The History group has compiled another list of books that you will enjoy reading.
Paul Strathern THE OTHER RENAISSANCE FROM COPERNICUS to SHAKESPEARE Atlantic Books London 2023, Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-83895-516-8 E-book ISBN 978-1-83895-517-5
Srathern tells the story through the lives of major figures from the 15th – 17th centuries. It is an easy read that can be picked up and left for a time. Chapters are short, for example, Chapter 1 on Gutenburg is 8 pages.
Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson THE LAST SECRET AGENT The untold story of my life as a spy behind Nazi enemy lines ALLEN&UNWIN Auckland 2024 ISBN 978 1 991000 656 1
Born in Durban on 8 April 1922, Pippa died aged 102 in New Zealand before this memoir was published. By the time WWII started she had lived and been educated in South Africa, the Belgian Congo, Kenya and a finishing school in Paris. The bulk of the book is about her service as an SOE radio operator in France from March 1944 to the liberation of Paris. The podcast of Jim Mora’s interview of Jude Dobson is on RNZ Sunday, 21 April 2024.
Dimitris Gounelas and Ruth Parkin-Gounelas JOHN MULGAN AND THE GREEK LEFT: A REGETTABLY INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCE Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2023
Giovanni Tiso has a review in Landfall Review Online May 1, 2024. landfallreview.com
Murray Ball SIX of the BEST Hachette New Zealand Ltd. 2009 ISBN 978-1-86971-178-8. A large (Coffee Table) 34 X 26 x 4 cm hardback. Part of The Collector’s Trilogy, the other volumes are Footrot Flats The Dog Strips and Footrot Flats The Long Weekender.
Six of the Best has these cartoon strips; Stanley 1970’s; The Prophet early 2000’s; Bruce the Barbarian 1971-1978; The Doctor 1970’s; Nature Calls; The Kids 1976-1979. Many of the strips would be a relevant comment on the 2020’s.
Hamilton City Libraries and Waipa District Libraries have sets.
Timothy Garton Ash HOMELANDS A PERSONAL HISTORY OF EUROPE The Bodley Head, Great Britain 2023 ISBN 9781847926623
Contemporary history (1945-2023), reportage, memoir with experiences, encounters and anecdotes. In 363 pages with short chapters, the book provides an opportunity to refresh our memories of European history in our lifetime. There is a Wikipedia article on Ash which outlines his credentials and beliefs.
Nigel Ashton FALSE PROPHETS British Leaders’ Fateful Fascination with the Middle East from Suez to Syria Atlantic Books London 2022 Paperback ISBN 9781 786 49328 6 From Nigel Ashton’s two final paragraphs. “Throughout the period surveyed here, fear and hubris conditioned British leaders’ actions in the Middle east. ……Having drawn the lines in the sand which shaped the modern Middle East after the First World War, a century later British leaders inadvertently played a key role in weakening the states system and in opening the way to conflict and disintegration across the region from Benghazi to Baghdad and Kabul. Their fears became self-fulfilling prophecies, jeopardizing British and global security in the process.”Some of my fascination in this book lies in the way these leaders were able to significantly influence events and how their upbringing and the lessons they drew from the history of 1930-1945 brought disaster.
Richard Overy BLOOD AND RUINS The Great Imperial War 1931-1945 First published 2021. Penguin edition 2023. ISBN 978 0 241 30093 0 990 pages of small print. B & W illustrations. Maps at front. Reviews are generally positive and detail Overy’s approach. It is not a detailed campaign history. I have dipped into it. Overy writes well but its size (198 x 128 x 50 mm) and small print make it difficult to handle and read.