The New Zealand Experience at Gallipoli and the Western Front by WRIGHT MATTHEW

$49.99 NZD

Category: First World War

In The New Zealand Experience at Gallipoli and the Western Front, historian Matthew Wright goes to the heart of how the First World War affected the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. The book analyses what it was like for New Zealand soldiers at the two main battle fronts where they fought, and frames i t with the social effects back home. Beginning with an outline of pre-war New Zealand society, Wright portrays the extraordinary world of war into which its young men plunged as they entered the baptism of fire at Gallipoli. The end of innocence that the withdrawal from the Dardanelles implied led to a harder, more fatalistic approach in the theatre of mechanised death that was the Western Front. By war's end, hope and glory had faded, replaced by a new view of military heroism - in a country forever changed ...Show more

Politics of Forgetting: New Zealand, Greece and Britan at War by Martyn Brown

$15.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

Greece was a poor country in turmoil and pain during the 1940s. A military dictatorship was followed by invasion and terrifying occupation by Germany and its allies, starvation, civil war, political unrest and mutiny in its free military armed forces. New Zealand entered this arena and found a bond with a people that it still celebrates to this day. Absent is the complex, divisive and sometimes violent and surreal relationship between the two countries and the inescapable influence of Britain. Their story stretches from the mountains and open country of Greece and Crete to Middle East deserts, autumn-swept plains of Italy, and the blood-splattered streets of post-liberated Athens. Ironically New Zealand has forgotten the unpalatable but also sacrificed something that would have enhanced its own national storytelling about the war. ...Show more

Anzac The New Zealanders at Gallipoli by Christopher Pugsley

$25.00 NZD

Category: First World War

The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War by Denise Chong

$10.00 NZD

Category: Vietnam War

On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc, severely burned by napalm, ran from her blazing village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph-one of the most unforgettable images of the twentieth century-was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War. Th is book is the story of how that photograph came to be-and the story of what happened to that girl after the camera shutter closed. Award-winning biographer Denise Chong's portrait of Kim Phuc-who eventually defected to Canada and is now a UNESCO spokesperson-is a rare look at the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese point-of-view and one of the only books to describe everyday life in the wake of this war and to probe its lingering effects on all its participants. ...Show more

To Find a PathThe Life and Times of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment Vols one and two by James Sinclair

$270.00 NZD

Category: Other Wars

Shooting Through - Campo 106 Escaped POWs after the Italian Armistice by Katrina Kittel

$35.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

In early September 1943, Italy capitulated to the Allies. Australian prisoners of war, POWs, seized this watershed moment and snatched supplies before walking out of Italy's rice farms scattered on the Piedmont plain west of Milan.Escapes were mostly easy but freedom was vexed. The ultimate challenge fo r escaped POWs was to navigate and to outlive the volatile context of post-armistice Italy beyond their prison camps. Wearing uniforms or a motley clash of civilian cast-off clothing, escapers had a price on their heads as they headed north towards alpine passes and neutral Swiss territory, or as they wandered in search of advancing Allied Lines in south Italy. During their treks through mountains, valleys and 'freedom trails', Australians teamed up with New Zealand, British and South African POWs to dodge German and fascist militia and to take up arms with fledgling Resistance brigades. Not all escaped POWs survived.At its heart, Shooting Through highlights a unique shared history between Australian escapers and the Italians who risked severe retributions to host and guide the POWs.Drawing extensively on first-hand accounts sourced from Australian and British archives, as well as memoirs and oral accounts by ex-POWs and Italian witnesses, Katrina Kittel weaves the stories of thirty escaper groups through time and theme to reveal key evasion routes and the various outcomes that befell escaped POWs in Italy. The veterans' accounts burst with humour and compassion as they offer their insights into Italy's war. From her perspective as a graduate historian and as a daughter to a former POW, Katrina Kittel has uncovered a richer story behind the few enigmatic details that her father, Colin Booth, and many of his fellow POWs chose to share with their families.Shooting Through includes a nominal roll of Australian POWs interned at the Campo 106 rice farms.Shooting Through includes a foreword by Professor Peter Monteath. ...Show more

Spitfire (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia) by Nigel Cawthorne

