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History and Current Events January 2020
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Bloody History of Paris : Riots, Revolution and Rat Pie by Ben Hubbard Think of Paris and you might picture romantic images of elegant boulevards, bohemian artists and cafe society. Those aren't wrong, but the story of Paris is also a tale of riots and revolution, plagues and squalor, sieges, occupations and religious persecution. Ranging from ancient Gallic city conquered by the Romans to the 2015 terrorist attacks, Bloody History of Paris is a lively account of the political, military, social and cultural life of the capital. At times the largest city in Europe, Paris has been sacked by the Vikings, besieged by the Prussians and occupied by the Nazis; it has nurtured the artistic heights of Toulouse-Lautrec, Modigliani and Edith Piaf, but also witnessed their self-destructive lives. It has been the site of the Catholic massacre of Protestants in 1572, the execution of a king, and of thousands in religious and political conflicts. From Abelard and Heloise to Joan of Arc, Coco Chanel to Princess Diana; from the Man in the Iron Mask to Marat, from Jacques Mesrine to Jim Morrison, the book takes a broad sweep over the more sinister moments in the city s history.Expertly written and illustrated with 180 colour and black-&-white photographs, paintings and artworks, Bloody History of Paris tells the vibrant, unromantic tale of one of the world s most romantic cities.
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John Cairncross was among the most damaging spies of the twentieth century. A member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring, he leaked highly sensitive documents from Bletchley Park, MI6 and the Treasury to the Soviet Union - including the first Atomic secrets and raw decrypts from Enigma and Tunny that influenced the outcome of the Battle of Kursk. Based on newly released archival materials, this biography will be the first to cover the life and espionage of this singularly important spy. In 2014 Cairncross appeared as a secondary, though key, character in the biopic of Alan Turing's life, The Imitation Game. The result was considerable negative reaction within the national press. Despite this clear interest, the function filled by Cairncross remains an untold story. Where all of the other members of the Cambridge spy ring have been the subject of extensive biographical study, Cairncross has largely been omitted by both academic and popular writers, and no biography has yet been penned of his life.
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| Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Iain MacGregorWhat it's about: how Cold War tensions spurred the construction of Checkpoint Charlie, the border crossing separating East and West Germany that became a powerful symbol of the era.
Why you might like it: This dramatic, well-researched account was published to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
What sets it apart: never-before-seen interviews with border guards, intelligence operatives, and escapees. |
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"The very first maps were oral maps made by early Polynesian and Maori settlers which were waypoints, described as 'survey pegs of memory', lists of places in songs, chants, karakia and stories that showed direction. Hundreds of years later, the Dutch Abel Tasman sailed here and made the first attempt at a physical map; followed more than 100 years later by Cook, whose map was much more detailed as he circumnavigated the country. Once the detail of the coastline was filled in, more detailed maps of the interior were made by those in search of resources to exploit. A clever look at New Zealand history and also at the intriguing tradition of map making."
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| The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era by Gareth RussellWhat it is: an extensively researched, evocatively detailed account of the Titanic's fateful voyage as experienced by six first-class passengers.
Featuring: Lucy Leslie, Countess of Rothes, who rowed a lifeboat full of passengers to safety; Jewish American immigrant Ida Strauss, who chose to die with her husband rather than board a lifeboat without him.
Don't miss: Author Gareth Russell's debunking of many of the popular conspiracy theories and falsehoods about the ship's sinking. |
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Women Mean Business : Colonial Businesswomen in New Zealand by Catherine Bishop"From Kaitaia in Northland to Oban on Stewart Island, New Zealand's nineteenth-century towns were full of entrepreneurial women. Contrary to what we might expect, colonial women were not only wives and mothers or domestic servants. A surprising number ran their own businesses, supporting themselves and their families, sometimes in productive partnership with husbands, but in other cases compensating for a spouse's incompetence, intemperance, absence - or all three.The pages of this book overflow with the stories of hard-working milliners and dressmakers, teachers, boarding-house keepers and laundresses, colourful publicans, brothel keepers and travelling performers, along with the odd taxidermist, bootmaker and butcher - and Australasia's first woman chemist.Then, as now, there was no 'typical' businesswoman. They were middle and working class; young and old; Māori and Pākehā; single, married, widowed and sometimes bigamists. Their businesses could be wild successes or dismal failures, lasting just a few months or a lifetime.In this fascinating and entertaining book, award-winning historian Dr Catherine Bishop showcases many of the individual businesswomen whose efforts, collectively, contributed so much to the making of urban life in New Zealand"
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In Dark Places : The Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-cop's Fight for Justice by Bennett Michael "He confessed to a crime he didn't commit and spent 21 years in jail. How did it happen? Teina Pora, a 17-year-old car thief, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Susan Burdett, who had been beaten to death with the softball bat she kept next to her bed for her own protection Tim McKinnel, en ex-cop turned private investigator, discovered the long forgotten case 18 years later, saw an injustice had been done and set out to win Teina's freedom. This is the story not just of Tim's quest, but also of how an innocent man who was left rotting in a prison cell for two decades found the inner strength to rise above the dark places to which he had been condemned."
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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