History and Current Events
February 2023

Big Bargain Book Sale - Friday 24 and Saturday 25 March 2023
 
Our annual book sale is on at the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre, 75 Lyttelton Street, Somerfield, Christchurch. Bag a bargain!
Friday 24 March 9am to 7pm
Saturday 25 March 9am to 4pm
 
Find out more about the Book Sale
Recent Releases
Bloodbath nation
by Paul Auster

What it is: a sobering and well-researched rumination on the history of gun violence in America, from the colonial era to the present.

Featuring: stark black-and-white photographs of sites where mass shootings have occurred; author Paul Auster's candid reflections on his own family's history with gun violence.

Reviewers say: "exceptional in its clarity and arresting in its sense of urgency" (Kirkus Reviews).
The Tudors in love: Passion and politics in the age of England's most famous dynasty
by Sarah Gristwood

What it is: a richly detailed history that reveals how courtly love shaped England's Tudor period (1485-1603).

What's inside: illuminating insights on how the era's five monarchs (including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) utilized notions of courtly love, inspired by Arthurian legends, to shape their public personas and wield political influence.

About the author: Historian Sarah Gristwood is the author of Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe.
Screaming on the Inside: The unsustainability of American motherhood
by Jessica Grose

What it's about: how antiquated and unrealistic expectations of American motherhood harm parents and children.

Why you might like it: Featuring extensive research paired with author Jessica Grose's own parenting experiences and those of the mothers she interviewed, this thoughtful and empathetic survey offers insights on how today's mothers can empower themselves and their families.

Available as: eBook
Empire of ice and stone: The disastrous and heroic voyage of the Karluk
by Buddy Levy

What it's about: the ill-fated voyage of the Karluk, which began in the summer of 1913 as part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition.

What happened: Shortly after launch, the ship became icebound and sank; captain Bob Bartlett, accompanied by an Inuit hunter, trekked nearly 1,000 miles to seek help for the survivors. 

Read it for: a dramatic and richly detailed tale of courage and survival. 
How to feed a dictator
by Szabłowski, Witold

What it's about: "What is it like to cook for the most dangerous men in the world? In this darkly funny and fascinating book, Witold Szablowski travels across four continents in search of the personal chefs of five dictators."

What's in it? "Fish soup for Saddam Hussein, roasted goat for Idi Amin and chopped papaya salad for Pol Pot."
Focus on: Issues on the Net
Escape: How a generation shaped, destroyed and survived the Internet
by Le Conte, Marie

What it's about: Journalist Marie Le Conte is part of the millennial generation that grew up while the internet was growing up with them. The generation that entered a new reality. The generation that saw it all. The generation who are now witnessing its collapse. Where did it go all wrong?

 
The Metaverse: And how it will revolutionize everything
by Matthew Ball

What it's about: "From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us."
The chaos machine: The inside story of how social media rewired our minds and our world
by Max Fisher

What it's about: the destabilising impact of social media-driven misinformation and extremism.

Topics include: Gamergate; Russian interference in American elections; anti-vaccine conspiracies; ethnic violence in South Asia. 

Try this next: Digital Madness: How Social Media is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis -- And How to Restore Our Sanity by Nicholas Kardaras.
Like, comment, subscribe: How YouTube drives Google's dominance and controls our culture
by Mark Bergen

What it's about: "A top technology reporter at Bloomberg reveals the inside story of YouTube's technology and business, detailing how it helped Google, its parent company, achieve unimaginable power, unleashing an outrage and addiction machine that that spun wildly out of the company’s control and forever changes the world."
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Christchurch City Libraries
Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi
PO Box 73045 Christchurch 8154
+64-3-941-7923
christchurchcitylibraries.com