$20.00 NZD

Category: Tanks, aircraft, vehicles

This title tells the story of an iconic aircraft from World War II, that is illustrated with over 250 colour and black and white photographs. It takes you through the creation, construction, production and history of the Spitfire, as well as its role in the major battles of the war. It includes moving f irst-hand accounts from the pilots who flew the Spitfires, including both their experiences in combat and the way of life for the RAF at that time. It features a fascinating and engaging narrative written by a leading military history expert. It lists sites where surviving Spitfires can be viewed today so you can go and see this incredible aircraft for yourself. It compares the Spitfire with other great fighters - both Axis and Allied - in the skies at the time. It shows how the famous fighter plane had its origins in a series of trophy-winning seaplanes from the 1920s and 1930s, and how it was developed. This engrossing book retells the story of the iconic aircraft of World War I. It goes into the heart of the action, showing what it was like to fly a spitfire in the Battle of Britain, and tells the moving stories of the brave young pilots who flew this all-conquering machine. In addition, this book lists where surviving planes can be seen today so that you see the incredible aircraft for yourself. The fascinating and informed text, written by a leading expert in the field and accompanied by over 250 stunning contemporary and historical photos, make this the ultimate reference for anybody with an interest in military history or aviation. ...Show more

Korea on the Brink - From the "12/12" Incident to the Kwangju Uprising, 1979-1980 by John Adams Wickham

$15.00 NZD

Category: Korean War

Includes a foreword by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. Presents insights into the sensitive role that General John A. Wickham, the senior Americanmilitary commander in Korea from 1979 to 1982, played during a period of politico-military intrigue and great danger to United States security interests.

The Wars of the Roses by Terence Wise

$20.00 NZD

Category: Wars of the Ages | Series: Men-at-arms

Much myth and fantasy surrounds the events of the Wars of the Roses: a bloody and prolonged dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster. Terence Wise's fascinating text lays bare the real story, and examines the armies, liveries and badges of the conflict. The author's readable account pr ovides a comprehensive guide as to who fought whom, where, when, why and for what, from the origins of the Wars to such famous battles as Tewkesbury and Bosworth. The accompanying photographs, illustrations and colour plates by Gerry Embleton clearly detail the arms, armour and standards of the time. ...Show more

The Age of Battles: Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo by Russell F. Weigley

$15.00 NZD

Category: Wars of the Ages

In 1631, Gustav Adolphus of Sweden - the creator of the first national army - scored a notable victory at Breitenfeld in the Thirty Years War. In 1815, Napoleon was defeated by Wellington and Blucher at Waterloo. This was the age of battles - romantic, even glorious in their spectacle - a period of near ly 200 years when military endeavour was dominated by the quest for the climactic battle of annihilation in which the fate of continents might be decided in a single afternoon. This study recreates the grand-scale battles of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and examines their historical circumstances, the strategic thinking and the personalities of the military commanders, the tactical manoeuvring on the battle field, the role of armaments and the performance of the fighting men. Other books by the author include "The American Way", "A History of the United States Army" and "Eisenhower's Lieutenants: the Campaign of France and Germany, 1944-1945". ...Show more

Regions and Powers - The Structure of International Security by Barry Buzan; Ole Wæver

$10.00 NZD

Category: Other Wars | Series: Cambridge Studies in International Relations Ser.

This book develops the idea that since decolonisation, regional patterns of security have become more prominent in international politics. The authors combine an operational theory of regional security with an empirical application across the whole of the international system. Individual chapters cover Africa, the Balkans, CIS Europe, East Asia, EU Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America, and South Asia. The main focus is on the post-Cold War period, but the history of each regional security complex is traced back to its beginnings. By relating the regional dynamics of security to current debates about the global power structure, the authors unfold a distinctive interpretation of post-Cold War international security, avoiding both the extreme oversimplifications of the unipolar view, and the extreme deterritorialisations of many globalist visions of a new world disorder. Their framework brings out the radical diversity of security dynamics in different parts of the world. ...Show more

The Lost History of 1914: How the Great War Was Not Inevitable by Jack Beatty

$25.00 NZD

Category: First World War

In The Lost History of 1914, Jack Beatty examines the First World War and its cses, testing against fresh evidence the long-dominant assumption that it was inevitable. 'Most books set in 1914 map the path leading to war,' Beatty writes, 'this one maps the multiple paths that led away from it.' Radically challenging the standard account of the war's outbreak, Beatty presents the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand not as the catalyst of a war that would have broken out in any event over some other crisis, but rather as 'its all-but unique precipitant'. Chronicling largely forgotten events faced by each of the belligerent countries in the months before the war started in gust, Beatty shows how any one of them - a possible military coup in Germany; the threat to Britain of civil war in Ireland; the murder trial of the wife of the likely next premier of France, who sought d tente with Germany - might have derailed the arrival of war. Europe's ruling classes, Beatty shows, were so hnted by fear of those below that they mistook democratisation for revolution, and were tempted to 'escape forward' into war to head it off. Beatty's deeply insightful book - as elegantly written as it is thought-provoking and probing - lights a lost world about to blow itself up in what George Kennan called 'the seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century'. The Lost History of 1914 is a highly original and challenging work of history. ...Show more