The Freemasons by Michael Johnstone

$15.00 AUD

Category: General

Offers a detailed yet accessible history of the Freemasoning Craft and its spread to most corners of the world.

Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Arthur Worsley

$15.00 AUD

Category: General

On August 1, 1914, on the eve of World War I, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his hand-picked crew embarked in HMS Endurance from London's West India Dock, for an expedition to the Antarctic. It was to turn into one of the most breathtaking survival stories of all time. Even as they coasted down the channel, Shackleton wired back to London to offer his ship to the war effort. The reply came from the First Lord of the Admiralty, one Winston Churchill: "Proceed." And proceed they did. When the Endurance was trapped and finally crushed to splinters by pack ice in late 1915, they drifted on an ice floe for five months, before getting to open sea and launching three tiny boats as far as the inhospitable, storm-lashed Elephant Island. They drank seal oil and ate baby albatross (delicious, apparently). From there Shackelton himself and seven others - the author among them - went on, in a 22-foot open boat, for an unbelievable 800 miles, through the Antarctic seas in winter, to South Georgia and rescue. It is an extraordinary story of courage and even good-humour among men who must have felt certain, secretly, that they were going to die. Worsley's account, first published in 1940, captures that bulldog spirit exactly: uncomplaining, tough, competent, modest and deeply loyal. It's gripping, and strangely moving. ...Show more

Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe

$19.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that sugge sts that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required. ...Show more

The Borgias by Christopher Hibbert

$15.00 AUD

Category: General

The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame - Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale. Erudite, witty, and always insightful, Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family and creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character and place. ...Show more

A Brief History of the Normans by François Neveux

$15.00 AUD

Category: General | Series: Brief Histories

The history of the Normans began a long time before 1066. Originating from the _Norsemen_ they were one of the most successful warrior tribes of the Dark Ages that came to dominate Europe from the Baltic Sea to the island of Sicily and the borders of Eastern Europe. Beginning as Viking raiders in the ei ghth century, the Normans not only changed the landscape of Europe but were changed by their new conquests.As a military force they became unstoppable; as Conqerors, they established their own kingdom in Normandy from where they set out on a number of devastating campaigns, where they also introduced innovations in politics, architecture and culture. In A Brief History of the Normans Leading French historian, Francois Neveux, gives an accessible and authorative introduction. ...Show more

The King's Grave The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History

Pocket Essentials: History of the Cathars by Sean Martin

$15.00 AUD

Category: General | Series: Pocket Essential Ser.

Catharism was the most successful heresy of the Middle Ages. The Cathars taught that the world is evil and must be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting, and non-violence. They completely rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast , were held in fields, barns, and in people's homes. Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East, the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the fall of the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1244, Catharism was largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early 14th century. Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in this lively and gripping book. ...Show more

The Map Tour: A History of Tourism Told Through Rare Maps by Hugh Thomson

$30.00 AUD

Category: General

Published in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society in London, this exquisite collection of maps traces the evolution of tourism, from the elite realms of the Grand Tour to beyond the boundaries of the known world. It charts a course across the globe on the first steam voyages, captures the r omance of the golden age of train travel, and navigates to the heart of why we travel: for adventure; for education; for escapism; for pilgrimage. Arranged chronologically and contextualised by the personal anecdotes, diary extracts, and photographs of intrepid early travelers, The Map Tour looks at the ways in which maps facilitated, dictated, and directed the burgeoning travel industry. It reveals the progress in map-making techniques and considers the shape of global tourism today, reflecting on just how accessible - or hostile - the world has become. Rich with the spirit of adventure, this entertaining collection presents the story of travel and tourism from the 1700s to the present. ...Show more

Magna Carta

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History

Blood Sisters The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History

Revolution - History of England by Peter Ackroyd

$25.00 AUD

Category: British History | Series: The\History of England Ser.

In Revolution, Peter Ackroyd takes listeners from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England was-again-at war with France, a war that would end with the defeat of Napole on at Waterloo.Late Stuart and Georgian England marked the creation of the great pillars of the English state. The Bank of England was founded, as was the stock exchange; the Church of England was fully established as the guardian of the spiritual life of the nation, and parliament became the sovereign body of the nation with responsibilities and duties far beyond those of the monarch. It was a revolutionary era in English letters, too, a time in which newspapers first flourished and the English novel was born. It was an era in which coffeehouses and playhouses boomed, gin flowed freely, and in which shops, as we know them today, began to proliferate in towns and villages. But it was also a time of extraordinary and unprecedented technological innovation, which saw England utterly and irrevocably transformed from a country of blue skies and farmland to one of soot and steel and coal. ...Show more

A History of Ancient Egypt (Vol 2) From the Great Pyramid to the Fall of the Middle Kingdom by John Romer

$25.00 AUD

Category: General

"Another solid work of history from an author and historian who truly grasps the mysteries of ancient Egypt." - Kirkus Reviews Drawing on a lifetime of research, John Romer chronicles the history of Ancient Egypt from the building of the Great Pyramid through the rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom: a peak of Pharaonic culture and the period when writing first flourished. Through extensive research over many decades of work, reveals how the grand narratives of 19th and 20th century Egyptologists have misled us by portraying a culture of cruel monarchs and chronic war. Instead, based in part on discoveries of the past two decades, this extraordinary account shows what we can really learn from the remaining architecture, objects, and writing: a history based on physical reality. ...Show more