The Driver by Alice Mabin documents the reality of the daily grind for 110 different trucking companies and drivers with stunning images featuring every state and territory in Australia and New Zealand. This is the never before-seen real life tale of the captivating lives of truck drivers. “It was important to me that the stalwart cooperation of the truckies, their families, and the trucking companies were respected and represented fully. This is why it was so vital to feature each state and territory across Australia and New Zealand,†asserted the author, Alice Mabin. “I absorbed so ... View More...
The small size means it will fit in a pocket or bag. This special pocket edition of features an elegant bonded-leather binding, distinctive gilt edging, and decorative endpapers. It's the perfect gift for anyone interested in Irish folklore. View More...
The Ancient Egyptians were not that different from people today and were driven by love, romance, good health, and family. They got drunk and had hangovers and 'called in sick' to work, with elaborate excuses. They suffered with familiar illnesses and were treated with not-so-familiar remedies. The environment the Egyptians lived in formed their religious beliefs, their diet, and the way they lived and died. This beautifully illustrated, accessible introduction to Ancient Egypt covers all the major aspects of religion, daily life, childhood, politics and finally death rites, through the words ... View More...
Now in paperback!: The #1 NYT bestselling author of AMERICAN SNIPER and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle explores U.S. history through the lens of the nation's most iconic guns. Drawing on his legendary firearms knowledge and combat experience, U.S. Navy SEAL and #1 bestselling author of American Sniper Chris Kyle dramatically chronicles the story of America-from the Revolution to the present-through the lens of ten iconic guns and the remarkable heroes who used them to shape history: the American long rifle, Spencer repeater, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester 1873 rifle, Springfield M1903 rifle, M191... View More...
This, the riveting story of the Germania, tells of its incarnations and exploitations through the ages. The pope wanted it, Montesquieu used it and the Nazis pilfered an Italian noble's villa to get it: the Germania, by the Roman historian Tacitus, took on a life of its own as both an object and an ideology. When Tacitus wrote a not-very-flattering little book about the ancient Germans in 98 AD, at the height of the Roman Empire, he could not have foreseen that the Nazis would extol it as "a bible" and that Heinrich Himmler would vow to resurrect Germany on its grounds. But the Germania inspir... View More...
Not so long ago, in a small island nation in the South Pacific, beekeepers produced a most peculiar honey. It was much darker than the clover honey everyone put on their toast in the morning, and it tasted very different. In fact, the honey was a problem: it was hard to get out of the combs, and even harder for beekeepers to sell. Today that honey, manuka from New Zealand, is known around the world. It fetches high prices, and beekeepers do everything in their power to produce as much of it as possible. Wound dressings containing manuka honey are used in leading hospitals, and it has saved ... View More...
The story of Henry VIII and his six wives has passed from history into legend - taught in the cradle as a cautionary tale and remembered in adulthood as an object lesson in the dangers of marrying into royalty. The true story behind the legend, however, remains obscure to most people, whose knowledge of the affair begins and ends with the aide memoire 'Divorced, executed, died, divorce, executed, survived'. David Loades' masterly book recounts the whole sorry tale in detail from Henry's first marriage, to his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon, to more or less contented old age in the care of... View More...
The classical gods of Rome uncoiled from the fertile imaginations of the ancient Greeks whose gods were passionate and violent, jealous of their powers and subject to both mighty outbursts of love and all-consuming bouts of vengeful war. The dark forces of the ancient world were held at bay by the resourceful and emerging civilisation that formed the basis of Western culture, providing a tradition of fabulous tales that are retold in this new book. FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewo... View More...
Spanning thirteen centuries from the age of Trajan to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, DECLINE & FALL is one of the greatest narratives in European Literature. David Womersley's masterly selection and bridging commentary enables the readerto acquire a general sense of the progress and argument of the whole work and displays the full variety of Gibbon's achievement. This abridgement is based on David Womersley's definitive three volume penguin classics edition. Complete chapters from each volume, linked by extended bridging passages, vividly capture the style, argument and structure... View More...
The first major biography of Henry VIII least favourite wife - but the one who outlived them all. 'I like her not!' was the verdict of Henry VIII on meeting his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, for the first time. Anne could have said something similar on meeting Henry and, having been promised the most handsome prince in Europe, she was destined to be disappointed in the elderly and corpulent king. Henry also felt that Anne was not as she had been described, complaining that he had been sent a Flander's mare. Forced to proceed with their wedding for diplomatic reasons, Henry and Anne tried to mak... View More...
