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

Benito Mussolini

$15.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

'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

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

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

The Stars At Noon

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

Roosevelt and Churchill - Men of Secrets by David Stafford

$20.00 NZD

Category: Biographies

At the very heart of the special relationship between Britain and the United States lies an extraordinary sharing of secret intelligence. This unique alliance was built during the Second World War thanks largely to the close relationship forged between the United States' President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. As the two leaders communicated almost daily by secret telegram and telephone, personal meetings and messages through intermediaries to develop an unprecedented level of trust, so their respective intelligences agencies began to share their closely guarded secrets in the fields of code breaking, human intelligence, and secret operations. Yet simultaneously each national leader sought to protect and advance his own country's interests and thus on occasion withhold rather than share his secrets. How Roosevelt and Churchill managed this delicate task and yet still laid the foundations of the closest intelligence relationship between two nations the world has ever known lies at the heart of this gripping narrative. "Stafford is a superb researcher and has a feel for when 'secret' means 'significant' and when it did not... This fascinating book is, among other things, a useful reminder of how complicated the Grand Alliance actually was." - New York Times "Stafford has the precious gift of making technical subjects easy to follow... This is most readable history." - The Times "An intriguing book which makes a very good read." - Irish Independent ...Show more