The October 2023 Book List from the History group
Here is a list compiled by the History Interest Group for its October meeting. It is a great list to peruse for your summer reading

All the books mentioned are available in the Waipa and Hamilton Libraries

Timothy Phillips THE CURTAIN AND THE WALL : A Modern Journey along Europe’s Cold War Border
Granta, London. 2022 ISBN 978 1 78378 576 6 eISBN 978 i78378 577 3
The author travelled the Iron Curtain, largely in 2019, from Norway to Azerbaijan. The book was written and published before Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He interviewed many people about their experiences and views on the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR and its aftermath.

Sinclair McKay BERLIN Life and Loss in the City That Shaped the Century
Viking 2021 ISBN 978-0-241-50317-1 437pp. Maps. Preface. 45 B&W pictures
The sub-title is the story – Berlin from 1918 to 1989 – told through the lives of its inhabitants. The story is appalling in parts – the author lays bare the horrors of war, civil strife and the totalitarian state.

Bain Attwood ‘A Bloody Difficult Subject’ Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History. Auckland University Press 2023 ISBN 978 1 86940 982 1
Well worth-while for those interested in the writing of history. Ruth Ross nee Guscott (1920-1982) is someone to whom women of our generation can relate: Whanganui Girls’ College, Victoria University College 1939-1941, research assistant, first (1944) and second (1945) marriages, children and moving with husband Ian, a teacher.
Part 1 is about Ruth’s difficulties as a woman, wife and mother in being able to research, write and have her work accepted as valid. Parts 2 and 3 discuss Te Tiriti in the context of the Waitangi Tribunal and how the treaty has been interpreted and debated since 1972.

Roderick Fry A MESSAGE FOR NASTY Hong Kong, 1943. A family divided. Two desperate journeys. Awa Press 2022
ISBN 978-1-927294-84-0 Epub 987-1-927294-85-7 Historical novel based on a true story. See Review by Max Oettli in LANDFALL, October 2, 2023.

The Countess of Carnarvon , THE EARL AND THE PHARAOH
William Collins, Great Britain, 2022 ISBN 978-0-00-851374 (trade pbk.)

Titles Arising from Discussions at the History Group

The Battle of Crete – NonFiction
George Psychoundakis: The Cretan Runner His Story of the German Occupation Translation and Introduction by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Annotated by the translator and Xan Fielding. A reviewer suggested read the book before the Introduction.
W Stanley Moss Ill Met by Moonlight Written in 1945, publication was blocked by the military. First published 1950.
Fiction
Greg McGee THE ANTIPODEANS. Upstart Press 2015
Patricia Grace TU. Penguin 2004

Dorothy Dunnett’s Works
Historical Fiction Titles Period Covered
Lymond Chronicles Six 1547 – 1558
The House of Niccolo Eight 1460 – 1480’s
King Hearafter (Thorfinn/Macbeth) One Early to mid-11th century
Mystery Thrillers
Johnson Johnson series Seven 20th Century
Dunnet’s books are no longer available in Waipa and Hamilton Libraries.

Another recommendation
Nicola Tallis Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriarch Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. 2019
Georgette Heyer – many titles in Waipa and Hamilton Libraries

A reference: Stephen Fry on the enduring appeal of Georgette Heyer. An edited version of his introduction to The Folio Society’s edition of Heyer’s Venetia. The Guardian, Fri 1 Oct 2021