Henry VIII had the most controversial love life of the Tudor period, and he remains Britain's most famous king because of it. His pursuit of a male heir for his throne led him to cast aside five consecutive wives and bring about the reformation of the Catholic Church, changing the face of British history as he broke from the pope and tradition. But who were the women who were instrumental in causing this change? Why was Catherine of Aragon divorced and Anne Boleyn beheaded, and what happened to the last wife, Catherine Parr? Elizabeth Norton provides a lavishly illustrated guide to the six wiv... View More...
The Brown Man of the Southern Pacific - navigator, warrior, mystic, bard - the intellectual and spiritually-minded Brown Man of Caucasian descent and ancient lineage known to the world as the Maori of New Zealand - he it is who is told of in this novel. The scene is laid principally in the picturesque region around Taupo Lake and Tongariro Mountain, in the heart of the North Island of New Zealand, a region still owned and inhabited by the Ngati-Tuwharetoa Tribe, whose ancestor, the "Plume of the Arawas," is the hero of the story. View More...
Travel back in time to explore the magical world of ancient Egypt, a culture rich in symbolic ceremonies, and a strong belief in the afterlife and rebirth. This unique visual reference presents an in-depth look into more than 300 symbols used as part of their life and rituals, including plants, animals, sacred signs, gestures, and actions. After learning the meaning behind some of the more well-known representations-like the mummy, pyramid, and scarab-improve your knowledge of the country's many deities and important rulers, such as Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamen. View More...
The Gangs of New York is a tour through a now unrecognisable city of abysmal poverty and habitual violence centred around the infamous slum of Five Points, with its rival Irish and American gangs. Cobbled from legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research, this is a powerful account of New York City's tumultuos past. Asbury presents the definitive work on this subject, an illumination of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the modern Mafia and its depiction in cult films like The Godfather. View More...
In this volume Drake, focuses on the famous pastoral explorers, drovers and trail drivers; the poddydodgers, horse-thieves and rustlers; the wars of the land grabbers with Australian Aborigines and the American Indians; the clashes of lawless western entrepreneurs with the laws of the bit cities in the east; the colourful females who ventured our into a man's world and made their names, the transport by puffing billies and famous stage coach lines and buckjumpers, roughriders and rodeos. View More...
In this volume of The Wild West, Drake tells stories about the squattocracy, the cattle kings and the land barons; mounted police, sheriffs and posses in the pursuit of their elusive prey; bushrangers and outlaws and why they are so loved in popular fantasy; stockmen, ringers and cowboys; early white settlement and both friendly and hostile contact with indigenous peoples; and six shooters, gun slingers, snider rifles and infamous shoutouts. View More...
The scandalous true story of Mary Boleyn, infamous sister of Anne, and mistress of Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn, 'the infamous other Boleyn girl', began her court career as the mistress of the king of France. Francois I of France would later call her 'The Great Prostitute' and the slur stuck. The bete-noir of her family, Mary was married her off to a minor courtier but it was not long before she caught the eye of Henry VIII and a new affair began. Although a bright star at Henry's court, she was soon eclipsed by her highly spirited and more accomplished sister, Anne, who rapidly took her place in t... View More...
Wrapping Culture examines problems of intercultural communication and the possibilities for misinterpretation of the familiar in an unfamiliar context. Starting with an examination of Japanese gift-wrapping, Joy Hendry demonstrates how our expectations are often influenced by cultural factors which may blind us to an appreciation of underlying intent. She extends this approach to the study of polite language as the wrapping of thoughts and intentions, garments as body wrappings, constructions and gardens as wrapping of space. Hendry shows how this extends even to the ways in which people may b... View More...
For nearly two thousand years after the last pharaoh ruled Egypt the wonders of this ancient culture remained hidden, seemingly lost and forgotten for ever. Then, in the late eighteenth century, Napoleon's invasion of the country sparked an explosion of interest in ancient Egypt that burns as strongly today as ever. The obsession with anything and everything Egyptian has inspired many to dedicate their lives to the search for treasure in Egypt's sands. All of these explorers, collectors and archaeologists can be loosely classified as 'Egyptologists' and this relatively new science has been ble... View More...
Through the lives of three different women - grandmother, mother and daughter - this book tells the story of 20th-century China. At times scarcely credible in the details it reveals of the suffering of millions of ordinary Chinese people, it is an unforgettable record of tyranny, hope and ultimate survival under conditions of extreme harshness. In 1924, at the age of 15, the author's grandmother became the concubine of a powerful warlord, whom she was seldom to see during the ten years of their "marriage". Her daughter, born in 1931, experienced the horrors of Japanese occupation in Manchuria ... View More...