writes with an understated lyricism and an eye for telling detail that effortlessly pull us into another time and place."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved ...Show more

The Unknown Hitler by Ernst Hanfstaengl

$15.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

A forgotten eyewitness book about Hitler's rise to power with new material on the author. In the Spring of 2003 the BBC will feature a high-profile documentary on Hitler's rise to power. One of the key books used for this series will be The Unknown Hitler by his foreign press secretary Ernst (Putzi) Han fstaengl. After the Nazis came into power, Hanfstaengl was asked to go on a mission to Spain during which he was to be thrown out of his plane. This edition will include for the first time his report to the Americans and a recently classified report by the SOE on Hanfstaengl's character. ...Show more