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History > European

Large 9780241408513

Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy by Ben Macintyre

$35.00 AUD

Available Stock:
34

Category: European

In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1945, an elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted wife and mother-of-three, Mrs Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity.However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, she w as racing through the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific intelligence from one of the country's most brilliant nuclear physicists. Secrets that she would transmit to Soviet intelligence headquarters via the radio transmitter she was hiding in her outdoor privy. Far from a British housewife, Mrs Burton - born Ursula Kuczynski, and codenamed 'Sonya' - was a German Jew, a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia's Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, and helping the Soviet Union build the atom bomb, Sonya conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. Her story has never been told - until now. Agent Sonya is the exhilarating account of one woman's life; a life that encompasses the rise and fall of communism itself, and altered the course of history. ...Show more

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Large 9781784978709

Philip and Alexander by Adrian Goldsworthy

$50.00 AUD

Available Stock:
6

Category: European

A joint biography that investigates how, during their lifetimes, Philip and Alexander transformed Macedon from a weak kingdom into a globe-spanning empire. During his short life Alexander the Great carved out an empire stretching from the Balkans to Central India, re-drawing the map of the ancient worl d. Yet Alexander represents only half of the story, for his success was not just the product of his own genius, restless energy and ambition, but was built on decades of effort by his father. History has portrayed Philip II of Macedon as an old man, one-eyed and limping, whose convenient assassination allowed Alexander the Great to come to power. But there was far more to him than this. Through decades of hard fighting, clever diplomacy, and sheer determination, Philip unified his country and conquered Greece. As authoritative as it is accessible, Philip and Alexander is the latest in a much-praised sequence of essential histories of the ancient world from a master historian. ...Show more

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Large 9780241332627

The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power by Martyn Rady

$60.00 AUD

Available Stock:
5

Category: European

In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world they built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium. From modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe stretching from Hungary to Spain, and parts of the New World and the Far East. The Habsburgs continued to dominate Central Europe throughout the First World War. Historians often depict the Habsburgs as leaders of a ramshackle empire. But Rady reveals their enduring power, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world as defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, guarantors of peace and patrons of learning. The Habsburgs is the definitive history of a remarkable dynasty that forever changed Europe and the world. ...Show more

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Large 9780300249828

Morozov - The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection by Natalya Semenova

$51.95 AUD

Available Stock:
4

Category: European

The first English-language account of Ivan Morozov and his ambition to build one of the world's greatest collections of modern art A wealthy Moscow textile merchant, Morozov started buying art in a modest way in 1900 until, on a trip to Paris, he developed a taste for the avant-garde. Meticulous and hi ghly discerning, he acquired works by the likes of Monet, Pissarro, and Cezanne. Unlike his friendly rival Sergei Shchukin, he collected Russian as well as European art. Altogether he spent 1.5 million francs on 486 paintings and 30 sculptures--more than any other collector of the age.   Natalya Semenova traces Morozov's life, family, and achievements, and sheds light on the interconnected worlds of European and Russian art at the turn of the century. Morozov always intended to leave his art to the state--but with the Revolution in 1917 he found himself appointed "assistant curator" to his own collection. He fled Russia and his collection was later divided between Moscow and St. Petersburg, only to languish in storage for decades. Morozov: The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection is being published to coincide with "The Morozov Collection" exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, in October 2020. ...Show more

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Large 9780593076842

Midnight in Chernobyl - The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham

$35.00 AUD

Available Stock:
4

Category: European

Journalist Adam Higginbotham's definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster--and a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century's greatest disasters. When Reactor Number Four of the Ch ernobyl atomic energy station exploded, triggering the world's worst nuclear disaster, tens of millions of people as far as mainland Europe feared deadly contamination. Over the last thirty years, this singular industrial accident has lodged itself in the collective nightmares of the world, a symbol of progress gone mad, the costs and consequences of which remain unclear even today. Chernobyl was and has remained shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. The real story of the events of April 26, 1986, clouded by the secrecy and deliberate confusion created by a Soviet state that excelled in propaganda, remain in dispute, a confusion only compounded by the fear and distrust of the rest of the world. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling account of how Chernobyl came to be, what went wrong, and what the disaster's legacy means today. The result is a masterful nonfiction thriller, and the definitive account of an event that changed history: a narrative of events that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. A chronicle of astonishing heroics and maddening incompetence, a study of the promise of science and also its potential to lure us into hubris and danger, Midnight in Chernobyl recreates the story of Chernobyl in vivid and astonishing detail. This masterful work of narrative history brings Chernobyl to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand, revealing the contours of the disaster with unrivaled fidelity and immediacy. From the ambitious young director who first envisioned the plant in a snow-covered field in rural Ukraine, to the control room engineers who unwittingly prompted its destruction; from the city officials and government ministers who oversaw the evacuation and clean up, to the ordinary citizens who struggled through it all to keep themselves and their families safe: the men and women of this book confront an enemy that's as terrifying as it is invisible. This is a story of human resilience and ingenuity, and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will--lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary. ...Show more

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Large 9781474607889

The Good Germans by Catrine Clay

$33.00 AUD

Available Stock:
4

Category: European

After 1933, as the brutal terror regime took hold, most of the two-thirds of Germans who had never voted for the Nazis - some 40 million people - tried to keep their heads down and protect their families. They moved to the country, or pretended to support the regime to avoid being denounced by neighbour s, and tried to work out what was really happening in the Reich, surrounded as they were by Nazi propaganda and fake news. They lived in fear. Might they lose their jobs? Their homes? Their freedom? What would we have done in their place? Many ordinary Germans found the courage to resist, in the full knowledge that they could be sentenced to indefinite incarceration, torture or outright execution. Catrine Clay argues that it was a much greater number than was ever formally recorded: teachers, lawyers, factory and dock workers, housewives, shopkeepers, church members, trade unionists, army officers, aristocrats, Social Democrats, Socialists and Communists. Catrine Clay's ground-breaking book focuses on six very different characters: Irma, the young daughter of Ernst Thalmann, leader of the German Communists; Fritzi von der Schulenburg, a Prussian aristocrat; Rudolf Ditzen, the already famous author Hans Fallada, best known for his novel Alone in Berlin; Bernt Engelmann, a schoolboy living in the suburbs of Dusseldorf; Julius Leber, a charismatic leader of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag; and Fabian von Schlabrendorff, a law student in Berlin. The six are not seen in isolation but as part of their families: a brother and sister; a wife; a father with three children; an only son; the parents of a Communist pioneer daughter. Each experiences the momentous events of Nazi history as they unfold in their own small lives - Good Germans all.   ...Show more

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Large 9780733335266

The Golden Maze: a Biography of Prague (HB) by Richard Fidler

$40.00 AUD

Available Stock:
4

Category: European

ABC broadcaster and bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague. In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution bro ke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him. Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it. Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars. Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.  ...Show more

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Large 9781474608138

The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands

$35.00 AUD

Available Stock:
4

Category: European

As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadesführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, including the family of the author's grandfather. By the time the war ended in May 1945, he was indicted for 'mass murder'. Hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the Poles and the British, as well as groups of Jews, Wächter went on the run. He spent three years hiding in the Austrian Alps before making his way to Rome and being taken in by a Vatican bishop. He remained there for three months. While preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline' he died unexpectedly, in July 1949, a few days after having lunch with an 'old comrade' whom he suspected of having been recruited by the Americans. In THE RATLINE Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of a Nazi fugitive, the love between Wächter and his wife Charlotte, who continued to write regularly to each other while he was on the run, and a fascinating insight into life in Rome and among American and Soviet spies active at the start of the Cold War. Using modern medical expertise, the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wächter's youngest child, who believes his father was a good man - what was Wächter doing while in hiding, and what exactly caused his death? ...Show more

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Large 9781786499769

Why the Germans Do It Better: Lessons from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner

$30.00 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: European

A provocative and entertaining exploration of the country that Britons love to hate by one of our most respected journalists.

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Large 9781786078292

Genius and Anxiety - How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 by Norman Lebrecht

$23.00 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: European

This lively chronicle of the years 1847--1947--the century when the Jewish people changed how we see the world--is " a] thrilling and tragic history...especially good on the ironies and chain-reaction intimacies that make a people and a past" (The Wall Street Journal).   In a hundred-year period, a ha ndful of men and women changed the world. Many of them are well known--Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Kafka. Others have vanished from collective memory despite their enduring importance in our daily lives. Without Karl Landsteiner, for instance, there would be no blood transfusions or major surgery. Without Paul Ehrlich, no chemotherapy. Without Siegfried Marcus, no motor car. Without Rosalind Franklin, genetic science would look very different. Without Fritz Haber, there would not be enough food to sustain life on earth.   What do these visionaries have in common? They all had Jewish origins. They all had a gift for thinking in wholly original, even earth-shattering ways. In 1847, the Jewish people made up less than 0.25% of the world's population, and yet they saw what others could not. How? Why?   Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent, beautifully designed volume is "an urgent and moving history" (The Spectator, UK) and a celebration of Jewish genius and contribution. ...Show more

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Large 9781787632943

Sicily '43 by James HOLLAND

$35.00 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: European

This is the story of the biggest seaborne landing in history. Codenamed Operation HUSKY, the Allied assault on Sicily on 10 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted in world history, landing more men in a single day than at any other time. That day, over 160,000 British, American a nd Canadian troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore, more than on D-Day just under a year later. It was also preceded by an air campaign that marked a new direction and dominance of the skies by Allies. The subsequent thirty-eight-day Battle for Sicily was one of the most dramatic of the entire Second World War, involving daring raids by special forces, deals with the Mafia, attacks across mosquito-infested plains and perilous assaults up almost sheer faces of rock and scree. It was a brutal campaign - the violence was extreme, the heat unbearable, the stench of rotting corpses intense and all-pervasive, the problems of malaria, dysentery and other diseases a constant plague. And all while trying to fight a way across an island of limited infrastructure and unforgiving landscape, and against a German foe who would not give up. It also signalled the beginning of the end of the War in the West. From here on, Italy ceased to participate in the war, the noose began to close around the neck of Nazi Germany, and the coalition between the United States and Britain came of age. Most crucially, it would be a critical learning exercise before Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of Normandy, in June 1944. Based on his own battlefield studies in Sicily and on much new research over the past thirty years, James Holland's SICILY '43 offers a vital new perspective on a major turning point in World War II. It is a timely, powerful and dramatic account by a master military historian and will fill a major gap in the narrative history of the Second World War. ...Show more

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Large 9780241242148

Conquistadores: A New History by Fernando Cervantes

$70.00 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: European

The 'conquistadors', the early explorers and settlers of Spanish America, have become the stuff of legends and nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and building roads, cathedrals, palaces and cities which have endured to the present. Today , they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation,as men who carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory. In Conquistadors, Fernando Cervantes cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to immerse the reader in the world of the late-medieval imperialist- a world as unfamiliar to us as the native peoples of the New World were to the conquistadors themselves. He paints a revelatory portrait of a diverse group of men, set against the political and ideational landscape from which they emerged. Here, we encounter the conquistadors as complex, fully human figures- by turns idealistic, incompetent, devout, venal, self-pitying and cruel. From Columbus to Cort?s, Pizarro and beyond, the explorers we think we know come alive in this thought-provoking and challenging account of a period that irrevocably altered the course of world history. ...Show more

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